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Did Adriel blush? I was sure I was imagining it.

“Adriel!” George whispered his name. “He can’t tell Star Trek from Star Wars.”

Now I was sure it was red that adorned Adriel’s cheeks. He pressed his lips together and nodded curtly.

“That’s insane, of course.”

George narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You two are hopeless. Shane, come on. What’s the problem now?”

He stomped down the path, and Adriel and I trailed behind.

“How are you doing, by the way?” my boss wanted to know, and I nodded.

“Things are going fine. Nothing has happened since the incident with the agitated lady. The guests are friendly. I have settled in comfortably.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Adriel agreed. “We’ve only heard positive things about you. It’s still early in the season, but I wanted to mention it. Depending on what you’re planning for next year, you’ll have a place here again. There are always openings in the organization teams, if you’re interested in that line of work.”

We had now arrived at our cabin. I nodded to George, and he went in while Adriel and I followed.

“What’s going on here?” George asked as he scanned the room.

I pointed to the roof. “I wasn’t sure, but this morning it hit me. Something’s dripping.”

“Oh, fuck.” George launched into a string of colorful curses. “I was afraid of that.”

“What?” I followed his gaze to the ceiling and chewed the inside of my cheek.

George shook his head and gave Adriel a meaningful look. “I predicted this.”

Adriel tilted his head slightly and pressed his lips together. “You did. Is it that bad?”

“Hey. What’s going on?” I asked again.

George was still staring at the ceiling, where a dark spot had formed. “The roofs should’ve been renovated in the fall. The problem was already apparent. But they wanted to wait until spring.”

“Instead, they put the seasonal workers here,” Adriel muttered. “The hope was that they’d last until April. Then they were supposed to be repaired.”

“If it gets through now without thawing outside, then we already have more relevant entry points. The heat from the rooms thaws it enough from below, and it seeps through. The insulation isn’t right. Not anymore. Or it never was as it should be. The best thing would be to put new roofs on. Puzzling it out won’t do any good.”

Adriel made a gruff sound. “The hotel management will surely be happy about that.”

“I suggested a cost-effective option in the summer.” George turned to Adriel, who nodded in agreement.

“You did. It’s not your fault.”

“Right.” George smiled a subtle, intimate smile that wasn’t meant for me. But it found exactly the right target in Adriel. He beamed at our maintenance manager as if he were the sun itself.

With George’s white skin and shiny red hair and Adriel’s brown skin and dark, velvety locks, the maintenance manager and the event manager appeared to be complete opposites. But at that moment, they looked like pieces of a puzzle that fit together.

“So . . . ” The two turned their heads to me as if they were surprised that I was in the room with them. “And what does that mean now?” My mind was racing. Did Ruben and I have to move? Were we being put into one of those ominous shared accommodations? My stomach churned. I didn’t want to give up the intimacy we had worked hard to achieve. Thanks to Ruben’s shifts, we rarely saw each other, anyway. The last thing I wanted was to share him with some roommates in the few minutes we had left.

“Nothing for now.” George went outside. “I’ll get a ladder and some tools and call the local roofer. Then we’ll fix the problem here. And hope that nothing else happens during the season.”

“Well, that’s a great prospect,” I grumbled.

Adriel sighed beside me. “Then I’m glad I asked you after all. I hope you’ll keep the positive aspects in mind while you’re here. It’d be great to have you on the team in the future. As I said, we’ll need to get together quickly in case you want to take on more tasks than just the hours. I already have to test out some new ski resorts. Check out some lodges. The ski safaris need to be planned, as marketing will be incorporating them into their plans for next season at the end of this one. Up until now, you’ve only been on the day trips, right?”

A wide range of emotions bounced around in my stomach and then merged into a strange mix. The recognition felt good after my bumpy start. It was an exciting balm. Mint oil. Refreshing and velvety soft at the same time.