Chapter Three
The Trail’s End was a popular hangout for locals and tourists alike, and on a Friday night it was packed with people, all talking loudly to be heard over the mix of alternative country that blared over the speakers.
Scott pushed his way toward the bar, behind Connor and a lift tech named Hank.
The two friends had waylaid Scott outside Ski Patrol headquarters and persuaded him to go out with them for a beer.
While they waited for the bartender, Hank entertained them with an account of the twelve-year-old triplets in matching pink ski suits and blond pigtails who had delighted the crowds in the lift lines by blowing bubbles and handing out candy to celebrate their birthday.
“Cutest little girls, and they were eating up the attention, too,” he said.
“Hey, it’s our turn.” Connor pointed to the bar, and they moved forward to place their orders.
Beer in hand, Scott turned to survey the crowd.
He recognized a couple of fellow employees from the resort, as well as a few couples he had spotted on the slopes that day.
Then the door opened and Nina entered. The tall blonde couldn’t help but turn heads.
Behind him, Hank gave a low whistle. “Our own Powder Princess,” he said softly, a reference to a nickname some sports blog had given Nina in her ski racing days.
But it was the woman behind Nina who made Scott’s heart strike an extra beat.
Lily wasn’t especially tall, but she carried herself with a confidence he admired.
But she wasn’t arrogant. People liked Lily, from the ski school toddlers to entitled tourists.
Whereas he apparently had a talent for rubbing people the wrong way, Lily could charm even the grumpiest complainer.
He wouldn’t say she had exactly charmed him, but she did distract him. He’d like to figure out why.
“Hey, Nina! Lily! Over here!” Connor raised one arm and motioned the women over.
“Hello, Connor. Hank. Scott.” Lily’s smile sent warmth through him, even though she had barely glanced at him.
The bartender approached. “What can I get you ladies?”
“Hah!” Hank said. He was a wiry dark-haired man with soulful brown eyes and a thin moustache. “I had to wait fifteen minutes to place my order.”
Nina smiled at the bartender. “I’ll have an Avalanche Pale Ale and an order of chili cheese fries.” She glanced at Lily. “Is that okay? We can split the fries.”
“Sure. I’ll have a Snowcap Cider.”
“My treat,” Hank said, and reached for his wallet.
“No thanks,” Nina said. “I always pay my own way.” She handed over a credit card, the smile just as warm.
Lily handed over cash to cover her share of the order, then turned her back to the bar. She surveyed the crowd, then glanced at Scott. “Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You’re staring at me.” She brushed a lock of golden-brown hair out of her eyes. “I thought maybe something was wrong.”
He looked away. He hadn’t meant to stare. He just had a hard time keeping his eyes off of her.
But he wasn’t the only person in the bar focused on Lily. “Do you know that guy over there?” he asked, and gestured toward the cash register by the door, where a beefy middle-aged man had his gaze fixed on her.
She looked in the direction he had indicated, then straightened. “Mike?”
The man moved toward them. “Hey, Lily!” he said. He glanced at Scott.
“Um, this is Scott. Scott, this is Mike.” No explanation of their relationship. Relative? Friend? Boyfriend? He must be at least fifteen years older than Lily, but some women had a thing for older guys. “How are you, Mike?”
“I’m okay.” He moved in closer and lowered his voice. “I guess Denny got in touch with you?”
Scott angled away slightly and pretended not to listen. But it was impossible not to hear everything they said in these close quarters. And the name Denny intrigued him. Denny as in Denton Endicott?
“He left me a voicemail saying he didn’t need me to babysit tonight,” Lily said. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Not that I know of. The meeting just got canceled at the last minute. I just wondered what he said to you last week. About the shiner.” He pointed to his eye.
“He said he drank too much and fell.”
“That’s what he told me, too,” Mike said.
He didn’t sound convinced. “He looked really rough when he came in that night,” Lily said. The bartender set her drink on the bar, but she made no move to pick it up. “His jacket was torn—like he’d been in a fight.”
Denton Endicott in a fight? Scott sipped his beer and pretended to be watching a couple on the dance floor.
Tourists, who had clearly drunk too much.
They were executing a series of dips and spins Scott bet would have at least one of them falling flat before the song was over.
Meanwhile, he could clearly hear Lily’s conversation with Mike.
“That doesn’t sound like Denny,” Mike said. “I mean, I’ve known him twenty years, and he’s never been in a fight.”
