Chapter 17
Shane
“Hey, George!”
The resort’s maintenance supervisor looked up from his desk and beamed at me. “Shane! Come on in! What’s up?”
He jumped up from his chair as if a horde of hyenas were chasing him.
“I don’t want to disturb you.” With my hands raised, I took a step back, and George rushed toward me.
“You’re not disturbing me!” George’s eyes widened, and he gestured wildly. “God, you’re doing me a favor!”
He looked almost comical as he tried to keep me in his office.
“This paperwork is such a pain. There’s a reason I took this job.
I’ll let you in on a secret—it has nothing to do with writing reports to management.
” He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe I should get an assistant. What do you say, Shane? Interested in a side job doing inventory reports and forwarding orders to accounting?”
The giant lumberjack batted his eyelashes, and I burst out laughing. George put his arm around me and sighed.
“Please tell me something’s broken! Tell me I need to come with you right now to . . . fix a water pipe?”
I patted his head with my free hand. “Sorry. No burst pipe. But something similar?”
George left me standing there and slipped into his jacket before I could finish speaking.
“That sounds like an on-site problem. You don’t need to say anything else. It’s best if I come with you.”
“Yes, I think so too,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m happy to make you happy.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, young Padawan. I’m the maintenance manager here. This has nothing to do with pleasure.”
He winked at me, and once again I wondered how old he was. In any case, he was a feast for the eyes.
“Very well, Jedi. Uh, Master? Jedi Master?”
He closed the door behind us and stopped abruptly. “Jedi? Master? What’s wrong with you? Why do you have to think about it?”
“Sorry.” I shrugged. “I’m not familiar with Star Trek.”
George sucked in his breath sharply and slapped a hand to his heart. With his eyes wide open, he dropped to his knees. He landed in the snow, but that must have hurt.
“Are you trying to kill me?” he gasped and stared at me with his hilariously wide eyes.
“Whatever I just said, it wasn’t worth it.” I pointed at him in the snow.
“It wasn’t worth it . . . ” He let himself fall to the side with a dramatic groan, and I grabbed his upper arm.
“Come on!” I pulled him up. Or tried to. My laughter didn’t exactly help, and George was no help either. Instead, he groaned dramatically.
We heard quick footsteps coming from the side of the path. “Is everything okay?”
We both turned around and saw Adriel rushing toward us. When he realized that George was fooling around, he slowed down. Nevertheless, he approached us, concern written on his face.
“Are you two alright?” A smile played around his lips as he stood in front of us and checked us both over.
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for George. I only had a tiny task for him to do in our cabin. Instead of helping, he collapsed here for some flimsy reason.”
“Well!” George sat up indignantly, brushed the snow off his pants, and glared at me. Finally, he turned to Adriel, put his hand on his shoulder, and gazed deep into his eyes.
Did Adriel blush? I was sure I was imagining it.
“Adriel!” George whispered his name. “He can’t tell Star Trek from Star Wars.”
Now I was sure it was red that adorned Adriel’s cheeks. He pressed his lips together and nodded curtly.
“That’s insane, of course.”
George narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You two are hopeless. Shane, come on. What’s the problem now?”
He stomped down the path, and Adriel and I trailed behind.
“How are you doing, by the way?” my boss wanted to know, and I nodded.
“Things are going fine. Nothing has happened since the incident with the agitated lady. The guests are friendly. I have settled in comfortably.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Adriel agreed. “We’ve only heard positive things about you.
It’s still early in the season, but I wanted to mention it.
Depending on what you’re planning for next year, you’ll have a place here again.
There are always openings in the organization teams, if you’re interested in that line of work. ”
We had now arrived at our cabin. I nodded to George, and he went in while Adriel and I followed.
“What’s going on here?” George asked as he scanned the room.
I pointed to the roof. “I wasn’t sure, but this morning it hit me. Something’s dripping.”
“Oh, fuck.” George launched into a string of colorful curses. “I was afraid of that.”
“What?” I followed his gaze to the ceiling and chewed the inside of my cheek.
George shook his head and gave Adriel a meaningful look. “I predicted this.”
Adriel tilted his head slightly and pressed his lips together. “You did. Is it that bad?”
“Hey. What’s going on?” I asked again.
