"Winter Rental", by Gratiana Lovelace (Done 2022) (copyrighted 2022)

Ch. 9: A slight misunderstanding

"Winter Rental", Ch. 9: A slight misunderstanding, by Gratiana Lovelace, February 27, 2022 (Post #1450) 

["Winter Rental" is an original contemporary romance story copyrighted by Gratiana Lovelace, 2022; All rights reserved.];
[(1) the "Winter Rental" story cover (left)]

[Author's notes: I cast my characters as I write my stories—to help myself and my readers visualize the main characters. So my main characters for "Winter Rental" are: Richard Armitage as Greg Halliday; Cameron Diaz as his younger sister Connie Halliday; Anne Hathaway as Diana Langley; Liam Hemsworth as Eddie Hughes; Rege-Jean Page as Mike Porter, Octavia Spencer as Octavia Porter, Perry King as Phillip Townes, and others as noted.

This is also a gentle romance (with chapters being rated as PG-13 or so, unless otherwise noted), with some heartfelt romantic moments—and some mature romantic discussions put to humorous effect. So if you cannot or will not attend a movie with my maturity ratings, then don't read that chapter. And though I set my story in the lovely city and area of Galena, IL—which I have enjoyed visiting many times—for the purposes of my storytelling here, I use dramatic license of the facts, individuals, locations, etc. These are my disclaimers. And I will post new story chapters weekly on both my SAL blog, as also on my Wattpad site.]

"Winter Rental", Ch. 9: A slight misunderstanding

Since Greg Halliday's boss and CEO of Ski Resorts International  Phillip Townes and his family plan to arrive at the Pineridge Mountain Ski Resort and Hotel around midday on Saturday, January, 15th, Greg surmises that they'll need time to settle into their Ski Resort Hotel's luxury suite. So after greeting them and making sure that they find their accommodations comfortable and luxurious, Greg feels that he will be off the hook and back on vacation. So he invites Diana Langley to join him up at the ski resort for lunch. Their newly romantic relationship means that the smitten Greg wants to woo her with roses and candlelit dinners, spending time together, and such—learning everything about her. She fascinates him.

Naturally, Greg and Diana are traveling in the same car together today, his not so mini-van rental—since they're living at his family's former vacation home Halliday House, that he rented from the ski resort for the next week or two. So Diana surmises that she might have to wait 15 to 30 minutes for Greg to finish with greeting his CEO and his family, before she and Greg may have a semi-private daytime romantic lunch together.

Greg had earlier shared with Diana a bit about his boss Phillip Townes—the 55 year old CEO of Ski Resorts International is still handsome and athletically fit [(2) above], happily married with young children—a son and a daughter. Greg just left out telling Diana that Townes' wife is the younger sister of one of his former college girlfriends. Ouch! And Mrs. Vanessa Townes is a fashionable beauty who is in her mid thirties.

And due to Greg knowing Vanessa as a much younger woman before she married Phillip Townes fourteen years ago—who seemingly had an embarrassing crush on her older sister's college boy friend, Greg—Greg is rather reserved whenever he has to be around Mrs. Townes at company and charity functions. So Greg is nervous about how Mrs. Townes will act toward him at the Pineridge Mountain Ski Resort and Hotel—based on her past behavior of some teasingly cloying flirtations that make him most uncomfortable. Phillip Townes just laughs when his wife playfully flirts with Greg or other men—because their loving marriage is rock solid, and she signed an iron clad pre-nup that gets her nothing if she fools around on him or divorces him before they reach their thirtieth wedding anniversary. The pre-nup also included a fidelity clause for Phillip as well.

And truth be told, Diana is also a bit nervous to be in public so soon after she and Greg reached a tacit understanding about their growing romantic relationship—after being together most lovingly just last night. There are no longterm promises between them yet. But Greg has quite swept Diana off her feet—as she has done for him.