From the Top

by Dani Collins

  When in doubt, smile. Marvin did, as he tried to get back to the business at hand. “I see that your certificate is in medical and dental administration.”

  “Yes, but I put myself through college working as a night manager at a motel.”

  A tiny, twelve-room operation that catered to travelers needing a bed and little else, he had already noted.

  “I still help them with their taxes,” she added.

  Her smile was very engaging. In fact, there was something about her pointed chin and wholesome prettiness that was very reassuring and welcoming. Her voice held a soothing warmth and even though she seemed nervous, she was projecting control of her emotions, if not the circumstances around her.

  It was the temperament they sought for this position, which made it that much harder for him to say, “I presume you were hoping to make a change, but—”

  “Yes,” she said firmly. “Things have to change. Yes.” Her mouth tightened with resolve. “Yes.”

  He faltered, then smiled again. Apologetically.

  “But we need someone with more experience and training. Unless there’s something you haven’t indicated in your résumé, we would only have positions in housekeeping or the dining room to offer you.”

  “I could do that,” she stated promptly. Then her brows tugged in. “Although, what does that pay?”

  Not nearly as much as the manager position. He told her the wage. “Plus tips. And we’re building a staff house, but it’s bunk-rooms with a common kitchen.”

  “Oh.” Her gaze dropped to the hands she stacked in her lap, one folded over the other. She stayed very still, head down.

  Praying?

  “Although…” He brightened as he realized he could offer her a consolation prize. “I would encourage you to check with the Human Resources manager at the resort. Orin. He’s in the middle of a hiring push for when the resort opens mid-November. I could call him right now, ask him if he has time to speak with you.”

  Even if he did, he would likely offer a similar minimum-wage position selling lift tickets or renting skis. The kids working those jobs wouldn’t even have accommodation here at the resort. Not this year. They would bus in from Haven every day.

  “I’m sorry you came all this way,” Marvin said, trying to wrap up.

  “I did. I came all this way and should have…” She sighed and looked toward the door, expression full of conflict.

  Marvin had seen this, too. I’m in the wrong class. I thought it would be different. My parents expect…

  “I wish I could be more helpful,” he tried, rising.

  “You can,” she said. She was crushing one hand with the other now, knuckles white. “Would you answer a couple of questions for me. Please?”

  “About the job?” He sank back into his chair.

  “About the Johanssons. How well do you know them? For instance, the woman I saw when I came in. You were speaking to her about me. Is she Vivien Johansson? Trigg’s mother?” She bit her lip.

  “She is. Why?” He saw her gaze follow the perplexed shift of his brows, the way thousands of eyes before her had done.

  But she wasn’t too distracted by it. She quirked her own inquisitively.

  “You’re not—You aren’t Trigg’s father are you? Online it says his father passed away.”

  “Years ago, yes. Vivien and I are, well, we live together.” It was true, but it still made him warm with a slight blush to say it. “Trigg’s older brother, Rolf, is marrying my daughter, Glory.”

  “So you’re very close with the family.” She blinked at him, absorbing that.

  “I like to think so, yes. Why?”

  “Because—” She searched his expression, but hers was impossible to read. “I need help.” She frowned at her hands. “It’s not easy for me to say that. I’ve managed this far and quite well, all things considered. I’m not here for a handout. Let me be clear about that.” Her head came up, expression earnest. “That’s why I put in for the manager job. I expect to continue supporting the both of us. This isn’t about money. I would stay in the job I have, but she’s so unhappy. Acting out. And she keeps asking about him. I don’t know what she expects to come of it, but I had to see what our options are. I have to do something or she will.”

  “Who?”

  “My niece. Trigg’s daughter.”

  *

  “Since when are you going to New Zealand?”

  The edge on Nate’s voice scraped over Ilke hard enough to make her both jerk with surprise and shrink a little. Guilt? She wouldn’t go if she had a choice!

  She bit back a sigh, not wanting to do this even though she had known it was coming from the moment she had mentioned it over dinner with his grandparents.

  It had been such a nice dinner, too. She’d been horribly nervous, but the tiny woman Nate called Grammy had hugged her and said she was sorry about the baby and Ilke had nearly cried because she knew Grammy meant it.

  Nate’s sister had his sense of humor and his grandfather was as inquisitive and analytical as Nate, asking technical questions about racing and wanting a lesson on the point system used to establish international rankings. She had been explaining how she was assembling her team and that she wanted to meet with a technician in New Zealand when Nate had sent her a hard look that she had ignored because she hadn’t wanted to have this conversation in front of his family.

  She barely wanted to think about it, frankly, but they were in her room now. His sister was in Nate’s room, spending some one-on-one time with her nephew since her own kids had stayed in Sacramento with her ex. Nate’s grandparents had turned in for the night and she and Nate were going to hash this out, she supposed.

  “The technician I met in Sweden was a sexist jerk.” She didn’t stop sorting her laundry, pulling the dirty stuff out of the suitcase and leaving the clean stuff on the bed. She had taken a mostly empty suitcase to Sweden and cleaned out her locker at the club.

