“Pretty much the whole town. We like to support the fire and police department.”
He nodded, although he was sure she couldn't see. Everyone in the town. Damn. What was the likelihood he was going to run into Harper?
* * *
Her shift had ended early, but only because Scarlett had decided to come in earlier when her babysitter was available sooner than expected. Harper would've been fine working her full shift and then leaving to go to the potluck dinner, which was only located outside in the parking lot between the fire station and the police department.
While sitting in her seat, Harper heard the noise and chatter outside. She knew the whole town was out there. Of course, there was no way Nash was going to be there. He’d made it clear that he had work to do high up on the mountain away from all her friends in town.
She walked into the break room and headed to the refrigerator where she'd put goodies that she'd made last night to bring to the potluck. One of her grandmother’s friends was going to drive her over so Harper didn't have to go home and pick her up. In fact, her grandmother had probably already been here for hours. She'd gone to the potluck every year since she was a little girl and had told Harper about it many times.
Which meant that Harper wasn't going to be able to make a clean getaway by showing her face, saying hi to a few friends, and then going home to sulk a little more about Nash.
She grabbed the trifle dessert and the chicken wings she'd made last night and gingerly closed the refrigerator door. The chief was just coming in when he saw her struggling.
“Let me take one of those for you,” he said. His eyes widened as he looked at the trifle she'd made pretty in a crystal bowl. “This one may not make it to the dessert table.”
“It better or you won't get any of these chicken wings that Caleb is going to heat up on the grill.”
He feigned needing to make a choice over one or the other. But he didn't have to. She knew the chicken wings would be gone almost as soon as Caleb finished heating them up. She'd made them every year for the last six years and they disappeared quickly. This year would be no different.
“What is trifle?” The chief asked with a squinty eye.
“Something yummy. That's all you need to know.”
He laughed hard and then disappeared for a second in his office with the trifle bowl. Then the chief came back out with a piece of paper in his hand, still holding the bowl that had been untouched.
“See? I can be trusted.”
She grabbed the tray of already cooked chicken wings with both hands and followed behind him. “The jury still out on that one, Chief.”
Scarlett had already settled herself at the desk when Harper went to retrieve her purse.
“Oooh, what do you have there?”
“Chicken wings.”
“No buffalo burgers or anything like that?”
“I'm sure that's all out there on the table. Didn't you stop by and get yourself something to eat before you came in for your shift?”
“I had to park down the street because the parking lot is full. So I was running late. I did have time to check out everything.”
“Oh, that's too bad. Do you want me to bring in a plate of food for you?”
“Will you? That would be great.”
She gripped the tray of chicken in her hand and lifted her purse strap to her shoulder, wincing just a little as remnants of pain continued. The doctor had said she would most likely be feeling it for a few weeks. But it was getting better. Her heart was still aching in a way that she didn't want to the acknowledge.
Once outside, she marveled at how beautiful the day was. It was amazing to think that just two weeks ago a blizzard had nearly crippled the town and had stranded her up at the top of the mountain. Today was a gloriously beautiful sunny day with that blue sky Montana was so famous for.
She walked over to the grills that were lined up in a row and found Zeb playing chef.
Harper looked around. “Where's Caleb? I thought he was manning the grill today.”
Zeb shook his head. “Ran off on me as soon as Katie got here. He promised to be back, but I'm doubting his sincerity. Looks like I’m on the grill until one of the firemen relieve me.”
“I've got chicken wings that are already cooked in this aluminum pan. They just need to be heated up. Let me know when they are because if past experience is any indication…”
“I remember your chicken wings. I'll guard them.”
Harper chuckled. “You'll eat them. So will the chief. And I'm pretty sure so will Caleb if he gets back in time.”
Zeb raised the hand holding a spatula. “Every man for himself.”
Harper chuckled as she turned away and made a beeline for the food table. She didn't want to forget making a plate for Scarlett, so she decided to do that straightaway. Maybe the busy work would keep her mind off the unsettled feeling she had. She was so engrossed in all the different samplings on the table that she wasn't paying attention to anything else. She could hear her grandmother’s laugh from somewhere on the far side of the parking lot. She’d go over there to say hi since she was done.
Harper picked up a paper plate and some plastic silverware and started spooning food on the plate.
“Hello, Harper.”
Her heart nearly stopped. She didn't have to look up to see who it was. She knew.
Nash was the last person she'd expected to be here today. Her heart hammered in her chest with delight that he was standing right next to her, even though he’d told her that he didn't want to see her. She was completely pathetic. She wanted a man who didn't want her. He'd said that plainly.
No, he said he couldn’t be with her. That was different. Either way, she was standing there feeling the sweat bubble up beneath her shirt as she lifted her gaze and looked into his eyes and wanting nothing more than to drop this plate and throw her arms around him.
* * *
“I didn't expect to see you here,” Nash said.