“What about the client he was with that night?” Lily asked. “Do you know him? Or her?”
“Him. And he’s a great guy. Someone else I’ve known for years. No, it must have been a fall.” He laughed. “Denny and I are both getting older. We don’t hold our liquor like we used to.”
“What about this new employee, Preston Smith?” she asked.
Mike’s expression sobered. “How do you know Preston?”
“He came by the house that night, not long after you left. He said he wanted to speak to you. He got kind of annoyed when I wouldn’t let him in.”
“I’m sorry he bothered you. I had no idea.”
“It’s all right. I meant to say something to Denny about it, but then he came in looking so awful and it seemed silly. I mean, the guy didn’t do anything. Did Smith ever get in touch with you?”
“Not that night, but we work together every day.”
“What do you think of him?” she asked.
“He certainly knows his stuff, but I’m not sure he’s a good fit for the organization,” Mike said. “He’s got an attitude.”
“Why did Denny hire him?”
“He’s got excellent credentials and came highly recommended.” Mike shrugged. “As long as he does his work, I guess his personality doesn’t matter. I’ll tell him to stay away from the house, though. He shouldn’t be showing up after hours like that.”
“Mike?” a server, holding a brown paper bag, called from the cash register.
“My order’s up. I’d better go.” He nodded and left.
Lily turned back to the bar and picked up her drink.
Scott moved in closer once more. On his other side, Nina was deep in conversation with Hank and Connor. “Everything okay?” he asked.
She frowned, a single shallow line forming on her forehead.
“I hope so. Mike works for Denton Endicott. I was supposed to babysit Jackson again tonight, but his dad called at the last minute to cancel. When I was there last Friday, Denny came in from his dinner meeting with a black eye.” She set her drink on the bar and turned to face him.
“And I just remembered I promised Denny not to say anything to anyone about that, so if you tell anyone, I swear I’ll make you regret it for the rest of your life. ”
He might have laughed at the threat, coming from such a sweet-faced young woman.
But the vehemence with which she spoke gave weight to the words.
“I won’t say a word,” he said. “I promise.” And he wouldn’t ask about Preston Smith, either, who had apparently annoyed her enough that she thought him worth mentioning to Mike. None of Scott’s business.
She picked up her drink again and sipped. “Let’s talk about something else,” she said.
“Shelby made it interesting for us today,” he said. “I was getting worried she wasn’t going to find Pete in time.”
“I had faith in her,” Lily said.
He thought she had looked a little panicked, but whatever. The dog had come through and passed the exam, and that’s all that mattered.
“I know you think I was singling you out, insisting you recertify,” he said. “But we can’t afford to have any of our qualifications questioned. Better to be certain.”
“You’re the boss,” she said. “You don’t owe me an explanation.”
The dismissal hurt, he could admit it. He didn’t like that she thought of him first as “the boss.” “I’m in charge of the avy dog program,” he said. “But we’re all part of the team. It’s important that we get along.”
She sipped her cider, watching him over the rim of the glass. She had almond-shaped eyes with thick lashes. Her gaze struck him as…troubled. Not what he had expected. “It’s a good team,” she said. “I don’t have any problems with anyone.”
“Good. I don’t want any problems.”
“What do you want?”
The question startled him. It sounded like a challenge. Did she expect him to tell her what he required from her, as a member of his team? But he had given her that spiel her first day on the job. “I want the avalanche dog program to be a success,” he said.
“Because then you’ll be a success. You’ll keep your job.”
“No!” The word came out more sharply than he had intended. She visibly flinched. “If someone is caught in a slide, they’re depending on us to get them out alive,” he added. “That’s the only success that really matters.”
Her eyes grew glossy, as if she was holding back tears. “You’re right,” she said, her voice rough. “Of course that’s what matters most.”
He hadn’t expected so much emotion and had to look away. Awkward silence stretched between them.
“I’m going to head out of here.” Connor clamped one hand on Scott’s shoulder and smiled at Lily. “Have a good night.”
“Good night, Connor.” Lily set her half-finished drink on the bar. Scott was sure she was going to cry off, too, if only to get away from him.
But Nina moved in beside her and shoved a plate piled with chili cheese fries toward her. “Eat up,” she said, and handed Lily a fork. “Or else I’ll devour them all.”
Lily hesitated, then stabbed the fork into the fries. Scott didn’t blame her: the food looked and smelled amazing.