  “Each time I said, ‘This doesn’t feel right,’ he said it would be fine once I was skiing. All the resorts were closed for the season. I couldn’t see if he was right, but I thought, If I have to go anywhere with this guy, ever, I’ll kill us both. So I told Rolf, no.”

  Aside from that idiot, the trip had been fine. The handful of people she had run into had seen the press release. It hadn’t mentioned her miscarriage, only quoted Rolf as having ‘every confidence’ in her, but gossip had made the rounds. She got a few sideways looks. Mostly people had only asked her about Whiskey Jack, though, which she was more than happy to talk up.

  “Since I had to go to Sweden to ship my skis, I met with that guy, but there’s a man in New Zealand who was our first choice. I’ve met him before and I like him. He was away sailing when I called him. Now he’s starting his season, but he’s willing to consider a change and move here this fall if he and I are a good fit. At least I can ski and see how we work together. I want to get a few things from my mother’s house, too. I have to go.”

  “So you’re planning to see her. What about him?” Her stepfather, he meant.

  She lowered the insulated shirt that was technically clean, but smelled like her locker. She threw it in the dirty pile. “I’ve walked that minefield before. It’s not a big deal.”

  “It’s a huge fucking deal. You’re not doing it. Not alone. No.”

  “Nate. This is what we’re up against. I have to do what I have to do. You’re not always going to like it.”

  “This is different and you know it. When are you going?”

  “Next week.”

  His shoulders went back and he stood taller. “I’m just hearing this now?”

  “I wasn’t hiding it from you! We have busy schedules. You were trying to get on top of your workload so you could have time with your family. If this technician doesn’t work out, I will probably go to Canada. This is what my summer will be, traveling between training, pulling my team together. I’m sorry to say this, but it’s not your call whether I go to New Zealand. All the decis
ions I make for my career have to be mine.”

  The blistering look on his face made her heart sink. She thought, This is it. So soon. Hairline fractures began spreading across her heart. Why had she let herself begin to think this relationship could weather what others hadn’t?

  “You’re not going alone. I’m going to talk to Rolf.” He walked out.

  *

  Vivien stared at the man whose clothes were alongside hers in the closet, his toothbrush beside hers in the cup. They were a couple and, she had believed, were on the same page in most areas of their lives. But, suddenly, she saw the side of him that made Glory tear her hair out.

  “Why on earth did you offer her the job? We agreed she wasn’t qualified.”

  “Vivien, I want you to sit down.”

  “For heaven’s sake, Marvin. I’m annoyed, not hysterical. Please tell me you got her correct number this time because you have to call her back and rescind the offer. We hired that nice young man with the management degree and experience in five-star service. He’s ready to start next week. We can’t wait another month for this girl to arrive, then not know what she’s doing when she gets here.”

  It was still two months before the wedding, but there was still so much to be done.

  Marvin brought her glass of wine across with his own and nodded at the love seat. “Please.”

  “I’m not—Why are you being so difficult?” Vivien plopped her butt on the cushion with a beleaguered sigh, telegraphing that she was highly resistant to whatever silly reasoning he might have.

  Marvin took it as well as he did when Glory behaved the same way. He stiffened and his expression fell into neutral lines, hiding his hurt.

  Some of her anger began to deflate. She didn’t mean to be dismissive, but this was so exasperating.

  “She needs the income of the manager position.” He lowered into the chair and set his wine on the coffee table, then angled to face her. “And the suite. She’s raising her niece.”

  “Oh, Marvin.” That big heart of his was a lovely quality, but it was entirely too soft to be a boss. “It’s one thing to have Aiden here once a week on Nate’s day off, but we can’t have a child running around here full-time. This isn’t one of those sitcoms off the family channel. You have to take seriously the image we’re trying to project.”

  “This isn’t about the lodge’s branding. This is about family.” He looked so grave, her heart stopped.

  “Have you been to the doctor or something?” She reached a cold hand to his, not ready to face losing him when they were so new.

  “No, no,” he dismissed. “I’m fine. But did you know,” he began in a very carefully measured tone, warm hand clasping hers, “that Trigg has a child?”

  Vivien heard the words and thought distantly that she shouldn’t be surprised, but she dismissed it just as quickly. He was mistaken. That couldn’t be.

  Somehow, her wine was wetting her lips and she felt the cool liquid slide down her throat, but then she choked on it, which caused her to jostle so hard, her Chardonnay sloshed onto her knuckle.

  “Is that—” She took another big gulp of wine. “Did that young woman say that today? That she has Trigg’s baby?” It had been in her mind for years that accusations like this could be made. She should have been more prepared for it, but she really wasn’t.

  “Her name is Wren. And, what she actually said was that her sister, Mandy, had his baby. The girl is named Skylar. She’s twelve.”

  “Twelve.” She shrieked it, startling even herself as she recoiled in shock. “That’s not even possible,” she managed in a tone that was lower in volume if still full of hysterical disbelief. “He would have been—”

  “Seventeen. They met in Utah. She told him she would get an abortion, but their father found out and didn’t allow it. He wanted Mandy to give up the baby for adoption, but she kept it, then died in a car accident a few years later. Wren has her now.”

