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But I do wonder why we needed to come up to the hotel for that. We could have made cocoa at the apartment.
Lily drapes her coat across the back of a spare chair. “You don’t have to ask me twice. Hand me the can. Love me a bit of Reddi-whip.” She eyes Dash and dives right in. “So… you’re the man who swept my sister off her feet.”
He laughs softly. “I’m not sure it exactly went like that.”
“She did tell me you saved her life.”
He grabs my hand and gazes at me with a display of warmth. “More like the other way around.”
She stares at us, at him adoring me openly, like he has done since the day he burst into that office with our Dash and Molly keychain.
Lily shakes her head. “Well, it’s nice to see Molly finally got a guy who’ll worship her like she deserves. This woman is a saint and a goddess.”
I blush. “Okay, between the two of you…”
Just then, Savannah comes over with a tray of hot cocoas. Four of them. “Hey, y’all. Time to take the chill off.” She puts the drinks on the table in front of each of us, one for herself, and perches on the small space left on the spare chair with our coats. “So, you must be Lily.”
“Uh… yes, I am.”
“I’m Savannah. The general manager here at Starlight Ranch Resort.”
“Oh!” Lily takes Sav’s hand and shakes it, a little too wildly, her nerves showing, knowing this woman could open the door to her new life. “Wow. Nice to finally meet you! It’s such a beautiful hotel.”
“Well, thanks to your sister, we have a reason to decorate it in winter. Trust me. Normally it’s… well, a ghost town once the dude ranch visitors leave. Molly’s breathed life, and money, into this joint.”
“My sister is a tour de force.” Lily never stops building me up.
“And Dash here tells me you are, too. Just graduated early with honors in hotel management? Giving me a run for my money.” Sav laughs lightly. “I learned the old-fashioned way from the ground up. It’s hard work, you know. I’ve been doing it for, gosh… thirty years?”
Lily holds a steaming mug. “I’ve been told it’s not for the faint of heart. And I have to trust your experience. But I just love hospitality. Being around all the people having their vacations and thinking I’m the puppeteer moving around all that dancing and smiling.”
It’s hard not to think about how our childhood curated Lily’s personality with that comment.
“I get that,” Savannah answers without a beat. “It’s a great feeling thinking about all the people making memories on the back of what we do.”
“Exactly. And the teamwork. I look forward to being part of a team.”
Sigh.We’re always on the hunt for family. Neither Lily nor myself were destined to be loners.
“Well,” Sav sips her hot chocolate, leaving red lips on the mug, “Dash and I were talking this morning. His mom, Joy, and I have been friends for a long while, and she leaked my secret. I’ve been thinking of retiring.”
Lily is genuinely surprised. “Yeah? You seem so young…”
“Oh shush.” She flaps a hand in my sister’s direction. “You really are going to be good in hospitality. Flattery is a prerequisite for this industry.” She winks.
I glance over at Dash, listening intently, but he feels my gaze and shifts his to mine. And there, in those mischievous green eyes, I know he’s the one who invited Savannah over with the hot chocolates. He’s the one responsible for what’s said next.
“Lily. You wrote me an email saying you’re interested in doing events here. Maybe weddings, you said?”
“Yes. That was me.” She sits up straight.
“Well, I was speaking with Dash this morning, and what if you come on board as my number two? And, when you’re ready to run a place of this size, you wave me off to my retirement?”
Holy shit. Dash convinced Sav to give Lily a full-time job? Lil and I were thinking she could work her way up. Do events. Weddings… then maybe, maybe get a management position. Savannah just went and put her in the succession plan. This means so much. It means health insurance. It means paid vacation. 401K. It means… she’s staying here.
I reach for Dash’s hand and squeeze it. I am going to thank him later. A nice deep-down thanks, all the way to the back of my throat.
Lily is shocked. “I… I would love that. I mean, I’ve never… it’s a lot to take on but…” She’s overwhelmed, shocked and grateful all at the same time.
