“I e-mailed myself the list, but I haven’t been able to get on Wi-Fi,” Riley finally said, pleased with her quick thinking.
“It can just be finicky sometimes,” Luke said.
“Finicky, as in not working?” Riley asked. She was almost afraid to hear the answer.
Luke nodded. “Exactly.”
“And let me guess,” Riley said. “This would be one of those times?”
“Right again,” Luke said with a smile. “I think we might just need a new router.”
“Well, we definitely need to get that fixed before the guests arrive,” Riley said.
“About that,” Luke said. “Do you have any friends or family without a reservation who are planning to come to Christmas Camp that I need to know about?”
Riley was walking around, holding up her phone, trying to still get a cell signal. “No one told me I could invite anyone. Was I supposed to?” She glanced up at Luke.
For a moment, he looked confused, and then he shook his head. “No, I mean, if you wanted to you could have, but Mike didn’t say you were bringing anyone.”
“And I’m not,” Riley said, looking back at her phone. “Hey, if we don’t have Wi-Fi and the cell service isn’t working, how do you get ahold of anyone?”
Luke walked over to a side table and picked up the handset from the antique phone. “If you need to call anyone you can use this.”
Riley laughed as she walked over. “Seriously? That really works? I thought that was just a decoration.”
Luke handed her the phone. “Nope, it works just fine.”
It all suddenly made sense. “That’s what I heard last night when the phone kept ringing! I thought that was the tone you’d set on your cell phone.”
“No,” Luke said. “Even I’m not that old-school.”
Riley laughed.
“Do you need to make a call?” Luke asked.
Riley looked doubtfully at the handset. “Yes, I do. But . . .”
“Don’t worry. It works just fine,” Luke said. “I’ll give you some privacy. I’ll be in the kitchen. I put a fresh pot of coffee on, if you’re interested.”
Riley’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I’m always interested in caffeine in the morning. I’ll be right there. Thanks.”
As soon as Luke left the room, Riley studied the phone again and had to laugh a little. “This thing’s older than I am,” she said out loud to herself. For a minute, she just stared at it as she realized she had no idea what Mike’s number was. She didn’t know anyone’s number by heart.
She quickly got out her phone, looked up Mike’s number in her contacts list, and started to dial the old-fashioned way.
“You better work,” she said to the phone.
She sat in the chair next to the phone because the cord didn’t reach very far.
After three rings, Mike finally picked up. “Hello?”
“Mike!” Riley held the phone closer to her ear so she could hear better. “It’s Riley,” she said louder, then realized she was practically shouting into the phone.
Silence.
“Mike?!” she said even louder, so loud that it had Comet, who was lying down by the fire, come trotting over to her. “Mike, it’s Riley.”
“I know,” Mike said impatiently. “I heard you the first time. What phone are you calling from? I almost didn’t pick up.”
“I’m using the phone at the lodge,” she answered quickly.
“So you made it,” he said. “Good.”
She held out the phone and gave it an incredulous look. “Seriously? All you have to say is good?”
Silence.
“Mike?” Riley held the phone closer. “Are you still there?”
“I’m here,” Mike said. “What’s the problem?”
Incredulous, Riley jumped up. “What’s my problem? What’s my problem?!” When she almost pulled the phone out of the wall, she quickly sat back down, now even more agitated. The problem is you didn’t tell me Luke had already canceled the Christmas Camp. You told me to come here because he wanted to talk about it so we could work things out. Imagine this guy’s surprise when I showed up.” Her voice was getting louder. “Mike, you knew he didn’t want me here. You totally threw me under the bus.”
Comet sat down next to her and barked. He obviously could tell something was wrong.
Riley gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry, Comet. It’s okay.”
“Who’s Comet?” Mike asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Riley snapped.
“Look,” Mike said, “you’re there now, so it’s all good.”
“No, Mike. Everything is not all good.” She lowered her voice and looked around to make sure Luke wasn’t nearby. “You apparently also told this guy that I was Miss Christmas and that I had a list of activities that we could do for this Christmas Camp, when you know that’s just one big fat lie.”
When Comet tilted his head and stood up, Riley lowered her voice again. “You’ve totally set me up to fail.”
“Look, Riley, I can’t do everything for you,” Mike said. “I created this opportunity for you to help save your career. Now it’s up to you to do whatever you need to do to make that happen. It’s not like coming up with some Christmas activities is brain surgery. Bake some cookies, sing some songs, figure it out. I have another call coming in. I have to go. You’re welcome.”
“Mike, wait—”
But it was too late. Mike had already hung up.
Riley stared at the phone for a good ten seconds before putting the handset back down. “Unbelievable . . .”
Chapter Fourteen
When Comet sat down next to her again, she started petting him and found herself talking to him to make herself feel better.
“Mike is out of control,” she told Comet. “I should fire him, but I can’t right now and he knows it. This latest stunt he’s pulled . . . this is not okay. This is so not okay.”
Comet continued to look up at her with his compassionate dark-brown eyes, as if he were understanding every word she was saying.
“What am I going to do?” Riley asked Comet.
Comet got
