“Who was it who said, life is what happens to you when you’re making other plans?” She smiled brightly, even though she was cringing inwardly. Not only did she never say things like that, she didn’t believe it for a minute. Life happened when she made plans.
Neither did Luke believe it, because he’d smiled wryly in a way that had made his gray eyes shine, and he’d put his hand on her arm. His strong, big hand on her arm. It was a workingman’s hand, with the little nicks and marks of his life. “John Lennon, I think. Hang in there, Madeline. Today is probably the worst of it.” He’d squeezed her arm and let go.
Madeline had appreciated his assurance, she had, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he knew what two hundred Johnsons would look like. Madeline knew—she’d worked enough of the office client appreciation days to have an idea.
What was very clear to Madeline at the end of the torturous day was that this situation would not be neatly resolved in one or two meetings.
She walked into the lobby of the Grizzly Lodge, with its rustic furniture carved from enormous tree trunks, a fire blazing in a cavernous hearth, and, naturally, the bearskin rugs. Yesterday, when she’d finally rolled into town, it was the only place she could find to stay. When she’d checked in, the proprietor of the establishment, Danielle Boxer, had asked if she wanted the Bear Cub or the Aspen Forest room.
Danielle was a large woman, probably six feet tall, with unusually bright red hair piled high on her head. She wore a pink Guayabera shirt—one of Madeline’s “dads” had worn those shirts on Sunday when he kicked up the footrest of her grandfather’s old recliner to watch football. “I’d give you the Mockingbird room, but someone had a bit of a party in there if you know what I mean,” she’d said, and had waggled her brows.
Madeline didn’t know what she meant and didn’t want to know. She thought the Bear Cub room sounded like the smaller of the two and chose that one.
“How long will you be staying?” Danielle asked—or Dani, as she insisted Madeline call her, as if Madeline would be staying for a time, long enough that they would know each other on a first name basis.
“I’ll be leaving first thing Monday morning.”
“That, I can accommodate. But I’ve got a big group of snowbirds coming through next week. They like to take the bus tours when the spring thaw starts.”
Madeline would be long gone before the mad rush to Pine River, that was for sure.
“License and credit card, please,” Dani had said. She glanced at Madeline’s license when she handed it to her. “Oh! You’re one of Grant’s girls!”
Madeline had been stunned by that. “How—”
“Jackson Crane,” she said with a laugh. “He has his breakfast here most days. I should have known it was you—you look just like your father.”
Madeline’s hands had gone instantly to her face.
“He was a good-looking man, I always thought so. And such a flirt!” She had laughed at that. “I tell you, if Big Ben hadn’t still been kicking, I would have considered it. But Ben and I were married for thirty-eight years.” She’d offered that up proudly.
“Impressive,” Madeline had agreed, but her mind was whirling around the idea that she somehow looked like the man who had abandoned her.
Dani had beamed and handed her the keys to her room. “Sorry about your dad, sugar. That must have been a blow.”
Madeline had merely taken the keys and smiled.
This afternoon, however, Madeline walked into a deserted lobby. The door to the coffee shop that faced the street was closed, the interior dark. That was not a good sign, as Madeline had hoped to grab a bite there.
Dani appeared from the office behind the front desk, dressed in a blue Guayabera shirt. Her hair hung in a long red ponytail down her back. “Oh, hey!” she said brightly when she saw Madeline standing in front of the closed door to the coffee shop. “Did you have a good day in our little village?”
No, it had been a disaster of a day. The worst. “It was okay.” She rubbed her forehead.
“Are you all right?”
Madeline dropped her hand and smiled. “I have a bit of a headache, that’s all. And I’m starving. Where’s the best place to get some dinner?”
“My coffee shop,” Dani said proudly. “But it’s closed.” She reached under the counter and produced a bottle of Bayer aspirin. “Take two of these. You probably have a little altitude sickness.”
“What?”
Dani smiled. “Sugar, have you never been to the mountains? You’re up in thin air. There’s less oxygen here than what you’re used to. Don’t worry, it passes in a day or two. You’ll get acclimated and hear those mountains call to you, I promise.”
Crazy old bat, Madeline thought.
“Take two of these, get something to eat, and get some rest. The Stakeout is open.”
The Stakeout, Madeline assumed, was a restaurant. “Is it very far? My feet are killing me,” she admitted as she accepted the aspirin bottle from Dani.