Page 1 of Rugged Hearts: Part One
1
THEA
The most beautiful carvings on this bookcase have me entranced. The Snowcrest Lodge is picturesque, located alongside Silver Lake with about a dozen cabins spread along the property. Just on my initial drive in, it was clear these cabins weren’t the small cozy spaces I’d always pictured when reading; they were bigger, likely to fit varying sizes of packs and families that stayed here. I’m currently waiting in the main building for Rebecca, the manager who hired me to be the lodge’s new housekeeper. I had been lucky she was open to doing the interview remotely last month. The town, Moonlight Valley, appears to be a typical small town with its main street activity.
The last three weeks were stressful moving out of Chicago and taking the most convoluted route to the Adirondack’s in New York. Whenhefound me again, I had to run, go as far as I could think and somewhere smaller. I thought getting lost in the crowd of a busy city like Chicago would work; it did for awhile. I was able to be there seven months, twice as long as my first attempt in North Carolina. I hope I never have to do another move, though I’m not holding my breath on that wish. Selling my car was more emotional than I thought it would’ve been. I should’ve done it when I first left home, at least now I know he doesn’t know whatcar I’m driving now. Selling it in one state on my way here and buying another in a different state was tricky but hopefully it will ensure he can’t track me. I bought a used midsize SUV, an unfortunate necessity when packing your life into a car at a moment’s notice. I don’t take much with me but I need to bring all my clothes, being plus size, it’s not a guarantee I’ll be able to find clothes on my way wherever I go. Experiencing the Chicago winter definitely forced me to expand my winter wardrobe. Being a Florida native meant my winter wardrobe consisted of some cozy sweaters and a light jacket, nothing like what I needed to survive a real winter season. Everything else is replaceable when I get to wherever I’m going.
A loud group entering the lodge snaps me out of my wondering thoughts. They seem busy. Rebecca explained during my initial interview that May through October was their busiest time. Some of the winter months may pick up with people wanting to enjoy the snow and winter activities but nothing compared to this time of year. It’s mid-October now, so it’s closing in on the end of their busy season. I’m glad to be starting while they’re busy, I need the distraction.
I run my fingers over the carving I was so lost in. It really is beautiful. It’s a forest scene running vertical along the wood between the shelves. Trees, flowers, animals—so many animals, carved into the oak. It must have taken them months to do the carvings in this library alone. For a remote lodge in the mountains this library has to be a point of pride. The floor to ceiling windows are on one wall with the other two boasting the tallest bookcases I had ever seen in person, with an actual ladder for them. My book nerd heart is in heaven at the sight. Breaking up the built-in bookcases is a stone fireplace. I can only imagine how cozy it’d be to read in here with a fire lit and snow falling outside. Please let me be here long enough to experience that. Maybe the universe will listen this time?
“Thea Fera?” a woman asks, walking into the library. She’s older, maybe in her late fifties, with graying hair that looks greaton her. I recognize her as the woman who interviewed and hired me.
“Yes,” I say, a smile now on my face as I reach out to shake her hand, “nice to finally meet you in person, Rebecca.This place is beautiful, I can see why it’s a popular destination.”
She returns the gesture. “Yes, it’s taken some years to get off the ground but we’ve found our footing recently. Glad to have you join the team. I have some paperwork that will need to be filled out and then I wanted to give you a tour of the main lodge and surrounding property.”
“Sounds good to me,” I chirp, keeping the all-too-familiar smile on my face. Something I learned quickly in the jobs I’ve taken over the last year is a smile goes a long way with people. Rebecca leads me out of the library and back to the main reception area, which has the typical front desk off to the right and a fireplace and lounge area to the left. Just behind there is a staircase that she is walking towards.
“The offices and staff lounge are up here, off limits to guests,” she says, gesturing to a sign on the banister that reads ‘Staff Only.’
Once on the second floor we pass by a few doors to the left and round the railing that overlooks the reception. Taken further into the building, down a hallway is Rebecca’s office. It’s spacious and organized with some personal touches around the room. Pictures litter the walls, ranging from what I assume are her family to photos that look to have been taken here at the lodge. The staff must be close then. I should have expected that for a small town. Sitting down, we get right into business with some small talk here and there. It doesn’t take long to get through the usual paperwork for new hires. When we finish, she asks, “Did you want to have an early lunch before the tour?” I agree as I’m hungry having skipped breakfast.
“I’ll show you this floor before we head down, shouldn’t take long,” she says, as we make our way out of her office which is situated in the corner where two hallways meet. She goes to the left, explaining that the two rooms next to hers are additionaloffices not being used at the moment. At the end of the hallway is a door to a huge storage room filled with shelves and various furniture. My surprise must have shown on my face as she lets out a small chuckle before saying, “Yeah, this is where everything ends up during off seasons or when not in use for various events. Most of the space being taken up are the extra tables and chairs for the dinning room. It works for us for now.”
