“I know, I know,” Kathleen says. “But there are always going to be mistakes made in these circumstances. That’s the nature of human beings. One chalet isn’t bad. The only other real damage is a leak from the roof of the second block of staff accommodations. The temporary fix for the roof couldn’t withstand the amount of rain.”

At that moment, Ralph, our construction foreman, rounds the corner followed by a couple of other men I recognize from his team.

“Ralph. How are things?”

“Not bad. The main thing is we’ve had no significant mudslide and that’s because we kept as much of the existing trees and vegetation as possible. Then we’ve got some damage to one chalet and the roof of the second staff housing block.”

“Kathleen said as much. How long will it set us back?” I ask.

“The roof is a problem. That’ll cost us at least a week.”

“I want you to prioritize that over the chalet.” Repairing staff housing first means one of the marketing visits will have to be pushed back. “We can’t run this place if we don’t have the staff.”

“We’re on it,” he says.

My cell starts to ring. “Looks like we have service back.” It’s Worth, one of my closest friends. “I’ll catch you later, Hart.”

“How are you?” Worth asks as I accept the call.

“Fine. Spent most of the night in a tornado shelter, but it didn’t hit in the end.”

“I still don’t believe you can get tornados in the mountains,” Jack says. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re on speaker, in case you hadn’t guessed,” Worth says. “We just finished a run and thought we’d check in.”

A pang of loneliness catches me off guard. After last night, it would be good to go to Worth’s for a beer tonight. It feels like there’s been so much pressure leading up to last night, that all my adrenaline is seeping away and I’m not sure what’s going to take its place. “I miss you guys,” I say. It’s not something I’d normally admit—to myself, let alone them.

“We miss you too,” he replies.

“I don’t miss him,” Jack says. “If he prefers Colorado to New York, he’s not the sort of friend I want. He can go live out his cowboy fantasy without me involved in any of it.”

“Don’t worry, you’re not in anyone’s cowboy fantasy,” I say with a grin.