Never Say Goodbye: A Canyon Creek Novel (Canyon Creek, CO Book 2)

by Lori Ryan

  Never Say Goodbye, A Canyon Creek Novel

  Book 2, Emmett and Elle

  Lori Ryan

  Kay Manis

  Copyright 2017, RMI Publishing, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

  Contents

  Other Books By Lori and Kay

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Unedited Preview of Thank You For Loving Me

  About the Authors

  Other Books By Lori and Kay

  To find all of the Canyon Creek Series Novels, visit Lori and Kay at www.loriandkay.com! We’ve got a lot more coming in this world. Stay tuned at the end of the book for a sneak peek of the next book.

  Lori’s Series can be found at www.loriryanromance.com and include:

  The Sutton Capital Series

  The Heroes of Evers, TX Series

  The On the Line Series

  and Lori’s writing in Amazon’s Kindle Worlds

  Kay’s Series can be found at http://kaymanis.com and include:

  The X-Treme Love Series

  The Miracle Short Story Series

  Acknowledgments

  Special thanks go to Shawn Fox, Felecia Nash, Sandy Lea Sullivan, and Amanda Vincent.

  Also, a huge thank you to the survivors who helped with our research, Jessica Guerrero and Marsha Lynn Hammond.

  Please check out Marsha’s company, Dhremo Therapy (pronounced DREAM-O) at www.dhremo.com. She offers inspirational apothecary styled stickers for chemo IV bags and other nifty items.

  Chapter One

  Emmett Sumner was the last one to turn his attention to his mother as she stepped to the head of the conference table inside the Lodge at Canyon Creek. His mind had been on the other side of the mountain, where it had been for the last three weeks, thinking about the woman who lived there. As a writer, he’d always been contemplative, but this was something altogether different.

  He’d been thinking of Elle Noble, about her family’s ski resort located on the other side of Canyon Creek Mountain. She’d occupied his thoughts ever since he’d seen her in his mother’s hospital room three weeks ago. It might have been years since he’d seen her, but it didn’t mean their connection wasn’t strong, as much as he’d wished it wasn’t. He’d known the minute he’d seen her enter behind a huge bouquet of flowers that something was wrong.

  Elle had empathized with his mother, saying she understood what it was like to be in a hospital. It had been such a passing comment, no one had even questioned her or commented on it. He guessed they might all have figured she’d twisted an ankle a time or two as a ballet dancer, but he knew better. He knew her, and he was willing to bet there was more to the story.

  He’d always wondered why she’d left her career as a professional dancer in New York City to come back to Colorado and run her family’s resort a few years ago. People in town had said she’d wanted to be close to her family, but he didn’t buy that excuse. Dancing had been everything to Elle. Not even he could keep her from leaving when they’d graduated high school.

  After she’d left the hospital room, Emmett’s mother had insisted he walk her out. He’d followed and asked her what her comment from earlier had meant. She’d just thanked him politely, as if he were a stranger, and quickly drove off once they’d reached her car.

  There had been a time when Emmett knew Elsbeth—or Elle as everyone called her—better than anyone in the world, her every thought, every dream. Her every…everything. His Elle.

  Until three weeks ago, it had been almost five years since he’d seen her. Five years since she’d walked out of his life for good, leaving nothing more than a freaking thank you note. But that didn’t change the fact that he knew her in a way no other person ever had. If there were ever such a thing as soulmates, he and Elle were it.

  He stared out at Canyon Creek Mountain with the one thought that had absorbed all his focus lately: Elle Noble was different. Something had changed. And his gut told him whatever it was that had caused this change in her, it wasn’t good.

  Emmett rubbed the back of his neck as he turned in his chair and focused on his mom.

  Four of his five brothers and one of his two aunts sat at the table, too. At the head of it stood his mother, Valerie Sumner and Maggie Lawrence, the manager of the lodge, who was now also his brother, Ben’s, fiancée.

  “Thank you, boys, for coming.” His mother spoke, quelling the small murmur of voices around the table. Valerie Sumner was the owner of the lodge they all sat in, a project she’d started with his father, until his death three months before. “I know we didn’t give you a lot of notice.”

  Emmett noted his mother’s voice was more authoritative than usual for business meetings. Then again, this was the first one she’d led with all of them present. It had been his brother Ben who had called Emmett and his brothers to this same table after their father’s funeral to explain the dire situation his family was in.

  Despite his father’s passing and the stress of meeting the requirements of the lodge’s loan, Emmett’s mother looked in good spirits. Emmett could see she’d lost weight though, and she’d had a difficult time adjusting to life without her partner of almost thirty-four years. But if Emmett had learned one thing about his mother since returning to his childhood home of Canyon Creek, Colorado, it was that she was resilient and strong. Standing and leading them in a way he never imagined she could was the prime example of that new-found strength.

