Page 22 of Christmas with the Elkin Billionaires

Chase had no argument with that. And technically, he’d fulfilled his part of the bargain—he’d found the best outside candidates for Jonas to choose from. The only thing he wasn’t going to do was sit in on the final interviews. Besides, he wasn’t going to hang around after the holidays, so it made no sense for him to weigh in on who should get the job.

He turned on his heel and went out, leaving Jonas flipping pointedly through the slim stack of resumes. He greeted staff members and waved to Helen and Aimee at the front desk, but his mind was elsewhere. Jonas was at a maximum stress level, and Chase wondered what was eating at him, but he knew better than to ask him. His brother would either blow him off or dredge up some old slight from when they were teens and Chase had been excused from chores so he could spend more time training in order to qualify for his first Winter Olympics.

Chase headed outside into the crisp morning. He took a minute to soak it in, the cold air welcome on his face. Maybe Jonas was having girl problems of his own. That would be enough to make anyone stressed. But no—that was unlikely. Jonas worked so much that he was probably suffering from the inverse problem. A total lack of companionship. He’d renovated himself into his ideal life, but maybe discovered something was still missing.

He took the trail back to his house. Chase wanted to go see Tana on the slopes but knew it was a bad idea. He couldn’t be the kind of boyfriend who stood at the bottom of the ski hill, watching her.Boyfriend.He snorted at the thought. He wasnotTana’s boyfriend.

His phone buzzed, and he stopped at the edge of his driveway to check the message. An apology from Jonas?Ha.That would never happen.

Gabe:You busy?

Chase swiped through his phone and dialed his brother’s number.

“When a person texts,” Gabe said by way of greeting, “you should text them back.”

“I’m walking up my driveway. Not looking to text and trip. I think I’ve done enough damage to my leg.”

“What’s up, Chase?”

“You texted me, remember?”

“I can hear it in your voice. What’s going on?” Gabe asked.

Chase let out a breath. “I can’t stay here. There’s just too much—” Chase waved his hand knowing full well his brother couldn’t see what he was doing but unsure how to say it.

"You’re doing that hand thing Mom used to do when she was trying to explain something, aren’t you?”

Chase laughed. “How do you do that?” He told Gabe how he felt about being back at Elk Lodge and how much it hurt being surrounded by snow and not able to ski. His brother remained silent. “What do you think?”

“I think it’d be great if you came out to California. We’d be closer to each other. You could find a place to live that isn’t surrounded by snow. But, wait—why are you still there, anyway? Did you miss your flight?”

“Miss what flight?”

“Your flight away from Elk Lodge, to wherever you’re going next. I thought you wanted to get out of there.” Gabe’s tone shifted. “Anything wrong? Grandmother made a big deal about everybody coming back for Thanksgiving, but I thought—”

“It’s been a long time since she saw us all together and she was feeling nostalgic,” Chase mumbled. It didn’t feel great to lie to his brother, but they’d all sworn not to say a word to Gabe until he was home for the holidays. “And anyway, I’m helping Jonas out with some things around the resort. That’s why I’m still here.”

Gabe snorted. “Why would Jonas ever ask anybody for help?”

“He didn’t. Gran wanted me to step in. I guess he seemed stressed and busy.”

“Sounds like Jonas on a normal day.”

“We’re hiring a new ski program director after that fiasco with the last one.” Chase wanted to be back on a regular footing in this conversation instead of feeling like he was dodging the elephant in the room. “So I’m going over the external applications. But you know what? I’ve been going on so long, you haven’t said why you called.”

“You called me.”

“Why youtexted,then. Something up?”

A pause. “Oh, it’s nothing.” His brother’s voice changed ever so slightly, but Chase caught it. Whatever he wanted to talk about wouldn’t happen now, leaving him to wonder what was going on.

Chase stopped short at the steps to his porch, blinking against the bright light. Maybe moving to California was an option. He would definitely be closer to his brother, and without all the pressure of Elk Lodge, he and Gabe might get to know each other again. He hadn’t seen his brother much over the years. Their lives had diverged when Chase’s career took off and Gabe started his company.

“Chase? You still there?” He could hear the click of a keyboard in the background. “The cell service over there is still terrible, I guess.”

“I’m still here,” he said quickly. “You’re right. It would be good if we were closer.”

“Aw, Chase, I didn’t know you missed me so much. Don’t worry, I’ll come back someday. Just not now. Got things to do.”

---