I laughed off her accusations. “I’m not taking anotherjob. Although that Marriott inBreckwon’t stopcalling me.”
“Corporate assholes,” Maggie mumbled under her breathbefore she turned back to me. “Okay, so what is it then? What do you want?”
She was unbelievable. “Why do I have to wantsomething?”
“Caroline…” she warned while retrieving her specialdonut.
Letting out a whoosh of nervous breath, I gripped thecounter with two hands and made my request. “You know my old friend that’sstaying here? Sayer?” She nodded, not noticing the strained way I said oldfriend. “He doesn’t know about Juliet. And I would like it to stay that wayplease.”
I had been expecting an easy-breezy, “Sure, no problem!”But instead I got a frown and a skeptical, “Why?”
My chest pinched. I thought, “Why can’t you just makethis simple for me, Maggie?” Instead, I went with, “Why what?”
“Why don’t you want your old friend to know about yourdaughter, Caroline?”
Okay, so maybe she did notice the way I talked aboutSayer. I rushed to keep my foundation of half-truths stable.“Becausewe used to date.And it didn’t end well. It would be weird if I justsprung it on him out of the blue. It’s something I’m planning to bring up eventually.I just want to do it slowly and carefully and make sure I protect Juliet.”
“Why wouldn’t Juliet be protected if you just told himabout her?”
Goddamn her curious nature.
“I don’t know.” I floundered like this was my firstrodeo and I hadn’t thought my build-up all the way through. I had of course. Ialways had the foundation in place. But she was frustrating me this morning andmy anger was clouding my judgment. “She would be fine, I guess. I just… I don’tknow. I’m trying to preserve his impression of me, okay? He was my last seriousboyfriend before Juliet. I just don’t want him to think… I don’t know what Idon’t want him to think, but I do know that I would like to be the one thattells him. Eventually. When I’m ready to tell him. All I’m asking is that youdon’t bring her up in the next six weeks unless I tell you it’s okay.”
Her analytic expression didn’t change. “Six weeks?”
“That’s how long he’s booked the cabin for.”
A slow, smug smile stretched across her face. “Huh.”
I waved a hand in the air and busied myself withorganizing pamphlets for local attractions near the door. “No.”
“What?” Maggie was all feigned innocence and doe eyes.
“Don’t start with me.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, but you’re thinking something. And it’sobnoxious.”
“My thinking annoys you?”
“Magdalen.”
“What?”
The desk phone rang interrupting the circling of ourconversation. Maggie picked it up and answered with a short, “Front desk.”
Over the last few years, I’d helped Maggie turn herresort around. Before me, she’d been bleeding money. She always had enoughrentals thanks to the touristy area of Colorado she was located in, but she hadbeen making inefficient decisions and not managing well. The problem was thatshe had too much business for just her to handle. There were too many guestsand too many problems and too many balls to juggle—which was always surprisingto me given Maggie’s less than winsome personality.
“Sorry to hear that,” Maggie told the phone. “I’llsend someone over with them immediately.” She hung up and that smarmy smilecame back. “Cabin eleven needs towels, Caroline. Apparently housekeeping didn’tstock the bathrooms after they cleaned on Sunday. Do you mind running some overthere for me?”
I suppressed a sigh. “They probably didn’t think we’dbe renting it out until after the repairman dealt with the hot tub.”
“I’ll deal with them,” Maggie strategized. “You dealwith the towels.”
“Can’t you make them deal with the towels? Isn’t thattheir job?”
“Scared of cabin eleven, are we?”
