Chapter 4 #2
“Let’s go up to the lodge and find everyone,” he told her, holding out his hand to her. She was quiet, and that was very unlike his daughter. That’s how he knew he’d made the right decision by keeping her home today.
Hand in hand, they slowly made their way across the parking lot and then up the back stairs. The main entrance still wasn’t open and the back door was close to the kitchen.
“Hey, you two,” Harlow said when she spotted them. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay, but I think my girl needs a little quiet time today,” Connor explained. “Were you able to reach Ruth?”
“I did, but she’s taking her mother to the doctor this morning and won’t be available until after lunch.”
Damn.
He was about to ask if maybe they could set up his interviews somewhere else, but he knew that wasn’t practical. He needed the applicants to see the kitchen and to be able to give them the tour of everything.
“Maybe we could…” Harlow began, but Lexi walked in looking very concerned.
“Oh my goodness! I just heard about what happened!” She went directly to Annabeth and crouched down in front of her, smoothing a hand gently over her hair. “Are you okay?”
“It was scary,” his daughter whispered.
“I’ll bet.” Lexi gave her a hug before straightening.
“How would you like to come to my cabin and hang out with me and Jonah today? We were going to spend the morning in my office, but I think I can work from the cabin. This way, the two of you can watch TV or play games or just relax. What do you say, would you like that?”
Annabeth nodded solemnly. “Yes.”
“Excellent! Jonah will be so happy! But if you’re not feeling well and you just want some quiet time, then I’ll set you up in my room and we’ll keep the door shut. I have a TV in there, so you can watch it if you’d like.”
“Thank you.”
Lexi looked at him, and he could tell she was just as worried about his daughter’s quiet behavior as he was.
“Have you had breakfast yet?” Lexi asked.
“Daddy made eggs for us.”
“Well, how about we see about grabbing a couple of muffins and maybe some fruit and having a mid-morning snack? Jonah really loves the banana chocolate chip ones. Which one is your favorite?”
Annabeth started to smile. “I like those too.”
With her own sweet smile, Lexi leaned down and whispered loud enough for Connor to hear, “Those are really good, but I like my chocolate chips without the bananas.”
When she stood back up, he noticed that Annabeth was looking more relaxed. “He puts chocolate chips in pancakes sometimes too. You should try them.”
Lexi winked at him. “Maybe we can convince him to make them this weekend.”
Jonah came running into the kitchen with Slater right behind him, the two of them laughing hysterically.
“Mommy! Slater said he didn’t think I could beat him in a race, but I did! I beat him! We ran from the end of the hall all the way here, and I got here first!”
“That’s amazing! Good job!” Then she looked at Slater. “Sorry.”
He let out a long breath. “What can I say, the kid’s fast!” Stepping around Lexi, he went over to Annabeth. “Hey, kiddo. You doing okay?”
She nodded. “I’m better now. Lexi’s letting me stay with her and Jonah today while she works in her cabin.”
Slater glanced over his shoulder at Lexi.
“Um…I hope that’s okay?”
“No problem. If there’s anything you need, just text me and I’ll come over. I know we had a few reports to format, so maybe after lunch we can get together?”
Connor knew it was crazy for him to be annoyed by their minor exchange, but he was. The thought of Slater hanging out with Lexi in her cabin just rubbed him the wrong way.
Oh God…am I jealous?
“That should be fine,” Lexi was telling him. “Maybe you can actually bring lunch for all of us down to the cabin? Would that be okay?”
“Absolutely! Just text me what you want and I’ll get it for you,” Slater said.
“I’ll be bringing lunch down to the cabin,” Connor loudly interrupted and felt zero regrets when everyone stopped and stared at him. “After all, I’d like to come and spend time with my daughter and make sure she’s okay.”
He caught the smirk on Slater’s face and wanted to punch it right off of him.
But he didn’t.
“Fine,” Slater said, still smirking. Then he looked at Lexi. “I’ll text you later and we’ll work it out.”
“Thanks, Slater. You’re the best.”
And as he went to walk away, he looked at Connor with a shit-eating grin and said, “I know.”
The prick.
“Do you like to read?”
Lexi looked up from her laptop and smiled at Annabeth. She was sitting on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, while Jonah was sitting on the floor building with Legos.
“I do,” she replied. “What about you?”
She nodded. “Back when we lived in Boston, my grandma used to read with me every night. Daddy doesn’t.
He says it’s boring.” Pausing, she sighed.
“I don’t think it’s boring. I always get a lot of books from the library, but I can never finish reading them before they have to be back.
