The Last Bride (DiCarlo Brides #6)

by Heather Tullis

  He’d known Vince and Jeremy would come through for him. They always did. He wanted to seem unaffected by his friends’ generosity, but was struggling to talk around the lump in his throat. “Well, let’s not get all misty-eyed about it. Check with your women and we can get together later this week to pound out a deal with them.”

  “All right.” Jeremy bit into his pizza again.

  “Have you done anything with that Camero since we saw it last? I’m dying to see it all shiny and new again.” Vince stood from the sofa.

  “Some. You have to check it out. It’s a thing of beauty.” Gage smiled. Later the house would be quiet and empty again but for the next half an hour, he would enjoy some time with his buds.

  Delphi’s a go.

  Gage looked at the text message from Jeremy and sighed in relief. He’d already gotten confirmation from Vince so he would have what he needed to get the lifts repaired. Even if it did kill him by inches to have to sign over more of his business to anyone—friends or not. He picked up the phone and called the company that made the haul ropes to arrange the purchase.

  His mother and sister didn’t understand why he had bought the ski resort to begin with. Their father had been a well-known architect and they expected Gage to do something similar. He had gone to college, even looked at getting his master’s degree, but it wasn’t what he wanted, and he hadn’t been able imagine spending another two years in classes for something he didn’t love. He had worked the lifts on and off through high school and college for pocket money and loved it there. He had become a certified ski instructor and learned more about the business.

  Then his father had died and Gage had to settle affairs for his mother and sister. His grandmother had left trust funds for both him and his sister, and his father had left specific bequests to them. Gage had taken that and arranged to empty his trust fund to buy the business. The bank had been willing to pony up the difference. The mortgage payments made him wince, but he had still been turning a profit, so he hadn’t worried about it. For the most part.

  The ski season was a lot shorter than twelve months, which is why he’d added the hot air ballooning and the mountain bike trails and events. They didn’t even begin to match his winter income, but they helped balance out the expenses a little. And his friends had always come through in a pinch.

  He loved the business, loved seeing people’s happy faces as they came to have fun on his mountain. He loved teaching an occasional ski class when one of the instructors had an emergency and seeing the excitement on people’s faces as they discovered the joy he’d always felt on skis.

  Managing was hard work and long hours, but he enjoyed that too—most of the time—and he had a great staff. It made him happy. And the hot air balloon business and mountain bike events were just as great.

  He contacted one of the suppliers and put together an email for the guys with anticipated costs and deadlines. Just as he was hitting send, his phone rang.

  “It’s me,” his office manager, Sandy, said. “You have a visitor. Says he needs to talk to you about the lifts.”

  Gage wondered if the inspector was back, but why wouldn’t she have said so? He stood and moved to the door, opening it to find a man in his forties, lean with dark hair that was graying at the temples. He stood, watching Gage’s doorway. “Can I help you?” Gage asked. He didn’t recognize the man at all.

  “Yes, I’m James Scott.” He offered Gage his hand. “I wanted to speak with you about the resort if you have a few minutes.”

  Gage felt a nagging feeling at the back of his mind as he tried to figure out why he knew the name. “Come on back.”

  The door had barely shut on the older man, blocking Gage’s office manager out when James began to speak. “I’ve been doing some research, trying to figure out who to contact about my interest in the ski resort. Oddly, my digging led me back to you.”

  Gage slid his hands into his pocket and feigned surprise. “Really? That’s probably because I’m the manager.”

  “No, it’s because you’re the real owner. Very cleverly hidden. It took a lot of work to figure out, and gives you more credibility if someone hired you, considering you’re so young.”

  “That’s an interesting theory. What can I do for you?” Gage knew it wasn’t going to stay a secret forever. He wasn’t even sure if he cared all that much anymore. He was still fairly young to own a ski resort, but he’d gained most people’s respect now, so it wasn’t as big of a deal if they found out he owned the place. Still, he already didn’t like this man, so Gage wasn’t in a hurry to admit to anything.

  “I have an offer for you, a good one, too, considering the work ahead of you on the lifts.”

  Gage allowed his brows to rise, but hoped he looked only mildly surprised, and even less interested when he asked, “How do you know about the lifts?”

  “I have contacts in the inspector’s office. It’s not going to be cheap, is it? You’d be better off selling out and moving on.”

  Now Gage remembered where he had heard the name. One of his competitors had sold out to this man a few years back, and while the ski resort still ran well, the employees had been unhappy with the changes he’d made, dropping hours, refusing raises and worse working conditions. That was not how Gage did business.

  “I’m flattered that you think I have the power to sell to you.”

  “Don’t play games with me. I know it’s you. You only did a superficial job of hiding the truth,” Scott said.

  “Okay,” Gage looked the man in the eye, “I’m not interested in selling. We’re handling the repairs. Summer season is well on its way and we look forward to another great ski season.”

  “Come on, you haven’t even heard my offer.”

  “I don’t have to hear it to know I’m not interested. Have a good day.” Gage opened the office door and gestured for the man to leave.

  “The offer is open, if you change your mind.”

  “Thanks.” Gage watched him saunter out of the building before returning to his desk.

