I shook my head, trying to forget about that for right now. But as though my thoughts had summoned her, the first person I saw when I walked into the lodge was Bailey herself. “There you are!” she said, sounding at wits end. “We’ve got a snowmobile waiting outside for you.”
“I’m here,” I agreed, my eyes flicking down towards Ethan as I tried to think of a tactful way to raise the issue of who was going to watch him while I went and worked on the lift.
“Who’s this?” Bailey asked in surprise.
“This is my son. Ethan,” I told her.
Bailey’s eyes widened fractionally, but she knelt down in front of Ethan. “Nice to meet you, Ethan,” she said solemnly. “I’m Bailey.”
“She’s my new boss,” I explained to Ethan. “The new owner of the resort.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ethan said, on his best manners, and I saw the corners of Bailey’s lips twitch with a smile.
“He’s actually the reason I called in today,” I admitted. “He was sick. I’m sorry, though, I didn’t realize that there was anything wrong with the Dasher lift.”
“I know you didn’t,” Bailey said, shaking her head. “And anyway, you’re here now. Just see if you can get it fixed.”
“Ethan –” I started to say, but Bailey interrupted me.
“He can stay here with me,” she said. “If he’s sick, he shouldn’t be out in the cold.”
“I’m not sick anymore,” Ethan protested. “I’m all better now.”
Bailey laughed. “You probably still don’t want to go hang out with your dad while he works on the lift, though, do you? I bet that’s going to be super boring.” She winked up at me, and I grinned when Ethan wrinkled up his nose in thought. “I bet we could probably have some hot chocolate in here, too,” she whispered conspiratorially.
Ethan’s eyes lit up. “With marshmallows?” he asked excitedly.
“Of course!” Bailey said, and just like that, she had him.
“All right,” Ethan said. He turned back towards me, a wicked smile on his face. “Take a long, long time, Dad.”
I laughed and bent down to give him a quick hug. “I’ll see you soon,” I promised him. “And thanks,” I added to Bailey.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Just get that lift fixed for me!”
I knew this probably wasn’t the end of it. That Bailey and I were still going to have to have a talk about the fact that I had a kid, that I had been married, that I hadn’t told her about any of this. I didn’t even know where to start with it all, really. But that was a conversation for another time.
For now, I trusted Ethan in her hands, even though by all rights, I barely knew her. But from what I knew about Bailey, I knew that she was warm, kind, fun. Ethan was going to be fine.
I had work to do. I headed out front and hopped on the snowmobile without a second thought, speeding up towards the lift station so that I could figure out what the problem was.
22
Bailey
To say that I was shocked to find out that Adam had a son was an understatement. I never would have guessed that was what he was hiding. And Ethan wasn’t exactly young, either. He had to be five or six years old. It immediately made me want to ask so many questions.
Why hadn’t Kayla told me? She had to know about him.
Who was Ethan’s mom? Why hadn’t Adam corrected me when I asked how he was still single? Was he still single, or was he actually together with some woman, Ethan’s mother? Anything was possible; Adam wasn’t exactly the chattiest of guys.
How could Adam spend as much time at the resort as he did? Where was Ethan during all of that time? Of course, he would probably be at school or a daycare for part of the time. And I supposed Adam’s father was still in the area, or so he had said. That could explain it, I supposed.
But it didn’t seem like Adam to just abandon taking care of his son to someone else. There had to be more to it than that.
I wanted to know everything. But I also knew that interrogating Ethan wasn’t the way to go. However, I wondered if getting to know the kid, becoming friends with him even, might get Adam to open up to me a little more.
Maybe there was a very tangible reason for why Adam was so guarded all the time.
Well, I had always liked kids. Actually, before I bought the resort, I had thought about doing something that involved kids as my new career. But at the end of the day, I liked being in the business world. And I definitely didn’t regret that now.
At the moment, I was thinking about those families that I’d been meeting all day. Really, Ethan was just an extension of that same thing. Part of the family here at this resort. I smiled at him. “All right, hot chocolate is over this way!” I told him, leading him towards the other end of the lodge.
We got our hot chocolates and marshmallows and sat down at one of the tables.
“I wish I could go skiing,” Ethan sighed as we watched a family clump inside, kicking snow off their ski boots and laughing the whole way.
“Do you know how to ski?” I asked him. I had no idea how old kids normally were when they learned how to ski. I had seen some pretty tiny tots out there on the hill a couple times now, but it was hard to determine ages when they were bundled up against the cold.
Ethan scoffed at me. “I’m one of the best skiers in the local school program,” he informed me proudly.
“Wow!” I said. “You must be a real natural. Bet you want to be an Olympian when you grow up?”
Ethan scrunched up his nose again in thought, and I couldn’t get over how adorable he was when he made that face. But eventually, he shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “I like skiing, but I’d rather ski the back country.”
“The back country?” I asked in surprise. “Does your dad let you ski that already?”
