Together As One
Chapter 8 
The thumping of Molly’s footsteps as she ran down the stairs woke Justin the following morning. Looking at his clock, he scrambled out of bed realizing that he had forgotten to set the alarm the night before. Hurriedly, he got ready and headed over to the Inn, he wanted to see Brian before he left.

Running most of the way, he was a little out of breath as he reached the his destination, and the first thing he saw was Brian loading his luggage into the rental car.

“Hey, Sunshine. I wasn’t sure I’d see you before I left,” Brian smirked as he noticed Justin’s slightly rapid breathing.

“Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm. If it wasn’t for my sister making her usual racket, I wouldn’t have gotten up when I did,” he blushed slightly recalling the reason why he was preoccupied when he when he went to sleep the night before.

Leaning against the car with his arms crossed, Brian stood in front of Justin and assessed the man before him. Apparently Justin had also been affected by the kiss they had shared at the Inn. Even thought the younger man had been taken by surprise, he hadn’t shied away from the kiss. If he had pursued it, he probably could have gotten Justin to come up to his room…maybe. But, for some reason he didn’t want any regrets and he felt there would have been some. Strange thinking for someone with a “no regret” policy. 

“It was good seeing you again. I’ll be keeping in touch with you regarding the campaign. You have a very special place here, Justin,” Brian said sincerely. “We’ll come up with something great for the Inn.”

“I know you will, Brian. I have ever confidence in you and it was wonderful seeing you after all this time too. Have a safe flight back and take care.” Backing away from the car Justin, watched as Brian’s long frame slid into the sporty black Lexus and drove away. He stood there for a moment and wondered if it was possible for Brian to change.

After speaking with Todd and setting the schedule for the day, Justin decided to call Daphne. He hadn’t spoke with her in a while and wanted to tell her about seeing Brian.

“Hey, Daph.”

“Justin!” his friend exclaimed, excited at hearing her friend’s voice at the other end of the line. “It’s been too long.”

“Yeah, things have been kind of hectic but I thought I’d call before I got started with today’s load. So what’s been going on with you? Dating anyone?” He smiled at hearing the giggle escape from Daphne’s lips. “I gather you are,” he stated matter of factly.

“Yes, I am. We’ve been seeing each other for about a month now.”

“That’s great! Where did you meet him?”

“Well, actually it was at the store and I found out that he works at the hospital. He just started interning there.”

“Cool. So is he good looking?”

“As a matter of fact he is and the nice part about him is that he’s straight and dating me,” she laughed out loud. “For a while I was beginning to think I’d never find anyone; that all the good men were either married or gay,” she chortled. “We’ve even talked about him moving in with me. It would save on rent, besides he spends most of the time at my place anyway. Sure makes it nice when you have a warm body right next to you when you’re horny.”

“Ewww, Daph don’t even go there. I don’t need to know about your hetero sex life,” he laughed, pleased that his friend found someone that made her happy. “I hope he treats you well.”

“He does, Justin.”

“Well I hope I get to meet him.”

“I’d like that but with his schedule who knows when that will be.”

“I hear you. My schedule hasn’t been easy either. Daph…” he said cautiously.

“What’s up, Jus?”

“I don’t know. I can’t really put my finger on it. Oh, by the I just saw Brian,” he stated nonchalantly. 

“You did?” she acted surprised. She couldn’t let on that she knew sooner or later they would meet. He had mentioned in an email that his mother had set up an appointment with Kinnetik based on her assessment of the company. “So…how did it go?” she asked guardedly.

“I’m not sure. “

“What do you mean you’re not sure?”

“Well, the business portion went really well and I’ve decided to hire him. But on the personal side, it kind of has me baffled. I’m not sure what to make of it. He seems different somehow… almost like he’s looking for something or someone, but like before, he still seems afraid to commit. We had a really nice evening together…”

“Justin don’t tell me you ended up in bed with him,” she inquired.

