Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Noah
After work on Saturday, Easton and I went into town to meet the rest of the family at the park.
It was an annual tradition we started the night before Christmas Eve, when Damien’s twin girls, Aria and Ronan, were a few years old.
After their mother abandoned them, we wanted to make their first Christmas without her as magical as possible.
Now, Damien had his fiancé, Charlotte, and the girls had a wonderful stepmother, but the family all got together anyway to ride the horsedrawn carriages and have hot chocolate from Tout de Sweets while taking in the Christmas lights.
Much like Halloween, Hartwood Creek went all out for Christmas.
Every store front and streetlamp was decorated with lights and garland, and so was the gazebo in the park.
Hartwood Creek often looked like the set of a Hallmark movie this time of year, and normally, I loved it. Christmas was one of my favourite times of the year.
But I wasn’t feeling it this year. I was beyond stressed with the Jeannine situation. She’d officially given her two weeks’ notice this morning, coinciding with her impromptu two weeks off for the supposed family emergency. Suffice to say, she wouldn’t be back, and she’d left us in a lurch.
Things were crazy busy at the resort, and the whole family had to rally together to get through it.
Aria and Ronan were on Christmas break, and Mom and Dad had to watch them so Charlotte could help with the Kids Club events we hosted every winter break.
I was stuck in the office taking reservations, answering phone calls, and dealing with guest issues, while the maintenance jobs fell on Damien’s and Easton’s shoulders.
“Uncle Noah! Uncle Easton!” my nieces shouted when they caught sight of me and Easton lumbering over.
They ran out of the gazebo in the centre of the park, flying toward us.
Mom, Dad, Damien, and Charlotte watched as the girls launched themselves into our arms. I spun Ronan around while Easton pretended to toss Aria in the snowbank.
“Why so late?” Damien grumbled, always the grouch.
“One of the faucets in the bathroom at the Sunrise cottage burst, so we had to do a quick plumbing job,” I answered, setting Ronan down.
“Did you fix it, or do we need to call a plumber?” Damien’s scowl increased. I knew he was taking on that stress.
“We’ll probably want to call a plumber, just to make sure,” I replied.
“Better to deal with it now than have a bigger, messier, more expensive situation on our hands later,” Dad said, clamping a hand on Damien’s shoulder.
“Can we go for the carriage ride now?” Aria demanded, interrupting the terse conversation.
“Sure thing, sweetpea,” Damien said, his voice softening in a way it only ever did for his girls and Charlotte. Everyone else got the grumpy version of Damien. I didn’t mind, it was his nature, and besides, those girls deserved the softest version of him.
Our group started walking toward the edge of the park, where the carriages were.
There was a bit of a lineup, but that was common. People swarmed to Hartwood Creek the entire month of December to look at the beautiful light displays, shop the historic downtown core, and experience horsedrawn carriage rides from Stonewood Farm.
Stonewood Farm had been operating for two generations. My great-great aunt started it with her husband, Oliver Stone, in the nineteen thirties. They were a well-established equestrian facility with an indoor arena, sand ring, grass ring, obstacle course, and trails.
The farm was located northwest of Whimsical Woods Resort, and they provided and ran the horsedrawn carriage rides at the resort over the winter holidays and March Break. They also offered discounted packages for resort guests for trail rides and beginner horseback riding lessons.
“Hey, Tabs. Fancy seeing you here,” I joked, spotting our cousin Tabitha ahead of us in the line with her kids. The baby boy she was holding whirled around to look at me when he heard my voice, giving me a big toothy grin. “Where’s Parker?”
“He’s getting hot chocolate for the girls,” Tabitha answered, tilting her head in the direction of her twins.
Tabitha’s girls were standing in front of her with another little girl, Nix’s girlfriend’s daughter.
When the three of them caught sight of Aria and Ronan, they went to go play in the snow together.
“Are Sage and Nix here too somewhere?” I asked, looking around as discreetly as I could for Nellie. If Sage was here, Nellie probably would be too.