George was still staring at the ceiling, where a dark spot had formed. “The roofs should’ve been renovated in the fall. The problem was already apparent. But they wanted to wait until spring.”
“Instead, they put the seasonal workers here,” Adriel muttered. “The hope was that they’d last until April. Then they were supposed to be repaired.”
“If it gets through now without thawing outside, then we already have more relevant entry points. The heat from the rooms thaws it enough from below, and it seeps through. The insulation isn’t right.
Not anymore. Or it never was as it should be.
The best thing would be to put new roofs on. Puzzling it out won’t do any good.”
Adriel made a gruff sound. “The hotel management will surely be happy about that.”
“I suggested a cost-effective option in the summer.” George turned to Adriel, who nodded in agreement.
“You did. It’s not your fault.”
“Right.” George smiled a subtle, intimate smile that wasn’t meant for me. But it found exactly the right target in Adriel. He beamed at our maintenance manager as if he were the sun itself.
With George’s white skin and shiny red hair and Adriel’s brown skin and dark, velvety locks, the maintenance manager and the event manager appeared to be complete opposites. But at that moment, they looked like pieces of a puzzle that fit together.
“So . . . ” The two turned their heads to me as if they were surprised that I was in the room with them.
“And what does that mean now?” My mind was racing.
Did Ruben and I have to move? Were we being put into one of those ominous shared accommodations?
My stomach churned. I didn’t want to give up the intimacy we had worked hard to achieve.
Thanks to Ruben’s shifts, we rarely saw each other, anyway.
The last thing I wanted was to share him with some roommates in the few minutes we had left.
“Nothing for now.” George went outside. “I’ll get a ladder and some tools and call the local roofer. Then we’ll fix the problem here. And hope that nothing else happens during the season.”
“Well, that’s a great prospect,” I grumbled.
Adriel sighed beside me. “Then I’m glad I asked you after all.
I hope you’ll keep the positive aspects in mind while you’re here.
It’d be great to have you on the team in the future.
As I said, we’ll need to get together quickly in case you want to take on more tasks than just the hours.
I already have to test out some new ski resorts.
Check out some lodges. The ski safaris need to be planned, as marketing will be incorporating them into their plans for next season at the end of this one.
Up until now, you’ve only been on the day trips, right? ”
A wide range of emotions bounced around in my stomach and then merged into a strange mix. The recognition felt good after my bumpy start. It was an exciting balm. Mint oil. Refreshing and velvety soft at the same time.
On the other hand, it wasn’t the first time I’d been approached in a similar way. Until now, the praise had completely satisfied me. It was an option I could exercise. Or not. But now my thoughts immediately turned to Ruben.
The resort was cool, and I could imagine spending another season or several here.
At the same time, though, I wanted to know what Ruben was planning.
If I had the choice, I might go where Ruben would be.
The mere thought of making any future decision dependent on him unsettled me.
There was neither time nor space for that. Damn.
But what had become clear to me in the few days since our discussion was that I wasn’t going to give up on Ruben easily. That he meant more to me than I realized at the moment. That there had to be more for us than a few seasonal fucks.
The most surprising thing was that I wanted it. This “more” that irritated, frustrated, and fascinated me in equal measure.
But then I thought of Ruben sleeping next to me.
How he lay in my arms. How he challenged me.
How he let go when I held him. How he busily made breakfast for the staff and gave instructions on how best to eat his latest granola.
Only to shake his head and accept that we were all gourmet philistines and still serve us the best food he could find.
No. I wanted to make Ruben a factor in my life. Anything else was unacceptable.
“You are thinking quite hard.” Adriel sounded amused and frustrated at the same time.
“No,” I hastened to emphasize. “It’s not that. It’s a fantastic offer. And I’m interested. But I need to clarify something first.”
Adriel waved it off. “Take your time. I don’t need an answer right away.”
“Sure. The last thing I want to do is string you along. There are a couple of things I need to sort out with myself and . . . ”
Adriel laughed. “Do what you have to do. Let’s talk about something else. What do you think about the area? How are things going with your roommate? So far, the team is getting along well.”
Yes. Let’s talk about something else.
“Good. Everything’s fine. Great.”
If that meant Ruben writhing beneath me like a cat and his moans in my ears.