by Lily Thorn
Turning on her heel, Tess strode out, slamming the door behind her. Getting into her car, she slammed that door too, then stomped on the gas pedal to get away from the cramped trailer full of bad memories.
She turned onto the main road, not really caring that she was going at least ten over the speed limit. Her father had cared about her. Of course he had.
Then why was he never home? a small voice whispered to her. He couldn’t stand his wife, but he was fine leaving you alone with her.
Angrily, Tess dashed the tears from her eyes. The road was becoming blurry enough that she had to slow down. She rolled down the windows, letting the night air dry her cheeks. She couldn’t let her mother’s words get to her. Kim Holt always knew exactly what to say to make Tess furious. Sometimes, Tess thought she did it just for fun. Really, though, she knew her father had loved her. And even if he hadn’t, it would still be fucked up for her mom to say that out loud.
Tess found herself passing the turn that led to her apartment. She didn’t want to be alone right now. Maybe she should head back up the mountain and see if the dinner offer from Cade was still on the table.
She shook her head with a smile. Now she was just being ridiculous.
Tess drove on, until she arrived at the Shady Pines apartment complex.
“Don’t die,” she ordered her car as she turned it off.
As she jogged up the three flights of metal slatted stairs, Tess hoped that Aubrey was alone. She would hate to ruin a date night. Her friend hadn’t had much luck in that arena lately.
Tentatively, she knocked on the door. It wasn’t long before Aubrey answered, wearing an apron.
“Tess!” She gave her a long hug. Tess always liked Aubrey’s hugs. It was clear that she meant every one. “Oh,” Aubrey said, drawing back, “I hope I didn’t get any flour on you.”
“I don’t mind.” Tess didn’t even bother brushing off the line of powder that clung to her shirt. Knowing Aubrey, more flour would be flying by the end of the night. “It’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me today. I’m not interrupting, am I?”
“Of course not. I was just getting started on a cake.” Aubrey motioned for Tess to come in, closing the door behind her. “I’m thinking of trying a new flavor. Lemon base and raspberry icing. Does that sound good to you?”
“It sounds great.” Tess slid into a bar stool at the counter where Aubrey had all her bowls and ingredients laid out.
“So are you going to tell me about your day?” Aubrey dumped a cup of flour into a bowl. “Because—and don’t take this the wrong way—you look kind of terrible. Like you’ve been run over by a buffalo.”
“It wasn’t too terrible. It’s just that my car tried to die. And then I fell into a stream and cracked my camera lens.”
Aubrey looked up, horrified. “Not one of your dad’s lenses?”
“Yeah. I don’t have any others. Oh, I forgot to mention that before all this happened, I got fired.”
“No!” Aubrey placed three lemons on the counter. “I thought that was going well.”
“It was, until I asked to leave early one too many times. And then I completely lost my mind and asked my mom for some help. I know she doesn’t owe me anything, but that was a mistake. We had a nice chat where she told me that my dad never really loved me.”
“Oh, Tess.” Aubrey clasped her flour-covered hands. “I’m sorry. You know that’s not true, right?”
“I know. It still really hurt, though.”
Turning toward the cabinets, Aubrey began riffling through them. “I should make something else. Triple chocolate cupcakes, maybe? I know they’re your favorite.”
Tess smiled. She didn’t know what she’d do without Aubrey. Her friend was kind and warm, and never raised her voice. She was basically the opposite of Tess’s mother. “The raspberry and lemon cake sounds great. I don’t want to force you to make more chocolate things.”
“It does drive me crazy that customers only want chocolate or vanilla, but I don’t know and love those people. I also can’t expect to be able to use fun flavors working at a grocery store bakery. But here, I can use my own recipes. I wouldn’t mind making you my specialty chocolate cupcakes.”
“I want to try your new recipe,” Tess said. “Lemon and raspberry sounds like it could be delicious. Who else can you trust to give you an unbiased report? Plus, you’ll need to have your recipes ready for when you open your own bakery.”
