Chapter 9 #2
In the kitchen, Lainey and Abbie hovered over a massive platter of nachos piled high with tomatoes, lettuce, olives, and seasoned ground meat.
“Hey,” Abbie said, waving a chip in greeting. “How was class?”
“Oh boy,” Emma said, setting her bag down. “Some of the ladies were a little feisty, but overall, I think it went well.”
Lainey laughed as she grabbed a can of pop from the fridge. “Feisty seniors, huh? That’s a workout in itself. Want some pop? Pairs perfectly with salty, crunchy carbohydrates.”
“Sure.” Emma took the can and smiled as they carried the platter into the family room. Wrapped in oversized blankets, the three of them settled onto the couch with plates of nachos, and Lainey queued up a show she’d been raving about for weeks.
“If this show doesn’t win every award, I swear I’m gonna riot,” Lainey declared.
Abbie rolled her eyes. “You said that about the last show, and it got canceled after one season.”
“Details,” Lainey said, plucking a chip from her plate. “Emma, back me up. Doesn’t this sound amazing? It’s got everything we could want: Mystery, romance, and a ridiculously hot detective.”
“I’m in. Let’s watch.” Emma smiled, letting their chatter wash over her.
Unlike Nathan, who always chose documentaries or sports, Lainey and Abbie actually wanted her opinion.
She settled deeper into the couch, the warmth of the blanket and the cheesy nachos filling a void she hadn’t realized existed.
Midway through the first episode, Lainey paused the show and turned to Emma. “Oh! We almost forgot—we need to talk about the Easter egg hunt.”
“What about it?” Emma asked, halfway through a chip.
“Redemption Community Church is hosting it,” Abbie said. “We almost canceled because of the tidal wave and all, but decided we could still make it happen, and it’s going to be amazing. We need your help stuffing eggs and wrangling toddlers.”
Emma picked at the edge of her blanket. “That’s in, what…seven days?”
“Yep,” Lainey said. “You’re extending your stay, right?”
Emma nodded.
Grinning, Abbie and Lainey exchanged looks.
“I can’t believe I just agreed to help with a church event,” Emma said.
“No pressure.” Abbie nudged her. “Because it’s not about church, really. It’s about the kids and showing up. They’ll love it. And honestly, it’s just fun.”
The thought of jumping back into anything resembling church made her chest tighten.
She’d become a believer years ago at a sports camp, but Nathan had convinced her that church wasn’t an essential part of their lives.
And she’d been fine with that. Because brunches and lazy Sundays had been more appealing than sermons.
Emma reached for her drink. “Nathan’s not thrilled that I’m staying longer. He was hoping I’d be back in time for that gala thing at the children’s hospital.”
Lainey tilted her head. “Is he okay with you being here at all?”
Emma sighed. “He’s just stressed. The hospital’s demanding, and the gala is a big deal for his department.”
Abbie’s brows furrowed. “Is he good for you?”
Emma rubbed at the tightness in her chest. “Yeah. I mean, yes. Of course. He’s just…driven. And super smart. He works hard, and we’re building a life together.”
“But?”
Lainey’s voice didn’t carry a single ounce of judgment. Still, that one word made Emma look away. She picked at her half-eaten nachos. “He doesn’t get what this place means, or maybe what it once meant. And he made it clear that he doesn’t like me spending time with old friends.”
Abbie’s eyes narrowed. “Seriously? Does he know I’m one of your bridesmaids?”
“I didn’t mean you.” Warmth heated her skin. “I…mentioned that Luke was helping me, and that didn’t go over well.”
Something flitted across Abbie’s features. “Ah. I wondered about that.”
“Extending my stay has nothing to do with Luke,” Emma said.
“Looking back, I’ve always regretted the way our family left town.
And even though it’s not my fault, I hate how my mom let my dad rot in prison without ever paying back what we lost. So this time, I can’t walk away from Redemption knowing that we owe money. I have to make things right.”
Silence blanketed the room.