  Vivien blinked. It didn’t make any sense. She didn’t always agree with how Trigg lived his life, but he never hid what he did from her. How could she not know he had got a woman pregnant twelve years ago?

  “I don’t believe it.” It was a statement of fact. She absolutely did not believe that this woman had come here with this story, and that Marvin had been suckered into believing it. “She applied for the manager job! What was she going to do? Start working here without even telling us who she was?”

  “I think that was partly an excuse to get in the door and see what kind of people we are. She seems quite protective. Hasn’t told Skylar anything about Trigg, not even his name. She wanted to wait until she knew what kind of reception the girl would get from him. She’s willing to arrange a DNA test. She has her sister’s diary, too.”

  “That’s probably as made up as the rest of this. She’s after the Johansson fortune, Marvin.”

  “No, she wanted the job so she could continue to support the two of them. That’s why I believe her, Vivien. She’s been on her own with Skylar for five years. She’s always known Trigg is Skylar’s father, but kept it to herself and would continue to do so if Skylar wasn’t pressuring her to find him. It sounds like she’s becoming a handful, starting to run with a rough crowd. Wren hopes this answers some questions and settles her down. She showed me some photos. It was like looking into your eyes.”

  Oh, dear God. “I’m a grandmother?” No.

  His mouth pursed. “I’m envious as hell.”

  “Don’t make jokes, Marvin.” She finished her wine, hand shaking. Tears were coming into her eyes. “Are you certain?”

  “Well, I imagine a DNA test is the right thing to do, but I believe she is certain. If this is Trigg’s daughter, we have to welcome her, don’t you think? Do everything we can to foster a relationship between them? I didn’t know what else to say except that of course I would give her the job if this turns out to be true.”

  “I have to talk to Trigg.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Nate checked the lobby then called Rolf on his way back up the stairs. “Can I come up?”

  “Sure.”

  When Nate got to the top floor, he found the old doors to Glory and Rolf’s rooms had been closed in along with the window at the end of the hall. Rolf opened the door on the room next to Glory’s and let him into what was now a lounge with a small dining area. One set of double doors opened into what was still the bedroom, another let onto the wraparound balcony.

  Glory was at her desk in the corner of the bedroom, under the gable. She pulled out an earbud at the sound of voices and twisted around to say, “What? Oh. Hi, Nate.” She smiled in greeting.

  “Nice,” Nate said with an admiring nod at the renovation.

  “Yeah, we’re getting a kitchen, too.” She thumbed to the old door into her room. Nate presumed it went through the roughed-in space in the hall to Rolf’s old room. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m on a roll.” She waved at her laptop.

  “It’s business. Carry on.”

  She plugged back in and Rolf moved to close the doors between the rooms. “What’s up?”

  “I’m going to Queenstown with Ilke.”

  “We have four teams of contractors on site. I can’t spare you.”

  “Aware. But I won’t take chances she’ll run into her stepfather. Not alone. And don’t say her mother will be there.” Nate folded his arms. “I wouldn’t interfere if it was anywhere else, but this is a deal-breaker.”

  Rolf didn’t flinch or even react much at all. Only stood there measuring how serious Nate was, eye to eye, man to man. Nate silently conveyed he was dead fucking serious.

  “Trigg’s due to head to Chile that week. Maybe he could go with her.”

  “Not good enough.” To get his point across, Nate hit below the belt. “Would you send Glory anywhere near that guy?”

  “Fuck,” Rolf muttered, turning away, hands hooked on his hips. He made a sucking noise through his teeth. “I knew we’d run into conflicts. Hoped we’d at least have the resort
running before we did.”

  “Look, Chivonne is pretty capable. I’m actually really impressed by her. If we could get her some help, get the PA we’ve been talking about, that would ease a lot of pressure. How long is Ilke supposed to be gone?”

  “If you’re going? Five days, max. Two of those travel.” Rolf rubbed his beard. “Damn it, I wanted her doing time trials down there, getting her confidence back. But fuck it. I’ll tell Trigg to put off Chile until after she’s back. Then he can take her with him, get her started there.”

  The pressure suffocating Nate eased. He nodded and left.

  *

  Vivien was shaking even harder by the time she reached Trigg’s door. She was a little out of breath, having stormed down the hall faster than she’d moved in years. And if that little shit wasn’t here, she would knock on the door of every single woman in this place.

  He opened to her imperative knock. He was in his workout clothes and was tying up his hair. “I’m heading to the gym. What’s up?”

  She shoved past him and hit the edge of the door hard enough to pull it loose from his grip to slam it.

  “Damn, Mom. Was it my turn to take out the garbage? I guess I’m grounded from the skate park now.” He folded his arms, and gave her the look his father used to wear, when he thought she was overreacting. It was so patronizing and annoying, she wanted to spank him.

  “Tell me about Mandy.”

  Behind his closed lips, his tongue touched the front of his teeth. Then he blinked and his expression went neutral. He sat on the bed to put on his shoes.

  “Barry Manilow, if I recall correctly.”

  “Do not get cute with me right now.”

  She knew her son well. He was trying to act bored and unaffected, but he knotted his shoes hard, like they were the only thing grounding him to reality.