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“Of course, what?”
“Don’t plan anything. Let tomorrow night be,” he said.
“You mean nothing at all?” I asked.
He nodded. “You have done so much, and they have been busy all week. I think a quiet night is in store. Take tomorrow night off. If they need anything, your mother and I will attend to it.”
“But Dad, I don’t have anything to do. Might as well help,” I said.
“Maybe you can do something for yourself.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Only you know what you need. I’m just telling you that tomorrow I don’t want to see you working. Consider it a Christmas gift from us,” he said.
“Thank you, Dad. I love you.”
He kissed me on the top of the head and said, “I love you too, Adilyn. Thank you for coming home. We know what you gave up for us, but I hope you know that we don’t want you to give up on your happiness for ours.”
It was as though he had been reading my mind.
Why can’t everyone be happy? Why does one have to lose so the others gain?
Sometimes life just didn’t seem fair. But I knew I was lucky. I was surrounded by people who loved me. Who wanted me to be happy. The same thing I wanted for them.
I walked over to the window and looked outside. Snow was starting to fall.I really could use some Winterberry Christmas magic. My dream is for everyone to have what they want.
I might be able to have everything I wanted, but my father just gave me the perfect gift. Christmas Eve night off and I knew exactly how I wanted to spend it.
CHAPTER7
Mark
It was the first day since arriving at the lodge that Adilyn and I only saw each other for a few minutes at a time. I was really looking forward to catching up with her after dinner. Hopefully, she hadn’t planned another singalong or something like that for tonight. If she did, I’d understand because she was working and wasn’t here to entertain me. But time was running out, and I needed to talk to her.
I’d looked just about everywhere she usually would be, and I couldn’t find her. I knew where all the guests' rooms were but had no idea where she resided at night. It would be very embarrassing if I accidentally knocked on her parents' door by mistake.
Texting her was out of the question because she didn’t carry her phone with her while she worked. They used old-fashioned walkie-talkies to communicate from the slopes to the sleigh rides. Made sense since the service here wasn’t great and most calls got dropped anyway.
The barn. That was one place I hadn’t checked. Grabbing my coat, I headed for the door when Uncle Cayden asked, “Where are you off to this late?”
“I was just going for a walk,” I said.
“Not wise to be out walking when it is dark.”
That made me worry about Adilyn. If she wasn’t in the lodge, then she had to be outside. “I won’t be long.”
“You wouldn’t happen to be looking for Adilyn, would you?” he asked.
Was it that obvious? “I was hoping to talk to her.”
“Well, that will need to wait. She’s working.”
“Doing what? It is almost eleven,” I said, sounding overprotective and I knew it.
Caydan laughed. “There was a last-minute request for a sleigh ride.”
“Really? Who?” I knew my cousins had been going out a lot with her. The young girls couldn’t seem to get enough of it.