“Well, no,” Ethan said, giggling. “He lets me go in the trees sometimes, but only when I’m with him, and I have to be really careful and go really slow.” He chattered on about some video he had watched that summer and how he had thought that he wanted to learn to do flips and things and maybe ski in the half pipe but now he wasn’t sure.
“Bet you have plenty of time to make that decision, though,” I pointed out, winking at him, and he grinned.
“Guess so,” he said. “Do you ski?”
“Yep,” I said, nodding at him. “Actually, my dad taught me to ski. But I was a little older than you when I started, I think. How old are you anyway?”
“I’m six,” Ethan said. “Can we go skiing?”
I tried not to grimace. “That’s probably not a good idea right now if you were feeling sick this morning,” I reminded him, trying not to crush his hopes.
But he was surprisingly matter-of-fact in his acceptance of what I had said. “Oh, right,” he said. “I’m feeling better now.” He paused. “But I don’t want to feel sick again today. We have ski club tomorrow and I don’t want to miss it!”
I laughed. “Bet you don’t,” I said. Then, spurred by an impulse I didn’t understand, I added, “But I bet if you asked your dad, the three of us could probably go skiing together sometime. Maybe after New Year’s when it gets less busy.”
“Uh huh,” Ethan said, bobbing his head at me.
“Does your mom ski?” I couldn’t resist asking. Really, where was the harm? If she wasn’t in the picture, then Ethan would tell me that. If she skied, if she was in Adam’s life at all, I wanted to know that.
I just didn’t want to examine the reasons why I felt like I had to know about her, whoever she was.
But Ethan shook his head, delivering heartbreaking news: “My mom’s dead,” he said, just as matter-of-factly as ever. He shrugged philosophically. “I bet she’s skiing the best mountains in heaven. I asked Gramps and he said there’s lots of snow up there.”
My heart broke for the poor kid, losing his mother at such a young age. Granted, he didn’t seem too upset about it. It made me wonder how long ago it had happened, not that I could really ask.
First of all, Adam didn’t seem like the kind of guy to have one-night stands like that. Not that I knew what he was like in relationships; I had no experience with that at all. Even though the other night had felt like it might maybe be a date, he had been quick to tell me that it was just a dinner between friends and coworkers.
But he just seemed like he cared a lot more than that. And besides, wouldn’t that explain everything? His coldness, his aloofness, that change that I had noticed between who he used to be and who he was now. His wariness. His unwillingness to answer the question of why he was still single.
It all suddenly made so much sense. He hadn’t been single, at one point in his life. His girlfriend, or his wife, whatever they had been to one another, had died. My heart went out to him.
I wanted nothing more than to give Ethan a big hug, but I could tell that he didn’t need that. He was already chatting about other great skiers, and other people in his ski club. Like his mother had never been brought up at all.
Ethan finished his hot chocolate and pulled his little knapsack towards him. “I’m going to draw a picture,” he announced.
“Sure,” I said easily. “What are you going to draw?”
Ethan cocked his head to the side. “Daddy fixing the ski lift,” he said. He grinned wickedly. “’Cause then I get to draw all the people stuck on the lift.”
I groaned. “Don’t remind me about them,” I said, hoping beyond hope that Adam had somehow already got the lift running again and that there were no more problems up there. I had talked to the marketing guys and the head of mountain ops, trying to figure out how to even handle the situation. Did we give everyone a free pass to ski another day here? How many of them would return, if we did so? And what did we do for the people who were here from out of town, who wouldn’t have the chance to return?
I didn’t really want to refund them all their money from the day. First of all, that could get complicated: how could we keep track of which people had legitimate claims to make and which ones hadn’t even been over in that area when the lift had problems? Not only that, but this was the busiest day that we had ever had. I didn’t want to cut into our profits from the day by refunding everyone’s money.
Especially since that would only complicate things further in the future. How long did the lifts have to stop before people were owed some sort of refund? When we checked into the local laws, the guests hadn’t been stranded for long enough (yet) that we were required to call the fire department to have everyone evacuated. So surely that meant that we didn’t owe them anything, despite the inconvenience of being stuck out there?
I just didn’t know what to do, and suddenly, it had seemed like I had been crazy in buying this place. I never should have tried my hand at owning a ski resort, not with my limited knowledge on the subject.
But then, I came up with an idea; everyone on the lift would be offered meal vouchers, plus vouchers for one lesson either for them or for someone they knew, as well as the opportunity to demo skis for free. These vouchers could be printed off now, before the lift started running again, and we could hand them out to people as they got off the lift once it was running. The guests would be happy because they’d get multiple freebies, but we’d still earn money on their return visits if they chose to come back since they would still need lift tickets and might buy drinks or other things outside of what the meal vouchers gave them.
I was sure it wouldn’t make everyone happy. There would still be people clamoring for a full refund on the day, probably. And I might have to give out some of those as well; we’d see. But it seemed like the best solution for now.
I was kind of proud of myself for coming up with that idea. In fact, I found myself looking forward to telling Adam all about it.
