She didn’t have any trouble finding Rosie’s list. It was on the side table next to a beat-up old rocking chair that had a basket of knitting on the floor beside it. Laney was willing to bet that when guests were hanging out in the living room to watch the television or socialize, they knew without being told that chair wasn’t for them.
The list was long and doubt rose up in Laney’s chest like acid reflux. She hadn’t worked since she was twenty-five years old and was informed by her mother-in-law that women in the Ballard family didn’t work. They tended to their husband, homes and children—in that order, based on Patrick’s mother’s attitude—without distraction. The fact children had never come once seemed like a curse, but now was a blessing.
If she failed at this, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Not that she couldn’t find another job. But this one was about more than a paycheck. Shewantedto be here. And she might not have any employment history since quitting her job at the jewelry store where Patrick bought his watches, but she had skills.
And one of those skills was keeping an immaculate house. A very large house, as a matter of fact. And maybe she’d never had to clean rooms for paying guests, but making a bed was making a bed.
Feeling more centered, Laney read down the list item by item. Needless to say, she’d have to spend a couple of days shadowing Rosie to learn how she liked things done and where everything was kept, but she was a fast learner. Her duties in the campground included cleaning and stocking the bathhouse and cleaning the two cabins after checkout, but mostly she would report things to Josh or Andy.
“I didn’t scare you away, did I?”
She hadn’t heard Rosie come in and she started, though she managed not to yelp. Turning, she smiled and shook her head. “Of course not. This is a beautiful place and I’ll do my best to help keep it that way.”
“Itisbeautiful, isn’t it? It always has been, though it got a little shabby a while back because money was tight. The boys worked really hard at not only fixing up the house, but connecting the property—and the entire town, really—to the ATV trails. Nobody expected that to take off the way it did, but now we’re busy year-round instead of just snowmobile season. They expanded the camping area and added the two cabins and the pool last year, and we not only have reservations through Columbus Day weekend this year, but several bookings for Memorial Day weekend next year.”
“I’m looking forward to being a part of it. Oh, and before I forget, I used the first aid box, but I cleaned the tweezers before I put it back. I hope you don’t mind.”
“That’s what it’s there for. Did you have a sliver?”
“No. Ben cut his hand helping Josh and there was a paint chip in it. I got a little bossy with him about taking care of it andthenfound out he’s a paramedic.” Her cheeks heated again, even though it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“It wouldn’t matter if he was a brain surgeon, honey. Men are the worst when they’re hurt or sick and the only way to deal with them is to get a little bossy.” Rosie’s face softened as she smiled. “My only child might be a girl, but I raised four Kowalski boys along with their sister. Trust me on that one.”
“You worked for their mom?” Laney prompted, trying to remember the little bits her cousin had told her.
“I did. She let me bring my Katie with me, so it was perfect. Then she died suddenly back in eighty-seven. An aneurysm. I stayed on and did the best I could to help Frank take care of them. He passed away in 2002. The kids were all scattered around, so it was Josh and I for years, doing the best we could. A few years ago, he broke his leg and I called Mitch—the oldest—home to help out and when he saw how run-down things had gotten, they all came together. Mitch and Liz are both back in Whitford. Ryan’s in Brookline, Mass, and Sean lives in New Hampshire. You’ll get to meet them all.”
Laney’s head was spinning, so all she did was smile and nod. There was a lot of family history here on top of the town being a very small, tightly knit community. Her plan was to smile and noda lotand keep her mouth shut.
“Let me give you that tour,” Rosie said. “And don’t worry about remembering everything right off. We keep things pretty simple and I’m not going anywhere.”
The rooms for guests were all in one wing, which had been added to the original house years before, though they were free to make themselves at home on the ground floor of the lodge. The exception was a room off the living room, at the opposite end from the guest wing. A very politekeep outsign hung on the closed door, and Rosie told her that was Josh and Katie’s room.
Upstairs was Andy and Rosie’s room, an office, and a couple of bedrooms used by visiting family. Downstairs, in the basement, were shelves of supplies and the commercial washer and dryer. As far as the kitchen, that was Rosie’s domain. She liked to bake for the guests, but there was no expectation Laney would cook, since meals weren’t part of the package.
“I know it seems like a lot, between the lodge and the campground,” Rosie said when they were back in the kitchen. “But we’re not just throwing you in the deep end. We’re all here, so you’re not alone.”
There was something warm and maternal about the woman that made Laney feel as if she could be honest with her. “I wouldn’t have come here if I wasn’t willing to do the work, but somehow I feel like the hardest part of my job is going to be making you let me do it.”
“It might be. I’ve been taking care of this place for a very long time.” Rosie smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “But I had a couple of bouts with pneumonia several years ago and now I have Andy, so Imightbe ready to slow down a little.”
Before Laney could reply, the kitchen door opened and a woman around her age with a blond ponytail pulled through a battered Red Sox cap walked in. She was visibly expecting and besides the fact she resembled Rosie, she knew Katie—Rosie’s daughter and Josh’s wife—was six months pregnant. And she wasn’t around all the time because she owned the barbershop in town, which had been her dad’s before he died.
After introductions were made, Katie grabbed a cookie from the jar on the counter. “I’m glad you’re here, Laney. I assume you were warned my mom can be stubborn?”
She laughed. “Andy warned me she might try to get me to sit and eat cookies and drink lemonade while she does the work, but I can be pretty stubborn, too.”
Katie had her mother’s smile, and Laney was once again struck by how lucky she had been to find herself in this place. She liked these people, and they seemed to like her. That was already more than she’d had going for her the last few years.
By the end of the season, she was going to be happier, stronger and ready to go make a new life for herself.
