The Daughter Dilemma

Addy turned to give him a direct look. “Do you think he’ll ever come home?”

Personally, Nick didn’t think so. His brother seemed content to ricochet around the world without a care for anyone. But he could hear the hope in Addy’s voice and a protective instinct rose up in him in spite of his belief that blunt truth always served a person better.

“He’ll come home someday,” he said. “When he finds the right reason.”

That seemed to satisfy her. With a thoughtful nod, she started sifting through the pile of paper on her desk. At least she no longer seemed interested in giving him a hard time about the way he managed Tessa.

He began paging through the log book of upcoming tours.

It looked grim. One no-show today. Only three flights scheduled for tomorrow unless someone made a last-minute booking. Enough to give Addy some flight time but not the usual tourist crush that would keep both choppers in the air full-time.

A year ago Nick had added Angel Air to the family business, building the heliport only a mile from the lodge. He’d told himself that it wasn’t just that he’d missed flying. Helicopter tours were a natural fit for Lightning River Lodge’s well-heeled guests. More and more vacationers wanted to explore the less-familiar wilderness areas that hadn’t been overrun by tourists. But so far, this part of the business had yet to turn a real profit.

The phone rang and Addy picked it up. A moment later his sister put the call on hold and motioned toward him.

“It’s Mom,” she said. “And she sounds out of breath.”

What now? Nick thought as he punched the button. Their mother was pretty self-sufficient. After their father’s stroke, she’d had to be. With Aunt Sof and Aunt Ren’s help, she kept the lodge running in tip-top shape. The front desk, the small restaurant, the fourteen rooms and two suites. If she’d been reduced to calling Nick, God knew what problem she’d run into that she couldn’t handle.

Unless it’s Pop.

He snatched up the phone. Rapid Italian chattered in his ear. She wasn’t speaking to him, but to Aunt Ren in the background. “Mom, what is it?” he cut in. “What’s the matter?”

His mother shushed Aunt Ren. There was immediate silence. “Nick, can you come up? I need you. Ah, Madonn, I’m surrounded by crazy people here.”

“It’s not Pop?”

“No, no, no,” she reassured him quickly. “Although, if he doesn’t stop getting in the way, I may put him back in the hospital.”

“I’m only trying to help,” he heard his father mumble in the distance. Since the stroke, Sam D’Angelo depended on a wheelchair to get around, but after years of therapy, his speech was almost normal again.

“Running over my toe with your chair?” he heard his mother scold. “That’s your idea of helping?”

“You have big feet,” his father replied.

Another string of Italian. No phrase you’d find in a guide book. Nick pinched the bridge of his nose. Without even looking at Addy, he could tell she was grinning.

“Mom…”

His mother must have realized that Nick’s patience today was wearing thin. “The stove. It’s broken. How can I cook tonight for our guests?”

That was what this was all about? “So call the repairman.”

“You think I don’t know to do that? I did call. The stove isn’t working because there’s a leak. From the bathroom in Number Five.”

Nick frowned. That was the guest room directly above the kitchen. Not great to have a leak moving from one floor to the next, but still, the problem was manageable. “Then call the plumber. See if you can get Tom Faraday. He won’t charge a fortune for coming up the mountain at night.”

“The leak in Number Five is coming from the bathroom in Number Ten. Sofia said she went in there to make up the room and the water was three inches deep. She had to build a dike with every spare blanket we have to keep it from escaping into the bedroom.”

Number Ten was above Number Five. If the water leak encompassed all three floors, they were looking at the possibility of serious damage. “Did you turn off the water valve in Number Ten?” Nick asked quickly.

“That’s why I’m calling you. We’re like weak little birds! Sofia and Tessa went to town to return that dress. Renata and I, we turned the knob a little, but we need a man’s strength.”

“If you’d just listen to me—” Nick heard his father complain in the background.

“Samuel, I know you can shut it off,” his mother said to her husband. “But how am I to get you up there? Carry you piggyback?”

His father’s movements were confined to the downstairs part of the lodge now, and most of the time it wasn’t a problem. While his parents argued, Nick imagined the entire third floor turning into one big disaster zone.

“What about George?” Nick interrupted, referring to the fellow who acted as both front desk clerk and bellman.

“George left early today. His parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary is tonight and he has to pick up decorations. He’s such a devoted son…”

“Mom, focus!” Nick said in the sharpest tone he could ever use with his mother. “Who else is around?”

“The Binghams. I think they’re in the hot tub. No one else.”

“That’s perfect. He’s probably still in a bathing suit and barefoot. Ask him to go upstairs with you and try turning the valve.”

His mother gasped. “I can’t do that. They’re guests. You don’t ask paying guests to do maintenance. What are you thinking, Nicholas?”

“I’m thinking that unless he wants to find his own room flooded, it doesn’t hurt to ask. It’s turning off one valve, not cleaning up after Mardi Gras. Look desperate. If he balks, tell him we’ll comp his room for one night. I’ll be up there as soon as I can.”

He hung up the phone before his mother could say anything else. Damn, damn, damn, he thought. Can this week possibly get any worse?

Pulling the keys to his Jeep out of his desk’s top drawer, he hurriedly explained the problem up at the lodge to Addy. He was just jerking into his worn leather jacket when he noticed a car pull into Angel Air’s parking lot.

A young woman got out and hurried toward the office. The afternoon sunlight was still strong enough to reveal that she had a lanky body—lithe and long—with an athletic swing to her walk. She was dressed for hiking, with khakis and boots and a heavy-looking backpack slung over one shoulder. Her blond hair had been stuffed under a baseball cap and spilled out the back in a long, swinging ponytail.

“Who the hell is that?” he wondered out loud.

Addy shrugged. “Could be our ten o’clock that didn’t show, I suppose.”

“She’s too late if that’s the case.”

The woman reached the office door, stuck her head in first and smiled at both of them. “Hi,” she said brightly.

This close Nick could see that she was passably attractive—with a dainty arch to her nose, a charming smile and pretty teeth that indicated somebody had paid a dentist a bucketload of money.

When she looked at him there was a certain sparkle in her green eyes that made his gut take a wild, stray turn. He didn’t like the feeling and banished it pretty quickly. After a day like today, he wasn’t in the mood for foolishness.

Honey, don’t bother, he thought. Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying.

CHAPTER TWO

TWICE SHE HAD ALMOST turned around and headed back to the interstate.

Kari Churchill was a Florida girl, used to the flat, undemanding landscapes of Palm Beach. At home, the closest thing to mountains were the sand dunes she could see from the balcony of her oceanfront condo. But here, all the roads twisted and turned back on themselves, and if you thought you could figure out where you were by watching the sun, you had another think coming. These darned mountains. Beautiful and awe-inspiring, but always in the way.