Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
COLE
Apparently, I’m clenching my jaw
“Adele’s paperwork? Excuse me?”
My head whipped toward Chloe where she smiled up at me from her desk. “Yes,” she said, completely unbothered by my sharp tone. “I’m getting the paperwork ready for Adele.”
“For Adele?” My jaw tightened.
She nodded, her eyes dancing with amusement.
“What is Adele doing for Heartfire Falls?” I ground out.
“Your mom hired her.”
“She what?”
“She said we could use a female guide. And I, for one, completely agree. Our waitlist is longer than some of the hikes y’all lead, and we’ve got some women-only groups requesting trips. Personally, I think we need to offer that as an option.”
All I could do was blink. And apparently my mouth had dropped open, because Haven walked in just then, gave me a glance, and lifted his hand to tap two fingertips lightly under my chin.
“Whoa, dude. What’s got you so surprised?”
Chloe didn’t even blink. “Cole’s silently flipping out inside because your mom hired Adele to help lead hikes.”
Haven nodded along, all calm and composed. “Excellent plan. We need someone.”
“We do?” I sputtered.
“Dude, you know we’ve got a waitlist a mile long. We’re never going to get caught up at this rate.”
“I thought we agreed to be more strategic about our planning. More thoughtful about the trips we offer.” I had no clue why I was arguing this point. I couldn’t even believe myself.
Haven slid his gaze to mine and shrugged. “We need a woman available to guide some trips.”
“But we don’t do longer trips with solo leads,” I argued. “Just day trips.”
Haven shrugged, clearly not budging. “All these groups of women will be thrilled to have someone like Adele leading.”
“It’s not like she hasn’t done it before,” Chloe added.
“What do you mean?”
She pointed at her laptop.
“I can’t see your computer screen,” I pointed out.
“I’m just saying, she’s led hikes before for a company out of Diamond Creek. She listed Lacey Haynes as a reference, and Lacey sang her praises. Even though your mom offered her the job, I still have to do the HR thing, so I called to follow up.”
“Oh my God,” I muttered.
“Wow. Touchy, touchy,” Lincoln teased as he came walking in, clearly having caught part of the conversation.
“I’m not touchy. I’m just trying to clarify why we’re hiring new staff,” I shot back.
“Ease up, man. You know we need help,” Haven said, half laughing.
“What are you talking about?” I countered, even though I already regretted engaging in any of this.
Lincoln waggled his brows. “Dude, you’re clenching your teeth so hard, you’re going to crack them.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I ran a hand through my hair. I wasn’t about to admit they were right—though they probably were. “So when is Adele starting?”
“I’m just getting her packet ready now,” Chloe said. “I’m the HR department.” She straightened her shoulders with mock seriousness. “She has to sign paperwork and stuff.”
“We have an actual HR department?” I asked.
“Yes,” came my mother’s voice as she walked into the room.
“Good grief. Is this a group meeting now?” I groaned and glanced around the room. Apparently, yes. It was. Clearing my throat, I made a half-hearted attempt at grace. “Well, good. You know what? I think it’s a great plan.”
“Oh, do you now?” Lincoln asked, all faux innocence.
I ignored the knowing glint in his eyes. “I do. You’re right. We’ve got a waitlist, and we could definitely use at least one woman to guide trips.”
Not a one of us said the silent part aloud. Bree was gone.
Our sister used to lead hikes. She and Haven were the only two of our siblings who had graduated from high school before everything fell apart. They led the way back then. The rest of us just tagged along, learning as we went.
Chloe beamed. “Well, then it’s a good thing you’re all on board because Adele is already hired.”
I felt a little unsettled about the fact that my reaction to this news might’ve revealed too much about me. Until I caught the look on my brother Lincoln’s face. Lincoln’s eyes were locked on Chloe. Leverage. I had it.
“Was it your decision?” Lincoln asked Chloe, his tone deceptively light.
Before she could answer, our mom cut in smoothly. “Of course not. I made the decision to hire Adele. Chloe is handling HR.”
