Chapter Seven
Autumn stared out the window. She couldn’t keep her gaze off him. Damn him. Jett looked all rugged and manly in his ski jacket and knit cap. He held a clipboard and spoke to the kids standing in a half circle around him. She could spot Quinn in her pink jacket with a smile as wide as the sky. All the kids looked on with anticipation as Jett spoke. Even Logan Everett, Markus’s son.
Markus. Another one of her big mistakes. Thankfully, she had figured out he was a shady business person and a cheat before they walked down the aisle. She hadn’t even loved Markus. She had only agreed to marry him hoping that Jett would get word of it and come running back. A lot of good that did. Jett had never said one word to her about her relationship with Markus.
Logan was the result of Markus’s affair when they were together. She was glad the boy had been born. He was a sweet boy. Judging from the rumors she heard around town, Markus didn’t know how lucky he was to have that son. Markus was obsessed with work, much like Jett. But Jett loved his family fiercely and made time for them. Markus had no concept of that, and she knew it firsthand. Markus didn’t give his son the attention he deserved, and since Logan lost his mom some years ago, Markus was all that kid had. Well, now Jett would coach him, and that would be good for Logan and all the kids.
The timer on the oven dinged. She thought the kids would like a snack when they took a practice break. She had mixed up her special hot-chocolate recipe in a big urn and baked seven dozen cutout cookies in the shape of mittens. She pulled out the tray and allowed the sweet smell of sugar and butter to snuggle up against her nose.
She’d had a son once. The thought wormed in as it often did when her defenses were down—like now with Jett in sight and thoughts of her past sneaking up on her. For the briefest of moments, she’d had a little boy. Jett’s boy. But they had lost him right after they found out the sex. She’d believed with her whole heart that if they survived that, they could survive anything. But three years later his brother had died a senseless death, and Jett imploded. She’d been a victim of that. She’d blamed him for a very long time. That anger had sent her straight into Markus’s arms. She’d wanted Jett to react to something. He’d reacted, all right. He’d relegated her to the neighbor zone.
“Are you baking cookies?” Vera shuffled into the kitchen. The color of her face matched the parchment paper lining the cookie sheets. The thin skin around her eyes was the color of a bruise. Her mother had probably been up all night with her friend, spewing about Jett and the ski team on the slope.
“Would you like one? I made them for the ski school.”
Vera huffed and pressed her lips into a tight line. “No, thank you. Sugar isn’t good for me.”
“One cookie won’t hurt.” She placed a cookie on a plate and slid it down the counter. Her mother had no issues with sugar. She was as healthy as a horse, but Vera would say anything to get attention.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
Right on cue. Vera’s timing for cutting statements was on a professional level. If she were even an ounce amusing, her mother should have considered a career in comedy. The ridiculous thought triggered a snicker at the back of Autumn’s throat. She had to swallow it down.
“Hardly. How about a cup of tea? I have that chamomile you like. I went into Bozeman earlier to that cute little tea shop.” If she had made different choices, she would have a little bakery with a wall full of different loose-leaf teas in glass jars for customers to sample. She would mix her own leaves and share her knowledge of tea and baking instead of trying to keep a failing ski area afloat. She had clearly failed at that.
She suspected the real reason her mother didn’t want a cookie was because her acquiescing might be interpreted as her somehow being okay with Jett on the property.
“What time does the practice end?” Vera looked out the window.
The team had dispersed, but Jett remained. The kids had probably gone back to the top for another run. He would time the kids as they came down. He was looking for speed. Quinn wouldn’t be one of the first. She was too slow, though she had been practicing. Autumn was proud of her determination but hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed when Jett had to put his faster skiers in for the tough competition.
He looked at his phone. The clipboard was tucked under his arm. He turned his gaze toward the sky, shook his head, and marched in the direction of the house.
Oh boy.
“He’s coming this way,” her mother said.
“I see that.” She quickly put the warm cookies on a plate, grabbed her coat, and went to meet him halfway.
When she approached, he stopped. A frown furrowed his brows, but his face returned to neutral by the time she reached him.
“Hi. I made some cookies.” She held out the platter. Smooth, Autumn. Goofy much?
“That’s nice. The team should be down in about five to ten minutes. Can you stay here and write down their times? I have a problem at the ranch and have to get back.” He handed her the clipboard.
“You want me to help you?”
