Monday morning came too soon. After a relaxing weekendof having breakfast at our favorite log cabin diner and catching up on laundryand afternoons at the park with my little girl, I wasn’t ready for the realityof the work week.
I dropped Juliet off at the preschool that seconded asa daycare in the afternoon and hurried to work only fifteen minutes behindschedule. Unfortunately, there was zero traffic on Main Street so I had noexcuse for my boss other than apologizing for the kind of human I was. Whichwas a late human. Always late.
I blamed Juliet. Before she was born, I acutelyremembered being on time everywhere I needed to go.
Knowing I would be late, but that Maggie was full ofgrace and mercy as long as there was a hazelnut latte involved in my apology, Igrabbed a couple at the local coffee shop and then headed seventeen minutes outof town and up the mountain to a secluded little cabin resort called Maggie’son the Mountain.
The resort was a collection of adorable one and twobedroom cottages that were dated but charming. We boasted a getaway thatactually got you away. Away from the city and work and even cell service.
Everyone loved us on days one and two. Not so much bythe end of the week. By then, the seclusion always settled in for our guests.Thankfully, we also offered free Wi-Fi to alleviate the separation anxiety fromtheir useless smart phones.
Maggie had hired me when we first moved here. I’dpulled into town four months pregnant with a fresh social security card, zerocredit history and a constant flow of tears. I had been a mess.
Maggie took me in, offered to pay me in cash anddidn’t ask questions. Later I’d figured out that she’d assumed I had fled anabusive boyfriend.
I never corrected her.
Hurrying into the office I found her at her usualspot, leaning over the front desk, glasses perched on the end of her nose, longgray hair pulled back in a low, loose bun. I plopped the latte in front of herand put on my best smile.
“Call off the searches,” she deadpanned to no one.“She’s not dead after all.”
“Aw, Mags. Were you worried about me?”
She looked up at me with the best poker face I hadever seen. “Worried? No. Annoyed? Yes. Worst case scenario though, if you gomissing out on the mountain it might drum me up some business.”
We were booked almost solid through March. Like thiswoman needed more business.
She had too much business for her meager staff as itwas.
Resisting the urge to smile, I nudged her latte towardher. “If it makes you feel any better, I really am sorry. I’ve been working onthis excuse that involves a bear, an orphan and a basket of puppies. Do youwant to hear it?”
She reached for her coffee and tentatively took a sip.We were headed in the right direction. A full gulp meant total forgiveness.“Let me guess,” she drawled. “The orphan was selling the puppies on the side ofthe road when the bear came barreling out of the woods?”
“Wrong. The orphan was selling the bear when thepuppies came barreling out of the woods. Don’t worry, I saved the day. Crisisaverted.”
Her lips twitched but she restrained her smile. “You’rehere now, so you might as well get to work.”
I sighed. “Might as well.”
She shoved the daily list at me. Maggie was all aboutlists. To do lists. To buy lists. To see lists. If it existed in the physicalworld, Maggie had a list for it.
When I first started here, I’d been a kind of jack ofall trades. Mostly I had worked in housekeeping. After I fixed a hot tub in oneof the guest cottages, she added me to the maintenance staff. When I decided togo to college in Breckenridge and get my hospitality management degree, shemoved me to the office. Now I was her second in command. She relied on me torun things during the week. In return for loyalty and good management, she letme have evenings and weekends off to spend with Juliet.
“The Gillett’s decided to stay another week? I thoughtthey hated it here.”
Maggie took a long pull of her coffee. “It seems they’vehad a breakthrough. Their therapist suggested more time away from the city tofully explore the healing process.”
I rolled my eyes. “Who goes on a romantic getaway withtheir therapist?”
Maggie snorted. “Someone who just got caught cheatingwith his secretary. But if you ask me the only one getting anything out of thisweekend is the shrink.”
“Good for him for suggesting they stay another week.Might as well take advantage of the perks.”
She lifted her gaze to meet mine. “You don’t thinkhe’s a crook? Taking advantage of poor Mrs. Gillett and her scumbag husband?”
“I think he agrees with us that her husband is ascumbag.” I examined Maggie’s question one more time. “But I don’t know thathe’s a crook. He’s just… taking advantage of an opportunity.”
“I guess that’s one way to put it,” Maggie mumbled,clearly not agreeing with me.
