“Do not to be doing this.” Alexei frowned their way. “I only start to properly be pronouncing the names. We do not need new ones. Also, shouldn’t they be thruple names? Calholexei?”
Callie shook her head. “No, that sounds like we’re trying to summon demons or weird alien creatures, and you know how that will go with Mel. I think we’re going to have to tell Ty this just won’t work out for him. But it could work for Lucy.”
She felt herself blush. “I wish Michael hadn’t asked me out in front of the whole dining room at Stella’s.”
“I didn’t think he asked you so much as challenged you,” Zane said. “At least that’s what I heard.”
She frowned Callie’s way. “I wonder who you heard that from?”
Although everyone had seen her being taken down by Michael, Callie was the world’s worst gossip.
It was Callie’s turn to blush. “It’s my only flaw.”
She grimaced and went to take the tray of beers over to table five. The tourists were out in droves this week, and the ski season didn’t truly start until this weekend when the Elk Creek Lodge had its opening party.
“Hey, I heard a rumor about you that has nothing to do with Ty or the crazy dude on the mountain.” Zane walked around from the kitchen. He had a dark apron wrapped around his waist that he wiped his hands on.
“He isn’t crazy.” He’d been very much in control of himself this morning. The way he’d stared down at her and called her out on her crap had actually done something for her. She had been acting like a brat. Deep down she’d always known someone was paying her breakfast bills, and it wasn’t some random stranger who wanted her to pay it forward. She’d known it was Ty. Forcing herself to acknowledge that had made her mad, lit some small anger in her about the fact that he was trying to change things now. He’d said no to her a long time ago, and she’d had to recognize that she might not be over that yet.
“Jury’s still out on that one. We all thought he would mourn for a little while and then get on with his life. Here we are years later and he’s still living like a hobo,” Zane countered. “But that’s neither here nor there. I want you to know if you take that job at the resort, you have my full support.”
He’d heard about that, too? She thought she’d kept that quiet. “I don’t know what to say. I was going to tell you.”
“You wanted to make sure you got the job first,” Zane replied. “I understand. It’s a big step up, but you have to know that you’re ready for it.”
“I don’t have it yet. Mr. Roberts wants me to work the opening weekend welcome party to see how I do.” Her anxiety about that party was sky high, not to mention she had some work to do for the festival coming up in a few weeks. And she intended to keep up some shifts here at Trio. “I’m not quitting. Are you firing me?”
“Not at all. And I think you’ve got the job in the bag. You know Cole uses me to vet the locals he hires, right?”
She hadn’t thought about that at all. Cole Roberts spent more than half the year at his home in Dallas. His partner, Mason, worked for a law firm, so he didn’t spend as much time here as he had once. Their wife was a lovely woman who ran a charity for victims of sexual abuse. They had busy, vibrant lives, and that meant outsourcing some of their work here in Bliss. Normally the Roberts family would be at the lodge for the opening, but this year they were staying close to Dallas. This year Kate Roberts was pregnant and close to giving birth. It made sense that Cole would rely on Nate. “He had you run a background check on me?”
“I think the background check went something like me telling him he would be a fool to not give you a shot,” Zane said softly. “Lucy, you have grown so much since you started here. Waitressing is the kind of job you do on the way to your future. Unless you own the place like Callie does, and then it’s good business.”
“There’s nothing wrong with waitressing.”
“Not at all, but it’s time for you to see what else you can do. Take Cole up on his tuition assistance program.”
She wasn’t even close to thinking about that. “That’s for upper-level employees to get their master’s.”
“Says who? I don’t think that’s written down anywhere. Walk in and tell him you want to go as far as you can in his operation and you need your degree for that. Adams State offers a business degree with an emphasis on management.”