“Not me. The team. Just this once. My staff is still getting used to me not being there. No one can find Lock or my mother. Kace isn’t due for another hour, and Gage is in the middle of arresting a tourist for disorderly conduct. It seems no one can make a decision without a Ryker present. Please?” He flashed a hint of a smile, as if to tease her. Or to taunt her.
“It’s simple. The stopwatch is going.” He handed her that too.
She juggled to hold everything.
“Just write down the kid and the time. If you don’t know their names, just write what they’re wearing and then ask after everyone is down. I don’t know their names at all. I’ll come back as soon as I can. Just end the practice when they’re all down.”
“I have a business to run too, you know.”
“I know. Except your last customer just came through thirty minutes ago. No one is going to start a run this late in the day with the sun setting. The only people on the slope are the kids from the team. Please, Autumn? I really have to get back.”
“Okay. For the team. Take a cookie.” She held the plate out again. “Sounds like you’ll need the sugar boost.”
“Thanks.” He took two and trotted off. His long legs carried him with ease and grace.
She needed to stop paying so much attention to him. The behavior was unhealthy. She trudged to the spot where the team would come down and placed the plate of cookies on the ground.
A few minutes later, swooshing skis against snow interrupted the quiet blanketed around her. Logan was the first one down. He turned to stop with perfect precision. Snow glided up in an arc. The smile on his face said everything his eyes couldn’t because they were covered by the sun-blocking visor. He must know how good he was. And of course he was. Markus wouldn’t stand for second best from his kid.
She jotted the time down. The rest of the team came through. All of them finished fairly well. She did a quick head count. One person hadn’t returned. She offered the team the cookies, and they inhaled them all.
“Save one for Quinn,” Emily, Quinn’s best friend, said.
Ten minutes after the last team member had crossed the line, Quinn came through. Her cheeks were red, and she sucked down long breaths.
“Great job, Quinn.” Autumn handed her the last cookie.
“I suck, Mom. And where’s Coach?”
“Coach Ryker had an emergency back at the ranch. He said practice was over and he would see you all tomorrow.”
“Are you his assistant now?” Logan asked.
“His assistant? No, of course not. I happened to be out here when he had to go.” Being Jett’s assistant coach was a preposterous idea. She would never. She didn’t have the time, the inclination.
“You should be,” Logan said. “We can use all the help we can get.”
Not from her. She caught a glimpse of a face in the window back at the house. The house that had once been a lodge filled with customers wanting to warm up with her hot cocoa and cookies after a long run on the slope. Her mother watched them.
Her mother would hate the idea of her helping Jett.
“I’ll talk to Coach Ryker. If he wants help, I’ll do it.”
****
Autumn kicked the furnace. That move always worked in the movies, but it never worked in real life. She couldn’t figure out what was wrong this time, but it had stopped working, and the house was turning into a fishing shack. She would have to call Jay Henry and see if he could bring his plumber’s toolbox or whatever the heck he used to fix things. She hoped he didn’t try to ask her out again.
She climbed the basement steps to find her mother and Quinn waiting for her. Quinn wore her pink pom-pom hat, matching fingerless gloves, and a striped scarf around her neck. Vera stood beside Quinn with a scowl on her face and her down coat zipped up to her neck.
“Well, is it working?” Vera said.
“I wish.”
“Mom, it’s freezing. Can we go to a hotel?”
“I don’t think so, honey. We’ll have to put more logs on the fire and camp out in the living room.” The living room was an oversized open room with high ceilings and wood beams. It doubled as the common area for the ski guests during the day.
The room had a leather sofa that faced the fireplace and another that faced the windows. During the daylight hours the view out of those windows took most people’s breath away even when the branches were dressed in nothing more than layers of snow.
“I’m not sleeping on that couch. It will kill my back,” Vera said.
“Then sleep in your room. You can use the electric space heater. I’ll come in and turn it off after you fall asleep. With all those blankets on your bed, you’ll be fine.”
“Do you want to set the house on fire and kill me?”
“Mom, stop being so melodramatic.” She couldn’t handle Vera’s theatrics tonight. That woman always thought everyone and everything in the world wanted her dead.
“Didn’t you hear about that family last year up on the county road? They left their space heater on all night and burned the house to the ground. They all died.”
“No one died in that fire,” Quinn said.
“Quinnie, Grandma knows. Don’t correct me.”
Quinn showed Vera her phone. “The article says everyone survived.”
