6. Joy
JOY
Joy woke to discover that first of all, she had fallen asleep for an involuntary nap in her clothes, on Leah’s bed. Leah was nowhere in sight, and the cards had been neatly collected and placed in a pile on the bedside table.
Joy sat up, yawning. The room felt almost comfortable, and she figured it had to be more than the space heater blowing hot air toward the bed. She felt a radiator: warm.
Winter darkness had settled while she was napping. In the light from the windows, snowflakes flashed and twinkled, piling up on the sill.
Leah’s shoes were missing, so she might be out with Doreen for the promised tour.
Then again, she might be collecting chains from Bar’s truck for the also-promised Marley ghost-a-thon.
Joy sighed and put on her still slightly damp ankle boots.
The hall was definitely warmer. She went all the way down to the room at the end with the heart-shaped plaque on the door. Up close, she saw that it read HONEYMOON SUITE. Joy hesitated, her hand above the door. She listened. There was no sound of rattling chains. She gave it a tentative tap.
“Bar?” she asked through the door. When there was no answer, she tried, “Mr. Grey?”
Still no answer. Well, at least he wasn’t being Scrooged. Yet. She knocked one more time and decided that Bar Grey was either taking a post-drive nap, like her, or had gone down to eat.
She went down the big stairs. The lobby was eerily empty, and the log in the fireplace had burned down to a hot, glowing bed of coals. Joy paused to toast her hands and turn herself around in front of it, rotisserie style. The lodge might be warming up to livable temperatures, but the fire was more than welcome. After she had driven the cold-induced stiffness out of her fingers, she wandered about in search of the restaurant.
It wasn’t too hard to find, down a short hallway behind the stairs. It was built atrium-style on the back of the building, with most of the walls taken up with huge windows looking out on the dark woods. A few of the tables were set; most were empty aside from their white tablecloths.
In a far corner, Bar was at one of the tables; she recognized him instantly. He was sitting alone at an empty table, his briefcase open and his head bowed over a file folder.
Nearer to the door, Doreen and Leah were sharing a table that had a more cheerful aspect, lit by a flickering electric candle, sipping drinks and chatting. Leah waved, and Joy came over. She noted a plate of extremely familiar cookies on the table, now partly demolished to crumbs.
“Hey, sis!” Leah greeted her, while Doreen raised a hand in a quiet greeting. “This hot chocolate is amazing . And we won’t mention the secret ingredient.” She held up a half-drunk cup with chocolate-sprinkled whipped cream floating on top. The smell of something alcoholic was strong; probably Bailey’s Irish Cream, based on what Joy knew of her sister’s tastes.
“Hester’s in the kitchen,” Doreen said. She had a beer in front of her. “She’s serving a limited menu from the pre-made meals they have available.”
“Although we do have absolutely stellar snacks and desserts,” Leah said, reaching for another selection from the plate of Christmas cookies—as if she hadn’t eaten half her weight in pastries and cookies while Joy was frantically baking.
Joy took a cookie. “Sorry about falling asleep in the middle of the game.”
“You looked like you needed it. Anyway, I was down a hundred points anyway. I figured I’d let you sleep and take you up something later, if you hadn’t come down by the time Hester decided to close the kitchen.”
“I appreciate it. I really was bushed.” Although most of her attention was on the conversation, Joy kept getting distracted, looking toward the solitary figure by the window. “I think I might go over and say hi to Bar.”
“Oh no, don’t,” Leah said. “Let us continue to shun him. Maybe he’ll get the idea.”
“He helped us out of the ditch, you ingrate.”
“He’s also trying to evict our nice hosts.”
Joy had no comeback for this, but she wondered if there was more to it than Hester had mentioned, or perhaps more to it than even Hester knew. “Still, it doesn’t seem very festive to leave him sitting over there in the corner.” As far as she could tell from here, Bar had nothing on the table in front of him other than his briefcase and a place setting, not even a glass of water. Joy picked up the plate of cookies.
“Hey!” Leah protested. “Don’t take our appetizers!”