  It seemed only seconds later when there was a knock at Gage’s office door. Wanting to snarl, he looked up to see Angela standing in the open doorway. He set down the phone he had just picked up, managed a smile and waved her in. “Hey, what’s going on?”

  “I thought I’d stop by to see how you’re doing.” She sashayed into the room, bright, beautiful and grinning.

  “I’m doing pretty well. Are you bored of our little town already?” He leaned back in his chair and settled to talk. He didn’t think she would be walking out anytime soon. Besides, he could use the break.

  “No. I can hardly be bored when I have so much to keep me busy. Just exploring Jonquil’s resort took me most of the morning, and the shops downtown—some of them are to die for. It makes me wish I weren’t a poor little college student.” She slid into a chair across from him, touching her chin with her fingertips, which were perfectly painted.

  He recognized the move as one intended to draw attention to her mouth—which it did. But he wasn’t interested. “When does your show open?”

  “In a week and a half. It’s crazy; there’s so much to learn still. We’re working on the lines and timing, fittings and sets and then there’s the choreography—which has my head spinning. I’m glad I don’t have a major role. Have you seen How to Succeed in Business before? It’s a terrific show. I have such a fun part, you should totally come.”

  Gage had never heard of it, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone to a play. He wasn’t anti-theater, but it hadn’t exactly been a big part of his life. He’d take NFL or baseball over it any day. “I’ll see what I can do. I bet you’re great.”

  She laughed one of those light, flirty laughs that came across as insincere most of the time. “I’m even better than you think and my costumes are tres chic—or what passed for chic in those times. Downright sexy.”

  He let that pass and asked her about some of the other roles she had played, though he hadn’t heard
of most of the shows, never mind knowing what they were about. When she finished, she glanced at her watch. “It’s lunchtime. You want to run to Wendel’s? I hear it’s all the rage around here.”

  “I can hardly say no to Wendel’s,” he agreed, standing. The local mom and pop burger joint had the best shakes and fries on the planet, and the rest of their food was pretty good too. “You mind if I drive? Last time I had to fold my legs into that little bucket of a car your sister owns I thought I might never stretch out again.”

  “Oh, I didn’t bring her car. I walked over,” Angela said, sliding her hand into his elbow and up to caress his bicep. “The car is really ridiculous, isn’t it? When did you ride in it?”

  He was uncomfortable with her snuggling up to him like that, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. Then again, considering some of the signals she’d been shooting out, he probably shouldn’t have agreed to eat lunch with her. Too late now. “A few weeks back. It was an emergency situation and she had my GTO.”

  “I didn’t think you two were close enough to swap vehicles.” Angela looked a little wary.

  “We’re not. Like I said, it was an emergency. It’s never happening again.” He remembered how she had stepped up when Jeremy and Delphi had needed her, calm, determined and prepared. She had surprised him.

  “Sounds interesting.”

  He spent the drive telling her about it. They arrived and ordered their lunches. Predictably for her type, she got a salad—an item he had never even noticed was on the menu—and a small shake. Then she spent half of the meal rhapsodizing over the ice cream, and the other half telling funny stories from rehearsals. Not knowing anything about theater, he only understood half of the references, but he smiled and nodded anyway.

  “You seem to work odd hours.” His food was gone and he needed to get back to the office.

  “Oh, yeah, but that’s because we rehearse in smaller groups during the day and early afternoon and then the whole cast later on. Some group of the cast is there most of the day, but my part isn’t very big so I get odd hours off. I thought I had my lines down pretty well, but then last night I stumbled all over the place.” She frowned a little at her empty cup.

  “Well, as you said, you still have a week, and you had a lot of lines and music to memorize in a short time, right?” He checked his watch for the third time. He really ought to be getting back to work. “What time do your rehearsals start? Would you like me to drop you by the theater on my way back to the office?” He definitely didn’t want to take her back to work with him. She made for an interesting companion for an hour or so, but she seemed to be getting more and more into him, and he just didn’t want to go there.

  “One-thirty.” She checked her cell phone. “Wow, it’s getting close to that. I guess you better drop me off. I appreciate it. And thanks for buying me lunch. You didn’t have to.”

  But she expected it all along, he knew, so he brushed it off and stood to dump their garbage. It was time to get back to real life. Thank goodness.

  Jonquil had needed a day away from everything. Of course, she had to start her day off with four hours of work at the resort before she could get out into the beautiful early June weather, so it was more like half a day, but she wouldn’t quibble. Things with Angela were going better, she supposed. At least they hadn’t needed to have another unpleasant chat about respecting their house and space, but Jonquil hadn’t really seen much of her sister, either. The show opened soon, and then rehearsals would calm down, but Jonquil was going to be thankful for the quiet now while she could.

  She looked up at the towering trees as she hiked through the forest on the edge of the ski resort. There were a few nice trails that led in the back areas with beautiful trees, lots of animal life, and fresh green shoots of spring plants coming up through the ground. She spotted a moose half a block off and paused to watch it drink from a stream. She had only seen one other moose since her arrival in Colorado so she was still fascinated.