“Everyone needs storage space, guess I didn’t expect it up here,” I say with an awkward laugh. Just imagining when events are going on it must be a lot of work to bring all of these extra tables and chairs downstairs. We exit and go back down the hallway towards her office and take a left towards the part that looks over the reception area. As we round the corner, the other side of the hallway we were just in are two doors—which she stops in front of and lets me know these two are the restrooms for staff only, but of course the others can be used by us if needed. It’s nice to have them only be for staff and not worry about running into guests. The next room is another storage room, but this seems to be intended more for my responsibilities, with cleaning supplies, extra linens, etc.
We pass the stairs and there’s just three doors remaining with name placards on two of them. The first reads ‘Micah McGowan, CEO BEM Properties Management.’ Before I can reflect on how odd that is, Rebecca says, “This is Micah’s office, he’s part of the pack who owns the lodge but he manages their other business. If you have any questions regarding the lodge, he would not be the one to ask. That would be me or Ben. Which speaking of…” She trails off as she gestures to the office next door which of course the name plate reads ‘Ben Graham’ and knocks on it. She doesn’t wait before opening the door. A man is sitting at the desk. It’d be hard to miss him except the view from here is amazing. The entire wall opposite the door is windows showing the fall foliage at its peak and the cabins in the distance.
“That’s fine come in Rebecca,” the man, Ben, says sarcastically.
“Thanks,” she says wryly, before striding in and ploppingdown into one of the chairs opposite his desk. “This is our new hire, Thea Fera. She’ll be our main housekeeper going forward. Thea this is Ben Graham. He’s the manager and owner of the lodge.”
Okay so my main boss, got it. He stands up and of course he’s tall, but most people are taller than my 5’4” stature. He’s smiling and wow, it kind of short circuits my brain. His smile reaches his eyes, which are a light blue behind black framed glasses, contrasting with his dark hair. I’m kind of envious of how he can smile like that, I don’t even remember the last time I smiled so fully and genuinely.
“Nice to meet you and welcome to the Snowcrest family,” he says, as he extends his hand. Something like that would normally sound corny but he just sounds so genuine. How do people like this still exist? Probably because not everyone has a psycho stalker that they’re running from.
I shake his hand. “Thank you, it’s great to be here. I’m excited to start and explore the town.” As we shake hands, I catch his scent and that’s when my brain really short circuits. I think I actually recoil from him suddenly without meaning to. Crisp bergamot fills my senses and something else, a feeling that I can’t describe overwhelms me.Beta, I realize. Laughing it off as I pull on the sleeve of my dress, I mumble, “Sorry, I felt a static shock. Must be my dress.”
He doesn’t look offended, which is good. “No worries, let me know if you have any questions as you start work, I know things can be overwhelming in a new place.”
“Will do, thank you I appreciate it,” I say, before looking back to Rebecca, who has a curious look on her face. Did she read more into my reaction? I hope she doesn’t think I’m trying to start anything with my boss. Men are the absolute last thing on my mind. Even objectively pretty ones who seem to be genuinely nice like Ben. Thankfully, she makes a move for us to leave and we say our goodbyes quickly. She doesn’t ask any questions, and we continue on to the last door. It’s the staff lounge, which is nicerthan I would have thought. It’s a big room with a kitchenette in one corner, large windows lining the two exterior walls, and another fireplace. There’s afireplacein the staff lounge.
“I never get tired of that look,” Rebecca says, laughing.
All I can say is, “Why?”
“Ben wanted a comfortable space for the staff to go to and not feel like they were still at work. Of course, during spring and summer it’s not lit but we just started lighting it in the last week or so now that the weather is finally cool enough. You’re welcome to take breaks in the main part of the lodge but with guests coming in and out, most staff prefer to retreat up here.”
That’s…that is so considerate, I have no idea what to say. The staff room at the job I had most of my career was a small room with no windows, two tables, a fridge and microwave, all under the typical office fluorescent lights. The literal opposite of this room. That was from a large corporation, this is small town business putting more thought into their employee spaces. I don’t think I would’ve believed an employer would care this much about their staff’s break room without seeing it. Internally I roll my eyes at my old bosses. Connor was right about how awful that place was. I should have left long before I did. Memories of the day I quit are trying to resurface but I can’t let them; they need to remain locked up. Anything before cannot be brought up, there’s only right now. Taking a deep breath to center myself again, I look around and force a smile back on my face and continue with the tour.
2
THEA
Our lunch went well and Rebecca gave me a tour of the first floor of the lodge which consisted of the library I was in earlier, a separate lounge area, the main restaurant/dinning room, some big conference rooms, small gym for guests, kitchen, and garage for equipment. The garage also includes a fully customized golf cart looking machine that seems to have everything for cleaning the cabins. It makes sense they’d have something like that when the cabins are slightly spread out along the property. I don’t know why I didn’t think more about the logistics of how I’d actually turn over the cabins.
Rebecca goes for the driver’s seat and I join her on the passenger side. “Don’t worry, this can become enclosed so you can have the heating turned on for the winter. Also, we have a map right here on the dash.”Winters, Thea, remember that’s a thing you need to prepare for.I didn’t even think of how cold it’d be going from cabin to cabin. It’s a good thing it can be enclosed.I’m sure Chicago prepared me enough for however cold it can get up here. I nearly shiver thinking back at how cold it got there.