Page 21 of Close to Heaven

“Thanks. I’ll let you get back to work.” He turned away, but she called out to him.

“Jax?”

“Yeah?”

“I know how much Mary means to you and your family, and I know you’re going to miss her. So, thank you for hiring me and asking me to help with the party.”

Overcome with emotion, he simply nodded. Then he turned and went back to his office. Avery was right. Mary had been more than just the front-desk clerk. She’d provided emotional support to him and his siblings when they’d needed it the most. Only someone intimately connected to his family would know that, and that included Avery.

Dakota had been living in Knoxville when the accident had occurred, and she’d leaned on Avery for support. Avery probably knew more about him and his family than he realized. The thought was both comforting and disconcerting. He’d tried his best to put that horrible time behind him, and he didn’t need any reminders of it. Thankfully, Avery seemed to sense that and hadn’t said much on the topic. He suspected that if he wanted to talk about it, she’d be willing to listening, though.

He shook his head and came back to the present. He swiveled his chair around and looked out at the mountains. When he couldn’t go hiking to blow off steam, this was the next best thing. Still, the beautiful view didn’t distract him from his memories.

He recalled that fateful day when the police officer had come to the resort and knocked on his door. Jax had gone to high school with the man, but he could tell he hadn’t stopped by for a friendly chat.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s been an accident,” the officer said.

Dakota was in Knoxville, and Jax had just been with Cody a few minutes ago, so that left his parents, who’d gone out to run some errands. He was flooded with dread as the officer proceeded to tell him the details of the accident. His mind had trouble absorbing the news, but certain things the officer said broke through the fog.

“The semi crossed the line into oncoming traffic… The driver may have fallen asleep… We’re still investigating… Your parents were pronounced dead on the scene… I’m sorry, Jax.”

As the oldest sibling, Jax had immediately slipped into the role of parent, guardian, and manager of the resort all at once. Cody and Dakota had accepted it, mostly without argument, although he and Cody occasionally butted heads.

Cody had stayed on the ridge and continued building and maintaining the cabins, while Jax took over the day-to-day operations required to run the resort. He’d asked Dakota to consider moving back home and helping in the office, but she’d refused.

“I love you guys, but I can’t come back. At least not yet,” she’d said.

Jax had been too busy to argue, and eventually life had settled back into a routine again. Still, there wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t think about his parents and miss them, and he knew his siblings felt the same.

He was still staring out the window, deep in thought, when somebody knocked on his open door.

He turned around and saw Avery standing there and looking at him with a concerned expression.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Everything is fine,” he lied.

“I just talked to Dakota, and she said she’ll be here.”

“Good.” Jax smiled, knowing he could always count on his sister.

“Oh, and she’s going to stay with me for the weekend too,” Avery said, returning his smile.

He was glad to hear it and not only because he was anxious to see his sister. If Dakota was staying with Avery, chances were that her boyfriend wasn’t coming. That shouldn’t have mattered to him, but somehow it did. From the little he’d been told, he wasn’t impressed with the guy and thought Avery could do better.

“It’ll be nice to have her home.” He almost corrected himself since Dakota probably thought of Knoxville as home now. However, to him, Sawyer’s Ridge would always be home, and despite the tragedy that took his parents’ lives, he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.