“Yeah, they’re here. Nix, Sage, and Nellie went with Parker to the café.”
I nodded.
“Is Uncle Bob driving tonight?” Damien asked from behind me.
Our aunt and uncle, Tabitha’s parents, still ran Stonewood Farm, along with the help of her siblings. Tabitha used to work there too, before she and Parker got married and had a family. Now she focused on raising her kids, although she’d occasionally help at the farm and for events.
“Nah, Rob forced him to take the night off, so he’s driving one of them.
Lucy’s driving the other one. It was looking like we were going to have to bring in the third and interrupt Dad’s night off, but it’s slowed down a bit and people don’t seem to mind the wait.
” Tabitha explained, referring to her brother, Robert, and her sister, Lucinda.
There were probably about fifteen people ahead of my cousin, which meant we’d be standing for a bit. My mom asked Tabitha how her mom was doing, and Tabitha happily filled her in.
Easton had spotted some friends, so he’d gone over to chat with them while Damien and Charlotte watched as the girls played in the snow. Damien had his arms wrapped around Charlotte from behind, and he was whispering something to her. It seemed like they were lost in their own little world.
I kind of half-listened to Tabitha and my mom chatting while I kept looking around for any sign of Nellie.
I don’t know why I wanted to see her so badly again, but I did.
After telling Nix about the job posting for an office administrator last night, I’d hoped all day long I’d end up with Nellie’s resume in my email inbox, but no such luck.
I don’t even know if he told her, but I wanted to ask her myself.
It would put Nellie at close quarters with me, but it would also selfishly help me out.
I was already damn tired of office work.
We still had the rest of the holidays to get through, and the new year.
If I didn’t find someone soon, I’d go stir crazy.
I dedicated a day every week to payroll in my office, and the rest of the time, I wanted to be outside managing the resort, not stuck in the front office playing receptionist.
Parker and Nix strolled back to join Tabitha; their hands full of to-go cups of hot chocolate from Tout de Sweets. A little way behind them walked Sage and Nellie. My heart seemed to jump in my chest, pumping a little faster as I took her in.
Her dark hair was tucked beneath a warm, red toque. Her black winter jacket was zipped up to her chin, and she had mitts and a scarf wrapped around her neck that matched the toque she was wearing. She didn’t notice me at first, not until Parker saw me.
“Noah! S’up, man?” He greeted me. His twins ran up to him, and he passed them their hot chocolates, taking Bryson from Tabitha and passing her the last cup.
Nellie’s eyes shot to me the moment she heard my name, then back to Sage. She had a guarded expression on her face. Sage lifted a shoulder, sending her an apologetic look, as if she was saying, I didn’t know he’d be here.
Was Nellie that pissed at running into me again?
What had I done to entice such a negative reaction from her?
Had I misremembered our night together? In my memories, we’d both been extremely satisfied, and the chemistry had been downright explosive.
But Nellie couldn’t seem to get away fast enough the next morning, and she’d bailed on the group breakfast. My ego had taken a bit of a hit, and I spent weeks worrying that I’d creeped her out or that the whole thing wasn’t as enjoyable for her as it had been for me.
“Not much, just doing the old Christmas Eve-Eve tradition with the fam jam,” I replied, gesturing to my brother’s twins. At least one person every other generation had multiple births. Usually twins, but there’d been a few triplets scattered throughout the family tree.
The long running joke was that the love elixir made the Wood and Hartley lines very fruitful.
“Cool, cool. Good night for it,” Parker said.
And it was, the weather wasn’t too cold, and snow was falling sporadically but gently, making conditions perfect for a carriage ride along the beautifully lit streets of Hartwood Creek.
Some more idle chit-chat later, and the carriages returned. Passengers got off, and the next wave of people went; a group of eight climbing into Lucy’s carriage, and a group of six climbing into Rob’s carriage.
We all shuffled forward to the start of the line. I moved around the group, coming to stand beside Nellie. “Hey, I wondered if I could talk to you for a minute?” I said to her, ignoring the curious glances of everyone else.
