“Is that a problem?”
“What?” Bill seemed surprised. “No. In fact, I wanted to thank you. I know helicopters aren’t your thing, and I appreciate the extra effort you’ve made to make Dr. Swann feel more comfortable.”
Oh.
“You’re welcome. Is that all?”
“No. I want to ask a favor.”
Here it comes. He’s going to ask me to stay away from Lainey and—
“I’d like you to spend some more time with Dr. Swann.”
“Excuse me?”
Bill held up his hands, his face showing concern. “I know; I know. I usually discourage personal involvement, and you don’t really like fraternizing with the guests. Normally, I wouldn’t ask, but it was painfully clear last night that Dr. Swann is not comfortable with group activities. Roy said she hasn’t signed up for anything. You know Roy. He’s taking it personally.”
“Maybe she just wants a relaxing, peaceful vacation,” Finn suggested. “She’s a doctor, right? She’s probably relishing the downtime.”
“No doubt. And I respect that. But I don’t want anyone to feel isolated, especially around Christmas. You and Beau are the only ones she seems to have taken a shine to.”
Finn raised his eyebrows. It seemed that, of the two of them, Bill would be more likely to reach out to Beau. Unless, of course, he already had.
“Have you asked Beau?”
“I have. He said his schedule’s pretty full.”
Finn made a mental note to thank Beau for that. “So, what do you want me to do?”
“Nothing much. Be a friendly face. Offer suggestions if she asks.”
Finn appeared to consider it. “I can do that.”
Bill nodded and raised his hand to pat Finn on the shoulder, but as Finn was a foot taller than Bill, the mayor simply patted his arm instead. “Thanks. I knew I could count on you.”
Finn walked out of the office, feeling much better than when he had gone in. Rather than warning him off, Bill had actually asked him to pay more attention to Lainey. Both he and his bear were totally on board with that.
Still, he’d have to proceed with caution. Bill’s request was to make Lainey feel more welcome and most certainly did not extend to engaging in the kind of activities Finn’s imagination had been envisioning lately.
Did locals sometimes break the rules and provide extra hospitality? Sure. As long as it was a meaningless, temporary fling involving consenting adults, alliance members generally turned a blind eye. The problem was, the strong attraction Finn had toward Lainey didn’t feel all that temporary.
By the time he returned to the gathering room, the rest of the kids had arrived. Finn went over the night’s plan, and then he shifted with the rest of them and led them out. They paraded through town in small waves of twos and threes, spread out in timed intervals to make it not look too contrived. Then, they gathered outside the lodge, where Arthur had already set out half a dozen garbage cans filled with high-fat-content treats.
The kids made short work of dumping the cans, sitting down, and eating, much to the delight of the guests inside. Once again, Lainey was not among them, which was unfortunate. After she’d let it slip earlier that she had a thing for polar bears, he thought she would have enjoyed the night’s performance.
Finn thought briefly of leading a few of them over to Lainey’s balcony for a private show and then nixed the idea. If that was where she was, then she was also probably in the hot tub again, and Finn didn’t want the adolescents ogling her.
He’d have to come up with a suitable alternative.
Once the youths made short work of the snacks, Finn emitted a series of grunts, hisses, and chuffs, moving them along. They continued past the lodge, then headed into the trees, and circled back out of sight. He praised each one as they filed past him into the rec center, silently counting in his head. All were present and accounted for—with one exception.
“Where’s Lars?”
“He said he had better things to do,” said a spirited young sow named Sonya, her features twisted in a grimace as she followed the others over to the gaming consoles.
“Ah, young love. I remember it well,” Steve said as he emerged from the shadows and fell into step beside Finn.
“I thought you weren’t getting back until tomorrow.”
Steve frowned. “Change of plans.”
“Everything okay?”
“That depends on who you talk to. Doc Wilson wasn’t there. Some young guy fresh out of med school was covering for him.” Steve shook his head. “He’s completely in the dark. He took one look at Hildie and wanted to run a bunch of tests.”
“What the hell? What was Doc Wilson thinking, bringing in someone like that?”
“The replacement wasn’t Wilson’s doing. He had had a heart attack and was rushed to the ICU. The office got whoever they could at the last minute, I guess.”
“Shit. Is he going to be okay?”
“We don’t know. It doesn’t sound good. His private nurse is notifying Doc’s special patients, but we didn’t get the message in time.”
“What about the issues Hildie’s been having?”
“We talked to his nurse. She said it’s probably nothing to worry about and just to keep an eye on things.”
Finn frowned. “Probably?”
“I’m not any happier about it than you are, but it is what it is. The alternative is to travel all the way into Manitoba, and that’s too far with Hildie so close and a storm rolling in. She’s at your mom’s house now. We’ll be staying there for the foreseeable future.”
Finn was glad to hear it. Hildie would always have someone around that way. “I bet Mom is loving that.”
Steve cracked a smile. “Oh, she is, and I’ll be honest, I’m not half as good a cook as your mom. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. Thanks for taking care of these guys.”
“No problem. They’re great kids. If you want to stay with Hildie, I’ve got it covered.”
“Thanks for the offer. As of right now, I’m good, but that can change at any moment.”
Finn grinned knowingly. “They kicked you out of the house, didn’t they?”
“Yes,” Steve said on an exhale. “Hildie said I was hovering. I have to tell you though, this is some scary stuff.”
Finn slapped him on the back. “Relax. Hildie’s going to be fine, and you’re going to make a great dad.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am.”
With Steve’s assurances that he had everything covered, Finn left the rec center, pondering what to do with the rest of his evening. He could head back to his place, maybe catch the end of the game.
Or, he thought, changing direction, I could wander past Lainey’s room and see if she’s around ...
Chapter Ten
Lainey
Hot tubs might just be one of the finest inventions ever, Lainey thought as she slipped further down into the hot, fragrant water. It ranked right up there with great sex. If she got the directorship and the bump in pay that came with it, she was going to seriously consider getting one, especially since getting a top-of-the-line Jacuzzi was more likely to happen than getting great sex.