“No I didn’t, but I’m not sure I would have refused if he had asked me. Strange thing is he didn’t, even though I could tell he wanted too.”

“Maybe he’s finally realizing what he’s missing in his life,” his friend was quick to point out. “Maybe he doesn’t want you to he just another one night stand.”

“You think so?” he asked hopefully. 

“It has been several years, Justin; people have been known to change.”

“Yeah, I guess so. The difficult part is that he’s in Pittsburgh,” his voice took on a slightly dejected tone.

“Justin, he can do his advertising business from anywhere… if he really wanted too. There are such things as airplanes, fax machines and computers. He came out to meet with you didn’t he?”

“You’re right. The big question would be if he’s willing to do that,” he sighed. Why did the one person he wanted to be with have to be so far away? he wondered. 

“Daph, I have to go; someone is waiting to see me,” Justin stated, ending the call. 

“Hey, Sam come on in and have a seat. What can I do for you?” he looked up and noticed the manager looking a bit uncomfortable. “

Sam took the seat Justin offered before speaking. Haltingly he began, “ Ah, look Justin, I came to give you my letter of resignation.”

“Why Sam? I thought things were working out okay? I know you weren’t thrilled that I returned and took over, but I thought we got through that.”

“Things are going okay for you, but, to be honest, I’m not happy that you returned. You seem to question my way of doing things and I don’t appreciate it. It makes me look bad in front of the employees.”

“That wasn’t my intention Sam, but when I began looking things over I found too much that wasn’t up to par. This is my family’s business and I’m not about to see it fail. Can you understand that?” Justin questioned as he looked at the man before him.

“Yes, I can understand that, but I don’t have to like your approach,” the man huffed. He didn’t appreciate the fact that he had to answer to someone a lot younger than he was especially when the kid had so little experience.

“Anyway here’s my letter of resignation. I’ll be leaving at the end of the week. I know I should be giving you two weeks notice, but I figured I’m not needed anyway. Besides my new employer wanted me to start as soon as possible. It seems that I’m needed there,” he stated glibly, letting Justin know that he had no problem securing a job where he would be appreciated.

“You know that’s not true, Sam,” Justin tried to sooth the man’s ego, but truthfully he was just as happy that he was leaving; so much so that he wasn’t even going to hold him to the two weeks. If he wanted to leave who was he to hold him back. There was just something about the older man that he didn’t trust, and not being able to trust someone you depended on was not possible; especially since he had access to important files. “Good luck to you, Sam.”

“Thanks,” the man flatly stated as he stood and left the office.

After Sam left, Justin sighed, rubbing his temples as he felt the tension build. Even though he didn’t trust the older man at least he had taken care of some of the things so that he didn’t have to. Now he would be shouldered with more paperwork that he didn’t need. 

Later that afternoon, a ringing telephone startled him as he concentrated on the accounts. Justin found the task completely distasteful but knew that he had no choice but to finish; he had to find out where all the money was going. 

“Justin Taylor,” he answered abruptly. 

“Justin? It’s Brian. Am I interrupting something?”

“Brian,” he replied, his voice taking on a gentler tone. “No, you’re not interrupting anything. I needed a break anyway,” he sighed, completely frustrated with the task at hand.

“You sound a little down. What’s going on?” Brian queried, hoping to get him to open up.

“That’s an understatement,” he let out a mirthless laugh. I’m still going over the accounts trying to find out where all the money has been going. It just doesn’t make sense.” 

“Maybe it’s going to some bogus accounts,” Brian said in a half joking manner. After all it would make sense if the money trail didn’t add up.

“You think that’s possible? I can’t believe my dad would do something like that.”

“I didn’t know him, Justin, but anything is possible if things aren’t adding up.”

“But I can’t believe Dad…,” he let the statement hang.

“Justin, I didn’t mean to upset you, or cast any doubt on your father; forget I said anything. Look, the reason I called was to run something by you regarding the campaign,” Brian quickly added, wanting to change the subject.

“Sure what have you got?”

