Page 357 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
I hated the thought of that. But I knew that if she never did come back, then I couldn’t exactly hold it against her.
As I came back downstairs, though, I couldn’t help thinking about how quiet it was in the house. I found myself imagining what it would be like to have Bailey there with me, maybe curled up on the couch in the living room even now, a blanket over her lap and a book in her hands.
I shook the thought out of my head. She wasn’t even back in Utah yet. I couldn’t let myself get too attached to a future with her. Who knew if I would ever get the forever that I was promising myself.
CHAPTER 60
BAILEY
When I got to the casino on Monday morning, I was surprised to see that Ian was already there. Not only that, but he was actually working, chatting with a couple of the shareholders and sharing a laugh with them. As I walked over, William beamed at me. “Ian’s got some really great ideas for this place, you know,” he said, clapping my brother on the shoulder. “Ideas that are a lot more solid than the last ones.” He turned back to Ian. “Get that proposal written up and I’ll approach the board with it,” he promised.
“I’ll do that,” Ian said gravely, nodding his head.
I fought the urge to groan as the two other men walked away. “Already back to making changes to the place?” I asked, trying not to sound too accusing. But it was hard not to be frustrated with him. The whole reason that I was still stuck here was to make sure that Ian wasn’t making too many changes to the company and digging it down into a deep hole again. It had taken enough work to undo everything that he had done wrong before. If the board of directors continued to mistrust my brother, I wasn’t sure that I could keep Ian’s job safe for him.
And more than that, I wasn’t sure that the board would ever agree to let me go back to Utah.
Of course, at the end of the day, I was a grown woman and capable of making my own decisions. If I really wanted to go back to Utah, then I could do that. Hell, I could leave right now if I wanted to. But Dad had worked hard to build this empire before he died. I couldn’t live with myself if I just let it crumble now that he was gone. This was his legacy. This was the family business.
Besides, the business connections that I had made here were pretty powerful. What if I let all of them down and it impacted my new business with Brooks Mountain? I didn’t want to ruin the family name or turn away the types of investors that could really help out with the resort in the future. That was just bad business.
But Ian looked excited. “I think this one could really be a good one,” he said. “I don’t want to give away the surprise just yet, but trust me, I think you’re going to agree with me.” He paused, looking abashed. “Anyway, I’m going through the proper channels this time. Michael has promised to put the idea in front of the board. Just to be on the safe side, we think it’s better if I’m not the one introducing another change. But we’re going to vote on it, and I’ve agreed that if everyone isn’t on board with it, then we won’t make any changes.”
I blinked at him in surprise. “Wow,” I said, grinning at him. “Sounds like you’ve actually learned your lesson.”
Ian rolled his eyes at me, but the fond smile remained on his face. “I’m trying,” he agreed, nodding. “I know that I didn’t do things the right way before. But I’m not going to screw things up again. I promise.”
“Sounds like I’ll be back to Utah in no time,” I joked.
Ian laughed, but I could see in his eyes that he wasn’t super happy about that prospect. “I’m going to miss you,” he sighed. “But I guess you have to go back, don’t you?”
“My business is there,” I reminded him.
“And Adam,” Ian agreed, nodding.
“And Adam.” I paused. “Thank you again for flying him out here this weekend.” I couldn’t help how tentative the words were. I knew that Ian had taken pains to show me that he was okay with my relationship with Adam. That he accepted that we wanted to be together. It was a big change from before. I knew he still, in his heart, probably thought that I deserved better. He had always been too protective of me.
But at the end of the day, I was with Adam, and I wanted Ian to know just how much I appreciated the fact that my brother had flown Adam out to visit me that weekend. I just wasn’t sure how much to share with him.
“Did you have a good weekend?” Ian asked, and I slowly smiled.
“Yeah,” I said. “He’d never been to Vegas before. To be honest, I kind of forgot how fun it can be to go to the casinos and not think about work for a little while. To just have fun and kind of experience the glamor of it all.”
Ian snorted. “So you ready to start working here for real, then?” he asked, but I could tell that he was just teasing. It was such a change from how he had been before.
I shook my head. “I’ve got business back in Utah,” I reminded him. I grinned. “Actually, I think the sooner I get back, the less likely Adam is to quit. I don’t think he really likes being in charge of everything. I wish there was someone else that I could trust to handle things, but he’s doing better than he knows, I think. I keep getting glowing reviews from the other employees. He’s apparently doing an amazing job.”
I trailed off, blushing. I couldn’t help waiting for Ian to make some disparaging comment about how Adam couldn’t possibly be doing that well since he was just a tradesman. Or something like that.
“I bet he’s great at it,” Ian said, to my surprise. “He’s always been charismatic.”
I bumped my shoulder against his. “Not unlike a certain someone else that I know,” I said.
Ian grinned and then paused. “You really like him, don’t you?” he asked quietly.
“I love him,” I corrected quietly, unable to keep the challenge from my voice.
Ian nodded but didn’t say anything more about it. He glanced at his watch. “I’m happy for you,” he said, sounding distracted. He smiled apologetically at me. “Actually, I have a meeting that I need to step into, if that’s okay?”