Harper looked around. “I don't know why. I work about twenty yards from here.”
He smiled. “That's not what I meant. I figured...” He made a sound as if disgusted with himself. “I don't know what I meant.”
“You didn't want to see me.”
She turned around and began spooning food onto the plate again.
“I know you don't understand.”
“You made yourself pretty clear.”
“I don't think I was.”
She swung around and nearly dropped the corn on the cob from her plate. She caught it before it dropped. “If anyone should be surprised, it should be me.” Her voice was low as if she didn't want any of the people she knew to hear her.
“It's for the fire and police department. I thought I should contribute after having them help the way they did. It seemed only right.”
She glanced down at his empty hands. “Contribute how? You eat rations.”
“I don't only eat rations.”
“So you were holding out on me? You actually cook real food?”
“You liked the rations.”
She was fighting a smile. He could tell by the way her cheeks were suddenly tight as her lips pulled against them. “I ate them. I was grateful for them. But if you'd stayed the other night then you would have had some real food.”
“I brought pastries.”
Her eyebrows slid up her forehead. “Homemade?”
“Yes. Not by me though. But Tara said someone in town makes those pastries for her shop.”
“Mrs. Terrier. She's a friend of my grandmother. If you brought them for the bake sale then they're probably gone.”
“Really? They’re that good, huh?”
“You mean you didn't even try one?”
He shook his head.
She turned and went back to her task of filling Scarlett’s plate. “Missed opportunity.”
“I bought some jam.”
“Are we going to talk about food all day?”
“It seems t
o be the only thing you're interested in talking to me about.”
“I'm not the one who abruptly left the other night when I baked epic lasagna.”
“Epic, huh? Was it good?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t eat any.”
He leaned closer to her and he could smell the sweet fragrance of her soap. “I'd say we could give it another chance. But I know it won't change anything.”
She sighed. “Then let's not. Enjoy the potluck. I have to finish making this plate for...for...” She sighed as if frustrated as she searched for the name she wanted.
“Your grandmother?”
“No. Scarlett. She's a coworker who is manning the desk inside.”
He nodded. “Then I guess you'd better get to it. I'm sure she's hungry.”
“Yes.” She turned away and appeared to be just looking at the table. Maybe she was waiting for him to leave.
“Can we at least have a coffee or an ice cream some time so I can explain?” Nash asked, giving it one more try. He’d hated the way he’d left things. It had been eating at him ever since he’d left her house.
“Why is this so important to you?”
When she turned around, he saw her eyes were moist with tears.
“Because it is. Please.”
She shrugged. “I'm working nights all next week.”
“We can find time. If you really want to.”
He hoped she did. He didn't know why it was important to him, but it was.
“I don’t know. You say it’s not going to change anything.”
He nodded. He wanted to be honest.
“Then let’s just leave it at that. Goodbye, Nash.”
Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Eleven
Harper was running, just as her grandmother had said. It wasn't like it was after her parents died. This was different. The hole left inside of her when she realized her parents were gone was never going to heal. She knew that. She’d never give her mother and father a hug again. She’d never be able to call up her mother and tell her about the day she’d had. Her mother was dead.
Nash wasn't dead. Thank God neither of them were. But he was still gone from her life by his choice. He didn't want her. That was a nagging doubt she couldn't ignore.
Despite her being upset with him that night at the house, she understood what he was saying. This feeling was uncomfortable at times. But not in the way that he'd meant. It was uncomfortable for her to know that he was so close, and yet so far away from her.
It had been a week since the potluck and she didn’t feel any better. So as soon as her shift ended, Harper went home and pulled the lasagna she’d put in a container and frozen out of the freezer and shoved it on a foil plate in the oven. She had no idea how this lasagna was going to taste, but Nash had wanted to explain something to her. She just didn’t know what.
She was a glutton for punishment. She couldn’t believe that she was actually going to drive up to the cabin and see him again. But she’d give him his time, eat some lasagna, and then she’d leave. They’d both have closure.
Somehow, it didn't seem that easy. But her grandmother had said that running wasn’t going to change anything. The first thing she'd meet when she'd stop running was the feelings she was running away from. Her grandmother had been right like always. Luckily for her, as the lasagna baked in the oven and started to fill the house with that same aroma that had given her promise to a night she’d longed for with Nash, her grandmother had remained silent about what Harper was about to do.
Harper packed up everything and wrapped it tightly in tinfoil so the food would remain warm on the drive up to the cabin. She made sure to keep a good-sized piece aside for her grandmother. When she was ready to leave, she walked down the hall to her grandmother’s bedroom. The door was open but she still knocked to keep from startling her grandmother who was sitting in her favorite reading chair with a book in her hand. A cozy mystery probably. Her grandmother's favorite. It had been her mother's favorite too.
Her grandmother looked up as she walked in the door.
“I'm going out for bit. I left some lasagna wrapped up on the counter for you for dinner.”