Vera humphed, obviously caught in one of her exaggerations. “The pipes are going to freeze.” She sneered, changing the subject.
“I’m aware. I’ll have to try and run hot water every hour.” Autumn wasn’t even sure that would work. But she couldn’t afford to have the pipes burst. “I’ll turn on the oven too.” The oven ran on electricity. She could heat it up and leave the door open. At least while they were awake. But by morning the house would be one big ice pop.
“I’m going to get Dad’s old sleeping bags out of the attic. He used to say he could sleep in a blizzard in one of those. Is it okay, Mom?” Quinn looked at her with wide eyes. Trent was in her eyes, the shape of her face, and the dimple in her chin.
“Sure. Just be careful.”
Quinn hurried off. Autumn wished she had asked more questions of Trent when he had run the ski area, but she had allowed herself to believe he was different and would take care of them. She wouldn’t be in this mess if she had paid better attention.
“Why do you let that girl play in the attic?”
“She’s not playing.”
“It’s not safe up there. Not that you would ever listen to me. No one listens to me. I’m going to bed.” Vera stomped out of the kitchen.
She grabbed her phone off the kitchen table to call the plumber. A knock at the door startled her, and she dropped the phone.
“I’ll get it,” Quinn shouted from the front of the house.
She had no idea who would be calling at this hour, but whoever it was would know the lodge and her family. She didn’t have to worry about strangers knocking or intruders. Not a damn thing here was worth stealing.
Her fingers fumbled over her contact list until she found Jay Henry’s name. An emergency call would cost extra, but she was out of options. Hopefully, she had some room on her credit card to cover the expenses.
“Mom, Coach Ryker is here. He’d like to speak with you.”
Jett was here? What was he doing here? Hopefully, Vera hadn’t heard the knock at the door.
The call to Jay connected to his voicemail. She left a message and hurried to the front door. Sure enough, Jett stood there.
He had traded his parka for the brown quilted jacket again. The jacket hugged him nicely, accenting his broad arms. He had swapped his knit cap for a baseball cap. The man was meant to wear hats. She looked like a tiny rat in hats.
“Sorry to come by so late. I needed my clipboard back. Were you able to write down those times?”
“I got them all.” Autumn grabbed the clipboard off the hall table and handed it to him, and their fingers grazed. A warm jolt shot up her arm and into her chest. She snatched her hand away.
He narrowed his eyes as if he wondered what had her jumpy. “Thanks. Great job today, Quinn.”
“Thanks, Coach.”
“You’re dressed like you’re freezing.” Jett’s gaze bounced between her and Quinn.
Autumn had forgotten she wore one of Trent’s old fleece-lined flannels over her fuzzy sweatshirt and her cozy flannel pants tucked into her shearling boots. “We were outside.”
“The heat’s not working,” Quinn said at the same time.
She prayed her cheeks weren’t turning red or that at least he believed her rosy cheeks were because she was cold. But wouldn’t her lips be blue and not her cheeks red? Geez, she was a mess.
“What happened to the heat?” Jett said.
“I don’t know. I have a call in to Jay Henry.”
“You can’t stay here.”
“We’ll be fine.” They didn’t have any other options, anyway. And they would be fine because she would see to it.
“It’s too cold, and the temps are supposed to drop more overnight. Is there somewhere else you can go till Jay can get here?”
“Mom says a hotel is out.”
“Quinn.” She hoped the look in her eyes would stop her daughter from telling more of their family secrets. She didn’t know what had gotten into Quinn. She knew better than to discuss money with anyone outside these walls.
Quinn shrugged. “It’s true.”
“Come to the ranch.”
“No, thank you. I would rather not spend the extra money right now.” That much was true, even if she had other reasons to decline.
“I’m not asking you to check in like a guest. I’m asking you to come as a friend. I don’t charge my friends. I have an extra room in the main house for the next two nights. Pack a few things. I’ll drive you all over.”
“I’m not staying on your ranch.” Vera crossed her arms over her chest.
Autumn hadn’t noticed her mother’s return from her bedroom, but Vera had ditched the nightgown for her pearls and a black sweater. The hallway light reflected in her newly applied lip gloss too.
“Hello, Vera. I think it would be in everyone’s best interests to come with me. If you’re uncomfortable in my truck, drive with Autumn.”
“I’m not going to stay anywhere you are.” Vera spit out every word.