  She heard the crack of a twig and turned her head to see someone coming down the trail behind her.

  The person came out from behind a scrub oak and she blinked when she saw it was Gage. She held up a hand to stop him, then pressed a finger to her lips and gestured to the moose.

  He turned to look at it and a quick smile lit his face. Almost noiselessly, he made his way to her side.

  They stood in silence for a long moment, watching and letting the music of nature surround them before the moose looked up from the stream and started moving away from them. Jonquil watched it disappear into the forest and was acutely aware of Gage standing so near. She didn’t want to look away, breaking the spell she felt like she’d been under with him.

  “I see him around sometimes,” Gage said when the moose had completely disappeared.

  “How do you know it’s the same one?” she asked.

  “There’s a funny loopy spot in his antlers on the left side. It’s pretty distinctive.”

  She looked over at him and noticed he was dressed for a hike as well. “Have a nice walk? It’s a great day for it.”

  “Yeah. Getting out for a hike always helps me to work things through. You?”

  Jonquil nodded. “I just needed a break for a while. The past week has been nuts—midweek weddings, an anniversary party with a ton of flowers, and two awards ceremonies with big flower arrangements—in addition to the normal stuff. I had to get out and reconnect with all of this for a while.” She gestured to the forest around her.

  “Playing with flowers all day isn’t enough of communing with nature for you?” he teased.

  “Not even close, though at least it smells good. I’ve never been so busy, and looking at the schedule ahead it’s not going to get better.” She grinned at him. “Good thing I love my work.”

  “That does make it easier,” he agreed.

  They stood in an awkward silence for a moment before she thought to ask, “How is your mom? You said she wasn’t feeling well last week?”

  “She’s better. For the moment. It comes and goes.” He looked down at his hand, where he held his water bottle.

  “She’s lucky to have you to drop everything to check on her.”

  “I guess.”

  “It’s hard to watch someone you love be sick.”

  “Your dad?” he asked.

  “If you mean George, no. He didn’t even tell us he was sick until just before he died. He was very good at covering things up. My stepdad has some lung problems, though. It’s been hard to be so far away.”

  He looked up at her. “Angela didn’t mention how busy you’ve been when she came in yesterday.”

  Jonquil blinked in surprise—both at the sudden change of topic and the revelation. “You saw Angela? She came here to your work?” Of course baby sister was able to get to the ski resort to flirt with Gage without assistance from Jonquil, but not to and from the theater.

  “Well, not here, here. But yeah. She came into the office.” Gage glanced into the trees. “She asked me to lunch, actually.”

  Jonquil blinked a little letting the zing of betrayal hit her and move on, telling herself she didn’t have a right to feel that way, even as jealously lingered. “Oh. I didn’t realize. I’m sure you had fun together. She can be very entertaining.”

  “Yeah, she can. And she’s definitely not shy.”

  A squirrel started to chirp in the background, blending with the rhythm of the forest. “I hope you don’t mean that she was in the way.” Jonquil paused to take a slow breath, not wanting to be upset that he was seeing her sister. Then a second one. “Being shy is not her problem.” She avoided looking him in the face, hurt that he could overlook her so easily.

  They walked on for another long moment before he broke the silence. “Look, I’ve been a jerk and you have reason to hate me.” He paused on the path and turned to face her again. “Can we call a truce? Like, for real this time? I hope I’m over being a jerk to you.” He held up his hand as if afraid she would misinterpret the stat
ement. “I don’t want to date you, and I most certainly don’t want to marry you, no matter what your father thought about us. But considering all of the connections between us now, I would like it if we could be friends.”

  She let the sting of his unsolicited rejection settle slightly. “I could probably handle that.” It would be better than the hostility that had filled the air between them for most of the past year. Still, she didn’t want to dwell on their change to friends, either, as being stuck in the friend zone wasn’t what she wanted. Switching the subject as quickly as possible was a must. “Jeremy said you know all of the best rock climbing locations around here. Any suggestions for places I could try? Close would be best since I usually can’t get away for more than an afternoon.”

  Gage smiled. “Oh, yeah. I’m going out to Pistol Rock soon; it’s not far from here. A great climb.” He hesitated for two beats, then pushed ahead. “You shouldn’t climb alone and I know your sisters aren’t nature girls. Want to join me? You know, as friends.”

  So this wasn’t a date. It was just two people recreating together? She was probably stupid to agree considering she was attracted to him and he just said he wasn’t the least interested in her. Jonquil decided she’d never been that smart anyway. But she wouldn’t mention the outing to her sisters, who would make more of it than warranted. “Sure. Let me check my calendar. I’ll text you with the days I can wiggle free for an afternoon.”

  “Great.”

  The silence this time wasn’t as uncomfortable, but Jonquil didn’t let it linger before asking about the upcoming mountain bike festival in July. She might as well pick his brain on local recreation, even if her secret longings would have to remain that way. Secret.

  Gage was still at the office at seven o’clock. The skeleton staff he kept on in the summer had all gone home hours earlier and he promised himself when he finished proofing the advertising copy for the mountain bike festival that he would find some dinner and relax in front of the television for the night.