“I was wondering if you’d be willing to do a special sketch of Maple Mountain as a backdrop with a picture of the Inn? I thought we’d use it as background for the ad with the slogan we came up with. I’ve purchased space to run the ad in several popular travel magazines, the Advocate as well as Out. ”

“Advocate and Out? Justin asked.
“Sure, gays have money just as green as anyone else’s. In fact they have the highest disposal income of any minority. Do you have a problem with me placing the ad in those magazines?” he questioned testily.

“Of course not, Brian. I was just surprised. I would have never thought of promoting the Inn in those magazines, but I think it’s a fantastic idea. I like to think of the Inn as a family and gay friendly place.”

Although Brian couldn’t see it, he could tell Justin was smiling one of his famous “sunshine” smiles by the lightness in his voice. “See Sunshine, that’s why you hired me, I’m the best,” Brian chuckled self assuredly.

“Yeah, I guess you are. You’re the best at lot of things,” Justin laughed softly wondering if Brian had caught the double meaning behind his statement.

“I’m glad you remembered, Sunshine,” Brian chuckled picking up on the innuendo. If he could have seen through the phone he would have noticed a bright blush staining Justin’s fair skin. Getting back to his original intention for calling he asked, “Do you think you can get the sketch to me within a week? I’d like be able to complete the boards as soon as possible so that you can review them.

“Sure not a problem. I’ll FedEx it to by the end of the week.”

“Thanks, Justin. Look, I have a meeting to go to, I’ll talk with you later.”

There was a click and the line went dead, but Justin sat there holding the phone a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He felt the tension slowly ebb its way from his body after just hearing the brunet’s voice. Brian made him feel …….well… good all over. 

Since his visit, Justin had enjoyed communicating with Brian on a regular basis. It started out simple enough; Brian made either a weekly email or phone call to apprise Justin on how the ad campaign was going and, in turn, Justin would fill Brian in on the progress or lack of it on the Inn. Justin looked forward to each call and enjoyed them immensely. Finding in them some escape from the drudgery of managing the Inn.

After the call, Justin decided to walk the property. No sooner had he got outside than he saw his foreman heading toward him.

“Justin,” Todd called out as he frantically waved his arms trying to get Justin’s attention.

“Hey, Todd what’s up?”

“I got a call saying we were having problems with the heating system again, so I went to check it out. It looks like someone went down there and short circuited one of the control boards.”

“Are you sure it just didn’t burn out on it’s own?” Justin asked.

“It couldn’t have. It was one of the boards we replaced when we did the repairs. Looks like someone did it deliberately. “

“Damn; how fast can it be fixed and what’s it going to cost us?”

“I’m not sure. I have to call the manufacturer and see how fast they can ship one to us. Last time it took at least a week to get here…and you’re not going to like this part,” Todd hesitated.

“Just tell me,” Justin sighed in exasperation.

“It’s one of the most expensive boards in tha machine. I think the last time we paid between ten and fifteen thousand,” Todd grimaced as he broke the news to Justin.

“Fuck! How could this happen?” 

“Like I told you; it was a brand new board and it was working perfectly…right up until this happened. It had to be deliberate; in fact, by the imprint on the printed circuits, it looks as if someone laid a screw driver across it and shorted it out,” Todd said firmly. 

Racking his fingers through his hair, Justin sighed, “Okay, well call and order what we need. It’s not as if we have a choice; it needs to be fixed. Then get the police out here again.”

“I’ll do it right away. Look Justin, I’m sorry this happened.”

“Yeah me too, Todd. Thanks for taking care of it for us,” Justin said as he turned and went back to his office. 

Seated once again behind the big desk, Justin mulled over the latest incident. This was not expense that the Inn needed. Until he could square away the accounts and see where they stood financially, the Inn really needed to watch every penny that was spent. 

It had been another frustrating day and Justin was no closer to finding answers than he was a month ago. The police still had no clue as to who was causing all the destruction of the Inn’s property, and his concern was increasing as the first of many busy weekends was coming up.

