Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Dinner with the entire group was always loud and boisterous, but tonight it seemed to be so much…more.
In a totally overwhelming way.
At least to him.
There were now eleven of them where it used to only be five. But with the addition of Harlow, Maisie, Lexi and her son, along with Connor’s daughter, and now Nora, it was hard to keep track of all the conversations. And everyone seemed to have questions for him.
“Milo, did you hear back from the engineers?”
“Milo, how do you feel about your office here after going back to Seattle?”
“Milo, pass the cornbread.”
“Milo, how would a retractable canopy work?”
“Milo, was that you out on the lake this morning kayaking?”
Beside him, Nora gently squeezed his thigh under the table as if sensing his discomfort.
First, she passed the cornbread, then she smiled and said, “That was us out there this morning! The sunrise was glorious, and we thought we’d try something different from our usual morning walk.”
Slater grinned. “I don’t know why you don’t do that more,” he said to Milo. “You used to enjoy doing all the water sports—canoeing, kayaking, waterskiing…”
“You used to water-ski?” Nora asked with amusement. “How did I not know this?”
“Because it was years ago and I haven’t done it in…well…years. I’d probably be terrible at it now.”
There was a collective groan, but before anyone could say anything, Walker was tapping his glass with a spoon to get everyone’s attention.
“We all know we could sit here all night just hanging out, but we really do have business to attend to. So, let’s…”
“Actually,” Axel interrupted. “If it’s okay, I do have some personal news to announce first, so…” Pausing, he turned to Maisie and smiled.
Lexi and Harlow both gasped like they knew what was coming, but Milo was clueless.
“Maisie and I have decided that we’re ready to set a date for our wedding.”
“Yes! I knew it!” Harlow said excitedly.
Maisie stood, wrapping her arm around Axel’s waist and gazing at him with so much love it was almost palpable.
Then she faced the group. “Neither of us has a lot of family, and the more we talked about it, the more we realized that we don’t want to wait or plan some big, lavish wedding.
So we’re going to follow Jayce and Kelsey’s example and have something small right here at the resort, just Axel’s foster family and some friends, so… all of you.”
Everyone raised a glass and toasted them before Lexi asked, “When’s the date?”
“Next weekend,” they both said, and then you could have heard a pin drop.
“Next weekend?” Connor repeated. “But…how…? I mean…it’s not possible. There’s no way we can pull something together in that amount of time.”
“We can, and we have,” Axel assured him. “The rooms for family are all booked, you’re all here, and we thought about setting up a tent with heaters and having the entire thing out there with a view of the lake, but…”
“The weather can be fickle,” Maisie chimed in. “So we’re just going to use the banquet room. It’s already reserved; no one’s using it this week, so that means we can have all that time to set things up. It’s perfect!”
“You guys,” Connor said calmly. “There are menus, flowers, music…it’s not enough time.”
Maisie held up her hand. “I think you’re forgetting what I do for a living.
Plus, we’re going for simplicity, okay? Nothing fancy.
We have all the big stuff taken care of with the venue, I’ve already booked the florist, we both hate the thought of a live band, so we’re just going with a playlist that we both love, and setting up speakers, and as for the food… ”
“Simple,” Axel interrupted, staring hard at Connor. “Nothing crazy, nothing that’s going to turn you back into Chefzilla.”
“Well, that’s a bit harsh. I don’t think I was ever…”
“Oh, you were that and more,” Slater chimed in.
“Fine. Sue me for wanting everyone to enjoy their food.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Slater murmured.
“Fine. A simple menu,” Connor said. “Sit-down or buffet?”
“Buffet,” Maisie said. “I’m thinking food stations, lots of finger foods. But we can discuss that tomorrow. Tonight is about business. You know…after this.”
Fortunately, he agreed.
“Okay,” Walker said with a big grin. “Now that that’s out of the way…”
“Actually,” Lexi said while slowly raising her hand. “Connor and I have something to say, and this seems as good a time as any.”
This time, Maisie and Harlow gasped.
Looking at Connor, Lexi asked, “Do you want to tell them or should I?”
They both stood and mimicked Axel and Maisie’s pose.
“You guys all know that we’re expecting a baby and having the house built.