“Yeah,” Aubrey sighed. “Like that will ever happen.”
“It will. Now, do you want me to help you bake or not?”
They both laughed. Aubrey had only yelled at Tess once, and that was when Tess had tried to help her in the kitchen. Apparently, it was a baking sin to add eggs to butter before adding sugar. Tess still wasn’t sure exactly why that was.
“You’re never going to forgive me for that, are you?” Aubrey teased. “I told you though, you can’t forget how important chemistry is in baking.”
“I’ll forgive you as long as you forgive me for ruining that batch of cookies,” Tess said. “And I can’t really blame you. I’m not sure I would let anyone borrow my dad’s camera and muck it up the way I mucked up your baking.”
“That sounds wise.” Aubrey cracked an egg into a separate bowl. “So, did anything else happen during this terrible day you’ve been having?”
“Not really.” Tess had already decided not to mention Cade. If she did, that was probably all Aubrey would want to hear about, including his six brothers. She would want a full report, which Tess couldn’t give since she hadn’t even met them. Besides, with Cade being so drop-dead handsome, he’d probably used up all the good-looking genes in the family. And even if he hadn’t, there was no way that all seven strong and attractive brothers were single. Tess didn’t want to get Aubrey’s hopes up, so she’d save all of that for another time.
Cracking the last egg, Aubrey began to whisk them. “You know you’re welcome to crash here if you need to.”
“I know. And you’re too generous. Especially since I already crashed on your couch for a month earlier this year.” Tess watched as Aubrey rinsed a carton of raspberries. “I really want to try and make it on my own.”
“Are you going to start focusing on photography full time?”
Tess frowned. “You think I could?”
“Look, I know you love landscapes and wildlife. But there are other opportunities out there. My cousin just got married, and you wouldn’t believe how much cash they forked over to the photographer.”
“A wedding photographer?” Tess blinked at the raspberries as her friend patted them dry. “Aubrey, you know how baking cakes in a grocery store makes you crazy? I’m afraid taking pictures of weddings might make me even crazier.”
“Just think about it.” Leaning over, Aubrey turned on the oven. “In about an hour, you can think about it over cake.”
A wedding photographer. Tess sighed. If it let her keep her father’s gear, she’d try anything.
Chapter Five
THOUGH CADE MADE his way toward the family dining room, his mind hadn’t left the woman who had just driven off. His bear was practically going mad, wanting to shift and race down the mountain after her. Cade growled, trying to control his grizzly. As much as he wanted to go after the girl with the honey-colored hair, he had other things to worry about right now.
No matter what it took, he was going to save Bearview Lodge.
He pushed open the door to the dining room. His brothers were still seated, their plates mostly clean, but the chair at the head of the table and the one next to it were empty.
Cade sat in his usual chair, taking the last remaining elk steak. “Where are Mom and Dad?”
Ethan passed him the rolls. “They went upstairs. They said they had some plans to make.”
“Oh.” Cade ripped off three rolls, glaring around the table. “Did you decide to sell already?”
“Come on, Cade.” Adam shoved the butter at him. “Get that bee out of your but
t.”
“Yeah,” Dean added. “That’s cruelty to bees.”
Cade snarled as he scraped some greens onto his plate. “Sorry if I don’t find your greed amusing.”
“Aw, give it a rest,” Sawyer said. “You aren’t the only one who cares about Bearview.”
“So?” Cade struck the table with his fist, making the plates rattle. “You don’t care enough to keep it.”
“We do, though,” Logan said.
Beside him, Jake twirled his fork. “Ethan might have talked some sense into us.”
Cade snapped his head around. “What did you say?”
“Just the truth.” Ethan shrugged. “That as much as we could all use the money, we need Bearview more. And it would be terrible to lose it.”
Cade was dumbstruck. He’d expected some resistance, maybe even a fight. He had been willing to stop talking to some of his brothers, if it came to that. Maybe he didn’t give them enough credit.
