Page 306 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
I fought the urge to sigh again. Things had seemed so easy and self-explanatory before Ian had seen us. Well, not easy. But I had come to some kind of decision in my head. Despite the fact that she was my boss, despite the fact that I hadn’t been with anyone since my deceased wife, Beth… Now, though, the whole thing with Ian threw another wrench into the matter. I wasn’t sure that this was a good idea at all.
But I didn’t have a chance to tell Bailey that now. She pulled open the door to my office and headed out to find her brother. I trailed slowly after her, almost forgetting to grab my coat on the way out. I was going to need it, though, if I was relegated to fixing things not there in the base area for the rest of the day.
In my head, I scrambled my to-do list, trying to figure out what I even had to work on that day. There wasn’t much. I sighed and then shrugged. Might as well do what I could and then head home. I’d have to make up the hours some other time. I wasn’t entirely sure when that would be, since I already worked nearly every day of the week and there still always seemed to be more to do. But I’d figure something out.
I dickered around for most of the morning and then headed home. As I drove along, I started compiling a mental list of things that I could get done around the house that afternoon, with my unexpected time off. As with the ski resort, there seemed to be a never-ending list of things left to do. I had finally finished chopping wood for the winter and we had a great stockpile built. And Dad and I had finished reroofing the house recently too. But there was still plenty more to be done.
Including a deep clean of the whole place, I decided. That would be my focus for the afternoon. Ethan was still off at school, and Dad would pick him up for me on his way back from the grocery store, like he always did on Fridays. Then, I’d go take him off Dad’s hands a little earlier than usual.
I was deeply engrossed with cleaning the windows when the front door suddenly opened that afternoon. But I smiled when I heard Ethan chattering away. I glanced at my watch. Yes, it was really that time now. It was still a surprise, though. I would have expected them to go back to Dad’s place.
I hopped down off the stepstool that I’d been using and went into the hall. “Hey guys,” I said, wiping off my hands on my jeans.
Dad’s eyebrows knit together, but Ethan was the one to ask the question. “Dad, what are you doing here?”
I grinned at him. “I got done with work a little early today, so I’ve been cleaning up around here,” I explained. “Actually, there’s a basket of your toys in the living room; could you take it upstairs for me?”
“Okay!” Ethan said, running off to grab the basket.
“You got done with work early?” Dad asked after Ethan ran off. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” I said, even though I wasn’t so sure. I coughed lightly. “Actually, Ian showed up unexpectedly and caught me kissing Bailey, so we decided it was probably a good idea for me to get away from the resort today, until Ian’s calmed down a little.”
Dad harrumphed but didn’t say anything in response to that. I could see the corners of his lips twitch, though. “I brought Ethan over here so we could play on the PowerBox some,” he said. “I hope that’s okay?”
Dad had given Ethan the new video game console as a Christmas gift recently, even though it hadn’t quite been Christmas yet. And to be honest, I hadn’t been particularly happy about the gift, but I had gotten over it by now and had agreed to let Ethan use the PowerBox as long as he followed the rules that we set with regards to how much time he was allowed to spend on it, what kinds of games he was allowed to play, and so on.
“That’s fine as long as he’s done with his homework already,” I said.
“Dad,” Ethan whined as he came back in the room. “It’s Friday. I have all weekend to do my homework.”
I frowned at him. “Ethan, you know the rules,” I said to him. “No PowerBox until you finish your homework for the day.”
“Fine,” Ethan said, rolling his eyes and stomping off to get started.
I looked at Dad and shook my head, unable to help my grimace. “I hate to say it, but I knew that thing was going to be a problem,” I said.
Dad snorted. “Oh, don’t even start with that, Adam Katz,” he said. “Do you remember how many times I had to threaten you with additional chores to get you to do your homework?”
I had to laugh at that. “All right, fair,” I said.
“Since I’m here, why don’t we work on the insulation in the sunroom?” Dad suggested. “And when Ethan’s finished with his homework, maybe we can all play.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, nodding at him.
Dad and I had never had the closest relationship with one another, but I had to admit that things had been better between us lately. And he loved spending time with Ethan. I supposed that was what really mattered.
CHAPTER 25
BAILEY
I couldn’t believe that Ian had caught Adam and me kissing. Our first kiss. Something that I had been waiting for for weeks, something that I had been trying to deny that I wanted. Something that I had never really expected would happen, and something that I wondered if it would ever happen again.
I could tell just how uncertain Adam had been in the aftermath, and it had nothing to do with the way that he had kissed me. Unbidden, I raised a hand to brush my fingertips against my lips, remembering the passion and the heat between us. No, there had been nothing uncertain about that kiss.
But getting to that point had been difficult, for both Adam and I. And now, I didn’t know if we were ever going to be able to psyche ourselves up to it again.
There were plenty of reasons not to get involved with Adam, after all. He was one of my employees at the mountain. A very valuable employee, too; he was the single mechanic and maintenance person for the resort, in charge of everything from fixing hot tubs to keeping the lifts spinning. It was a big job, and the position wasn’t one that I could fill very easily if I lost him.
