Page 37 of Boston (Coral Canyon: Cowboys #12)
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
C ora caught Boston’s text as it got sucked back up into the top of her phone.
Little Brown Bear Stream / River / Waterfall.
A smile bloomed on her face, and she tuned out of the monthly meeting with the events coordinator, the small group advisor, and the website mistress.
She didn’t really have to be here, but everyone wanted her to sign off on the schedule and pricing, and Jana—the woman who maintained and updated their website—had two pieces of copy she wanted Cora to approve.
But she swept her phone off the table and hid it under the table as she swiped it on and navigated to Boston’s text.
She grinned that he’d figured out her favorite place, and as she started to respond, a picture popped up.
Boston, in all his blond-haired, blue-eyed glory, shone with pure joy and a great big ole cowboy smile.
He stood with a man a couple of inches taller than him, thicker through the shoulder, and beamed out just as much happiness as his cousin—but Cash was made of midnight and darkness in stark contrast to Boston’s lighter features.
“He made it,” Cora whispered to herself, and she deleted off what she’d started to respond with. Instead, she sent, Hottest cowboys in Wyoming!
Then she added: And you’re the winner! It’s Little Brown Bear Stream, and once I’m done with this scheduling meeting, we’ll both know our schedules for July, so we can put a date on the calendar for when we can go.
Boston didn’t reply, and Cora looked up so she could focus on the meeting. He’d told her he wanted to focus on Cash, that he suspected something major was going on with him, and Cora wanted to respect his space and desire to be there for his cousin.
They had lunch plans in a couple of days, and Cora had plenty to keep her busy until then. Heck, for the rest of her life, and she reminded herself that summertime was the busiest time at the lodge. Once the weather cooled and the snow fell, she’d be grateful to keep the rooms and cabins booked.
Feast or famine, her father had always said.
“Okay,” Reese said as he stood and unrolled the largest piece of paper Cora had ever seen. She blinked at it. “Let’s assign people to our adventures, managers to our shifts, and go over the time-off requests.”
Cora knew then that this meeting had just begun, and she suppressed a sigh as she got to her feet. “Okay,” she said. “Tell me how this works.”
Jana got to her feet too, as did Will. He handed her a handful of stickers. Cora looked down and found names had been printed on labels. In fact, Boston stared up at her, and she jerked her eyes to Will.
“It goes pretty fast. For example….” He leaned over and unpeeled the first sticker. “We know Anne goes in the first management slot for the main kitchen on Mondays….” He put the name there. “Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.”
“And Jenni goes there on Thursdays and Sundays,” Jana said, peeling off her stickers and adding them to the chart, which listed their restaurants, information desk, spa, fitness center, the front desk, concierge counter, events, and outdoor adventures.
Cora once again looked at the stickers in her hand. Boston would obviously only go into one of those slots, and she watched and listened as more chefs, their managers and assistant managers, and team leads got assigned to various operations around the lodge and resort.
When one of them had requested time off, others got moved into their spots, and Will wrote new names on blank stickers.
“All right,” Jana said, consulting her clipboard. “We have three weddings this month, and Julie is handling one.”
Will found a sticker and peeled it. “Which one?”
“The Martins.” Jana looked up and waited while Will put Julie’s name there. “Boston is on the Hamilton wedding, and the Frost anniversary party. They specifically requested him.”
Cora smiled, because she’d personally request Boston too. Everyone looked at her, and Cora startled. “Oh, right.” She practically ripped the sticker off the label. “I have Boston.”
She found the Hamilton wedding on July twenty-fifth and put the sticker there, then the Frost anniversary party the very next day. “Those are back-to-back,” she said. “Is that a concern?”
Cora peered around at the others, and Jana shook her head. “Maybe for someone else, but not Boston. He’ll have the wedding details done already, and he can reach out to confirm things with the Frosts at the beginning of next week.”
Cora nodded and Reese added someone to the third wedding, a woman named Theresa who Cora either hadn’t met yet or couldn’t remember meeting.
“All right.” He sighed. “Now for the outdoor adventures. I’m a little worried that we might need to hire another guide to handle everything we booked this month.”