Jett’s face remained impassive. Autumn had to give it to him. Her mother could test the patience of the most devout saint. He didn’t seem to be affected at all.
“Your choice, then.” He turned to Autumn. “The offer stands for you and Quinn. I don’t think your mother will budge. If you don’t want her to be alone, I can have my mother try to get her.”
“I can hear you. And you will do no such thing. Your mother is the very last person I would go anywhere with.” Vera clutched her pearls. Her face contorted as if she might cry, but Vera did not have the skill to cry on command. Thank God for small favors.
“Here we go,” Autumn said.
“What is Gram talking about?” Quinn said.
“Grab your stuff,” she said to Quinn, ignoring her question. Now wasn’t the time. The time might never come to explain to her daughter what had happened between Karen Ryker and Autumn’s dad that had turned Vera into a bitter, impossible woman. The past could stick up its withered hand right from the grave and latch on to any innocent bystander close enough to get sucked in.
“We’re going to the ranch?” Quinn said, as if Vera and her declaration had never happened.
“Yes. Coach Ryker’s offer is very kind.” She must be out of her mind for accepting Jett’s offer to stay for free on his ranch. At least now, Quinn would think of something other than Vera and her complaints of Karen Ryker.
“I’ll be right back. This is going to be fun.” Quinn pounded up the steps with the energy and enthusiasm reserved for teenagers.
Fighting all her battles alone exhausted her. The world was against her at the moment, and she just wanted to sink into someone, almost anyone, who could carry the burden for her a little while. Sleeping in a warm bed would be one way to release some of the stress.
In the morning, with a good night’s sleep—something she wouldn’t get on the living room floor or in the arctic temperatures of her room—she would have a clearer head and the fortitude to continue her battles. For tonight, she was willing to allow Jett, of all people, to give her a hand. She wouldn’t have believed it possible even one day ago.
“Autumn, he’s going to make a fool of you.” Vera’s voice shook with what had to be loss of control as she watched her daughter and granddaughter conspire with the enemy.
“Mom, enough. If you want to stay here and freeze all night, so be it. But Quinn and I are going to the Ryker Ranch.”
“I’d rather freeze to death.” She pursed her lips. Her fingers tangled in that defenseless necklace.
“Have it your way.” Autumn turned to Jett. “I’m ready to go.”
“Wait, don’t go. My back has been giving me trouble all day. What if it goes out?” Vera took two large steps toward them.
“Call me. I’ll come back.” She turned away from her mother to make her point clear. Quinn and she would not be staying.
“I can’t believe you’d leave your mother all alone. What kind of daughter does that?”
Jett took a step forward. “Vera, with all due respect, you are more than welcome to stay in my home where you’ll be warm and comfortable. If you choose not to, that’s up to you. Autumn and Quinn are coming with me.”
Autumn wanted to throw herself in his arms for that. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He leaned in. Her body warmed for the first time in hours.
“You don’t deserve all those accusations from your mother,” he said.
Quinn bounded down the steps with her backpack, pillow, and blanket.
“Darlin’, I’ve got plenty of pillows and blankets.” Jett flashed his full-wattage smile at Quinn. It lit up his whole face and danced in his dark eyes. He took the items from Quinn and tucked them under his arm. “But I will make sure they are brought to your room for the night. I want you to be comfortable while you stay with us.”
Autumn’s heart needed a jump start. He was charming when he wanted to be.
“Those are my favorites,” Quinn said.
“I can’t sleep without my favorite pillow either. I just don’t want you thinking the Ryker Ranch doesn’t cater to its guests.” He winked at Quinn, then shifted his gaze to Autumn.
“No way. I know that.” Quinn swiped the air with her hand as if Jett had said the most ridiculous thing. How nice to be so young and innocent, believing that Jett would never think of leaving her high and dry.
Autumn, however, still gazed at Jett with some skepticism. The heart rarely forgot the moment it broke. She had no reason to believe his intentions to help them weren’t honorable. If Jett were anything, it was that. But the wounded part of her wanted more information before she completely let her guard down around him.
“Vera, you’re certain?” Jett said over his shoulder.
Her mother only huffed in reply and returned to her room. The bedroom door seemed to have closed with the extra force of a stiff wind.
“Don’t you need to grab anything?” Jett held her gaze.
“I have everything I need.” She collected her purse from the table. “We’ll drive over in my truck.”
“Fair enough.”