Cold Feet

by Samantha A. Cole

  The shuffling of feet and the scraping of a chair across the tile above his head had Buck returning to the task at hand. Sundays and evenings were the only time he’d been able to devote to working on the farmhouse. There were too many things that had to be done at the ski resort to get it ready for the snow season, which started in a few weeks. While the structure, roof, and foundation of the fifty-year-old house were sound, it’d needed some major updating to the interior and exterior. Since they were getting an early frost this year, the outside of the house would have to wait until the spring for a new paint job and repairs to sections of the wraparound porch. As for the inside, Buck had been tearing down the moldy and damaged walls and ceilings and replacing the old insulation before putting up new drywall. Once that was all done, he’d concentrate on remodeling the kitchen and two baths and stripping and refinishing the wooden floors. Ryan, Justin, and a few other friends had been helping out whenever they could in exchange for a few cases of beer and lunch or dinner or both. Despite not living in Largo Ridge for the past fifteen years, Buck had stayed in touch with many of his friends thanks to the wonders of social media. He’d even been able to return home to see a few of them get married, and now, those friends were posting photos of their kids on Facebook and Instagram. Where had the time flown?

  Buck doubted he’d ever get married and have kids. Hell, he wouldn’t even spend a whole night with any of the women he dated or had one-night stands with, afraid of hurting them during one of the nightmares his PTSD conjured up on a frequent basis. He couldn’t risk it. And it wasn’t as if he’d hooked up a lot, but when he had, he’d made sure it was with women who weren’t looking for anything more than a good time with a man who could satisfy them in bed. Unfortunately, none of those women ended up in his erotic dreams—only one was front and center every time—Regina, who was too good for him. While her engagement hadn’t worked out, someday she’d find a guy she’d be willing to settle down with. What sucked was she’d probably do that with someone from Largo Ridge or one of its surrounding small towns, which meant he’d occasionally have to see her with her husband. At least if she’d married that Edward guy, they would’ve lived in New York City, and Buck would only run into her once every few years.

  Sighing, he selected the tools he and Ryan would need, which Buck hadn’t gotten around to adding to his own basement workshop yet, then climbed the stairs, shutting off the overhead light when he reached the top. As he closed the door behind him, Ryan entered the hallway. “Got everything?”

  “Yup.” He glanced over his friend’s shoulder and wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved he couldn’t see Regina in the kitchen. “Let’s get back to my place and unload your truck.”

  “Sounds good. See you later, ladies!”

  “Bye,” they responded in chorus from the kitchen.

  As Buck strode out of the house, with Ryan right behind him, he called himself ten kinds of a fool for wanting the one woman he couldn’t . . . shouldn’t have.

  “Regina! Come on in!”

  Carrying her buttery-soft, brown, leather briefcase Ryan had given her when she’d graduated college, Regina smiled as she strode into Grace Scott’s office at the resort. So far, so good—she’d made it from the parking lot, through the public areas of the inn, and into the private quarters and hadn’t run into Buck.

  Shortly after returning to Largo Ridge, she’d been hired by Carney & Brewer CPAs, who handled the books for the ski resort. At Grace’s request, Regina had taken over the LRSR’s account, and she’d been stopping by every other week to go over the bank deposits, purchase debits, and credit card receipts with the woman. Once a month, she also had to sit down with the other four shareholders to go over the bottom line of the accounts. However, since that’d happened last Tuesday, she had three more weeks before she had to be in the same room with Buck, with no excuse to escape.

  Regina had been surprised when she’d been given the account, but, as Grace had explained, she didn’t care for Marty Sims, the previous CPA assigned to her, and wanted someone she knew and trusted to take over. Marty had always dealt with Matthew who, in turn, filled his wife in when she wasn’t busy with all the things she did around the resort, guaranteeing their guests were comfortable and happy. When Grace had needed to take over the financial aspect of running the place, Marty had apparently talked to the woman as if she didn’t have a clue how to balance a checkbook or make change for ten dollars. His misogynistic attitude had rubbed her the wrong way, which was understandable. When she’d learned Regina had been hired by Carney & Brewer, she’d immediately requested her to replace the chauvinistic jackass—her words.

  After giving the older woman a hug and a kiss on the cheek, Regina took a seat at the room’s small conference table where they could spread out the books and paperwork they needed to go over. She pulled her laptop out of her briefcase and booted it up.

