Page 39 of Please Send Snow
Dylan laughs and starts galloping around the room in celebration.
“We have to make a fire in the fire pit for them,” I tell Jake quietly. “Is that okay?”
“Sounds great,” he says, one corner of his mouth teasing upward just slightly.
This is a side of him I haven’t seen before. It’s nice to see him want to do something fun for a change.
He must have had a good day bossing people around.
Dylanand I gather up the bread and as many ingredients as I can find in the house for mountain pies. I’m thinking Jake will want Dylan to have something sensible, but I’m bringing the raspberry jam out too for dessert.
There are three pie irons in the drawer, which is perfect, and we grab them before bundling up and heading outside.
It’s super cold, but there’s no wind, and the sky is cloudless, so you can really see the stars. I forgot how many of them there are up there. This far from the city, it’s like a whole different sky, with twinkling lights splashed across every inch. On the lawn below, Jake is arranging small sticks around two big pieces of wood in the fire pit.
“What are youdoing?” Dylan demands, running up to him.
I stay back a bit, letting the Stone men talk about fire safety and how to get a log burning.
I was probably about Dylan’s age when my own dad gave me the talk about forest fires and how important it was not to ever play with matches or lighters, or try to start my own fire.
I remember the conversation scaring me, but my dad giving me a big hug afterward and telling me he knew I was a smart, careful kid and that I loved the mountains too much to let anything bad happen to them.
Of course, I’m about to let the lodge get torn down. So maybe I’m not as smart and careful as he hoped I’d be.
I know it’s madness to think that Margo’s harebrained scheme might actually work. But I honestly can’t think of a better one. After witnessing Jake seething on the phone with the energy of an enraged tiger all day, I don’t exactly get the impression that he’s the type of guy who would respond to an impassioned plea. If we ask him not to tear down the lodge, he’s going to need to know why it’s an excellent business decision.
And the obvious answer to that is that it’s not. There’s no way he could make more money from keeping Angel Mountain Lodge running than he could by knocking it down and building more of these monstrous chalets. If anything, with the improvements it needs, the lodge would probably cost him money.
But worrying isn’t going to help.
“Want to help me start our pies?” I ask brightly as I head down to join them, figuring I might as well enjoy my moments here while I have them.
Dylan nods to his father and then scampers over to join me at one of the benches. He starts pawing through the ingredients immediately, and grabs the peanut butter.
“Can I have mine with this?” he asks me.
“Sure,” I tell him. “I brought out a banana, so you can make yours peanut butter and banana, if you want.”
“Peanut butter and banana?” he echoes, looking at me likeI’mbananas.
“Have you never had a peanut butter and banana sandwich before?” I ask him.
He shakes his head.
“You like bananas, right?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says, nodding.
“Oh wow,” I say, excited to be the first to introduce him to the most delicious sandwich in the world. “You’re going to love this. Get two slices of bread out, okay?”
As Dylan picks up the bread, I get this funny feeling and turn to catch Jake gazing at me.
The firelight makes him look more handsome than ever, and his eyes are so blue that I feel almost hypnotized.
Something about all of this is… nice.
But I am absolutely not falling for the man who is about to tear down all my best childhood memories. No way.
