Chapter 4 #2
“No problem,” Slater assured her. “Why don’t you head down to the shed office and get things started? I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“Okay. Sure.” Then she glanced at Milo. “And again, I’m sorry about your phone,” she said softly before turning and walking away.
And, as usual, he watched until she was basically out of sight.
Slater’s hand on his shoulder nearly made him jump right out of his skin.
“Dude, you so like her.”
Shit.
Fortunately, her morning was busy, and it kept her mind off the fact that Milo had a change of heart and hadn’t got her in trouble.
Granted, the reality was that he realized he was wrong, but he could have used the situation to get her fired anyway.
But he didn’t.
He also didn’t look thrilled about her becoming his neighbor for the summer, but she was sure it wouldn’t be a problem.
“I’ll make sure it’s not a problem. I’ll kill him with kindness if I have to.”
At lunchtime, she was sitting in the office shed eating a sandwich when there was a knock on the door and Walker Bradshaw let himself in.
“Oh, hey, Walker,” she said around a mouthful of her lunch, hiding her mouth behind a napkin.
He smiled. “Hey, Nora.” He glanced around and made a face. “Is this like…is this supposed to be an office?”
Swallowing awkwardly, she nodded. “Um…yeah. It’s more convenient than having to run up to the lodge all the time. Slater set it up and we’ve been making it work.”
His face was still a little scrunched up. “I’ll talk to him about it because this is just wrong on every level. And there’s no A/C in here.”
“We have some fans and we’re in the shade so it’s not awful, so…” Pausing, she realized she should try to get him out of here sooner rather than later because he really didn’t look comfortable. “Slater’s on a hike with a group. He’ll be back around two. I can tell him you were looking for him and…”
“Actually, I’m here to talk to you.”
Uh-oh.
Did Milo go over Slater’s head and directly to the guy whose family built the damn place? That weaselly little…
“I understand you’re going to be moving into Axel’s cabin for the summer,” he said when she didn’t respond. “Slater said he’d leave it up to me to figure out rent and all that, so I thought I’d come down and talk to you about it.”
“Oh. Oh, okay. Sure. Thanks.”
He pulled up a chair and frowned again.
“I really appreciate you being open to the idea,” she said quickly, hoping to distract him from the surroundings. “I know the drive into town only takes twenty to twenty-five minutes, but I’m here more than I’m home and I feel like I could do more if I lived closer.”
He laughed softly. “If you did any more for the resort, Nora, we’d have to double your pay.”
That made her smile. “You wouldn’t hear me complain.”
“So, here’s what I’m thinking, and just so you know, I talked about this with my fiancée, Harlow, because she’s in real estate. I’m not just pulling figures out of thin air.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“You’re probably going to pay a penalty for breaking your lease in town,” he began.
“And if living here didn’t work out, then you’d be out of a place to live.
I know it all seems like a good idea to live here since you’re already working a lot of hours, but the fact is that you might enjoy having a little separation from the resort on your days off. ”
Another nod.
“Here’s what I’m proposing: The cabin is yours to use as much or as little as you need, rent-free.”
She was pretty sure her heart stopped. “Um…what?”
“It was going to be sitting there empty for the rest of the summer, so it’s not like we’re going to be losing an income source by you moving into it.
At the end of the season when you’re not here as much, you can move back into your apartment.
And if that’s not what you want, we can talk about it then.
But trust me, as a guy who has lived and worked here?
It gets old after a while. So no one’s going to be offended if you say you’d rather move back into the apartment in town. ”
“Oh, wow, Walker. You have no idea how much this means to me. I know it sounds silly; I’m young and the drive shouldn’t be a big deal, but my job is very physical and by the end of the day…”
He held up a hand to stop her. “Believe me, I get it. And no one’s looking at you like you’re being lazy.
I’m just glad we’re able to help. Slater’s done nothing but gush about how big of a help you are, the staff loves you, and all the guests do too.
So really, I’m just thankful we can do something for you after all you’ve been doing for us.
