Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
OLIVER
A t the top, we set our sleds next to each other and pushed off at the same time. Joey reached the bottom first, probably because he was the lightest. But neither of us had the heart to tell him that was the reason. We let him cheer his victory, then trudged up the hill again.
After one of our runs down the hill, Joey declared that he was done sledding and started rolling snow into a ball.
I clapped my hands together. "It's time to make a snowman."
Carolina's cheeks were pink from the cold, but her eyes were bright. I couldn't imagine Tina spending the day with us in the snow. She would have complained the whole time that she was bored while we played outside. She wouldn't have gotten joy from just being in our presence, which was the vibe I was getting from Carolina. She wanted to be here.
I helped Joey pack the snow tight. Then we rolled it to make it bigger.
"That looks good. I think we can make it our base," Carolina said from where she was attempting to roll a second one but it wasn’t compacted enough .
I moved closer. "Here. You have to pack it as you go. That way it's a tight ball."
"Oh," Carolina said, and I realized how close we were. If I closed the distance, I'd easily be able to kiss her. But Joey was here, watching our every move.
I backed away, watching her as she continued to roll the snow, taking my advice and carefully patting the snow as she went. When she was done, she stood up with a frown on her face. "It doesn't look as good as yours."
"Here, let me," I moved in front of her, rolling the snow back in the other direction, packing it as I went. I'd done this so many times with my brothers and now Joey, I guessed I was a bit of an expert. When I had the second one ready, I carefully placed it on top of the largest ball. Joey had the head ready to go. I helped him place it on top.
"That's a fine-looking snowman," Carolina said appraisingly.
Joey scrounged around digging for any sticks he could find for the arms and rocks for the buttons, eyes, and mouth.
"Let's raid the kitchen for a carrot," I said to Joey, knowing that Marcus would pretend to be irritated with us, but then insist on finding the best one.
Joey took off toward the lodge.
"That was fun," Carolina said as I gathered the sleds. She took one, and I took mine and Joey's, walking at a more leisurely pace.
"I'm glad you could be here for this." I was glad even if it meant her conference ended early, and Joey interrupted our night together. I'd always wanted to share moments like this with someone. I enjoyed being with Joey, but it seemed like we were missing someone. As if we were meant to be three, not two. But Tina never fit the bill.
"I am too."
I held the door for her, and we dropped the sleds inside to dry. I knew we'd be out again. Joey adored night sledding .
Inside, Marcus had already made us hot chocolate, and I took Joey outside to place the carrot as the snowman's nose. Then I took a picture and sent it to Carolina. This moment was meant to be remembered. Even if she went to Maine and I never saw her again.
My heart constricted at the idea of her leaving. I hated it, but it was inevitable. We kicked off the snow again, then went inside to take off our boots.
"That was fun. Can we go sledding later?" Joey shrugged off his jacket and dropped it to the floor.
"Of course." Instead of reminding him to pick up his stuff, I hung it up for him. For once, I was going to relax about the other details. We had a service that removed snow from the lots. I'd ask if they could do the sidewalks too. I wanted to spend today with my son and Carolina. Who knew if I'd ever get the chance again?
In the kitchen, Carolina stood talking to Marcus. The fixings for the hot chocolates were on the counter between them.
"Marshmallows," Joey said as he climbed onto the stool next to Carolina. He reached for the bowl of minimarshmallows, and Carolina slid it closer to him, watching carefully while he scooped a few on top. Then she moved the bowl away again. "Whipped cream?"
"Uh-huh. Then chocolate syrup."
Carolina held the whipped cream bottle above his head. "You want it here?"
Joey looked up and then giggled. "No!"
"Here?" she asked, tipping it toward his nose.
He giggled even more. "No!"
She placed a hand on her hip. "Open your mouth then."
"What?" When he realized she wanted to pour the whipped cream in his mouth, he was quick to open his mouth, and then she pulled back, meeting my gaze and laughing. "I suppose I should put it on your hot chocolate." She waggled her eyebrows at me. "We don't want Daddy to get upset."
The fact that she'd called me Daddy sent all kinds of warm feelings skyrocketing through my body. I had visions of raising Joey with a woman, but it was never Tina who I'd envisioned. That face was becoming clearer the more I got to know Carolina.
Marcus was grinning as he watched Joey and Carolina. When she poured the syrup on top of the whipped cream, he winked at me.
I knew what he was saying. Carolina was nothing like Tina. She was warm and caring. She treated Joey like the person he was, not a nuisance.
