Ford finished his soup and biscuit and pushed his plate to the side. “Yeah. Patty stayed until she was hospitalized the first time. Not enough help in the winter to keep things running full-time. After that, well, everyone knew it wouldn’t be the same without her, and there was too much uncertainty.”
Cadence stared into her empty bowl. “I didn’t know.”
“The place was special. Part of Patty’s identity. It just wasn’t the same without her there, you know?”
She nodded.Yeah, she knows. “You ready?” Cadence asked. “I wouldn’t mind a ride after all, since you’re going that way.”
The moment of truth was upon them. In minutes, he’d know if securing that extra money for Rilee’s education was even possible. Because, as Patty told him, Cadence would either be completely washed over with a sense of nostalgia, or completely indifferent to a place she hadn’t seen in almost fifteen years. Nostalgia he could work with. But indifference might cause hope to come crashing down.
Chapter Three
Cadence
Cadence wondered if the guilt would ever subside completely. Not only for her lack of visiting, but for the phone calls that had tapered off over the past year. If she’d tried a little harder to stay in touch, maybe she could’ve come up to Sunset Ridge earlier while Great-Aunt Patty was still alive. She thought she had more time.
“Riggs, you know the drill, bud,” Ford said once they were in the truck. “You don’t get your biscuit unless you lay down.” The shepherd obeyed instantly, plopping down on the seat which such force that the truck rocked a little.
The last guy she dated—longer ago than she cared to remember—had freaked out at finding a single strand of dog hair on his coat. The way Ford talked to his dog, as if he were another passenger in the truck and not just an animal, made Cadence smile. It was a refreshing quality.
Once Riggs finished inhaling his biscuit, Cadence asked, “How long have you been the caretaker?”
“I’ve helped out mowing the lawn and things like that for the past couple years. Took care of general repairs and upkeep when needed. But I took it on full-time once Patty had to close the doors. She didn’t want it to collect dust and deteriorate.”
“I assume there’s a cleaning service too, or . . .?” She couldn’t imagine this epitome of an Alaskan man, in the driver’s seat of an obnoxiously large truck, scrubbing toilets or dusting wooden ledges.
He nodded.
So many things to consider. Cadence wondered what else she might be forgetting. “Was it still as popular as it was years ago?”
“Oh, yes.” A large smile swept over Ford’s lips. “During the summer, Patty hardly ever had a vacancy. Never on a festival weekend. Usually pretty full around Christmas, too. She had to turn away some of her regular holiday-season clients this last year.”
How devastating.
Cadence was afraid to ask more questions for fear her guilt would only intensify. She felt dirty with the plan to sell the place. The packet of papers even contained a recent appraisal, done only last year. If her sisters really wanted a listing price on the spot, she could give them a solid estimate.
“So you spent a summer here once?”
“Yeah, how did you—” But the answer was obvious. Ford had worked for Patty for a while now and, well, in a small town, it wasn’t like secrets kept. “I was thirteen.” She debated how much to tell him. Though Ford seemed like a nice, trustworthy guy and he didn’t raise any alarms, she didn’tknowhim.
“You and your sisters all came up together, Patty told me.”
“My mother passed earlier that year, and my dad wasn’t handling it well. She took us in for the summer so he could grieve.” There was more to it, of course. But that was all Mr. Alaska needed to know.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Cadence focused on the passing houses as they wove their way through the residential part of town, and finally climbed a steep hill. The log-style lodge sat at the top of the town’s tallest hill, tucked in by western hemlock and birch trees. The painted wooden sign announcing the Sunset Ridge Lodge instantly transported her back in time, to the first time she saw it.
There’d been so much fear and uncertainty that day. They’d lost their mother, and with her passing, a part of their father had died too. Sophie had cried the most at being sent away. Tessa was angry. But Cadence, she’d been a mixture of afraid and intrigued. Because once they were beyond that sign, the magic of the lodge shackled her heart and drew her in.
“Look like you remember?”
The two-story giant with a front wraparound porch sat raised from the ground ten feet or more. The steps in the center led to an enormous glass front that flowed with the peaked roof. “It felt . . . bigger. Before.”
“Five thousand square feet in there, you know.” Ford parked the truck in the gravel lot, drawing Cadence’s eyes to the overgrown grass. It certainly did need mowing.
“Thanks for the ride.” Cadence hugged the envelope to her chest, uncertain whether she was ready to face the memories that lived inside the place that had once been the most magical refuge. “I’m going to go inside and check it out.”
Ford nodded. “I’ll get to mowing.”