Her grandmother nodded. “Thank you. I'm really into this book and now I won't have to stop reading to make dinner.” Then she smiled. “Have a good time. I'll see you in the morning.”
The drive up the mountain filled Harper with anxiety. It wasn't just seeing Nash again that put her stomach in knots. Flashes of memory appeared before her eyes as she rounded the corner where her car had gone over the side of the embankment. She kept thinking she was seeing an animal run in front of her, when there wasn’t anything there. It was just phantom images in her mind.
She hadn't really remembered much of the accident. She remembered rolling, being hit in the head with something that had been in her car that had gone airborne. And she remembered that feeling of hanging and being trapped in the seat belt. The rental car she had now took the road easy. She still wasn't familiar with it like she was with the car she’d been driving for years. The only difference between then and today was that the roads were now bare. There was still snow on the side of the road the higher she got up the mountain.
She finally reached the cabin and parked her car next to Nash’s truck. He had no idea she was coming. For all she knew, he was out hiking somewhere in the mountains and wouldn't be back for hours. Hiking in the dark didn't seem like something that bothered him or would disorient him the way it did so many tourists who ended up getting lost in the mountains. Harper couldn't even count how many calls she'd had over the years where someone had gone missing. Luckily most everyone was found a day or two later, worse for the wear, but alive. Most of them.
Rescuers found those people because someone cared enough to know that person was out there in the woods. They would call into the station worried if their loved one was late.
Who was worried about Nash? Who was making sure that he returned home safely? Maybe he called into his team and they kept track of his whereabouts. He hadn't been concerned at all when they'd been together during the blizzard. He could be out there struggling and stuck in the snow like they had been after the avalanche. But instead of it being precious minutes, it could be days or weeks before anyone found him.
“Knock it off, Harper,” she said as she climbed out of the car. “Leave the lasagna if he is not here. If he doesn't come back, then a grizzly will eat it.”
She pushed the door to the back seat open and grabbed the tray of lasagna on the floor. She should have thought of that. The grizzlies. There was an abundance of wildlife in the area. You couldn’t go hiking in the woods in the mountains without being startled by a grizzly on one of the hiking paths. She'd even once come down from a hike at another location and found a grizzly standing right next to her friend’s car in the parking lot. They were here. How would anyone know if Nash had fallen victim?
With the tray of lasagna in her hands, she shut the car door with her hip.
“He's a survivalist, Harper. For God’s sake, you sound like a lunatic.”
“We'll that's something new,” she heard Nash say from somewhere nearby.
Harper swung around and looked for him. He was close enough to hear her, but she couldn't see him. A few seconds later, he peered out from behind the cabin with a big grin on his face. “I don't recall you talking to yourself so very much when you stayed here.”
“You heard me?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Well, I never claimed to be sane.”
“I don't know if I would go that far,” he said.
An awkward silence fell between them. And then she remembered the tray in her hand.
“Since you didn't get a chance to sample some really good food, I thought I'd bring this over for you.”
“Oh, but I did.”
Her shoulders sagged. “That's right. You were at the potluck. There was lots of good food there.”
“I meant your food.”
She frowned.
“You did?”
“Word was you made some pretty awesome chicken wings. Award-winning, I think one of the firefighters said. I managed to grab the last three left in the tray. I had some of that dessert you made too.”
He tapped his hand on the stomach as if eating three chicken wings and a little bit of trifle made him fat. There was nothing at all out of shape about this man. Nash Webber was lean, muscular, and so appealing that Harper almost had to look away because it was too painfully obvious what her reaction to him was.
“Well, then I guess you don't need the lasagna after all.”
“I never said that. I would never say that. I’ve been out all day and I’m really hungry. I'm glad you stopped by.”
He looked at her for a few moments. She recognized that look of appreciation in him. She’d seen it before. She’d been standing by the stove just putting a pot of water on to boil and he’d just looked at her from across the room.
“Are you just going to stand there letting that lasagna get cold or should we go inside and taste just how good it is?”
“It’s good.”
His smile widened. “That’s for me to decide.”
* * *
Harper thought it would feel awkward to be back in the cabin again after what had transpired between her and Nash. But in way, it felt strangely comforting, as it had the night Nash had brought her here after the accident.
It had to be the place, the memories, and everything familiar about the cabin that gave her courage now. Her parents were here. Their love surrounded her. All the anxiety she'd had driving up the mountain seemed to dissipate. She was a guest here, and yet, she still felt so comfortable even after everything that had transpired.
“It's a foil pan. We can set it on the wood stove for a little bit to heat up.”
“I'm sure it's fine. I turned the stove off this morning because it was going to be a nice day. I don't mind the house being cool.”
“You were so diligent about keeping the stove going when I was here.”
“That’s because you were here.”
She didn’t know what to say. He could be so sweet sometimes. And then he drove her crazy.
Sweet Montana Boxed Set 1-5 Page 31