Page 283 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“Thanks,” I said, staring down at my plate and trying not to choke on my emotions. Even though I’d heard dozens of people express their sympathy about my loss, there was something in Adam’s voice, something about the way he said it, which made it sound more genuine than all those other people.
“What’s Ian doing with his money?” Adam asked, grinning at me. “Funding the next great series of pranks?”
I laughed, glad for the lighthearted change of topic. “Actually, he’ll probably invest it into more of the casino stuff,” I said. “In more ways than one, he likes to gamble.”
“As should every good businessman, right?” Adam said. “Just hope he knows when to quit. That’s something he never had a handle on when I knew him before.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Fortunately, he’s matured a lot,” I said. “And actually, he’s taken over a lot of responsibility at the company. Even before Dad died.”
“That’s good,” Adam said. The conversation abruptly died there, and I was back to struggling to think of something to say. I just didn’t remember things being this difficult with him. It was like he was totally guarded, like he didn’t want to get to know me at all, and like he definitely didn’t want me to get to know him.
To be fair, I had reservations of my own. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about how attractive he was, about how I would do or say whatever it took to get him to grin at me again, to get him to grin at me for real. And that was dangerous territory, I knew. I couldn’t let myself get too involved with him. It wouldn’t be professional, and anyway, I didn’t have the time to devote to a relationship right now. Besides, he was one of Ian’s friends, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about crossing that line with him.
“Look,” I finally said, leaning towards him, “there’s a reason I wanted to have dinner with you.”
Adam grimaced and looked away from me, carefully setting down his fork. I could see the way that his face closed off as he did his best to look uninterested in whatever I was about to say.
Interesting.
But I knew I needed to keep this strictly professional. I had to ignore that little flip in my belly at the thought that he might be trying to keep his own emotions in check in just the same way that I was. Focus on the task at hand.
“I know this place is turning enough of a profit that we could hire someone else on as maintenance. To help you out some, especially during the holiday rush. It isn’t right for you to have to be on call all the time, even on your days off.”
Adam frowned at me. “It’s not worth it,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve got a system here. A way of doing things. You get someone else to come in and it’s that classic ‘too many cooks’ syndrome.”
“I get that,” I said, having already thought about that. “But what I was thinking was, maybe you could switch so that you’re really just handling lift maintenance and operations. I’m sure there’s more than enough work there to keep you busy, and anyway, I know you know what you’re doing there and that that’s probably pretty specialized knowledge. We could hire someone else to deal with things like the lights, though.”
Adam continued to stare at me for a moment. Then, he shook his head, exhaling noisily. “Nah, don’t worry about it,” he said, picking his fork back up. “I like that this job keeps me busy. I can handle it. And seriously, don’t worry about having to call me in on my days off. I’m just a few miles away. Or I’m here skiing.”
“Well, at least credit it towards your hours for the week and take tomorrow off,” I insisted.
For a minute, Adam looked like he might protest. I could practically see him going through task-lists in his head, trying to figure out if he really could afford to take the next day off. Finally, though, he nodded. “All right,” he said. “I’ll take tomorrow off. There might be one or two projects that I’ll try to wrap up first thing in the morning, but then I think I’ll go skiing.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I said approvingly. I wanted to say more, maybe to ask if he wanted some company to ski with. But it had been forever since I was on skis, and I didn’t want to hold him up all day. And besides, he no doubt knew plenty of people around town that he would rather ski with. He wasn’t being too subtle about the fact that he didn’t want to be friends with me. And that was fine. I was his boss.
“Thanks again for coming and helping today,” I said for the billionth time as he was getting ready to head home.
He just shrugged one shoulder. “It’s my job,” he said gruffly. I wanted to say something in response to that, but he was already turning away from me. “I’ll see you around,” he said over his shoulder.
“Yeah,” I echoed faintly. “See you around.”
And I hoped that I did. I wanted to see more of him. He might be downright rude to me at times, and lukewarm at best, but to be honest, I kind of understood that. I was pretty emotionally guarded myself, especially when it came to men.
Still, there was something about the air of mystery to him that made me want to break through those walls of his. To really get to know him and know his story. What was it that had turned him from the laughing prankster in my memory to the man he was now? I was determined to figure it out.
CHAPTER 11
ADAM
Having an unexpected day off was a surprising luxury. I had almost balked when Bailey suggested it. I wanted to prove to her that I didn’t need it, that I could still work my regular hours and get everything done as needed. But at the same time, I knew that I was already worn out and that things were only going to get busier as we really got into the holiday season. So, any extra time that I could take off now was only going to benefit me in the long run.
Besides, I had managed to get through all of the most pressing things on my list. There was plenty of other maintenance to do around the resort; there always was. But right now, there was nothing to pull me out of bed early on Friday morning, especially not since it had snowed nearly two feet the previous night and Ethan had a snow day.
Originally, I thought that I would swing by the resort first thing in the morning and get a couple projects done. And then go skiing. But things would be busy with this much snow, and I knew that Ethan’s little legs wouldn’t be able to cope with that much powder anyway. So, we’d save it for another day. I got Ethan settled in the living room with some cartoons and his rainy day crayons, and then I went back to bed for another hour. It was a luxury that I never really allowed myself anymore.
When I finally got up a little while later and walked downstairs, Ethan immediately sprang to his feet. “I’m bored,” he whined. “Can we go skiing?”
“You know today’s not a good day for that,” I said, shaking my head. “You’d sink right in.”
