of delicious-smelling food into the kitchen. With just the two of us in the house, we didn’t need to be formal. We could sit at the kitchen bar and stuff our faces.
“That smells amazing,” Cori said, breezing into the kitchen.
I held up my fork with noodles draped over it. “It is amazing.”
“Hey, you could have waited for me!”
“I was hungry, and I didn’t know how long you would be.”
She dished up a plate and grabbed a fork for herself. If our parents were there, we’d use the chopsticks. But they weren’t there. We could eat like we wanted.
“What’d you do today?” I asked her. It wasn’t that I truly cared. It was all part of my plan. I would ask her and then she would ask me.
“I did a little shopping and caught up with some old friends. What about you?”
“I was going to do a little shopping at Banners. Guess who I ran into?”
“Who?”
“Harper Lincoln.”
Her eyes widened. “Is she in town?”
“Yes. She lives here. She works at the store as the head of marketing.”
“No kidding!”
“You should see the displays,” I said, not mentioning the one that had tumbled to the floor. “As usual, Harper is amazing at whatever she puts her mind to. That store looked incredible, better than I have ever seen it. She did a really, really good job.”
She took another bite, looking thoughtful. This was the benefit of being a twin. I knew what she was thinking. I also knew how to get her thinking what I needed her to think. I waited, pretending to be totally casual as I ate my own meal.
“You know what?” Cori said in that voice that said she had a good idea.
“What?”
“We need to get Harper to work for you at the resort!”
I pretended to think about it, but inside my heart, happy fireworks were exploding. “I don’t know,” I said, adding just the right amount of hesitation. “I’m not sure she’d want to work for us.”
“She might not want to work for you, but if I talked to her, I bet she would be willing. You’d have to beat her salary at the store and give her benefits she can’t get at Banners.”
Oh, I had plenty of benefits I was willing to offer her. Unfortunately, I didn’t think she’d be all that willing to accept them. That was why I needed Cori to talk to her. “Maybe. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask her if she’s interested. If we can get her on board to do the Vail resort, I would love to talk to her about taking care of the other resorts as well. That could be a perk. It would be like an all-expense paid vacation to some of the best resorts in the world.”
“I’m not sure she would see it as a vacation if she has to work,” Cori pointed out.
I waved a hand. “We could work out the details. Maybe a week of work followed by a week of vacation. She could stay in one of the suites while she was there.”
“We could give her a stipend as well,” she added.
“Absolutely. And use of the company jet.”
Cori slapped her hand on the counter. “Yes! She’ll get to fly to each of the resorts in the lap of luxury.”
I liked where this was going. I wanted to make sure we put together a package she couldn’t refuse. Cori looked thrilled by the prospect. I knew my sister well and I saw the excitement in her eyes.
“Do you think she’d be interested?” she asked. “I mean, you guys aren’t exactly pals.”
“But you two are.”
“I haven’t talked to her in years. We’re Facebook friends but she never posts. I didn’t even know she was working at the store.”
“You guys were really good friends in high school. You stayed in touch throughout college, right?”
“Yes, but that was a long time ago. We’ve both changed a lot, I’m sure.”
I was losing ground. “You won’t know until you reach out.”
She took another bite. “Why didn’t you offer her the job when you saw her?”
“Because I don’t think she would appreciate her ex-boyfriend asking her to work for him,” I answered honestly. “You know Harper. She’s stubborn and fiercely independent. Working for me or the family in general is probably not high on her list of things she wants to do.”
“You make a good point. Maybe we should keep looking for a marketing manager. You do need one. I don’t mind stepping in and doing this one thing, but I’m not