Page 27 of You, Me, & Après-Ski
“Can we get—a bucket?”
“Abucket, Val? Are you fucking serious?”
“I don’t know, Frank! I just woke up, I can’t even think—” Then I saw it. The glossy black business card on my nightstand, winking at me in the light from the hall. It had been a week since our cooking lesson with Rocco, and Nolan had ditched me since then.It was a lapse of judgment on my part.I hated how his words sliced through my frustratingly fragile heart. I don’t even know why I cared.
Rankled as I was, I scrambled for my phone and dialed his number before I could stop myself.
He answered on the first ring, his voice coarse with sleep. “Val? What’s wrong?”
The words poured out of me like the water in the pipes. “The pipes burst and water is flooding in and it’s three in the morning and everything’s getting ruined and we don’t know what to do—”
“I’m coming.” Aclickas the line disconnected.
“Who was that?” Frankie asked.
“I called Nolan.”
Her eyes widened. “You—? Never mind. If there’s anyone who can fix this quickly, it’s your man.”
“He’s notmy man,” I protested. But he’d answered the phone right away… My past had taught me not to rely on anyone but myself and Diego, but somehow, I’d known he would answer. And that was a level of trust he didn’t deserve. But I didn’t have time to think more about it.
Frankie and I gathered our important belongings, joining the crowd of employees flowing into the lobby. At the amount of water, more than one of the ancient pipes must have burst.
As we huddled with the rest of the crowd, Austin and Hugh sidled up to us. “Bobby and Ryan are on it with Mr. Keller,” Hugh said, rubbing Frankie’s shoulders. “Thanks for waking my ass up and saving my stuff.”
Frankie pinched his side. “Can’t have the water ruining your extensive collection of flannels.”
“Pretty crazy shit, huh?” Austin said, his curly hair adorably sleep-rumpled. “One pipe was right outside my room. Most of my stuff is trashed.”
I gave his arm a squeeze. “Hopefully the insurance payout will help, but I know some things are irreplaceable.” As we waited for the cavalryto show up, I scanned the room, telling myself I wasn’t looking forhim, but when I turned, there he was.
Jesus.My heart rate kicked into overdrive. Nolan looked more casual than I’d ever seen him in a long-sleeved Henley clinging to every dip of his muscles and a pair of dark gray joggers that showed off his powerful legs. The man clearly knew his way around the gym, and as he ran a hand through his already mussed hair, my stomach dropped into my toes. But he wasn’t looking at me—no, his gaze took on a sharp edge as he noticed Austin beside me, and I stopped myself from taking a step away. It was just Austin and I could stand beside whoever I wanted.
“Thanks for coming,” I said to Nolan.
“It’s in my best interest to minimize the property damage,” he said in a chilly tone.
“Of course,” I said with a flinty spark of annoyance. I didn’t want him to be interested in me, but he also didn’t have to be anass.He was the one who came onto me and then rejected me, and yet he was still behaving like a jealous baboon? The man was driving me insane.“I knew you’d be concerned about theproperty, so that’s why I called at such an ungodly hour. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
Nolan opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by the the water shutting off, the deluge turning to a slow trickle. We stood in about an inch of water, and more would probably join it as everything leaked down to the lower level.
A short man with a growing bald spot appeared at Nolan’s elbow. “All shut off, boss.” Ever practical, Bobby, the long-time maintenance man at Hale’s Peak, launched into his professional assessment. “Everyone will have to vacate while we suss out the damage and make repairs. Could take the rest of the season. There’s probably enough space in the otherhotel down the road to house everyone in the short term, and some folks in town will put us up, but we’ll have to double up.”
A tall man around my age with brown hair, a dusting of freckles, and broad shoulders sauntered into the conversation, tossing a wink at Frankie, who rolled her eyes. “I can talk to ’em,” said Ryan. “I know the Medfords will pitch in, and they can reach out to the wider community.”
“Val and I can share,” said Austin, casually tossing an arm across my shoulders.
Nolan looked at Austin like he was something undesirable stuck to the bottom of his priceless Italian loafers. “That won’t be necessary. Bobby, work with Tess and get everyone set up in the main lodge with breakfast and coffee. Let them know there will be arrangements for new accommodations by noon today. Ryan, go speak to the Medfords and anyone else willing to help.” Without another glance, Nolan stormed off through the crowd.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep that had me indulging my impulses, but before my anxiety could freeze me in place, I lunged after him. Dodging a few people, I finally caught up and latched on to his arm. He whipped toward me, nostrils flaring. The snippy words I had planned to say stopped at the edge of my tongue because something about the troubled frown darkening his brow made me change course. “Thank you,” I said. “For answering the phone.”
As his eyes searched my face, the anger leached out of him, leaving a raw tenderness in its wake. Bringing a hand to my face, his thumb feathered across my cheek, so fast I thought I’d imagined it, and a whole new legion of butterflies swarmed into existence inside me. In a husky voice only for me, he said, “Thank you for calling me.”
Then he disappeared into the throng of people before I could formulate a coherent response.
As promised, by noon—somehow—Nolan had managed to reallocate all of the displaced employees. The new housing assignments were posted on the internal employee website, so I logged on from the rental shop computer to check mine. But I didn’t see my name.
My phone pinged.
