Chapter 1
Lake Tahoe , California
"Lily Rose? You know it's payday, right?"
Oh, for God's sake. Lily Harmon's head was going to blow right off her shoulders. Truly. If she didn't get a moment of peace in her immediate future, she couldn't be held responsible for what came next.
Knowing that, and her own limited patience, she. drew a deep, calming breath, turned away from her ski locker and smiled blankly at her older sister, Gwyneth. "Really? It's payday?"
Gwyneth's mouth fell open. "You did forget."
"Nah. I just like watching you grow gray hair before my eyes."
Gwyneth was thirty-five to Lily's twenty-five, and not a single day went by that she didn't fling around the extra wisdom that those ten years supposedly granted her. "I was just trying to help."
"You can save your breath." Lily dug back into her locker. "I have the general manager job down."
"But-"
"Look, if you feel the need to waste some of your own time, go find someone else to waste it on. And, sheesh, while you're at it, try to relax a little." Lily pulled her red ski-patrol jacket over her head, then buckled on the small fanny pack that held all her essentials-not a brush or lip gloss or anything that Gwyneth's pack might have contained, but a first-aid kit, a screwdriver for fixing bindings and other various handy items.
"How about the statistic reports?" Gwyneth said. "Did you get my memo-" She broke off at the look of steel in Lily's eyes. "Right. You're fine."
"You know what you need instead of that anal accounting job, Gwynnie? Someone to boss around. Have some kids. Then you can bicker with them all day and turn into Mom." Lily jammed on her helmet and eyed her snowboard and skis. Board, she decided. She stomped into her boots and snatched the board, and then glanced at Gwyneth, who was still standing there looking like the substitute teacher whose class had all ditched on her.
Shaking her head, Lily walked out of the ski-locker area and into the open lodge, where a handful of guests milled around in various stages of ski-gear dress. She moved past the huge stone fireplace where the roaring fire she herself had started at the crack of dawn this morning was still going strong. The comfy chairs and sofas in deep, inviting colors, strategically placed to capture the warmth of the flames, were filled with guests; some talking, laughing, some taking in the ambience of the cabin walls that were dotted with photos from the lodge's past hundred years.
The scene always brought a smile to her face-a smile that faded when she realized that Gwyneth had caught up with her and was back to checking off items on her ever-present clipboard. "We're having bear problems in the trash again."
"What? After you authorized the purchase of the correct boxes with the suggested latches that the bears can't get into?" Lily silently predicted that her sister would miss the sarcasm.
"Yes, but now the bears aren't the only ones who can't get into the trash. Our guests can't, either, and they don't understand that we actually get a lot of bears waking up all winter long. So now the bears are simply hanging out by the bins, waiting for the guests to leave the trash on the ground beside the bins."
Yep. No sense of humor at all. "I've already ordered more Do Not Feed The Bears Or Else Lose Your Life signs, along with better directions for getting into the trash bins. It's not rocket science, so I'm sure our guests will figure it out with the help of the extra pictures."
Gwyneth's mouth tightened. "Also, it's end of month. The payables and receivables need to be-"
"Right. I've got a calendar."
"Okay, but also there's the-"
"Good Lord." Lily tipped her head back to take in the huge wood beams running the length of the large lodge that she'd been walking through all of her life. Then she turned to her sister. "Look at me, Gwyneth. Do I look like I give a crap that you're chasing after me and listing all my responsibilities, as if I was a five-year-old?"
Gwyneth's lips all but disappeared now. "No. No, you don't."
"Good. So maybe you could try not to give a crap if once in a while I do things my way. What do you think?"
Gwyneth slowly let the clipboard down to her side. "I'm not trying to nag. I just want to see Bay Moon under control."
Bay Moon Resort was a big, fancy name for a place that wasn't really big or fancy but just right. They had fifteen guest rooms, a full-service cafeteria, a bar, a gift shop and a ski-rental shop. They also had a reputation for being one hell of a gathering spot, attracting so many repeat visitors on their mountain and in their lodge every year that getting into the place had become tough enough for the Lake Tahoe brochures to give them the coveted "exclusive" title.
Lily didn't think of the place as exclusive so much as…home. Gwyneth didn't feel the same way, nor did their middle sister, Sara. That's because Gwyneth and Sara had lived with their parents in town while Lily, the problem child, had been sent here after a series of "unfortunate incidents" involving some admittedly bad choices on her part. She'd come to Grandma and Grandpa's resort at age sixteen, as slave labor for "straightening out."
And boy howdy, how she'd gotten straightened out. It hadn't been her grandpa's lightning temper or her grandma's lectures, either, though both had probably contributed. It had been the mountain itself that gave her a sense of peace and the strength to just be herself. "Bay Moon is completely under control." She stopped before the huge double wooden doors that would lead her into the glorious Sierra winter and right to the ski lifts that were her own personal wonderland. Before she'd even graduated high school, she'd been an emergency medical technician and certified professional ski patroller-nothing but a disguise on her part, really, one that had allowed her to work as ski patrol on the slopes she loved with all her heart.
Until she'd been given the general manager position.
She was still an EMT, still a certified patroller, only now things were different, more complicated, and she didn't get out as often as she'd like. In fact, she hardly got out at all.
"Lily Rose, I'm trying to talk to you."
"No, you're trying to drive me crazy." She pressed her temples to keep her brains from exploding. "And you're doing a fine job, too. I'm asking you to back off."
"How can I do that? If I didn't stand on top of you, you wouldn't get anything done."
Lily gaped at that. Gwyneth still, after all this time, truly believed it was the nagging that made Lily tick. She could tear her hair out over that, but the truth was, there had been a time when she'd have needed someone on top of her. She'd sneaked out regularly. She'd pulled pranks, such as running the snowmaking machines in July or filling the water tap in the cafeteria with green food coloring, freaking out guests and employees alike. She'd even stolen a vehicle-if you could call it stealing to borrow a snowcat to go four-wheeling beneath a midnight moon…
She'd been a handful, no doubt, but damn it, she'd paid the price. Her family never looked at her and saw a grown-up-even now, they still saw her as that wild child.
She could deal with that. She was dealing with that. "You know I've been running this place since Grandma died last year, and without any major snafus."
Gwyneth crossed her arms. "You say that as though you've never screwed up."
"Right." Lily had to laugh. "How could I deny it when we both know you remember each and every long-ago transgression?"
Gwyneth sighed. "This isn't about your past. Wild or otherwise."
The hell it wasn't. But she absolutely didn't want to get her sister going on the subject because it usually took Gwyneth a good long time to list every single indiscretion of Lily's errant youth. Far too long to be standing still on a rocking January morning when a foot of fresh powder was calling her name. "Tell you what. Let's call a truce."