Carolina sprinkled a few candy cane shavings on top, oblivious to everything else going on in the room. Her voice lowered. "There. It's perfect."
"Thanks, Miss Caro." Joey tipped his hot chocolate back, the whipped cream touching his nose.
It was probably harder for him to say her full name, but I loved that he used my nickname for her.
"Yeah, thanks, Miss Caro."
Carolina glanced up at me, her cheeks pink.
"You want to play a board game with me in the great room?" Marcus asked Joey as he took of his apron.
"Yes!" Joey said as he scrambled off the stool.
Marcus grabbed Joey’s mug and carried it out of the room for him.
Carolina sipped her hot chocolate. "Thank you for today. It was truly magical."
I grinned, my heart close to bursting. "It's not even close to being over yet."
She wrapped her hands around the mug and sat on the stool Joey vacated. "What else do you have planned?"
I sighed. "What would you like to do?"
"Have you decorated for the holidays? I know the inn is done. But what about your room? Even if we're only here for a day or two, it would be nice to have a tree. For Joey."
"Ah. That's a good idea. We haven't decorated the condo since we have a home in town. But we could move one of the hall trees into our place."
"You think Joey would want to do that?"
I let out a laugh. "He's going to love it."
"Good. I want him to have a good day too."
"He's off school, and Christmas is in a couple of days. I probably won't be able to get him to sleep tonight."
"Oh, we should build a fort tonight and watch a holiday movie. If he falls asleep in the tent, it won't matter. It will be like camping." Then her gaze flickered to me, uncertainty filtering through the excitement. "If that's okay with you. I know you probably have a specific bedtime for him."
"I think we can make an exception for one night." Tonight, I was going to pretend that we were a family. It was a slippery slope, but like the snow, this was an unprecedented situation.
"This is the most fun I've had in forever. Thank you for including me."
I shook my head. "It's the most fun I've had in forever too. I get so wrapped up in work and everything I should be doing that I can't relax and enjoy these moments with him. Sometimes it feels so hard doing everything myself, especially when he's sick, or he's having trouble with kids at school. It feels like there should be someone else there, but there isn't."
"That's a lot of pressure."
"But I have my brothers and my parents when they're not traveling. I should let them help more."
"I bet they'd love that. And so would Joey."
"I'm seeing everything differently lately."
She raised a brow. "Oh?"
Marcus ducked his head inside the doorway. "I think we need two more people to make this work. "
"What are we playing?" Carolina asked as she stood and picked up her mug.
"Monopoly. But not the one we played as kids. It's some new superhero one. Joey assures me that this one is more fun."
"Anything would be more fun than the original Monopoly when you have brothers," I said, following them into the great room. A fire was burning in the hearth, but Arthur had disappeared.
Joey sat on his knees in one of the upholstered red chairs surrounding the dark wood table. "Who do you want to be?"
Carolina slipped into the chair next to Joey. "Oh. I don't even know who these guys are. Can you choose for me?"
Tina would never play a game with Joey. I wasn't even sure he'd ask her to at this point. She'd disappointed him so many times before.
I sat between Joey and Marcus.
As the youngest, Joey went first, quickly buying up all the property he landed on. In no time, he was collecting rent money from the rest of us. There was a lot of good-natured teasing about what a mogul Joey was, and he was basking in the attention. This is what I wanted for my son, to feel part of a family, whether it was by blood or the people we surrounded ourselves with.
Finally, Marcus stretched. "I need to prepare lunch.”
"You don't have to cook for us."
Marcus chuckled. "I'm just throwing sandwiches together."
Carolina rose too. "We can all help."
In the kitchen, Marcus got out everything we needed for sandwiches, and we made our own. Then we took our food and chips into the dining room area. The snow was still falling.
When Arthur came down, Marcus disappeared into the kitchen to make him a sandwich.
"It's so beautiful," Carolina said .
"I want to go outside again," Joey said.
"Let me digest my food first." My phone buzzed. "It's Eli. Excuse me."
I headed into the hallway outside the dining room. "Hello."
"I've been watching the weather channel. How are things there?"
"It's snowing hard. I tried to clear the sidewalks this morning, but it was coming down harder than I could clear it."
"You can wait for the service to do it. I know you have Joey."
"The generators are running. Marcus is keeping us fed, and Joey's having a good time."
"That's all that matters." Eli worried about the lodge, but family came first. "How are the guests? It looks like you only have a handful."
"We haven't seen the couple in a while, but Marcus takes food to their room, and they've been leaving the empty trays for him. Arthur's reading in the great room and eating meals with us."
