by Lori Ryan
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 retiring 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. Nevermind 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 having 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
She went on as though she hadn’t just screwed with his whole world.
“Yes,” his mother said. “Elle’s the director of the resort’s sales and marketing department as well. She and I have been talking about running some joint marketing, bringing a few new festivals and things to the area.” She looked around the table at all of them, as if there was nothing wrong with what she was saying. “If the resort and the lodge work together—”
“No.” Emmett broke in, his voice low and quiet, but unyielding. “It’s not happening, Ma.”
The room fell silent and his mother turned a confused gaze on him. Shit.
No one in the room knew about New York City. He couldn’t explain it either. He wasn’t dragging that story out for the whole family.
Long seconds passed without anyone saying anything, until his mother broke the silence. “Surely you’re over what happened in high school. It’s been years, Em, I honestly thought you’d be happy to reconnect with her.”
Emmett sighed. His mother had done this over the years. She’d given him cheerful updates about Elle whenever she heard something about her life. They’d increased when Elle had come back to Canyon Creek after retiring from her dancing career in New York.
Emmett had had the same reaction each time. He’d quickly changed the conversation or ended the phone call. Apparently, his mother either hadn’t noticed or was choosing to ignore the not-so-subtle hint.
Emmett didn’t look away, and neither did his mother.
Maggie cleared her throat. “Well, let’s table the idea for now. We can revisit it later.”
Emmett opened his mouth to say there’d be no revisiting it, but Maggie didn’t give him a chance to say anything. She looked purposefully to Max. “Okay, so Max.”
“Yep, ready and willing. Possibly able.” Max waggled his brows. His brother dealt with anything uncomfortable by goofing around.
“I would like you to be in charge of overseeing the remainder of the build-out on the wedding barn and the cabins,” Maggie continued, unfazed. “Shawn said you’ve already started to help the construction team so I think you would transition smoothly into a head of engineering role, of sorts.”
Shawn Braddock was their contractor, and a talented wood-working artist. He’d done an incredible job on the rest of the lodge.
“I don’t know anything about engineering,” Max said.
“You studied biomedical engineering in college,” Emmett said.
“That’s different,” Max rolled his eyes.
“Not so much,” Maggie said. “I think your degree could prove very useful in this role. If you would be willing to accept it.” She stared at Max and Emmett knew her sea-green eyes had the man transfixed. He’d do anything she asked, just like Ben.
With her wild, curly auburn hair and beguiling smile, Emmett was convinced Maggie Lawrence was a witch. When she wasn’t working her magic on him, he found it funny. And if he were honest, he was happy she was going to be his sister-in-law. She already felt like part of the family.
“I guess I could try it.” Max said. “Just don’t expect a lot.”
Maggie nodded, her face splitting into a huge smile. “Thanks, Max.” She turned to Aaron and Jake. “I know you guys won’t be here much longer, so I hope you’re not upset that I didn’t include you in the organizational chart.” She raised a finger. “Yet.”
“Not at all,” Aaron said and Emmett could swear he heard his brother sigh in relief.
He understood. None of his brothers had wanted to come home, but Ben had made it clear. Their family’s land, their childhood home and the lodge were in jeopardy if they didn’t all pitch in.
The loan his parents had taken out to build the lodge had tons of covenant clauses, some Emmett still wasn’t one hundred percent sure of. The
bottom line was, not only did they have to make their payments on time, his mom had to meet certain sales projections and forecasts each quarter or face default.
Emmett’s job was critical to not only the success of the lodge, but to the safety of his family’s land. If the lodge didn’t succeed, they’d lose their land along with all the buildings. Land that had been in his family for generations.
As much as they might all bitch about coming home, all of them would do what it took to make this work. For the mother.
All of his brothers and he led busy lives but shortly after their father’s death, they’d developed a plan—a schedule of sorts—that rotated them all in coming home to help their mother stay afloat. Emmett and Ben had come home first. Max would be staying for a while now that football season was over. Jake, Aaron, and his baby brother, Grant, would all take time off over the next sixteen months to return home in stages. They would back their mother’s dream and make sure the quarter of the mountain that the Sumners still owned wasn’t lost forever.
Ben had confided to Emmett that the loan was with the Canyon Creek United Bank, a financial institution whose board was stacked with members of the Noble family. Although the Sumner and Noble families had each owned half of the mountain when the town was founded, the Noble family took half the Sumner’s land in the 1800s after Lazarus Sumner racked up gambling debts he couldn’t pay off.
What remained to be seen, now, was whether the current generation of Nobles were just as eager to foreclose on the lodge if they couldn’t make its payments or meet the covenants of the loan. Emmett wasn’t sure he wanted to gamble on the generosity of the Nobles. His family couldn’t afford a default.
“I’m sorry I can’t stay and help,” Jake said. “This election has me swamped right now.” He ran a hand through his thick black hair. He was currently managing the campaign for a California senator running for the U.S. Senate with talk of moving on to the presidency within the next decade.