“So you’ll agree not to sell? All of you? You’ll give the lodge a chance?”
“We need to have a good summer,” Dean said.
“And make it to the winter in the black,” Adam added.
“But we want to keep the lodge.” Sawyer leaned back in his chair, grinning. “I guess we’re not as shitty as you thought.”
Cade didn’t have a response to that, so he took a bite of steak.
“Besides,” Sawyer said, “if business booms, we could get way more money from 10% than from a one-time sale.”
“That’s the Sawyer I know,” Cade said. “So selfless.”
“I can’t help that I have bigger dreams than staying here all my life. But I’m going to help you keep Bearview, so why are you complaining?”
“I wasn’t complaining.” Cade took a swig of water. “Are you ready for all the work it’ll take to turn this place around?”
“One summer of hard work won’t be too bad.” Sawyer stacked his dirty plates. “It’s not like there’s anyone here to distract us.”
“Yeah, now that Mandy’s gone,” Dean muttered.
Sawyer glared at him.
“You have to admit,” Jake said, “it is tempting to think about a summer doing something other than maintenance work.”
“Or a winter with more than five minutes away from working the lifts,” Logan added.
“This summer’s going to be a lot more than maintenance and lifts,” Cade said. “We’re going to have to make up for all of last year, and everything we didn’t do because of…” He let that thought trail away rather than speak of their mother’s illness. Sometimes, he felt as if the words themselves could create a bad omen.
“It’ll be a lot of work,” Ethan said, “but nothing the seven of us can’t handle.”
Around the long table, they all nodded.
“Thanks, guys,” Cade said softly. “It really means a lot to me that you’d make this sacrifice for the lodge.”
“We know, big brother.” Jake slapped him on the back. “But we trust you to save the lodge.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer said with a sly grin, “and we expect you to do most of the work, too.”
“I don’t mind work,” Cade said. He felt so much better, like a weight had been lifted off his chest. He could save Bearview. He could save Mount Bliss. With his brothers by his side, how could they fail?
Cade cut up the rest of his elk, humming softly. Around him, his brothers began to clear the plates and serving dishes. Cade could hear them banging around in the attached kitchen as they washed up.
As Cade took another bite, he felt a paw on his knee. Jupiter looked up at him, dark eyes pleading.
“You know Mom said to stop feeding you from the table, right? You get fat enough from the guests because no one can resist your Labrador charms.”
Jupiter wagged his tail.
“I guess I can’t resist either.” Cade flicked a piece of elk toward the dog, and Jupiter caught it in midair. He wolfed it down, wagging happily.
“Now stop begging at the table, or Mom will get suspicious.”
Jupiter leaned against his leg until Cade gave in and petted him. He rubbed the smooth yellow coat, scratching Jupiter at the base of his tail, where he liked it the most. Jupiter closed his eyes, tongue lolling.
“We can save Bearview—right, Jupe?”
Jupiter thumped his tail against a chair leg. Cade savored the last of his elk, trying to think up ways to improve the lodge.
“Uh… Cade?” Ethan stuck his head back into the dining room.
“Aren’t you supposed to be checking the lifts?” As much as Cade owed Ethan, it was his duty as the oldest brother to rag on him occasionally.
“I did, actually.” Ethan wiped his brow, leaving a streak of grease on his forehead. “I couldn’t even get a quick test in. The lift system’s broken.”
“So does that mean we need some new parts and some elbow grease?”
“Some new parts? Try all new.” Ethan slumped into a chair. Jupiter trotted over, but Ethan could only muster a half-hearted pat. “You do realize that this system is almost as old as Dad, right? It’s going to need a complete overhaul.”
Cade groaned. Without a working lift, it wouldn’t matter if they made it through the summer. There would be no winter season at all. “How did it die? And why now?”
“Probably because we didn’t maintain it enough last year.” Ethan shrugged. “But still, I think it’s a miracle that it lasted as long as it did, and that it didn’t decide to go out on us over Christmas or something.”
