Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Noah
“I heard you soft-launched your relationship this weekend,” Easton said while we worked at clearing the freshly fallen snow from the main office parking lot Monday morning.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, it was all anybody could talk about at The Quarter Lounge Saturday night! How Noah Wood and the new girl spent the entire day together, walking around downtown holding hands and checking out shops.”
“Okay.” I shrugged, not really caring. One way or another, the town was going to talk about one of its unofficial long-term bachelors changing his relationship status.
“Word on the street is that the Hartley triplets are taking credit for this match.”
“Of course, they are.” I huffed, rolling my eyes. “Even though they technically did nothing. Neither Nellie nor I have consumed any variation of the love elixir.”
“Well, they’re saying that they ‘put the bug of pursuing her’ in your ear.” Easton smirked. He found the whole situation hilarious.
“You know, I wouldn’t be so smug about this if I were you.”
“Why not?”
“Because, once I’m off the market their focus is going to be solely on you,” I reminded him. The pompous grin on his face slipped, as if he truly hadn’t considered that fact.
“Whatever, they can try.” My brother puffed out his chest, acting impervious.
“Trust me, they will,” I murmured, shaking my head. I turned the snowblower on again to finish up the parking lot. Nellie was supposed to arrive for work within the next half hour, and I wanted the parking lot cleared and sand tossed down before she set foot on it.
I’d always been serious when it came to keeping the parking lots, roads, and paths at the resort clear of snow and sanded for the guests, but there was an even heavier importance on it now, with Nellie’s condition.
Not that pregnancy was a condition. I mean, technically it was, I guess. Either way, I wanted to make sure there were no obstacles for her, and that she didn’t slip and fall.
Which reminded me, we’d have to call a meeting with Damien today to inform him of Nellie’s pregnancy and her need to take time off every week for her OB appointments.
Damien was off clearing snow, too. He was using the ATV that we’d attached a snow plow to. It pulled a small trailer full of sand for him to toss down, and a shovel for him to clear the porches and walkways to the cottages. He likely wouldn’t be finished for another couple of hours.
After ensuring the snow was cleared and sand was tossed down out front, I had Easton take the snow blower to the back lot, and went inside to make a pot of coffee while I attended to a few office things.
A content creator and social media influencer named Misha Demsky had reached out last week to see about collaborating.
She specialized in local destination and locally owned businesses and brands.
After I’d investigated and determined that she had a legitimate and large following on Instagram, I’d decided to respond with a few different available time slots for a complimentary stay in exchange for her content creation services.
Misha had a lot of viral Reels on Instagram about other local destinations she’d stayed at, and she had an eloquent way of showcasing them that appealed to me.
Being featured on her Instagram of over forty-five thousand followers would only boost interest in our resort, and she offered to provide materials for us to use for our social media marketing, too.
I was clicking send on the follow-up email to Misha when the front door to the office chimed, alerting me to Nellie’s arrival.
I stood up, making my way into the kitchen and catching her as she was opening the refrigerator door to put her lunch inside.
I leaned against the doorway, crossing my arms and smiling, waiting until she’d closed it and straightened.
“Morning, gorgeous,” I said, startling her.
She jumped, putting her hand over her heart. “Noah, I didn’t hear you,” she said, her voice a little breathless. “Good morning.”
I crossed over to kiss her, unable to help myself. It was a chaste kiss, slow and tender despite my growing hunger for this woman. As I kissed her softly, I unzipped her jacket for her, putting my hands on her hips and pulled her a little closer to me, deepening the kiss as I did so.
A distant chime of the back door sounded, alerting me that someone else had come in through the laundry room. I reluctantly pulled away, stepping over to the cupboard with the mugs.
Nellie had a few seconds to regain her composure, which my kiss seemed to have shaken. I sent her a wink and poured myself a cup of coffee. “Want me to boil the kettle?”
“I have a tea already,” Nellie said, grabbing her travel mug from where she’d set it down on the counter by the refrigerator. She also had a large bottle of ice water with lemon slices.
Damien came into the kitchen, his eyes narrowing at me when he saw me alone with Nellie.
“Morning, brother dearest,” I said cheerfully, grabbing another mug down and pouring a cup of coffee for him. I passed it to Damien, earning a scowl, who grunted in response as he reached for the mug.