"I feel awful that we had to cancel the second day of Carolina's conference. Did you offer them a discount to return?"
"The vendors weren't happy to cancel."
Eli sighed. "I figured that."
"There's nothing we could have done. Most of the vendors and guests wanted to get home. Shutting things down early gave them time to leave and get home safely. It's always a risk with a December conference."
"How is Carolina doing? Is she upset that she wasn't able to get home?"
"She's enjoying the snow."
"Hopefully she can get home in time for Christmas. Can you make sure the guests are able to get wherever they're going after their stay? "
"On it," I said. This was standard practice for a storm but something he usually handled. In these situations, we usually comped them the nights of the storm and all the food. "Don't worry about anything. I have it under control."
"I know you do. Can I talk to Joey?"
"Sure." I headed into the dining room where Joey was eating chips and watching the snow come down. "Uncle Eli wants to say hi."
I flipped it onto speaker phone and set it in front of him.
"Uncle Eli. It's snowing!"
Eli chuckled. "I heard."
"We went sledding and built a snowman with Miss Caro. It was so much fun. I wish you were here."
"I wish I was there too, buddy. I miss you." He was quiet for a minute. Then he asked, "Who's Miss Caro?"
I leaned close to the speaker. "He's talking about Carolina."
"She built a snowman with you?" Eli asked Joey, and I held my breath, hoping he wouldn't ask any more questions, especially not on speakerphone.
"She went sledding with us and fell off her sled."
"At the cliff?" Eli asked, amusement tinging his tone.
"Yeah. You should have seen her. She landed flat on her back."
"It wasn't that bad," Carolina interjected.
"Carolina, I hope you're enjoying the snow. We'll get you home as soon as we can," Eli said.
Carolina waved a hand even though he couldn't see it. "Don't worry about me. I'm in no rush to go anywhere."
"I don't want you to miss Christmas with your family."
A shadow passed over Carolina's face before she carefully schooled her features. "Oliver, Joey, and Marcus have been the best hosts. I don't usually get to stay and enjoy the resort, so this is nice. "
"That's good to hear. I'll let you go. Scarlett wants to hit the beach."
Groans sounded around the table.
I picked up my phone. "You just had to rub it in, didn't you?"
"Always, brother. Enjoy your blizzard." Eli clicked off, and I shook my head, chuckling.
Marcus returned. "Joey, you want to help me make sugar cookies?"
"Can we decorate them with sprinkles?"
Marcus's eyes widened in mock shock. "What else would we use to decorate them?"
Joey ran over to him, talking about all the options for toppings.
"Eli has a hard time letting go, doesn't he?" Carolina asked softly.
"He's used to being in control, and he rarely goes on vacation. But this is good for him and me. I get a taste of what it's like being in charge."
"How are you holding up?" Carolina asked.
"There haven't been any major issues, so I'm good." I was pleased I'd been able to relax and just enjoy this extra time with Joey and Carolina.
"If you need any help with shoveling or clearing snow, let me know."
"We have a service for that. I'm going to let everyone else do their job so I can focus on the guests."
"Not every place I stay is this accommodating. And it's rare for me to see the owners on site."
"It's always been that way here. Growing up, you'd see me and my brothers having the run of the place. We had to help out, whether it was with ski lessons, washing dishes, or even folding towels. But when we were done with our chores, we'd play hide-and-seek in the lodge and ski. It was great."
Carolina smiled softly. "Sounds like it. "
I wondered if she was contrasting her childhood with mine and coming up short. "My mom always said we ran wild, and I suppose that's true. Now that we're older, we get together every month to go mountain biking or something more adventurous. In the fall we parachuted out of a plane together. We waited to do it when Walker was on leave."
"I'd be terrified to do that."
"We had lots of training and did a tandem jump before we went solo." After our jump Scarlett and her friend Marigold showed up looking panicked, as if they were afraid something would happen to us. I remembered thinking at the time how nice it would have been to have someone waiting for me and the desire I'd had to share the experience with her.
"That's nice you have your siblings, and you get together often."
"Yeah, Kylie doesn't participate in those get-togethers. I think we're a little too crazy for her."
"I don't blame her."
I had a good life here in Telluride. I was surrounded by my family. I had a business to run and people counting on me. I had Joey and our little house in town. But it still felt as if something was missing. And I couldn't help but think that Carolina might be the missing piece.
When the snow stopped falling, I'd be tasked with getting her home. That's where her life was, not here. In the meantime, I'd enjoy these extra few hours with her.