“I wish you’d stay,” Lainey said. “Not just to deal with the house or help with the Easter egg hunt, but permanently. Redemption hasn’t been the same since you left. You belong here, Em.”
Emma looked up, her eyes burning. Before she could respond, her phone buzzed on the coffee table. Nathan’s name lit up the screen. Her stomach twisted. Then slowly she reached over and turned the phone face down.
“By the way, since you’re helping with the egg hunt, it’s only fair that we help you with your house.” Lainey reached for her phone. “Let me check my calendar and let’s pick a day that works.”
Emma hesitated. “I don’t think you know what you’re getting into.”
“You’re right.” Lainey glanced up, smiling. “I probably don’t. That’s why I’m recruiting help. Many hands make light work. We’ll all come out. It will be fun.”
Abbie tilted her head toward the kitchen. “More nachos?”
“Absolutely.” As Emma stood, something stirred inside her. Maybe it was the snow falling outside or the friends she hadn’t realized she desperately needed, but for the first time in a long while, Emma felt a spark of belonging.
Luke stood at the resort’s front desk and scrolled through the rest of March and the first week of April’s calendar. Six new bookings. Better than nothing, but nowhere near enough to replace the income lost when he’d booted the skiers.
He clicked out of the database, then rubbed his eyes.
A new job posting for a position as a pilot in Hearts Bay had landed in his inbox this morning.
Great benefits, competitive salary, and a modest housing allowance.
The kind of job he used to dream about. He hadn’t applied.
But he hadn’t deleted the email either. Not yet.
Exhaling, he closed the laptop. The click echoed in the quiet room.
Crossing to the worn leather sofa by the fire, he caught the scent of pine from the candle Mom had lit earlier, before she and Dad left to go to a friend’s house for dinner.
The fragrance mingled with garlic from the leftover pizza—comforting smells that clashed with the tension hovering in the room.
Tate and Ethan sat across from him on the opposite couch, flames crackling in the fireplace, casting long shadows across their faces.
Tate ran a hand through his tousled hair. “Here’s my unpopular opinion: I think we need to sell. If we put the place on the market mid-May, we’ll probably have an offer quickly. We’ve hemorrhaged money for far too long. Selling is the smart move.”
Smart? The word scraped something raw in Luke. He clenched his fists in his lap, forcing himself to stay calm. “Do you honestly believe throwing away our family legacy is smart? This is our history. We can’t just give up. Our grandparents didn’t give up when they fell on hard times.”
“Whoa. Take a breath.” Ethan leaned his elbows on his knees, his brows scrunched together.
“It’s not just about the legacy. It’s about survival too.
We can’t keep pouring money into something that’s failing.
Are you willing to drain your savings to keep this place afloat?
Or ask Mom and Dad to postpone retirement? ”
Luke stared at the fire. Am I?
The jobs in Petersburg and Hearts Bay looked tempting.
A steady paycheck. Fewer complications. Peace.
But he hadn’t told his brothers about the opportunities.
Not yet. Maybe not ever. Because admitting he’d considered walking away too would make him a hypocrite.
And expose the part of him that was scared he was failing.
“There are still ways to pivot,” he insisted, grasping for hope. “We could invest in marketing. Attract summer tourists. Glacier hikes, fishing, kayaking, wellness retreats—”
Tate snorted. “Wellness retreats? Here?”
Luke gave him a flat look. “Why not? People pay thousands to unplug in the middle of nowhere. Sea kayaking tours worked pretty well back in the day. We’ve got beauty, space, and potential.”
“Potential doesn’t pay the bills.” Tate shook his head. “I admire your optimism, but we are light years away from charters and summer camps.”
“Oh, a summer camp.” Luke pretended to make a note in his phone. “That’s brilliant. Glad you thought of it.”
Tate shot him an icy glare. “Don’t be cheeky.”
“Don’t be a buzzkill.”
“Boys.” Ethan squashed their drama with a fierce glare of his own. “Let’s keep this civil, shall we?”