Lincoln lifted his chin. “Since when do we have HR?”
“All of you filled out HR paperwork. You just didn’t pay attention to it,” Chloe clarified.
“Well, why would we need to? This is our family’s resort.” A muscle ticked in Lincoln’s cheek.
“True, but…” Chloe began.
My mother rolled her eyes. “Good grief. Family businesses have to follow business laws, paperwork, taxes, and the like. We’ve always had HR. It was just me.” She circled her hand in the air.
The phone rang, slicing through the group conversation.
Chloe pressed her lips together and lifted one finger in front of her lips, shushing the whole room like a boss just before she answered it.
Her tone shifted instantly—crisp and warm, with that subtle Southern accent. “Heartfire Falls. How may I help you?”
We filtered out of her office, and my mom stopped beside me in the hallway, curling her hand around my elbow. “I really think it’s a great idea to hire Adele. I hope you’re okay with it.”
“Of course I’m okay with it, Mom.”
“Well, I know you like her.”
“Oh my fucking God, Mom.”
“Language!” she chided.
“Seriously?” It’s a wonder my eyes didn’t roll out of my head with that.
She chuckled and shrugged lightly. “Well, we’re trying not to constantly swear around Tommy.”
“Tommy’s not here.” I glanced around. My brothers had already headed into the kitchen. It was just the two of us left in the hallway.
“I know, but you know how it is. We’ve got to keep it to a minimum to train ourselves. He got in trouble at school again for swearing in class the other day.”
I snorted. “Really?”
“Yes! I understand you boys talk the way you talk. I do too. I’m not above it.” She shrugged. “I’m just trying to get us to be a little more mindful about it and work on it.”
“I’m working on it, Mom.” I bit back a sigh.
For a beat, I wanted to say something else.
I wanted to point out that I wasn’t exactly a candidate for any kind of relationship.
And yeah, maybe I did think Adele was cute—because she was.
But I also knew if I said one word about that, Mom would launch into a whole thing about how she wanted me to find a partner.
We all confided in Mom about plenty of things, but I tried to avoid the topic of relationships. She got way too hopeful.
“All right,” I said. “Well, speaking of hikes and how many we’ve got, I need to head out and get ready for one.”
I didn’t wait and made a beeline for the back door, skipping the kitchen altogether.
If there was one thing about working at the family resort, it was that there was always something to do.
Honestly, we could’ve worked twenty-four seven and still not get caught up.
We’d busted our asses to get this place running again, and now that it was, we were scrambling to keep up with the demand.
I snorted to myself as I led a small group on a punishing hike up a steep trail later that afternoon.
We were headed for a good area for rock climbing, which meant a whole lot of belaying for me.
We’d been worried for a long time about what would happen after the fire.
At first, we were all just shell-shocked.
My mom had already been scrambling after our dad passed away the year before.
Then came the fire. In the aftermath of that, we lost Bree and we were trying to take care of Tommy. Money was tight with nothing coming in.
We were crammed into the barn apartment—me, Lincoln, Jude, Haven, Asher, Grady, Tommy, and Mom—somehow making it work. We were all in a muddle, just trying to get through the days with most of us still in school at the time.
Needless to say, it took time to even start thinking about rebuilding the business.
We did day trips here and there, but our resort had always been built around overnight guests.
No guests meant no real income. Haven became a hotshot firefighter to bring in money, and the rest of us followed his lead.
Now here we were, drowning in work, up to our necks in hikes and guests. Not that we were complaining. Alaska had become more popular for tourists in recent years. Everyone wanted adventure, eco-tours, wilderness treks, and so on. We were custom-made for the trend.
I glanced around the group once we reached the climbing area, watching them gear up. They were buzzing with excitement. I might’ve been trying to distract myself with work, but honestly, it wasn’t a bad distraction. Because the alternative was thinking about Adele.
That kiss, and what the hell it meant. All things considered, I was kidding myself if work distracted me much from Adele.