It was like I could hear the cogs in his brain whirr as he warmed to the idea. “Yeah, not many people get to travel the world and get paid to do it. It was nice talking to you, Clio. Keep in touch, yeah?”
I smiled. “Send us postcards at every exotic port of call.”
“Will do,” he said jovially. “Give my love to everyone.”
Just then I heard the pitter patter of tiny feet and that could only mean one thing. Trouble. “Where are you, you little varmint!” I said jokingly, watching as the fluffy ball of fur heavy-breathed his way under my desk. I bent on hands and knees to grab him before he used my antique handwoven rug as his personal toilet or nibbled on one of my spare pairs of high heels, tossed under there in case of surprise customer arrivals.
I scrabbled for him, darting a hand and grabbing air. I huffed.
“What on earth are you doing, darling? Is that one of your yoga moves?”
I started and smashed my head into the top of the desk as I tried to retreat, realizing it probably wasn’t my best angle, rump in the air, jiggling around for the world to witness. The little fur ball barreled backwards out of sight, and my hand came to rest in a still-warm puddle. “Amory! He’s peeing all over the place!”
She laughed from behind me. “There’s absolutely no point harping on about it now, darling. What’s done is done. All the puppy-training manuals say you have to catch them before they commit the act; yelling like a banshee after does absolutely nothing except confuse the poor mite.” Scotty dashed out of the office and down the hall to the front door, his little paws clip-clopping on the wooden floorboards.
Ungraciously, I managed to shimmy my way out from beneath the desk and Amory handed me a wet-wipe to clean up as she laughed. “Jesus, did you have a nap down there? Darling, you’re quite bedraggled…”
“What?”
Before she could answer, Isla, Micah and Kai trooped in. The trio gave me a slow once-over, alarmed at my heavy breathing and red face, hair sticking up at odd angles. Running my hands through my riotous hair I pasted on a serene ‘I’m in control’ smile and said, “How’d it go with Ned?”
“Great,” Kai said, hiding a smirk. “He’s signed off on the chapel, and has agreed to the plan for the chalets. Only kicker is, you need a registered builder on-site at all times…” He trailed off.
“Oh, but…” I stopped short as a car slipped into the driveway, pulled to an abrupt halt, and Timothy climbed out. I frowned, hoping it wasn’t another issue with the New Year’s Eve party. Looking back to Kai I smiled distractedly. My mind was whirling as I tried to troubleshoot any potential problems while thinking I should really respond to what Kai had just said. “Sorry, Kai, could you repeat that?”
Amory nodded at Tim through the window, then headed toward the front door to let him in. Turning back to Kai I tried once more to concentrate on what he was saying.
Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Scotty careening through the snow and running straight for Timothy. Before I could even so much as shout out, he skittered under Timothy’s feet sending him flying. Holy moly! Timothy fell in a heap, letting out an oomph as he landed hard on the ice.
“Oh, no!” I raced outside, pushing past Amory, who’d frozen on the spot, her face pinched with worry. “Are you OK?” I asked breathlessly.
Tim stood and brushed snow from his jeans, a rueful grin on his face. “Sure, sure, he caught me by surprise, is all.”
Amory scooped up Scotty and held him to her chest. “I am so sorry, Tim, he just ran out! I thought for a minute you’d landed on him, and my heart just about stopped.”
“Hey, he’s a puppy, he didn’t do it on purpose,” Tim said. “And he was well clear of me, don’t worry.”
“Are you OK, little man?” Cruz said as he wandered out, standing next to Amory while she searched Scotty for any cuts or bruises as he wriggled in her hands. The care she was taking over him showed a completely different side to Amory. All of her untapped maternal instincts were coming to the surface and although, sure, she might never have wanted to be a mother in the real sense, her protective instinct was still strong.
“He’s fine,” I said to Cruz. “Tim took the brunt of the fall, Scotty scampered out of the way.”
“Sorry, Tim,” Amory said again, pulling her attention away from the squirming puppy. “It’s just he’s so little and fragile, you know. He’s just a baby really.”