“Even if we decide we want to diversify what we offer our customers, they’re not going to come to a run-down lodge in the middle of nowhere,” Tate said. “So we’re looking at a substantial renovation. With what money?”
“Do you still believe we should just sell this ‘run-down lodge’?” Luke quoted the air with his fingers. “Instead, why don’t we make it more appealing? You both sound like you’ve already given up. You’re walking away from our family’s dreams.”
“Like I’ve said before, dreams don’t pay the bills,” Tate said. “We’re not kids anymore. We have to be realistic. If we put it on the market as is, we can list for three hundred seventy-five thousand dollars.”
Luke rubbed his hands on his jeans, determined to ease the sting of Tate’s words.
“I keep thinking about guests who came year after year, cross-country skiing through fresh powder on the trails, laughing when they traipsed inside, completely exhausted. And thanking Mom profusely for her cranberry-orange scones. Those things mattered. They still matter.”
Ethan rubbed his fingers along his jaw. “We have to think about the future. You really want to anchor yourself to this place forever?”
Luke hesitated. Frankly, he didn’t have a solid answer. He had almost applied for that job in Petersburg. Now he had a second option to consider in Hearts Bay. But since Emma had shown up, his plans and his heart were tangled.
Wow, he was a fool. A complete fool for letting himself hope again. For letting his heart crack wide open.
How did one man make the same mistake twice?
Ethan shifted on the couch, glancing toward the fireplace. “I understand why you think selling the resort feels like abandonment. But there’s something to be said for being practical. Maybe it’s time to move on.”
Move on. Luke’s stomach twisted. “Look, I know you and Tisha are planning for the future and your family, but I don’t understand how you can make up your mind so quickly. What if I don’t want to sell? What if Caroline and Megan want to fight for this place?”
Tate let out a humorless laugh. “If Caroline moves back, she’s going to be incredibly busy working as a PA, and Megan—” He trailed off, shaking his head. “She’s a hot mess. We can’t rely on her for much of anything.”
Silence thickened the air between them. Adrenaline surged through Luke’s veins.
He glanced out the window, watching snowflakes swirl in the glow of the yard lights.
His thoughts drifted to Emma, but he pushed them aside for about the fifteenth time that day and stared at his brothers.
“I get it, I really do. But I’m not going to stand by and watch you sell the resort without at least trying to make it work.
We owe it to ourselves, to our family, to give it one last shot. ”
Tate shook his head. “And what if it fails? What then? We can’t keep chasing our tails.”
“It won’t fail if we believe in our plan,” Luke shot back.
“We need to get the snowmobiles running, we need to invest in repairing and rebuilding the cabin, and we need to get some plans rolling. Do a trek for summer tourists, put in a zipline, partner with other businesses in town to offer a package deal. But bottom line, I’m not ready to give up. ”
Ethan leaned forward, his expression unreadable. “And what if you’re wrong? What if you’re just holding on to a dream that’s already dead?”
Luke met Ethan’s gaze. “Then at least I’ll know I tried. No regrets. I’m fighting for what I believe in.”
Tate and Ethan exchanged glances. Luke studied them. He could see the flicker of doubt in their expressions, but he couldn’t ignore the surge of hope. A wild notion that maybe, just maybe, they could find a way forward together.
“How about we decide after Easter?” Luke said. “Pray about it. Make lists of pros and cons. Do some research. If we can’t come to an agreement about how to turn things around in the next two weeks, then I’ll agree to talk to Mom and Dad about selling.”
Silence stretched out again. He had found the chink in their proverbial armor and pressed on it. He had to keep pushing forward. Not just for the resort, but for his family. And maybe for himself too.
“Fine,” Tate said. “Two weeks. But if nothing changes, we have to have a serious conversation—with Mom and Dad included—about selling.”
“Deal.” Luke reached out and shook his brothers’ hands, but dread coiled in his gut. Despite Justin’s pep talk at the pool table, he wasn’t truly ready to let go. Not of this resort. Not of his dreams. And certainly not of his second chance with a woman he’d never stopped loving.