Tabitha was staring at me with an intrigued, almost giddy expression on her face, while Parker seemed mildly curious. Sage looked hopeful, but also like she’d come at me if I said one wrong thing, and Nix had a cautious look about him, like he didn’t trust me as far as he could throw me.
Nellie looked guarded. “You’re talking now, aren’t you?”
“Yes, you are.” I said, loving her sass. “Heard you were in the market for a job. Did Nix or Sage get a chance to tell you that we’re hiring at the resort?”
“Sage might have mentioned something,” Nellie said carefully.
I noticed she wasn’t meeting my eyes. She was looking anywhere but directly at me. “Is it something you’d be interested in?”
“I haven’t given it much thought,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
“Well, think about it. We could really use you,” I don’t know why I was pushing it—hell, Nellie might not even have the credentials for the job. But I somehow knew in my heart it was a good fit: she’d be the perfect addition.
Nellie sighed. “I don’t have much experience with office work. I have café experience. I can run a schedule like nobody’s business and I’m excellent at event planning, but other than that…”
“We can train you in all that other stuff,” I pushed away her concerns with a wave of my hand.
“The program we use for booking reservations is straight-forward, it practically does everything for you. And if you’re excellent at event planning, you’re already an asset to us.
We do a lot of events for the guests at the resort.
The rest of it is answering emails and phone calls. ”
Nellie worried her bottom lip, deliberating. She glanced at Sage, and Sage nodded, her eyes wide and eyebrows lifted as if she was trying to convey the message: say yes.
“I could give it a try, I guess.” Nellie replied, finally meeting my eyes.
An electricity seemed to pass between us when our gazes linked. It surged through my veins and charged my heart with its energy.
“When is the expected start date?”
“Well, ideally we need someone to start as soon as possible, since it’s our busiest time of the year. But I know you just got to town and are getting settled, so really, whenever works for you.”
I could feel Damien’s eyes narrowing on me, and knew I’d face some intrusive questions later about how come I was practically hiring her on the spot, and why I was so nonchalant about when I wanted her to start.
I’d been griping about having to run the front office for several days now, and he knew that I’d wanted to find someone as soon as possible to take over.
“I could come in on Boxing Day to check it out and drop off a resume. Other than Christmas Day, I don’t have anything going on.”
“No big New Year’s plans?” I asked, prying a little.
“Not really,” Nellie’s expression seemed even more guarded, and she seemed to look back at Sage for a rescue.
“We’ll probably ring in the new year at Tabitha and Parker’s,” Sage volunteered. “What are you up to for New Year’s?”
Nellie shot her a displeased look.
“No plans as of yet,” I said, shoving my hands in my coat pocket to warm them up. “Probably sit around at home.”
“You’re welcome to join us, Noah,” Parker said. “We’ll have all the kids, so it’s going to be a chill, kid-friendly night.”
“Sounds great, I could use a chill night.” While I had none of my own, I didn’t mind hanging out with kids.
Nellie didn’t look ecstatic about the invitation, but before she had a chance to complain, the carriages returned. I made sure to give her space, letting her climb up into Lucy’s carriage with Parker, Tabitha, Nix, Sage, and the kids, while I climbed into Rob’s carriage with my family.
“What was that?” Damien demanded, shooting me a perplexed look. “You practically hired her on the spot.”
“Well, we need someone as soon as possible. She needs a job. Seemed right.”
My mom sent me a knowing smile. “Sometimes, you get a feeling about someone, don’t you, dear?” she nudged Dad’s arm gently. He hadn’t been paying a lick of attention to my conversation with Nellie, but he still nodded in agreement.
“Absolutely, your mother’s right. When you know, you know.”
“If it doesn’t work out, Noah can hire someone else,” Charlotte interjected, patting Damien’s hand as if to reassure him.
Damien drew in a breath, still not convinced I was thinking with my brain. To be fair, I wasn’t.
The problem was, I didn’t know what appendage I’d been thinking with.