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“Ah, well, I’m sorry to hear that. I met my Rebecca in college, and she had plans to go to New York or some fool thing. But instead she came here to help me run Aspen Ridge. Best decision she ever made, I’d say.”
“Does Ellie look like her mom? Aside from the blue eyes, of course. She obviously got those from you.”
JJ’s expression dropped. “My Rebecca passed away a couple of years back.”
“I’m sorry, I forgot. Ellie told me that.”
“It’s okay. But yes, Izzy is the spitting image of her mother at her age. She had blue eyes too, but they were more aquamarine. Bright, like the stones.” His expression turned wistful and his voice softened. “She’s definitely where Izzy gets her heart from. Sweetest woman I ever met. Always wanted to do more.”
“That definitely sounds like Ellie,” I agreed. “She really cares a lot about the employees. It’s admirable that she’s so invested in their happiness.”
Abruptly, JJ’s tone turned gruff. “Yes, well, there has to be a balance. The business has to run, has to make money, in order to provide for the employees. This whole place was basically a one-horse abandoned mining town when my father and Roger Blackwell founded Aspen Ridge Resort. The entire area built up around the resort, and they depend on the tourists the resort attracts for their livelihood. It’s a heavy weight, you know. Ellie bears it well, but I know she feels it. We’ve never held back from impressing upon her how important this business is to the community.”
“I’m sure she’s well aware.”
“But that’s why I have to know she can handle it,” he insisted. “I can’t leave her with more responsibility than she can bear. She has to be up to the challenge before I drop the entire thing on her shoulders.”
I paused for a moment, thinking. “Sir, permission to speak freely?”
JJ waved his hand at me dismissively. “Get out of here with that ‘sir’ business. Shoot.”
“I know you feel you carry the weight of the entire town on your shoulders. But wouldn’t you agree that when Ellie takes over as CEO, it’s not exactly the same thing? She’ll still have you on the board, helping her. She’ll have James and your other co-owners to lean on. She may become the head of Lodging, but it seems to me the responsibility is distributed pretty well. She has a lot of support.”
He thought it over for a moment. “Well, maybe you’re right,” he finally admitted.
I continued. “I know you’ve been seeing this transition as you effectively handing over the keys and walking out the door, but it doesn’t seem to me it will really be like that. And I think Ellie is lucky that she’ll be able to take over—perhaps make a few mistakes, as most people do—but still have the support you’ve built up around her. The question really comes down to when you’re ready to hand over the reins and let her drive.”
JJ was silent for a long moment, thinking. “You’re not wrong, Jake. It’s hard to let go and allow my daughter to steer the ship I’ve run for so long. It was hard enough when it was just a car, but now I’m looking at handing over this entire resort and leaving it in her hands. It’s not that I don’t think she’s capable, of course she is. But this place has been like my third child, maybe even my second wife. Maybe more, since I grew up here, knowing I’d run it some day. I was a lot like Isabelle, you know. I had a mountain of ideas of how I wanted to change things, make it better, grow the business. Robert and I both did—we had so many plans, some of them great and some of them absolutely crazy. But at any rate, Aspen Ridge has been in my blood since I was born. I’ve done everything I can and now I’m faced with the reality that I have to let go. It’s a lot to walk away from.”
I didn’t really know how to reply to JJ’s story, so I decided to share my own. “JJ, did you know that in order to retire from the military, the requirement is twenty years?”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I knew it was something like that.”
“Do you know how many years I had in?” When he shook his head, I continued. “Fifteen. I was five years away from earning a full retirement when I walked away.”
JJ let out a low whistle. “Ouch. Why did you do it? They didn’t kick you out, did they? Surely you could have held out five more years.”
I shrugged. “I probably could have. I could make anything work, if it was only me in the equation. But this decision wasn’t about me; it was about my kids. If I stayed in the Air Force five more years, Olivia would be fourteen by the time I got out, and Ethan twelve. They would have gone through their childhood without their mom and barely having their dad. My obligation to the military would have eaten up their childhood, and by the time I got out, it would have been too late to fix it. So I gave up what I had planned for my life and went in search of something better for all of us. That landed me here, in Aspen Ridge. And now my life is very different—it’s not what I thought I wanted—but it’s so much better. My kids are happier. I finally get to be home with them every night, and I know I made the right move for them. So even though it wasn’t what I thought I wanted, I know it was the right choice.”
JJ’s blue eyes were trained on my face, and they narrowed slightly toward the end of my speech. “I see what you’re doing, Jake. I’m not senile yet. You think I am hesitant to let Izzy take over because I’m more concerned about what I want than what’s right for her or Aspen Ridge.”
“I think you sometimes have a rigid way of thinking, andElliethinks differently than you do. I agreed with you that some of her choices weren’t in the best interest of the company, and we’ve been working on those. But I also agree with her that the way things have always been done doesn’t need to be the way going forward. I think you should give her the chance to show you she can lead in her own way, and be just as successful as you have been.”
JJ thought over my words for a long minute. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Jake. You’re a real straight shooter. I’ve always liked that about you. A man doesn’t like to be told how to manage his own kids—I’m sure you understand that—but I appreciate your perspective. I’ll think about it some more.”
Chapter14
Ellie
* * *
Iwas just packing up, planning to head to Peak 7 to visit the housekeepers, when Jake’s phone number popped up on the caller ID. He’d left early for some family thing.
“Hey, what’s up stranger?” It wasn’t like most guys to call. There was something old school about it that made me smile.
“Hi Ellie,” a small, feminine voice replied.
Surprise rippled through me. “Oh, er, is this Olivia?”