“Is everything OK with the party?” I asked Tim, worried another unofficial visit spelled trouble.
He slung his hands into his pockets as we walked to the door. “Yes, Vinnie’s happy, invites are sent, and Cruz has the new menu sorted. I’m here to steal Cruz and Amory away actually. I’ve lined up a range of cottages to show them in the area.”
“Oh, of course.” They really were serious about moving to Evergreen and starting a life here. Part of me understood their need for a space of their own, but still, I’d miss them at the lodge. My mornings with Amory, slowly awakening as the sun split the sky, our chats over coffee and cake.
“We’ll just grab our coats,” Amory said, pulling Cruz inside with her.
As we followed slowly behind, Tim motioned toward my office and said, “Can I talk to you for a sec, Clio?”
“Sure.”
In my office we sat at the desk. “What’s up?”
He fumbled with the sleeve of his sweater. “I was… It’s just that… How did you get on with the cocktail menu?”
The cocktail menu? I sensed that wasn’t what Tim really wanted to ask. No one normally got nervous asking about gin and tonics. “I thought I emailed you? Anyway,” I smiled, “we’ve hired a mixologist for the evening, so he can fling those cocktail shakers and wow the guests, without spilling a drop.” Mixologists were worth their weight in gold. They had an innate sense of how to entertain people, not only with their cocktail knowledge but also their upbeat personalities and general sense of fun. They were worth every penny, and we never scrimped on hiring the best we could find for the job. Amory had convinced one of our favorites from New York to fly in for the evening, and we were lucky to secure him so late, and that was only because he’d had a cancellation.
“Great, that should be lots of fun…” he tailed off.
I nodded, hoping he would get to the point soon. “Anything else?”
He clasped his hands and looked beyond me. “Erm… That’s about it, I guess. You’ll save me a dance on the night, won’t you?”
I laughed. “Of course.”
“I’d better go, they’re waiting for me.” His face was etched with concern. What had he really wanted to ask? Part of me didn’t want to know. Maybe I had to be more upfront with him, but what if I was presuming too much? Then I’d look a fool.
“I’ll walk you out.”
We joined Cruz and Amory outside once more. Both were bundled up and ready to find their very own dream house. Kai stood peering under the bonnet of Micah’s rust bucket of a car, while Micah tried to explain that he was sure it would work again if they just did this or that. Again, it was having some kind of mechanical issue, and I wished he’d scrap it and drive something more reliable.
The car diagnosis over, Isla started a tense discussion with Micah about what movie to watch on the upcoming movie night we’d been planning. Micah was deeming all of Isla’s suggestions ‘too girly’ – when in fact I knew he’d watched many a chick flick back in the day.
“Why don’t you guys go to Shakin’ Shack that night and leave us to it?” I said, diplomatically. There was no way I wanted our movie night ruined by men pretending to hate chick flicks!
“I’ve got Grease,” Isla said. “And a selection of other musicals. But the boys here seem to think that’s LAME, in big, fat, capital letters.”
We’d need donuts, and lots of them.
“Deal,” Micah said, laughing. “I’ll take the boys for burgers and you girls can snuggle up and dream of John Travolta sweeping you off your feet.”
Isla bumped him wit
h her hip. “Oh, so you just so happen to know the star of the movie, huh!”
A blush crept up his cheeks. “No, it was… a lucky guess.”
“We’ll still think you’re manly if you admit you’re a fan of musicals, Micah,” Amory said, grinning.
Micah reddened. “Help me out here, guys.”
“We won’t judge you, Micah,” Cruz said, deadpan.
Micah swatted his arm and said, “Get outta here before I change my mind and we all watch it together.”
The gang burst out laughing and Micah’s color deepened. We used to watch musicals together a million years ago, and I couldn’t remember him complaining about our famous singalongs back then. The joys of your best friend being a girl, I suppose.
Timothy gave me a loose hug and took Amory, Cruz and little Scotty in his car to view cottages in Evergreen.
Isla and Micah waved them off and then walked back in the direction of the chalets. They were preparing them for the painters who’d arrive in the New Year.