  It was also clear this lodge was a big part of that happiness. His mom thrived on coming up with just the right things to appeal to their guests and draw them in. She was made for the role of welcoming their guests and making them feel like they were coming home. Making them want to return again and again.

  But for today, it seemed, his mom was their general, and Emmett was happy to see her standing up there in the role.

  “We’re going to do some reassignments of departments,” his mother said. “Max is here to stay for a bit longer, which will help us tremendously.”

  Emmett’s brother Max smiled.

  Emmett shook his head, but he had to give Max credit. If nothing else, he’d convinced half the women in town to apply for several new positions that Maggie and his mother had created here at the lodge. When a professional football player arrived in town, women came out of the woodwork, despite rumors Max might be r
etiring from the Tampa Bay Stingrays thanks to two bad knees. Chicks wanted any excuse to throw themselves in front of what some magazines called, America’s sexiest NFL star. Emmett had to swallow hard to keep from gagging at the thought of his brother as a sex symbol.

  “The first thing I’ve called you all here to announce today,” his mother said, “is that I’m making Maggie the General Manager of the lodge.” His mother beamed as she gestured toward her future daughter-in-law.

  Ben released his fiancée’s hand and watched her with pride. Emmett’s older brother, Ben, had been the first of them to throw himself into saving the lodge. He’d butted heads with Maggie Lawrence to do it, but she’d stolen Ben’s heart in the end. Thank God for that, too. It turned out, Maggie was a big part of the planning and business-side of the lodge’s expansion. She was as essential to the lodge’s success as his mom. If Valerie Sumner was the heart of the lodge, Maggie was the brains.

  “Hasn’t she always been the manager?” Max asked.

  Emmett found himself nodding in agreement. He’d always thought the same.

  Valerie smiled. “She’s been performing the duties of General Manager for a long time. We’ve just never given her the official title. It’s long overdue and well-earned. And now,” Valerie said, as she turned her gaze to each of them at the table, “she’s going to have a lot of other managers and department heads reporting to her.”

  Maggie handed Max a stack of papers. “If you’d take a copy and pass it around the table.” Maggie smiled.

  “Sure thing,” Max said, winking.

  Emmett shook his head. He’d actually winked at Ben’s fiancée. Douche.

  Ben reached around Emmett and slapped Max on the head.

  “Hey, watch it,” Max said, rubbing his head.

  “She’s taken, asswipe,” Ben growled.

  “Boys!” Maggie snapped from the head of the table, and damned if she didn’t sound a lot like his mother. “Jake has to catch a flight this evening and we have a lot to get through. I’m sure he doesn’t want to spend the whole day in the conference room.”

  The room fell silent—except for Max’s grumbling about being a man, not a boy—all eyes turning to Maggie. She’d commanded the attention of grown men acting like teenagers. Rather than being perturbed, Ben stared at her with adoration.

  “If you’ll look at the chart,” Maggie continued, “you’ll see that we each have a department. Some of you have more than one, like Emmett.”

  Emmett took the stack of papers from his brother and grabbed one from the top, studying Maggie’s organizational chart.

  “As Valerie said, I’ll be taking on the duties of the General Manager,” she pointed to the top of the page.

  “So, you’ll still be Ben’s boss?” Aaron asked. Aaron might be a cardiologist and one of the more serious of the brothers, but it was hard for any of them to pass up the chance to rib one another. He’d stayed in town after flying in three weeks before, when their mother had landed herself in the hospital. What had first looked like a heart attack had, thankfully, turned out to be an anxiety attack brought on when Ben and Maggie had a blowout fight. Their argument had nearly cost them their relationship, and ruined the love they’d found in each other.

  Emmett shoved away the tinge of jealousy at seeing his brother and Maggie now happily engaged. Maybe it was being close to family that had changed how Emmett felt about relationships. Being so close to Elle, to the memories of them before things had gone so wrong, had him wondering.

  Back home in San Diego, he’d been dating a woman casually, but she’d ended the relationship weeks before he came back to Canyon Creek. Emmett had known it wasn’t going anywhere but he’d been comfortable letting things coast along the way they’d been. It was nice to have someone to spend evenings and weekends with. She hadn’t agreed. She’d told him she could tell his heart wasn’t in it, and she didn’t have time to waste on dead-end relationships. That’s apparently what he was. A dead end.

  Max leaned over to Emmett. “I bet Maggie’s the boss in the bedroom, too.” He laughed under his breath. Something went sailing across the room. “Ow,” Max cried, rubbing his head. He reached down and grabbed a pencil, holding it in the air. “Who the hell threw this at me?”