Cade shuddered at the thought. “What do we do now?”
“Hope Mom and Dad have some spare cash, I guess. Or a lot of spare cash. We might be able to save some of the chairs, but everything else is going to need to be replaced.”
“At that point, wouldn’t it just be cheaper to build a new lift system?”
“I don’t know, Cade,” Ethan snapped. “This isn’t my fault, you know. I’m just the messenger.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Cade put his head in his hands. He had been dizzy with relief when he thought they could save Bearview, but now it seemed like everything was crumbling around him.
Cade felt like he might be sick. He pushed his plate away. “Did you say the parents were upstairs?”
“Yeah,” Ethan said miserably.
“I’ll go talk to them.”
Cade’s feet felt like lead as he dragged himself down the hall and up the stairs. If they didn’t have a lift, there was no point in calling Bearview a ski lodge. He didn’t doubt that his parents would want to fix the lifts, but could they? As far as Cade had heard, medical bills had eaten away most of their profits from last year.
Taking a deep breath, Cade knocked on their door.
“Come in,” his mother called.
Slowly, Cade swung the door open and stepped inside.
“There you are,” his mother said. “Did you eat?”
He nodded.
“And are you feeling better now? You have talked to your brothers, haven’t you?”
“They told me they wanted to try and save the lodge.” Cade sat heavily on the bed. “But that might not be enough. Ethan just went out to check the lifts and they’re completely dead.”
“They’re what?” Coop asked as he stepped out of the bathroom.
“The lifts are dead.”
“Wow.” Coop whistled. “That timing sure is a kick in the ass.”
Cade tried to keep his fear and sorrow from burying him. “What did the Wolf Tracks Lodge spend on their new lift system? Half a million?”
Coop put a hand behind his head. “Actually, I talked to one of the crew who helped on the install. He estimated it was more like three mil.”
“Three million dollars!” Cade lay back on the bed. “I don’t suppose you have a few million lying around in the couch cushions?”
His parents exchanged one of their inscrutable looks. Julie nodded.
“I’m taking Mom away for a couple of weeks. We’re going to fly in
to Florida and drive up the coast. I don’t want you boys to think we’re abandoning you, but after last year we need a change of scenery.”
Cade couldn’t imagine nicer scenery than Mount Bliss, but he said nothing. He wondered why his parents were telling him this, unless they were using the last of the lodge’s profits to pay for the trip. Not that Cade would mind if they did. After suffering through chemo and taking countless medications, his mom deserved whatever trip she wanted.
“We’re leaving you in charge,” Coop said, “of everything, including our emergency reserves. We have $100,000, Cade. I don’t have to tell you that that will only go so far in actually running the lodge, especially in the winter. I thought we could use it to get us through the summer, but…” Coop shrugged. “Without a lift, it might as well be summer all year round.”
“How much of the money should we use to fix the lift?” Cade asked.
“That’s up to you to decide.” Coop clapped him on the shoulder. “On the one hand, you could probably use about half to fix the existing system. I know it’s ancient, but there would be a cushion of funds left over. On the other hand, you could use it all and get us a fancy upgrade. You’d have to do some research, since I don’t know what you could get for the money, but an investment like that might pay off for many seasons.”
“What do you think we should do?”
Coop laughed. “Cade, that’s partly why we’re taking this vacation—neither of us can handle any more decisions right now. We trust you. We know you want the lodge to flourish again. You’ll make the best choice out of any of us.”
Cade didn’t know what to say. That was a weighty responsibility, but his chest swelled with pride at the evidence that his parents trusted him so much.
“Think it over,” Coop said. “You have a little time, but you’ll need to decide soon if we want working lifts by winter.”
“I will.” Cade looked over his shoulder as he left their room. Both of his parents had already turned back to their suitcases.
At the bottom of the stairs, Ethan was waiting for him.
“Well?”
Cade snagged a flannel shirt off a peg. “You want to help me with my chores, since you don’t have any anymore?”
