She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. “This is my first time attending. I’m Cadence Whitmore.”
“Ted Maxwell.” A twinkle danced in his eye. “You’re in for a treat, then.” He rubbed his hands together, his broad smile stretched so wide, lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes. “I always add a last-minute twist that’s never on the flyers.”
“Do I get in on the secret?”
He folded his arms and nodded toward the announcer’s platform. “You’re about to see for yourself.”
“We’ll be running two teams at a time,” the announcer went on. “Let’s welcome our first set of contestants. First up, we have the Grant brothers—Denver and Ryder.” The crowd cheered, then erupted in laughter. Two men—Tillie’s sons if Cadence’s memory served her correctly—stepped onto a platform decked out in inflated, colorfully striped pants with suspenders and wigs of curly green and orange hair. Both had axes resting on their bare shoulders.
The second pair Cadence didn’t recognize, but they were dressed in similar clown get-ups. “The most important rule—and one that will result in immediate disqualification—the contestantsmustkeep the wigs from falling on the ground or in the water.”
“Clown wigs?” Cadence chuckled. “That’s the twist?”
“Most of those men can’t exactly use bobby pins. Besides, without them, it’s just a regular, boring competition. I’m not giving a plane away to just anyone, you know.”
“Why a plane?”
“Had an extra.”
Cadence tried to image what it would be like to have so much money that you might end up with anextraplane. It was impossible to comprehend. “Do you come to Sunset Ridge a lot?” she asked as the timer on a large scoreboard on the platform reset to zero and the contestants took their places.
“When I can.”
The buzzer sounded. One pair alternated splitting wood and stacking it on a trailer, switching off at times. The Grant brothers both split wood until their pile was gone, and then raced to stack it. They were faster. The taller one almost lost his wig as they sprinted to the next obstacle, but caught it before it sailed lower than his hip.
“My family really likes it here,” Ted said once both teams had moved on to the next obstacle. “We used to spend the weekend at the lodge. Patty always saved me and my wife the presidential suite. There are a couple chain places when you first arrive in town, but they’re nothing like the lodge. That place is a world of its own.”
Again, Cadence felt she was letting her great-aunt down, as well as all the visitors who had hoped to stay at the Sunset Lodge this weekend. And now a billionaire. There was aneedfor the place. Maybe it would be slow during the winter, but with all the demand during the summer, theycouldturn a profit. She felt it in her gut.
The crowd roared as the Grant brothers approached the last obstacle. Over the loudspeaker came, “Remember folks, they’re only allowed to have one hand on the upper rope at a time. Two hands means disqualification. And if they fall off, they have to start againiftheir wigs don’t get wet.”
“This is the one that’ll get most of them.”
Cadence watched as Denver and Ryder stepped on the same log, both with one hand on the rope above. “They have to get to the other side on that?” She wasn’t even sure how it was manageable, especially with only one hand on the rope.
“There’s only so much you can do with logs in the water,” Ted said, as if he might be talking about something as simple as sandwich varieties. “But I had it tested out ahead of time, just to be sure it was possible.”
The second team caught up, but it took them less than a minute to slip from the log and splash into the stream. Wigs went flying too far out of reach to be saved from the water. The Grant brothers slowly worked their way to victory, and the clock stopped.
“I want to make you an offer, Ms. Whitmore,” Ted said as the next set of contestants lined up at the beginning of the course.
“An offer?”
“I hear the lodge is for sale. I want to buy it.”
Cadence’s heart stopped. “You do?”
“Cash. No inspection. Quick closing.”
Though the crowd was still rumbling with excitement, Rilee seemed to have heard as she leaned forward in her chair. Her eyes darted to Cadence, then dropped.
Cadence didn’t know what to say. This was the best-case scenario as far as their original plan was concerned. A cash offer without any strings attached. They wouldn’t have to wait months to find a hopeful buyer, only to risk a deal crumbling apart over an inspection or financing falling through. They would have money in handthissummer.
But Cadence’s strongest instinct was to tell Maxwell no. Deep in her heart, she wanted to keep the lodge. She wanted to be part of the magic it offered to so many people. She yearned to live that dream she had as a young girl staring for hours out the bedroom window. To make Alaska and the Sunset Ridge Lodge her home.
“I’ll be in town through tomorrow afternoon.” He pulled a business card from his shirt pocket and handed it to Cadence. “The offer’s off the table once I leave.”
She watched Maxwell weave his way back through the crowd and disappear into the sea of people. She could tell him no, if only she didn’t have to tell her sisters about the offer.