Nellie smiled shyly and grabbed her water bottle, then scurried out of the kitchen like she couldn’t wait to get away from Damien. Not that I blamed her. My brother could be intimidating if you weren’t used to his scowls and sullen silences.
“At some point today, we need to have a sit down with Nellie and discuss some important matters,” I told Damien, keeping my voice low so that Nellie wouldn’t overhear me.
“I’d say.” Damien grumbled, lifting a brow. He took a deep sip of his coffee.
“Don’t be a dick,” I warned, pointing at him.
“That’s kind of his MO,” Easton chimed in, catching my warning and nothing else. He rinsed out his travel mug and filled it back up, sending a taunting smirk to our older brother.
“Don’t you have work to do? Because if you don’t, I can assign you something,” Damien huffed, his aggravation evident.
“I’ve got plenty to do, thanks. I’m taking a quick coffee break to refuel. Is that not allowed? Or are coffee breaks only allotted to the big bosses and their bed warmers?”
“Watch it,” Damien warned, his eyes narrowing.
“Just a joke, bro.” Easton replied. “Don’t worry, I’m getting back to work.” He left the kitchen with his travel mug of coffee.
Most of the time, Easton was the laidback jokester who didn’t seem to take things seriously. But occasionally, he said something that made me think he cared more than he let on that he didn’t have a bigger role at the resort like me and Damien.
At the time, he hadn’t wanted it. With Damien’s Hotel and Resort Management diploma and my diploma in Business Management and degree in accounting, he hadn’t felt the drive to follow suit since we had it covered.
Easton still had gone to college, but he took the Tourism program because it sounded fun, and he could spend a semester in Cancun. He ended up working at a resort in Cancun for a couple of years, until my parents decided to retire officially.
He handled a lot of the outside maintenance, and he was the driving force behind a lot of our outdoor recreational programs.
He’d been pushing for us to do a tree-top trekking obstacle course for a while now, but Damien and I hadn’t felt it would be worth the investment and risk. To construct it would cost us almost fifty-thousand dollars, and our insurance would go up.
Damien sighed heavily, placing his now-empty mug in the dishwasher and headed back out, presumably to check on the Sprucewood situation.
James was there again, working on the plumbing, and while it was off the roster for guests, Damien had taken it upon himself to do some thorough maintenance on the cottage.
Once both my brothers were gone, I went into the front office to find Nellie returning calls that had come in over the weekend. I let her do her thing, sitting down at the computer beside her.
I opened the resort email, checking and responding to any inquiries that had come in over the weekend. Some people—far too many—went to any lengths to avoid phone conversations. I did my best to respond to the ones that didn’t leave a phone number, urging them to call to book a cottage.
“You know, a lot of places use online booking,” Nellie said after she’d finished making her calls and noticed I was still responding to email inquiries.
“Then your job would be almost obsolete,” I pointed out, sending her a smirk as I passed her a Post-It Note with an inquiry, a phone number, and a name.
“Scratch that, then,” Nellie said, taking the Post-It Note from me. Our fingers brushed, and she smiled tentatively.
“At some point today, Damien is going to come in for that chat.”
“Okay.” Nellie drew in a breath, as if stabilizing herself.
“I’m going to sit in on the meeting, if that’s okay, since we need to acknowledge we’re dating. For unofficial official HR purposes. But as for the other situation…” I scratched at my chin thoughtfully.
“What about it?” Nellie asked. She was sounding more nervous now.
“I was thinking, if you were okay with it, that I’d tell Damien I’m the father of the baby?
” My throat felt impossibly dry as I waited for Nellie to say something, anything.
Maybe it was presumptuous of me to assume that’d be okay, which is why I’d asked her ahead of time.
But in my head and in my heart, I already considered that baby mine, like I considered Nellie mine.
“I mean, he already knows we hooked up at the Witches’ Ball. ”
“I think everyone in town knows that. I’m beginning to think it went out in some town-wide newsletter.,” Nellie sighed, resting her hand on her stomach absently. She chewed on her bottom lip, deliberating. “But you don’t even know yet if—”
I interrupted her by tugging her chair closer to mine.
“I know that in all the ways that matter, I’ll be a part of this baby’s life, and yours,” I cut her off. “People are going to assume anyway, since we’re together. Might as well run with it.”