  “You always were a suck-ass wide receiver.” Jake laughed. Jake was probably the second-most serious of the group, after Aaron. He had to be. Jake was a political strategist. It was his job to anticipate any problems and head them off at the pass. Emmett would guess being home, even though it was only for a short visit to attend this meeting, was a rare chance for him to relax. Apparently, cutting up with his brothers was going to be part of that relaxation.

  His mother stood tall. “I threw it, Maxwell James Sumner,” she said, hands on hips. “I will not have you disrupting this meeting or using foul language in front of ladies.”

  “What ladies?” Max said under his breath.

  Emmett wondered if his mom knew using their full names was beginning to lose its effectiveness. Never mind the fact they were all grown men, she used their first and middle names so often, they all laughed when she did it now. If you couldn’t make Valerie Sumner call you by all three of your names once daily, you were losing your touch as a Sumner boy.

  Max’s eyes darted around the room like he might find someone else hiding in the shadows with a pencil box full of projectiles and a guilty expression. “Ma, did you really throw that at me?”

  “Sort of,” their mother said and looked to her sister-in-law, Emmett’s Aunt Sally. “By proxy.”

  “I did.” Aunt Sally raised her hand. “But she asked me to,” she said, pointing toward his mother. “She’s a terrible shot.”

  Emmett held back a laugh.

  “To answer your question, Max,” Maggie said, “yes, I will be Ben’s boss.”

  Max stared at Ben, a gleam in his eye.

  “I’ll also be your boss, Max,” she continued, a gleam in her own eye.

  “Huh?” Max’s head reared back.

  “Maggie is the new General Manager of our lodge,” his mother reiterated. “That makes her everyone’s boss. I’ll be the Assistant General Manager.”

  “So, she’s your boss, too, Ma?” Max asked, playing up his stupidity. Emmett knew Max only played dumb. He had a feeling it was something that had started early on when Max realized people expected a jock to be brainless. Max’s degree in biomedical engineering proved them wrong.

  Their mother raised a brow at Max but didn’t answer.

  Max glanced at Emmett with a shrug.

  Maggie took over, referring to the chart they all now had in front of them. “Valerie will be the Director of Operations and responsible for management of the housekeeping and front office as well as guest relations, with Denise and Emily still being the department heads.”

  “Have I met them?” Max asked, glancing around the room.

  “Nope, but Denise is just your type, man,” Emmett smirked.

  Ben hid his amusement. Denise was a middle-aged, rotund ex-Army veteran with more hair on her chin than Max. She was meaner than Ben and Maggie’s mangy cat, Lucky, when you tried to take away his food.

  His mother apparently didn’t get the joke. “All employees are off limits to date, Max,” she said.

  “What about Ben?” he asked.

  Ben spun in his chair. “What about me?”

  “You were dating an employee,” Jake said.

  “We’re not dating, Jake.” Maggie held up her hand, wiggling her ring finger. “We’re engaged, remember?” The diamond Ben had recently placed on Maggie’s hand sparkled in the light.

  Max whistled. “Man, that’s a doozy.”

  “Yeah, and you better watch it or I’ll bop you on the head with it if you act up.” Maggie smirked.

  She turned to her fiancé. “Ben will be our Director of Finance and Information Technology. Now that we’re moving into online booking and we’ve set up a software system the department heads can access from tablets instead of havin
g to run reports in the office, we need someone who can troubleshoot quickly if anything crops up.”

  She glanced up at Emmett next and smiled. “Emmett, you’ll still be the Director of Sales and Marketing. You’ll be responsible for long-term strategic goals as well.”

  “You’ve done such an amazing job with the website and the blog already,” his mother said, her eyes beaming with pride.

  “Thanks.” Emmett returned her smile but gave her a cautious look. He wasn’t prepared to stay in Canyon Creek permanently. He hoped she understood they’d need to replace him down the road.

  His mother seemed to read his mind. “I don’t expect any of you to stay here forever, but you’re getting us started, and the marketing is such a big part of making this work. We’ll be counting on you a lot more than you realize.” She turned and looked at Ben. “I do expect you to stay, dear. I’m afraid I can’t let Maggie go.” Her grin was just as huge as Maggie’s.

  Ben had told his family before he proposed to Maggie that he would live wherever she wanted. Turns out, she wanted Canyon Creek. Despite his own hesitation with returning to their childhood home, Ben said he’d be happy to stay, so long as she was with him. He’d all but moved into Maggie’s house.

  “So that’s okay?” Maggie asked Emmett, drawing him back to the discussion. “You’ll continue to head up sales and marketing?”

  “Yeah, that’s cool,” he answered. “For the time being.”

  “I’ve talked to Elsbeth Noble at the resort,” his mother said.

  “Elle?” Max asked.

  Emmett sat ramrod straight, momentarily stunned, but his mother didn’t seem to notice