Page 48 of Wild Nights

All I could think about was how was I going to keep Joey a secret from her if we were all staying in the same building. "We'll be okay."

"Goodbye, then." Carolina dipped out of the room, and I was still holding the garbage bag.

That felt final. As if she hadn't planned on seeing me again. I couldn't run after her and protest because I had Joey and the lodge to consider.

I tied off the bag and dropped it by the door. I turned off the lights and locked the room. Joey was beyond excited about the storm and the prospect of sledding. But I was the one in charge. I couldn't let anything go wrong. Eli was counting on me.

I had to prove that I was capable of running the place in his absence. He hadn't contacted me again, but that was probably Scarlett's doing. She was distracting him. I'd have to thank her when they came home.

I made a round of the building, checking in at the front desk to make sure everyone had gone home who planned to. Then I headed back to my office. Joey had a walkie-talkie if he needed me, but he was usually so engrossed in electronics he was okay.

I opened the door to find him spinning in the chair with his eyes on the screen.

"Hey, bud. You ready to go up to the condo?"

He looked up from the screen. "Marcus said we can eat in the dining room tonight."

"He has a special dinner planned?" He must have talked to Joey when we were in the kitchen earlier. I was busy worrying about the food that might go to waste if we were closed for a day or two.

Joey lifted his head. "He said we were going to cook burgers and hot dogs and make s'mores. I want his special hot chocolate."

"Is that what he plans to make for everyone?" I asked, wondering if everyone would be okay with that. I should tell Carolina dinner would be served and free to everyone who wandered down. I just didn't want her to run into Joey. Not until I could tell her about him privately. I wanted to judge her reaction. You could tell a lot about a person when you mentioned you had a kid for the first time.

"Dunno," he mumbled as he turned back to his screen.

"Enough of that." I made a move to grab the tablet, buthe spun out of my reach. I sighed, attempting a different tactic. "Let's go eat dinner. Then we can watch a movie."

"Yay!" Joey proclaimed as he dropped the tablet on the desk and hopped off my office chair.

I let out a sigh of relief. Sometimes it was tough to know what the right thing to do was. I tried to limit screen time, but if I was working, it was hard. And today, I didn't even have my brothers here to entertain him.

Chapter Fifteen

OLIVER

Everyone was out of town except for Xander, who I hadn't seen all day. If he wanted to prove to Eli that he was able to take on more responsibility, he wasn't doing a good job of it by being absent. Joey opened my office door and ran into the hallway. He was down the stairs before I could tell him to slow down.

I wanted to catch up to him, but my phone rang. It was Xander.

"Where are you?" I didn't bother with niceties. The lodge was in emergency mode, and he was nowhere to be found.

"I just heard the lodge was shutting down. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It was Eli's decision." I kept walking down the stairs at a slower pace. I could hear Joey talking to someone. All the staff members adored Joey and looked out for him. "Are you going to be around for the storm?"

"I'm in town. You need me to drive out there?"

I sighed. I did't know why I even bothered with Xander. He wasn't reliable unless we were talking about the outdoor adventures. "I'm here with Joey."

"You going to be okay?"

"We'll be fine." My voice was tight. I was done with this conversation. When I turned the last corner, I saw Joey up ahead in front of the large Christmas tree on the landing to the second floor. Carolina stood next to him.

"I gotta go," I mumbled to Xander and hung up without waiting for him to respond.

Carolina was crouched next to Joey, talking about one of the ornaments on the tree. She was holding it slightly away from the branch; it was the one that we'd had made for the lodge. Wilde Ski Resort was painted in green script with an outline of the lodge and a mountain range in the background.

"That's really neat. I'll have to buy one before I head home."

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