“Make sure you light a fire, Micah,” I yelled after him. The chalets were ice-cold with the frosty breeze blowing off the frozen lake beside them. Kai and I left them to it, instead opting for the warmth of the lodge and a little hot chocolate to take the chill away.
Once I’d made a pot of cocoa we stood nursing steaming mugs in front of the potbelly stove, which belched its usual greeting. We sat for an hour, chatting, and then lapsed into silence.
“It’s so quiet,” he said suddenly. “No puppy, no banging of pots. It’s weird how you get used to a choir of sounds, until they’re gone.”
“I know,” I said. “The lodge is going to be so lonely when you all leave again. Isla has moved in with Micah, and Amory, Cruz and Scotty will no doubt find a nice cozy cottage, and you… you’ll be heading back to San Francisco. Soon it’ll just be me, rattling around the big old lodge again.”
And you and Bonnie Tyler will be back to sobbing into your wineglass. Shut up, brain.
Kai gave me an understanding smile. “It’s like we’re big kids at camp, having the most magical time, and then it’s going to be over, and become a distant memory that makes us smile. Cedarwood certainly gets under your skin.”
“It does…” It was bittersweet, hearing him talk in such a way. “I wonder what it’ll be like having real guests stay here? It’s not like I can force them out of bed to have coffee with me, or yell at them for leaving their clothes everywhere. I’m really going to miss having Amory here.” And you.
“You’ll get used to it. Soon you’ll be so busy you’ll fall into bed and forget you ever lived any other way.”
“I don’t think so. These times where we’ve shaped the lodge, and have all come together to make things happen… it feels so special, and so different. I don’t know how long I’ll have Amory and Cruz for, not really, and the same with Isla and Micah. And then there’s you. I just hope you’ll all come back some day. That we’ll make it a tradition to celebrate Christmas or New Year together.” I swallowed a lump in my throat. I wanted everything to stay like it was, right then, at that moment.
“Count me in,” Kai said.
“You’d come all the way back here every Christmas?”
“Why do you act so surprised?”
I shrugged. Kai could be so hard to read at times and I often couldn’t distinguish between what I wanted him to say and what he really said. “I just am.”
Quietly he turned to me and put a finger under my chin, tilting it up so we were gazing into each other’s eyes. “Clio, you have no idea how people see you, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“People want to be around you. That’s why they come here and don’t want to leave. It’s not just the scenery, the picture-perfect setting, it’s you as well. You paint this picture of a different kind of life, and you sprinkle your magic dust over it, and they’re spellbound. People want to be where you are. Cedarwood has its own pull, but then there’s you…”
I let out a nervous laugh. “I…”
“You’re intoxicating, and you have no idea how special you are. When we were here renovating with the team, did you not see everyone coming to you every five seconds with inane questions they knew the answers to? Six phone calls from one painter, to query the color you told him a hundred times already? The way they tell you joke after joke just to hear you laugh?”
I double-blinked, sure he was making it up. The team was tight-knit, and we’d had a barrel of laughs. “They were just good guys.”
“They were. But you have this extraordinary power over people, Clio. You make them want to be in your spotlight. They want to be your friend, your confidante. Anything to be near you.”
I couldn’t reconcile the person Kai was speaking about with myself.
His finger smoothed a trace down my cheek and I felt myself lean in to his warmth. “Believe it, Clio.”
Any rational thought escaped, and I was lost in his deep, ocean-blue eyes. Kiss him, Clio. Before I could debate with myself, I reached up to cup his face and pressed my lips against his. A frisson of desire raced through me, provoking jelly-legs. Kai stepped closer, pushing his body hard against mine, and kissed me back, deeper and more slowly. Heat flooded me, and it was all I could do not to gasp when he broke away, with heavy-lidded eyes. How did he learn to kiss like that? It took my breath away.
A second later Amory appeared in the doorway. “We found the cutest cottage… Oh, um, never mind,” she said, ducking back behind the door.