For now, though, I watched as Ethan colored his picture. I couldn’t help smiling at the young boy as I drew him back into a conversation. “You’re pretty good at drawing,” I said. “Is that your favorite class at school?”
“We don’t have a drawing class,” Ethan said distractedly. “I mean, we have art, but usually in art class we get to paint or build things with clay or stuff.”
“That must be fun too,” I said.
“Yeah, but it’s not my favorite,” Ethan said, shaking his head. “My favorite is ski club.”
“Is that a class?” I asked in surprise. “You get graded on that?”
Ethan cocked his head to the side. “Well, not really,” he admitted. “But the teacher tells you when you do things good and stuff.”
I laughed. “That’s fair,” I said. “Skiing would probably be my favorite class too. But I wasn’t lucky enough to have a ski class when I was a kid. I’m from Las Vegas, and it’s pretty warm and dry down there.”
Ethan hummed in acknowledgment of what I had said. He opened his mouth with another question, but before he could ask it, Adam came over and dropped down at our table, rubbing his chapped hands together. “It is chilly out there!” he said. “But Dasher’s up and running again. Found the problem and got it all fixed, so it shouldn’t happen again, but we’ll stick around for a little while if that’s what you want. And if Ethan’s still feeling okay.”
“I’m fine, Dad,” Ethan said, and I could tell from his exasperation that this probably wasn’t the first time that Adam had asked him, and also that Adam was probably a pretty protective dad. It was cute, really. I couldn’t help smiling at both of them.
Then, I stood up. “You look frozen right up to your eyelashes,” I said to Adam. “Why don’t I get you a cup of coffee?”
“You don’t have to,” Adam protested, rising half out of his seat when he did so, but I put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down.
“Let me,” I said. “You just saved hundreds of our customers from freezing out there; it’s the least I can do.”
Adam laughed and settled back down. “You’re also the one paying my checks,” he reminded me, his eyes twinkling.
“Are you asking for a raise?” I joked.
“Maybe,” Adam said, shrugging easily.
I snorted and shook my head. “I’ll have to talk to HR about it,” I said.
“You’re the boss, boss,” Adam teased.
I grinned and headed to get him that coffee that I had promised him. When I came back, Ethan was showing his dad his picture. “That’s really good, buddy,” Adam told him.
I cleared my throat as I set down the coffee. “Look, I’m sure you have some sort of arrangements made for him already, but I just want to make sure you know that if you ever want to bring him in here to work, or if he needs a place to hang out and wait for you after his ski club is over, we can always find someone to look after him here.”
Adam looked surprised, but he masked it quickly. “Not necessary,” he said, shrugging. “I mean, yeah, you’ll see him around here sometimes, but his Gramps takes care of him a lot, and I try to set up my work schedule so that it’s at the same times that he’s at school or ski club.”
“Sure,” I said easily. “I just wanted to make sure you know that if you ever need anything, I’m always here. Or if you need to take days off because he’s sick or anything, I’ll do my best to make the lifts not break next time.”
Adam laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind, and I may just take you up on that,” he said, grinning at me.
“Plus, she said she’d come skiing with us sometime!” Ethan announced excitedly.
“Oh, did she?” Adam asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
I blushed brilliantly. “Only if it’s okay with you,” I quickly clarified.
“I think that might be fun sometime,” Adam said, and Ethan cheered, his grin stretching from ear to ear.
23
&n
bsp; Adam
Ethan skipped into the kitchen on Friday morning, and I hid a smile, glad to see that he was feeling totally better again. To be honest, he’d been back to his normal self by Wednesday night, and he’d gone to school yesterday as well. But I still kept waiting for a possible relapse, for him to start feeling ‘yucky’ again. But he seemed totally fine.
I couldn’t help feeling relieved about that, even though I knew there had been no serious problems in the first place. It was good to see him back at his usual energy levels, though.
Dad had called me not long after Ethan and I had returned from the mountain on Wednesday. He had apologized for not being around; he had been out grocery shopping at the time, and he had forgotten his phone out in the center console of his truck, where it had frozen so that the battery died faster than it should have. He sounded worried that I had called him, and he wanted to make sure that everything was all right.
I had been able to assure him that everything really was all right. In fact, things felt better than they had in a long time.
I still knew there was a conversation to be had with Bailey. But she seemed surprisingly okay with suddenly finding out that I had a young son. I couldn’t tell her how much that acceptance meant to me, or how much it meant to hear her offer to help me out with him if I ever needed anything.
It meant almost as much as seeing the two of them interact with one another. Ethan had chatted all about Bailey on the way home, telling me how pretty she was and how she was probably a great skier too because she’d been skiing forever, and how she was from a place where they didn’t have ski club and that must be horrible.
I had to laugh at that last. I was just glad that the two of them had really gotten along. I would never think twice about leaving Ethan with her, I already knew. For some reason, I believed that she would take care of him as though he was her own son.
One Shot at Love Page 13