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My family wanders down not long after Scarlett leaves my office.
One look at me and Zac pulls me aside right after I’ve shown everyone where to get coffee and our stash of good snacks.
“You look like a fucking Christmas tree all lit up,” Zac says.
I look back to see if anyone’s listening. Pappy and Magnus are by the coffee, and Autumn and Ivy are digging into the pastries from Happy Cow.
“I can take you to get something healthier,” I call out, but Autumn shakes her head.
“This is perfect. And you know we’ll be ready for something else in about an hour and a half anyway.” She laughs.
“Hey, spill. You asked her out, didn’t you?” Zac smirks.
That would be the normal progression, yes, but…damn.
“Oh, I did a lot more than that,” I say under my breath.
He stares at me and laughs, squeezing my shoulder. “Oh shit. You didn’t waste any time, did you? I hope that doesn’t backfire on you, man.”
I sag against him. “Yeah, I had all these good intentions and they all went out the window when she showed up at my office in a—it wouldn’t have mattered what she was wearing…I lost my mind.”
Autumn turns around and sees us whispering, and her eyes narrow. “What are you guys up to?”
“Not a thing,” I say, lying through my teeth and she knows it.
I look at Zac and now he’s looking all excited.
“Relax,” I tell him. “You look like the fucking Joker right now.”
He shakes his head. “You’re the one who can’t stop smiling.”
I growl at him and he just keeps laughing.
“Okay,” I say louder, and Autumn and Pappy wander over. “First up, I thought we could take Ivy to LM Kid Zone and see if she wants to spend any time there. There’s no pressure if she’d rather be with us…and I definitely hope she doesn’t want to spendallher time there.”
I grin when she walks over and puts her arms around my waist for a hug. Zac catches her up on what we’re talking about.
“Day before yesterday I hired that interpreter I told you about, the girl from Denver,” I continue. “Lili. She’s excited about the opportunity and when we don’t have guests who need an interpreter, she’ll teach ASL classes to anyone who wants to learn. Sidenote—she seems great with marketing too, so I think she’ll be a huge asset to the resort.” I check my watch. “She should be in Kid Zone as we speak if we want to head over there and meet her.”
Ivy looks hesitant, and I sign again that she doesn’t have to stay in there unless she really wants to.
She decides she wants to check it out before she decides, so everyone but Magnus goes to that area of the lodge. Magnus decides to do a little exploring of his own.
LM Kid Zone is hopping. There are kids coloring at the round tables, two of the staff leading kids in a dance, which gets Ivy’s attention, and I point toward the back window, and a few kids are out there building snowmen and one is even working on a snow cave. Lili is out there and when she sees me, she walks over, signing as she speaks.
“Hi, I’m Lili. L-I-L-I,” she says as she fingerspells it and then shows us her name sign, laughing. She makes the letterLsign with both hands and then uses them for thetalkativesign. “Yeah, I’m chatty,” she adds.
We introduce her to Ivy first and then everyone else, and Ivy seems to get comfortable quickly, answering Lili’s questions and laughing at her reactions.
When Autumn asks Ivy if she’d like to stay for a while, she nods shyly and Lili does the sign forapplause,making all of us smile. I was really excited when I saw Lili’s resume and had a good feeling about her when she interviewed, so seeing Ivy respond to her so quickly just cements that feeling.
Ivy hugs all of us and she and Autumn go with Lili to check in and exchange all the info they need, while Zac, Pappy, and I walk back to the hallway outside Kid Zone. Pappy turns to say something to me and his eyes brighten.
“There’s the woman of the hour,” he says. “Good morning. Or is it noon yet? My clock is off.”
I turn in a hurry when I hear Scarlett’s laugh, already smiling before she even looks my way. When she does, her cheeks flush and her eyes dart away shyly.
Oh Scarlett, now that I know we are, if not on the same page, at least in the same manual, there is no limit to the fun we’re going to have.
