Next time be sure to come and get me when she’s here.” Tate smiled at Lucas who’d just finished relaying the details of his latest encounter with the fairy in the fish room.
“She hurt her hand so she needed my help. She thanked me and she told me the names of some of the kois. That’s what they’re called, not goldfish, Uncle Tate.” He heard the pride in Lucas’s voice and felt grateful to this lady for taking the time to make Lucas feel special.
He thought about Hannah and how natural her interaction had been with the kids on the sledding hill. He’d been reading books on childcare and child psychology, but he wondered if there was some kind of class he could take. Would it be weird to ask her for advice? What he needed was to get Lucas up on the snowboarding hill.
“That’s so cool, little man. I’ll try to remember that. Do you want to pick out a book for us to read together?”
Lucas examined the large selection on the bookshelf he and Viktor had stocked.
He chose a brand-new picture book, running his fingers over the cover. “The lady might not actually be a fairy. I think she might just look like a fairy. She has fairy—” he paused to think and then pointed at his own face “—eyes.”
Tate stifled a laugh. Fairy eyes? He had no idea what that meant. “I see. Well, she sounds like a very nice young lady whether she is actually a fairy or not.”
“She’s really nice,” Lucas assured him authoritatively as he moved toward his bed and peeled back the comforter. He liked to look at his sheets before he climbed in. This set was covered with tiny monkeys in goofy poses. Funnily enough, Tate remembered being fascinated by sheets, too. It was too much of a chore, or used too many quarters, for Penny to wash bedding so he’d always used a sleeping bag. Tate still hated sleeping bags.
“We’re friends. You should see if she wants to babysit me sometime.”
That was a good idea. Since Lucas had come into his life full-time, he hadn’t wanted Tate to leave him at all. He’d finally reached the point where he’d stay with Viktor, but for Lucas himself to suggest spending time with someone else felt like a huge leap of progress. Tate thought since the girl was fish-sitting for the homeowner, maybe she’d be willing to babysit for him.
“That’s a great plan. Maybe we’ll do that.”
He had intended to meet her and thank her for her kindness to Lucas, but so far she’d slipped in and out of the atrium without him even knowing she was there.
Tate knew he’d choose a book about animals. Lucas was enthralled with animals and Tate was both happy and surprised by how much he knew about them. He picked up the book about a hippopotamus who thought he wanted to be a rhinoceros and began to read.
* * *
FRIGID AIR TICKLED Hannah’s lungs. It was a gorgeous winter day. The sun might not have a lot of hours to shine in an Alaskan December, but today it had decided to make the most of the time it did have. Shards of light beamed through the grayish-blue clouds and spotlighted the snow-covered peaks in the distance. Pieces of heaven shining through, as her late grandfather Gus used to say.
She entered the beautiful wood-and-stone-constructed lobby of the Faraway Inn, removed and stowed her outer layers, and headed toward the restaurant. Delicious aromas assaulted her senses as she walked into the vast expanse of dining room. Her stomach responded with a hungry rumble as she thought about Chef Javier’s cooking.
Waving to some of the other committee members already seated at a long rectangular table, she headed toward the drink station to fetch herself a cup of coffee. Her cousin Adele who was the Faraway Restaurant’s manager appeared at her side.
Hannah and the rest of the James family hadn’t even known of Adele’s existence until a couple years ago, after Shay had hired her inadvertently as a waitress.
At that time Adele had only recently learned of her heritage. She had come to Rankins hoping to find a place in the James family while thinking she might be entitled to a share of the inn. She’d earned the former even though she’d been mistaken about the latter. She and Hannah had become close friends during the ensuing ordeal.
“How’s it going?” Adele asked.
“Good. How about you? The dining room looks super busy.”
Adele smiled, light brown eyes so similar to her own dancing merrily.
“Thanks to you. We’ve got another group of heli-skiers staying here. From what I can gather, if they’re not skiing they are eating.”
Hannah chuckled as she poured her coffee. “The sport definitely requires fuel. And Cricket does a great job of promoting the restaurant.”
Adele’s jaw tightened as she repeated his name.
Something had recently transpired between Adele and Cricket, but Adele wasn’t talking—yet.
Cricket had once been considered Rankins’s most sought-after bachelor, but his reluctance to date meant his status had gradually evolved from eligible to confirmed. Hannah secretly believed he and her brother Tag had turned their single statuses into some kind of competition.
“What about him?” Hannah asked.
“He’s here right now. Over by the windows, close to the fireplace, he’s having lunch with your snowboarder.”
For some reason the mention of Tate made her heart skip a beat. “My snowboarder? Very funny, Adele. Tate is here? Where?” What was with her hopeful tone of voice?
“Yep, right here.” She flinched as a deep, now-familiar voice sounded behind her.
She cast a wide-eyed look of horror at Adele.
Adele grinned and then whispered loudly, “Sneaky, isn’t he? For a big guy?”
“I’ll say,” Hannah said and turned around.
Tate’s eyes latched on to hers, an amused grin playing on his handsome face along with something else. Something that looked like interest and sent her pulse officially racing. As embarrassed as she was, at least she managed to eke a bit of satisfaction out of the fact that she’d finally made him smile without even trying.
Laughter laced his tone. “Can I help you with something, Hannah?”
“Um, no...I was just... Hello, Tate.” She gestured at Adele. “This is my cousin and—”
Tate smiled in Adele’s direction. “I know. Hi, Adele.”
“You do?”
“Cricket introduced us,” Adele explained.
“Oh, that’s good,” she muttered.
He asked, “Hannah, do you have a minute? I’d like to ask you something.”
Adele pointed toward the group of people seated at the long table. “Looks like the meeting is about to start, so I’ll go join them, and fill you in on anything you miss.”
“Thanks, Adele.”
Tate motioned for Hannah to follow as
