They were almost to the front door when he heard laughter coming from another room which, judging by the layout and by photos on the website, he guessed was the kitchen. He paused, trying to pick out which female laugh was Nola’s. He was pretty sure he could tell, but he was going to have to make her laugh when he got to see her again, just to be sure.
Two
“Did you get the Emerson family all checked in okay?”
Nola nodded, since Rosie was looking directly at her, and then got her knuckles rapped—albeit very lightly—with a wooden spoon when she tried to steal a sugar cookie from the cooling rack.
“Still too hot,” Rosie said. “Take one out of the jar.”
“The ones from the jar don’t taste as good as the warm ones you steal while the baker’s not looking. That’s science.”
“But Iwaslooking, so you’re stuck with jar cookies.”
Rosie had been running the Northern Star Lodge and the Kowalski family for decades, since she’d originally gone to work for the current owners’ mother. She was tough and quick with that wooden spoon—raising five Kowalski kids along with her own daughter, Katie, she’d had to be—but she was one of the most fiercely loving people Nola had ever known.
“How do the kids seem?” Rosie asked, and Nola knew what she meant by the question. Young adults who hadn’t wanted to be dragged out into the middle of nowhere on their parents’ vacations could make everybody’s lives miserable.
“I didn’t really get a chance to talk to them, but neither of them looked like they were here against their will. I overheard the daughter talking about having to share a bathroom with six men, so I told her about the upstairs bathroom. But I don’t think the Emersons are going to be a problem.”
Not for Rosie, anyway. Ian was going to be a big problem for Nola’s equilibrium, though. While setting up the dining room for supper, she’d heard him laughing with his son as they made a few trips out to his truck, and she’d caught herself smiling as she set the salt and pepper and condiments on the end of the long serving table along the wall. He was definitely a distraction, without even trying.
“Are these ready to go out?” Nola asked, peeking under the foil of one of the large baking pans set on the stove.
“Is it time already?” After glancing at the clock, Rosie frowned and tossed Nola the oven mitts. “Time flies when you’re baking sugar cookies.”
“How you can make supper for all these people and bake at the same time is beyond me, Rosie.”
“Years of practice.”
They loaded the big metal pans onto the wheeled cart they’d invested in thanks to the layout of the house—the dining addition wasn’t directly off the kitchen—and then Nola took it in while Rosie hit a button that set off a doorbell-like chime through the lodge to let everybody know it was time to eat. At one time, they’d used an old-fashioned metal triangle Josh found at a yard sale to call people in, but Rosie said they weren’t a cattle ranch and it gave her a headache, so that was the end of that.
They served buffet style, with the guests helping themselves, and once it was set up, Nola went to stand behind the bar. Her job at this point was twofold. She made a note of guests’ meals so they could be charged to their rooms, and she took payment from any snowmobilers who came in off the trail looking for one of Rosie’s meals. On top of that, she made drinks for anybody who wanted one, using the same simple accounting system. It was a little hectic for about twenty minutes, but then she had very little to do except try not to stare at the back of Ian Emerson’s head.
Instead she looked around the room, making sure everybody had what they needed. Andy and Rosie always ate with the guests, making conversation and so that Andy was available to answer any questions about the snowmobile trails. Josh and Katie had brought their two little ones over tonight. They often ate in their cabin to have a little separation from the business, but Nate—who’d just turned three and was a finicky eater—was obsessed with his grandma’s parmesan ranch chicken tenders. Two-year-old Bella, on the other hand, loved vegetables more than anything and was on her third helping of garlic green beans. The four guys from the bunk room were sitting with Andy and Rosie, and the guests from the cabin had come in for supper, but being a Tuesday night so close to Christmas, they didn’t have anybody from off the trail.
Weekends from mid-January to mid-March—along with the two weeks of February that encompassed the winter breaks of New England schools—were an entirely different matter. Nola would run her butt off in the dining room and behind the bar for hours, while Rosie cooked even more food for Laney or Katie to refill the buffet with. There were certain times during the snowmobile season and a few long weekends during the summer ATV season that were all hands on deck for the Northern Star Lodge.
But tonight was quiet, so Nola made her way through the dining room, making sure everybody was happy.
As she approached the table where the Emerson family sat, she tried to convince herself that her entire circuit around the room hadn’t been just an excuse to talk to Ian. But she knew she was lying to herself.
The daughter spotted her first and smiled. “This dinner is delicious.”
“Thank you,” she said. Ian looked up just as Nola reached the table, and she stood next to his chair so he could see her. “Rosie loves to cook.”
“Definitely delicious,” the son said.
“It’s unanimous,” Ian added. “I didn’t actually introduce you when we checked in and you showed us to our rooms. These are my kids, Maddie and Jacob. Kids, this is Nola. She works here evenings and weekends.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, smiling at each of them. “So tell me, are you happy being at the lodge, or did your dad drag you here?”
Both kids laughed, but it was Jacob who did the answering. “We’re happy to be here. I graduated in June and I’m taking a gap year to save up money before I start trade school, and Maddie’s on break from her second year of college. It’s been busy for a couple of years, so it’s cool to get away.”
Maddie nodded. “I’m excited about it. We’ve each gotten to go out sledding for a couple of quick rides, but the three of us haven’t spent a lot of time together in a long time.”
“This is a great place for family time,” Nola said. “You can totally make yourself at home, but fair warning—Rosie’s got a wooden spoon, and if she catches you trying to sneak fresh cookies or brownies from the cooling rack, you might end up with sore knuckles.”
As the kids laughed, Nola realized she’d put her hand on the back of Ian’s chair at some point and there was only a fraction of space between his back and her knuckles. She imagined herself running her hand over his shoulder and maybe up the back of his neck until her fingers were buried in his hair.
