The Last Letter(6)

I was completely and utterly powerless.

“Then I guess I’ll take her home.”

…

I savored the walk from the county road back to the main house. Getting the mail this time of year was always my own little way of sneaking out, and I enjoyed it even more now that I had Chaos’s letters to look forward to. I was expecting number six any day now. The late October air was brisk, but we were still a good month away from the slopes opening. Then my small moments of serenity would be swallowed by the torrent of bookings.

Thank God, because we really needed the business. Not that I didn’t enjoy the slower pace of fall after the summer hikers went home, but it was our winters that kept Solitude in the black. And with our new, painful mortgage payments, the income was necessary.

But for now, this was perfect. The aspens had turned gold and were beginning to lose their leaves, which currently covered the tree-lined drive from the road to the house. It wasn’t far, only a hundred yards or so, but it was just enough distance to give visitors that feeling of seclusion they were looking for.

Our main house held a few guest rooms, the professional kitchen, dining room, and game rooms, plus a separate, small residential wing where I lived with the kids. It always teemed with life when someone wanted company. But Solitude got her name, and her reputation, from the fifteen secluded cabins that dotted our two hundred acres. If someone wanted the convenience of luxury accommodations and proximity to civilization, while still getting away from it all, we were the perfect spot.

Now if only I could afford the advertising to get the cabins booked. You could build it all day long; people only came if they knew you existed.

“Ella, you busy?” Larry asked from the front porch. His eyes danced under bushy gray eyebrows that seemed to curl in every direction.

“Nope. What’s up?” I fidgeted with the mail as I walked up the steps, pausing on a board that might need to be replaced. The thing about rebranding yourself as a luxury resort was that people expected perfection.

“There’s something waiting for you on the table.”

“Waiting?” I ignored his grin—the man was never going to be a poker player—and headed inside.

I kicked off my boots and slid them under one of the benches in the foyer. The newly refinished hardwood was warm under my feet as I crossed in front of the receptionist’s desk.

“Good walk?” Hailey looked up from her phone and smiled.

“Just got the mail, nothing special.” I gripped the stack of letters in my hand, prolonging the torture for a few more moments. Besides, that top envelope was a bill from Dr. Franklin, which I wasn’t in a hurry to open.

It had been almost a month since I’d taken Maisie to see him, and there was still no diagnosis for her worsening pain. This was just another bill to remind me that I’d dropped us to the lowest insurance premiums possible to get us through this year.

“Uh-huh. You’re not looking for a letter, are you?” Her brown eyes were wide with mock innocence.

“I shouldn’t have told you about him.” She was never going to let me hear the end of it, but I honestly didn’t mind. Those letters were the one thing I had just for me. The one place where I could be open and honest without judgment or expectation.

“Hey, it’s better than you living vicariously through my love life.”

“Your love life gives me whiplash. Besides, we’re just writing. There’s nothing romantic. Ryan needed a favor. That’s all.”

“Ryan. When is he coming home again?” She sighed that dreamy sigh most of the local girls let out whenever my brother was mentioned.

“Should be a little after Christmas, and seriously, you were what? Twelve when he left to join up?”

Hailey was only two years younger than me, but I felt infinitely older. Maybe I’d aged ten years per kid, or running Solitude had prematurely shoved me into middle age, but whatever it was, there was a lifetime between us.

“Stop dawdling!” Larry urged, nearly jumping up and down.

“What’s the big deal?”

“Ella, get in here!” Ada called from the dining room.

“Both of you are after me now?” I shook my head at Larry but followed him into the dining room.

“Ta-da!” Ada said, waving her arms in a flourish toward the dark farmhouse-style table.

I followed her motions, finding the magazine I’d been waiting for sitting there, its bright-blue cover standing out against the wood.

“When did it get here?” My voice dropped.

“This morning,” Ada answered.

“But…” I held up the stack of mail.

“Oh, I just left all that in there. I wasn’t going to deprive you of your favorite time of day.”

A few quiet, tense moments passed while I stared at the magazine. Mountain Vacations: Colorado’s Best of 2019. Winter edition.

“It’s not going to bite,” Ada said, scooting the magazine toward me.

“No, but it could make or break us.”

“Read it, Ella. Lord knows I already did,” she said, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

I snatched the magazine off the table, dropping the pile of mail in its place, and thumbed through it.

“Page eighty-nine,” Ada urged.

My heart pounded, and my fingers seemed to stick on every page, but I made it to page eighty-nine.