“You’ve had enough already,” Joy said with a pointed look at the crumbs in front of her sister, but she held the plate where they could reach it. “Here, grab a handful if you’re worried about your hollow leg getting too empty before the rest of the food comes.”
Leah promptly did as invited. Doreen demurely selected a frosted Christmas tree cookie. She looked up and met Joy’s eyes with a serious gaze. “I appreciate that you’re trying to be nice, but when you go out of your way to extend a hand of friendship, sometimes you find out that the person isn’t worth it.”
“You don’t even know him,” Joy said. “And neither do I. In general, I don’t like to judge people before I get to know them.”
“I think I have plenty to judge him on already,” Doreen said.
Joy marched off with her plate of cookies. Behind her, she heard their murmured conversation start up again.
Bar saw her coming and laid his folder down. When she reached his table, he was looking up with a small smile and a welcoming warmth in his eyes. He had changed out of his suit into casual clothes, or at least semi-casual, a pair of loose gray slacks and an oversized, oatmeal-colored sweater that looked soft enough to touch. His dark brown hair curled a little over his ears.
Joy tried not to let that set her heart fluttering. She put the plate on the table. Although the tablecloth was white and crisp—maybe Hester hadn’t thought of supplying him with a stained one—there was, as she’d seen from across the room, absolutely nothing on it except the napkin rolled around flatware.
“Something to nibble on while they decide whether to bring you food or not,” she said. “Mind if I sit here?”
“Of course not. Be my guest.”
To her surprise, he jumped up and pulled her chair out. This did not endear him to Leah and Doreen in the slightest. Joy could feel them glaring from across the room.
She decided to ignore them and sat primly. The dining room was chillier on this end, which made her realize that Leah and Doreen’s table was much warmer. Looking over again, she now noticed the heater tucked underneath it, pumping out warmth across their feet.
“Oh, that is just too petty for words,” she said, unable to contain herself.
Bar, who was just sitting back down and had started to say something, nearly choked on a muffled laugh. He dropped into his chair heavily, not the graceful return to being seated that he had clearly intended, and covered his mouth with a hand. When he took it away, his lips were serious, though they twitched a little as he said, “Our lovely hostess said that she was understaffed in the kitchen, and it might take some time. It’s understandable.”
“It’s ridiculous. You and I both know that they’re going to get their food before she even bothers to bring you a menu.”
“In that case, I’m very flattered you decided to come over here and starve with me.”
“We won’t starve,” Joy declared, pushing the plate of cookies toward him.
“I’m not sure I trust those aren’t poisoned, at the rate things are going.”
“I made them, so I can guarantee they’re not.”
Bar arched his brows—heavy and dark, giving him a serious aspect when he wasn’t smiling. He took a bottom-half-of-Santa cookie, the kind that were just boots and a belt. Joy tried and failed not to find it endearing.
“So that’s why they look familiar. Do you supply desserts for the lodge?”
“This is the first time. I have a little home business selling baked goods, and I found out the lodge’s new owners were looking for small businesses to outsource some of their vending and catering to. This is by far the biggest order I’ve ever had.”
“So you haven’t known Ms. Hatherill for long?”
“Hester? No, I never met her before today. She was just a voice on the phone while we arranged details.” She looked at Bar curiously. “To hear her talk, you kick puppies and steal candy from orphans. But I can’t square that with you stopping to help us out of the ditch.”
“People are complicated,” Bar said.
“You don’t seem to want me to say anything nice about you. Why is that?”
Now it was his turn to look at her curiously. The intensity of his regard made her stomach flip again, in the best way.
“We’re strangers,” he said slowly. “But I do feel as if I know you. Why is that?”
Joy’s chest flip-flopped madly, as if a whole school of lovestruck little fishes had taken up residence there. She reached blindly for a cookie and found herself with a snowman.
“Let’s make a deal,” she said. “Explain to me why you want Hester’s lodge, why it’s important enough to you to drive up to the mountains in the biggest blizzard of the season. And I’ll give you your answer in return.”