Life has just been crazy lately. Between the resort and work, we just couldn’t seem to set a wedding date,” Connor began.
“Things with my family still aren’t great and so… ”
“When my folks were here last week, we all just went to the courthouse and got married,” Lexi finished. “Please don’t be upset! We just…we know we’ll have a proper ceremony and reception at a later date, but we wanted to do this with just the kids and my folks. So…please don’t hate us.”
“Are you kidding?” Walker asked. “This is amazing! Congratulations!”
Everyone repeated the sentiment, and it was several minutes before they were all seated and ready to discuss business.
“Anyone else have wedding or engagement news before we continue?” Slater joked, and everyone looked at Walker and Harlow, who were serenely sipping their drinks.
“Don’t look at us,” Harlow said with a grin. “We’re all locked in for New Year’s Eve, baby.”
“That’s right,” Walker agreed before getting down to business.
“Okay, then. Let’s talk about what winter at the Lakeview Harbor Resort is going to look like.
” He looked at Slater. “Obviously the lodge and reservations aren’t really going to change.
Guests are continuing to book and we’re happy with the numbers, but activities are going to change based on the season, right? ”
“They are. Obviously there’s going to be less water activities, hikes, and anything outdoors.
We’re not on the kind of mountain that guests can ski on, and the lake is too large to freeze over to skate on,” Slater explained.
“So we’re going to have to shift gears and focus on indoor activities.
” He looked at Lexi. “I believe you had some ideas on that?”
“I do.”
As Lexi explained the various arts, crafts, and workshops they could offer, all Milo could focus on was what all of this meant for Nora.
So far, it almost sounded like there wasn’t going to be anything for her to do here, and it bothered him.
She had given so much of herself to the job and they weren’t going to find a position for her?
“Hey,” she whispered close to his ear. “Are you okay? You tensed up.”
“I’m fine,” he lied, and went back to listening to Lexi.
“We have some amazing artists and guest speakers coming in. We’re going to lean heavily into holiday themes and make sure we keep everyone indoors and cozy until springtime.”
“Thanks, Lexi,” Slater said, nodding with approval.
“Obviously, that’s going to only pick up a little of the slack from losing so many outdoor activities.
We can obviously still do winter hikes and air tours, but so much of that is weather-permitting that I don’t want to commit to how often we’ll do them.
I think it’s best to put out a schedule at the beginning of the week on the guest calendar and make sure they’re aware that it’s…
” He shrugged. “You know, weather-permitting.”
Everyone was nodding like this wasn’t a big deal.
“Um…so where does that leave you and Nora?” Milo asked before he could stop himself. “It sounds like everything the two of you do could either be eliminated or handled by just one of you.”
Slater’s eyes went wide for just a second before he replied. “This goes with the territory in our line of work, right, Nora?”
She nodded but didn’t comment.
“I already figured that I wasn’t going to be hanging out for the entire season. Actually, we all knew I was just here to get things started and that this wasn’t going to be my full-time gig.”
That had slipped his mind.
“It’s not like I have anything else lined up—and I’m enjoying being here—but I guess I just knew it wasn’t a forever thing. Hell, I just planned on Nora taking it over if she wanted to.”
Beside him, Nora gasped. “Really? You never…I mean…I just thought…”
Slater grinned. “We both know you’re more than capable of running this part of the resort. Plus, it seems like you’ve really settled in here. I know how much you’ve always hated bouncing around from one city to another, and Harbortown is a great place to live.” He shrugged. “It just makes sense.”
“Oh my goodness, Slater,” she gushed. “This is…this is amazing! Thank you!”
Milo caught her glancing around the table, and everyone was cheering her on—completely supporting Slater’s decision.
A decision he had no idea was even an option.
So where did that leave him?
Them?
“Thanks for that, Slater,” Walker said after a few minutes of everyone telling Nora how awesome she was. “Milo? You’re up. Talk to us about what you worked on while in Seattle and what it all means for the amphitheater.”
He was heading back to Seattle in a few weeks, and maybe on some level, he imagined Nora coming with him once things slowed down at the resort.
Like…they would spend that part of the year in the Pacific Northwest, and then he’d work remotely from the resort for the spring and summer. It was completely doable.