It was nearly dusk, the sun had set low on the horizon, the air had gotten colder, and the last of the skiers were turning in their equipment and heading back toward the Inn. Justin walked briskly hoping to keep himself warm as he made his last minute rounds before going home.

As he headed toward the building where the snowmobiles were kept, he saw an unrecognizable figure clad in sweats with his hood pulled up over his head as if trying to conceal his face. Justin called, out but the figure ignored him and hurriedly walked away. 

Strange, Justin thought glancing at his watch; all the employees should be long gone by now. Maybe it was Todd checking things over one more time. But he would have stopped when he heard my voice. 

Reaching the storage building Justin looked around, but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Trying the door, he found it was locked as it should have been. Thinking it was best to check things out inside, he pulled out his keys, unlocked the door, and went inside. 

Reaching for the light, he flipped it on and waited while his eyes adjust to the now illuminated the interior. Giving the place a cursory glance as he walked around the equipment that was stored inside, he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Shaking his head, confused, he turned off the lights, went back outside, and locked up. He couldn’t help the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that if it had been Todd, he would have stopped to talk. Still there was something familiar about the anonymous figure, or maybe he was just being overly paranoid because of the other incidents that had occurred.

The following morning as Justin headed to look for Todd, he ran into Zach coming out of the storage building.

“Fuck!” he yelled at Nick another one of the employees on staff. “Todd is going to be so pissed when he finds out what’s happened and really pissed when he has to tell Justin,” he exclaimed heatedly not realizing his boss was just outside the door until he turned around and saw him standing there. “Oh, Justin I didn’t see you,” he remarked awkwardly. 

“Obviously,” Justin replied dryly. “What is Todd going to be pissed about?”

Just as Justin asked the question Todd sauntered up to the trio. 
“Morning everyone,” Todd said cautiously as he walked up to the group. “What’s going on? Has something happened?” he said looking directly at his boss and addressing the question.

“That’s what I was about to find out,” Justin stated dryly.

Todd turned and looked questionably at Zach and Nick, “What’s up guys?”

Neither one of them wanted to be the bearer of bad news and they looked at each other hoping the other one would speak first. 

Making the decision for them, Todd asked, “Zach what’s going on? Why haven’t you two made your runs to check things out? That’s one of the first things you’re supposed to do; check the runs before the skiers start their day,” Todd remarked. He was getting upset at the lack of responsibility his employees were showing. He wanted to prove to Justin that he made the right choice when he put him in charge of the maintenance crew.

“Todd,” Zach began haltingly. “Nick and I were here on time, but when we went to start the snowmobiles they wouldn’t turn over. We lifted the top and things looked fine until we looked underneath the steering wheels and noticed that all of the ignition wires had been cut,” he drew in breath and looked between Todd and Justin.

“On all six of them,” Todd asked incredulously. He looked over at Justin for guidance but he seemed to be at a loss for words. 

“Fuck,” was the only word Justin could think to say at the moment. This just couldn’t be, he thought 

Todd turned to the two employees and told them to do what they needed to do to get the equipment fixed as soon as possible. 

Wanting to escape the eruption that seemed be forthcoming, they took their leave as quickly as possible and headed inside the building to get started on the repairs.
“Justin?”

Justin jumped slightly as he felt Todd gently shake his shoulders, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Todd, last night while I was making my last round before heading home, I saw someone in the area of the storage building. At first I thought it might be you, but when I called your name you didn’t answer. I went into the building and looked around, but it didn’t appear as if anything had been disturbed. I didn’t think to check the snowmobiles. 

“Did you see who it was?”

“No, he had a jacket pulled up over his head and I couldn’t see his face. I have no clue who it was.”

The two stood there looking helplessly at one another, wondering what was going on. There were too many things happening for any of it to be a coincidence.

“Get it fixed, and get it reported,” Justin said before turning to leave.

on to #9