Kai dropped his hands and laughed, calling out to her. “It’s OK, Amory. I’m going to help Micah and Isla with the chalets. I’ll talk to you later, Clio.” He headed out, giving me a look that said this isn’t over as he walked away.
Knowing what was about to come I went to follow, but Amory hooked my elbow as I walked past. “You’re not getting away that easily,” she said, eyes bright. “What happened? Your cheeks are rosy pink and you’ve got those dazed-up manga eyes happening. He kissed you, didn’t he?”
“I kissed him!”
“And?” she said, hopping from foot to foot with excitement.
“And then again you walked in! Do you have some kind of radar?”
She cupped her face. “God, I want to slap my own face! We need a signal, like a napkin on the door handle, or a…”
I laughed. “Amory, it wasn’t planned! It was a spontaneous thing! It’s not like I plan to swoon my way around the lodge, flinging myself against every surface so he can ravish me!”
“Why not?” she asked, her face a mask of seriousness. “It’s your lodge!”
I sat at the kitchen table and cradled my head. “Urgh. I’m thirty-three, almost thirty-four in fact, and I’m acting like a lovestruck fool. He completely befuddles me, and the brain in my head goes on vacation.”
“Lust, pure and simple,” she said with a firm nod. “I’ve seen it before; you’ll survive.”
“It’s more than lust.” I wanted to snatch the words back as soon as they escaped. “Well, what I mean to say is, it’s just, it’s not…”
She rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. “Clio, you like the damn man, and he clearly likes you. It’s really a very simple equation. Girl tells boy, or boy tells girl, hey, I really like you, and I want to take this kissing thing a few steps further…”
I held up a hand. “Oh, my God, please don’t school me on how to date a guy.”
She huffed. “Someone needs to!”
“They do not!”
She stared me down, and I knew by the set of her lips that she had a trump card. Damn it, she always had one up her sleeve. “OK, tell me the last guy you admitted your feelings to?”
“You want me to go back through my past boyfriends?”
She wrinkled her brow. “Clio, you dated them for about five seconds. I don’t think you committed to anyone in the whole time you were in New York!”
Damn it, she had a memory like an elephant. “There’s no point dating someone when they’re not The One
. Why waste my time?”
“Stop trying to avoid the question. Who have you ever told you’re keen on them? Given them the green light? Fluttered those silky long lashes and said with real words, ‘I, Clio Winters, think you’re a bit of all right, and I’d like to invite you to share my thousand-thread-count cotton sheets for the evening’. Give me a name. One name.”
I let out a peal of laughter. So, I really liked expensive sheets? They made good bedfellows! “I can rely on my sheets, you know? They’re always there, just how I left them. I get into bed and they wrap their silky threads around…”
“Stop! You’re doing it again! When have you ever admitted to any man how you felt? Have you ever?”
I considered it. Had I ever told anyone how I felt without knowing for sure how they felt about me first? There’d really been no one serious except for Timothy… Puppy love, I reminded myself. Too many years ago to count.
“You know, I don’t think I have.” This time I stopped her from interrupting by placing a hand over her mouth. “And that’s only because they didn’t set my world on fire. My heart didn’t race, I didn’t think poetically. If I was away from them, they didn’t cross my mind. Shouldn’t real love be arresting, and stop you in your tracks, make your heart sing, your body tingle, make everything else seem unimportant? And anyway…” I took my hand from her mouth. “Why does it matter? You’ve distracted me on purpose to hear me blather on like a fool.”
“Why does it matter? Because Kai is exactly like you! He’s not going to admit to it, and you’re pussyfooting around him, and I want to grab you two and bash your heads together.”
I just stared at her, so she sighed and continued: “You’re both happy sneaking kisses here and there, but neither of you is brave enough to admit how you feel! He’ll leave, and you’ll pine for him. Admit, even just to me, that he does make your heart sing, your body tingle – that’s how you know what real love feels like.” She folded her arms triumphantly.
I still wasn’t convinced. “He did say the most beautiful things just now, but it was like he was talking about another girl,” I said, slowly.
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