We’re all really thankful to have you on our team. ”
She could argue that point, but why?
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a couple of keys and key cards and handed them to her.
“The place is yours effective immediately. So whenever you’re ready, you can start moving things in.
Axel and Maisie left most of the furniture there so you have the basics—a bed, a dresser, a sofa and coffee table, and a small dining set.
There are curtains and blinds, and we stocked some of the resort towels and bedding.
You know, to leave the place ready in case family or friends arrived unexpectedly. ”
“Oh, will that…I mean…does that happen? Will I need to leave if that sort of thing…?”
Another soft chuckle. “Absolutely not. The place is yours. The only reason you’d have to go to your apartment is if you want to. So basically what I’m saying is it’s ready for you to sleep there tonight if you wanted.”
Relief washed over her. “Thank you, Walker. This is going to be great. I can’t wait to hit the ground running tomorrow.”
His eyes went a little wide. “You’re going to stay there tonight?”
Nodding excitedly, she tossed the rest of her lunch in the trash. “I get done at four and I’m going to go home and pack up a bunch of my stuff and bring it back. I’m definitely motivated.”
They both stood and he shook her hand. “Glad this is all working out. And thanks again for all your hard work.”
“I love what I do, and the resort is one of the nicest I’ve ever been to. You guys did a great job.”
“I appreciate you saying that. It was a labor of love, but not all the time.”
“I’m sure.” After another minute of casual chit-chat, Walker left, and Nora did a happy little dance in the crappy office shed.
It really was crappy and maybe now that she was going to be on-site more, she could help Slater build something better. Not that they would need to knock this space down—they were still using it for storage—but something like a one-room cabin would be nice for them if they could find the space.
Motivated, she slid her sunglasses on, put her new keys in her pocket, and checked her watch. She still had another thirty minutes on her lunch break and she decided to go and check out her new home.
When she stepped outside, she nearly skipped all the way to the cabin, not that she had far to go.
Axel’s cabin was at the end of the owners’ row and closest to the shed.
Apparently, when they were working on the resort, he was the guy doing a lot of the hands-on stuff, and it just made sense for him to be closer to his tools.
But now it worked out nicely for her because it meant she was close to their “office” and her commute went from twenty-five minutes to about twenty-five seconds.
“And I am loving it.”
She stepped up onto the small front porch and already envisioned maybe putting a rocking chair out there and a potted plant or two.
Unlocking the door, she stepped inside and just sort of took it all in.
It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was fully furnished, with one bedroom, one bathroom, and a living room kitchen combo. It was small but fully functional.
With the bonus of not sharing any walls with her neighbors, like she had to at her apartment.
For a few minutes, she just walked around and tried to make a mental list of what she was going to bring back later: her own pillows, her clothes, her electronics, and whatever personal effects she could manage.
It wasn’t like she was in a rush to get everything moved, but she also didn’t want to take forty-seven trips to get just the basics here.
And again, some things should be left at the apartment for the nights she might want to stay there.
“Although I can imagine ever really wanting that.”
Taking her phone out, she snapped a few pictures so she could send them to her folks and show them her new temporary digs. And when she stepped back out onto the porch, she truly felt lighter than she had in a while.
Not that she’d been feeling heavy or anything; she really loved this job, but she didn’t love where she lived. Now it felt like things were falling into place.
Typing out a text to her parents, she wasn’t watching where she was going and walked right into someone.
Milo.
Of course it’s him…
“Hey, sorry,” she said quickly, reaching out to steady them both. “That was totally on me. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Sorry.”
He smiled. “You already said that, but thanks.” He nodded toward the cabin. “Checking out your new place?”
Unable to contain her own smile, she nodded. “Yup! I wanted to see what was there so I know what to bring back later. I’m going to have my laptop and tablet and all that, but is the Wi-Fi info the same down here as it is up in the lodge?”
“We have different passwords down here. If you give me your number, I’ll text everything to you.”