Jana put one fingernail in her mouth and bit. “I told you guys at the beginning of last month not to open up those extra waterfall hikes.”
“They’re so popular, though,” Will said. “And there’s no way we can possibly list, interview, and hire someone, then train them, before these happen.”
“Do we have anyone who requested time off?” Reese asked, and he flipped open a folder and started pulling out pink papers.
Cora had learned those were the time-off request forms, and they’d been pink since her mother had taken over after her father’s death.
Before that, he’d had them printed on canary yellow paper.
“Let’s see.” Reese laid out the four papers. “Starla is out the week of the twenty-first. Her sister is getting married in Florida.” He looked at the chart. “She’ll be gone from Sunday to Sunday.”
Will whistled and said, “Okay, let’s fill the week first.”
“Wait.” Reese listed three more people who had requested time off, and there was only two days where two people would be gone. “Let’s do those two days first.”
“Cooper can handle the ATV tour,” Will said. “Because we need Boston on the family horseback riding excursion. Coop is not great with children and animals together.”
“Boston on the horseback riding,” Reese said, nodding to Cora.
She dutifully put his sticker there, and then they started at the top of the month, which really was next week’s schedule, and this chart ran through the first full week of August too, as this team only met once a month, on the first day of the month, to do this master management schedule.
As problems arose throughout the month, like emergency time off, sick employees, or something of the like, the individual department management teams handled the schedule fixes.
Over the next ten minutes, Cora’s heart sank further and further into her soul as she put more and more stickers with Boston’s name on the chart.
Between her workload and now his very busy July, she’d be lucky if she got to see him for dinner, and a whole day trip to Little Brown Bear Stream?
That wasn’t happening.
She swallowed her disappointment as the meeting broke up, everyone taking pictures of the chart, as they’d then email out the assignments to their managers, who’d then distribute them to their staff.
Cora should be glad the lodge operated as seamlessly as it did, and she was. She absolutely was.
“You’re allowed to be disappointed too,” she muttered to herself as she left the conference room and headed back to her office to drop off her notebook. She sank into her desk chair and swiveled so she faced the great outdoors.
With the glorious sight of the Teton Mountains and the big, blue sky, she found the courage to text Boston they might have to wait until August to go see the salmon run.
If it’s even running still.
She sent that text, sighed, and looked out her window. A peaceful feeling settled over her, and though Cora had not yet attended church, she definitely heard a tiny, almost silent voice whispering, It’s okay. There’s time for everything you want to do.
A sigh settled through her, body and soul. She had always been a touch too impatient, and she could stand to slow down and enjoy more moments in her day, instead of rushing from one thing to the next.
She closed her eyes and breathed in, then out. Her phone buzzed, and the urge to check it to see if it was Boston pulled through her. She resisted it, took in and released another breath, trying to hear anything else God might want to tell her.
When she couldn’t, she checked her phone, feeling more relaxed and like the earth wasn’t about to hurl her into space.
Boston had texted. It’s okay. I imagine the fish will still be there in August, and it’ll give us something to look forward to.
“Always the voice of reason,” she said, a smile forming on her face. She felt herself slipping, falling a little bit in love with him right then, especially when she noticed that he’d started his text the same way the Lord had just comforted her.
“Okay, Sheela, I’m headed out for the rest of the day.
” She edged around the front desk manager.
“You guys are all set here?” She looked down the counter, where four people stood behind computer monitors.
Check-in wouldn’t officially begin for another three hours, but they always seemed to have people at the check-in counter here at the lodge.
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “It’s actually a slow day. A lot of our rooms were filled yesterday, and people are staying through the weekend.”
“That’s a relief,” Cora said, catching sight of two tall, handsome cowboys headed her way. Excitement bubbled just beneath her tongue, and she couldn’t wait to hug Boston and inhale the woodsy, cottony scent of his skin, his shirt, his soul.
He seemed to be making a beeline toward her, and then he stopped suddenly. He grabbed onto Cash’s arm and pointed left. They looked that way, and then Boston called, “Bailey.”
Both cowboys detoured toward a beautiful blonde, who stood against a pillar with a large roller bag at her side. Boston’s hearty laugh filled the lobby as he moved right into the woman’s space and hugged her.