” Another pause. “I wish my grandma was here.”
Twisting in her chair, Lexi studied her. “You must miss her.”
“I do, but I wouldn’t want to live with her and grandpa again. I like living with my dad the best.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask about her mom, but Kelsey had explained the situation to her.
Rachel was living somewhere in Europe now and had no interest in being a mother.
Honestly, Lexi couldn’t even begin to understand how someone could feel that way when they were already a parent. How could she just leave her daughter?
“Do you have any of your books with you? We could read it together if you’d like.”
Annabeth’s entire face lit up. “Really?”
In that moment, her heart broke a little. This poor child’s life has been a series of being bounced around in the last year, and it seemed like she was just trying to hold it together.
Lexi nodded. “Absolutely. Give me five minutes to text Slater and get us something to drink and maybe a snack, and then we’ll get cozy on the couch and read.”
“Okay!”
Tapping out a quick text to Slater, she let him know that she was taking a bit of a break for the kids, and he immediately texted back with a thumbs-up emoji. No sooner had she stood up to stretch than Annabeth was at her side, hugging her.
“Thank you, Lexi! You’re the best!”
Her arms immediately wrapped around her little body. “Aww…sweetie, thank you. I think you’re pretty great too.” She gave her a little extra squeeze before stepping back. “What are we thinking of for snacks? How about hot cocoa and cookies?”
“Ooh…yes, please! What kind of cookies do you have?”
“I snagged a bag of chocolate chip ones from your dad’s stash in the pantry, but…shh…promise you won’t tell?”
The little girl’s smile was one of pure joy. “I promise!”
“It’ll be our little secret. I’ll get the cocoa ready. Why don’t you put the cookies on a plate for me and put the plate on the coffee table?”
“Okay!”
“But keep an eye on Jonah please. Don’t let him have any until we’re all sitting down.”
“You mean like a…a babysitter?” she asked with wonder.
“Well…” Lexi could tell how important this was, so she nodded. “Yes, like a babysitter. But just until I’m sitting down with you, okay?”
Annabeth nodded enthusiastically and began carefully putting the cookies on the plate Lexi put out for her. When she was done, she asked, “Is this okay? Can I bring it to the coffee table?”
“It looks perfect. Go ahead, and I’ll be there in just a few minutes.” The cabin was small, and Lexi could see everything, so she wasn’t worried. She could hear Annabeth explaining to Jonah that he had to wait, and she thought it was the cutest thing she’d ever heard.
Taking three mugs down from the cabinet, she sighed. The cocoa was the instant kind, and she wished she had the ingredients to make it from scratch, but for today, it would have to do. When she joined the kids a few minutes later, they were both sitting patiently.
“Wow, you guys are awesome,” she praised, putting their mugs down. “Be careful because they’re hot.” Sitting, she looked at Annabeth. “Okay, what are we reading today?”
Annabeth handed her the book. “It’s like Peter Pan, but for girls! And they get to go to Neverland!”
“Ooh…I like the sound of that,” Lexi assured her, patting the spot on the couch beside her. “Would you like to read first and then me? We can switch off when there’s a new chapter. Would you like that?”
“Um…could you…I mean…maybe you can start first and then if you get tired, then I can go. Is that okay? That’s how my grandma always does it.”
Lexi put her arm around her. “Then that’s what we’ll do.” She looked over at Jonah, who was still happily building. “Do you want to come up and sit with us, buddy?”
“Nope! I’m building a lodge like the one up on the hill.”
“Wow! I can’t wait to see it when you’re done.” Smiling at Annabeth, she asked, “Ready?”
Her only response was another enthusiastic nod.
“Here we go…”
Connor showed up with lunch at 12:30.
He had barely stepped more than three feet through the door when Annabeth started telling him about how they read together and had cocoa and cookies.
“And I even got to babysit Jonah because I’m a big girl!”
Connor gave Lexi a questioning look.
“I was in the kitchen right over there, and Annabeth was sitting on the couch guarding the cookies.”
“Ah. Got it.” Holding up a large cooler bag, he announced that lunch was ready.
“You should have just texted me, Connor. We would have come up to the lodge. I know you’re busy today with interviews.”
But he waved her off. “Two were no-shows, and the two that did show up weren’t a good fit.
” He put the bag down on the dining room table.
“I’m not gonna lie…I’m feeling more than a little discouraged.
I know we’re in a remote spot, but the resort was open and functioning two years ago.
I guess I thought some of the employees would come back. ”