  “So, how’s everything going?” Grace asked as she joined her at the table, setting a bottle of water next to her and keeping one for herself. She always had them ready before Regina arrived.

  The question wasn’t about business. Instead, as usual, the woman wanted to know how things were in Regina’s personal life before their conversation turned to all things related to LRSR. While she hadn’t been as close to the Scotts growing up as Ryan had been, Regina still felt like family around them. Her parents had been friends of the other couple, and the Scotts often attended barbecues and parties at the Vaughns’, and they were invited to join any festivities held at the resort.

  Regina had felt awful she hadn’t been able to return home for Matthew Scott’s funeral, but at the time, she’d been involved with an audit for one of Harnett, Fuller, & Gray’s most important accounts. Although, still being a newbie, she hadn’t been in charge of anything. However, it wouldn’t have looked good for anyone on that auditing team to take time off for any reason, if they ever wanted to advance in the company. Instead, she’d asked Ryan to add her name to whatever floral display he was sending to the funeral home. Then she’d sent a plant and Mass card to Grace a few days after the services to let her know she was thinking of the new widow. Grace had placed the plant in her office, where it was thriving and had needed to be repotted twice because of its size.

  “Good, I guess.” Regina took a sip of the water. “I finally unpacked the last of the moving boxes. Can’t believe it took me six months to do it.” Thankfully, all her wedding shower gifts had been stored in a spare bedroom at Edward’s brownstone, otherwise she would’ve had twice as much stuff. She could only assume the presents had been returned to the shower guests by her former fiancé and his parents. The only gifts that’d been at her apartment had been the ones that Zia and Courtney had given her, and the latter’s had been missing when Regina had moved out. During a phone call with Courtney, she’d learned the woman had returned the gift for a refund, seeing how Regina hadn’t gone through with the wedding. That should’ve been Regina’s first clue about how their friendship was going to end. Zia, however, had insisted that her best friend keep the trousseau she’d given her, telling her to save the white silk negligee and black, lacy lingerie for when she met Mister Right, since Edward had been Mr. Wrong.

  “Well, at least it’s finally done. How’s the book club you joined? What’s on this week’s reading list?”

  Her eyes lit up. She’d recently run into an old friend from high school, who’d invited her to join her book club after they’d caught up on what each other had been doing since graduation. “Alessandra Torre’s new book. I was up late last night reading it and kept telling myself I’d turn off the light after one more chapter. It’s fantastic—I’ll give it to you when I’m done.” Grace was as big a fan of romance novels as Regina was, and both preferred print copies over e-books when it came to their favorite authors.

  “Wonderful. Thank you.”

  “Of course.” It wouldn’t be the first time they’d swapped books.

  Regina clicked on the accounting progra
m to open it on her laptop and then picked up the folder that held the most recent receipts for the resort. “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got here.”

  Forty-five minutes later, Regina exited the office with her briefcase in hand. After taking over LRSR’s account, she’d transferred all the data into a better and more advanced program than the one Marty had been using. Apparently, the man was resistant to change when it came to new ways of doing things.

  After deciding to take a chance that she wouldn’t run into Buck, Regina detoured on her way out to the parking lot and stepped into the little cafe next to the lobby. They had the best cappuccinos there, and she also bought herself an orange and cranberry scone because they looked delicious.

  Needing to get back to the office, she carried her treats out to the parking lot. The crisp mountain air felt like heaven in her lungs. How she’d stayed so long in the smog-filled city was beyond her. She guessed that old saying was true—you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

  Regina was almost to her SUV when a male voice shouted her name from somewhere behind her. She stopped short, recognizing Buck’s deep timbre immediately. Clearly, she’d been spotted and had heard him, so there was nothing she could do but turn around and face him. Hopefully, whatever he wanted could be taken care of in a second or two, so she could hightail it out of there.

  Taking a deep breath, and shoring up her defenses, she spun around. Buck was striding toward her with another man she recognized, but she was drawing a blank on his name. The tall, dark-haired man was one of Buck and Ryan’s high school friends, but Regina hadn’t known him well and hadn’t seen him in years. She hoped Buck would introduce them, so she didn’t look like an idiot for not remembering the man’s name.

  She tried to plaster a friendly smile on her face as they approached her. It wasn’t easy to do with Buck’s intense gaze on her. “Gi, I don’t know if you remember him, but this is Hogan Greer—he went to school with us.” He glanced at Hogan. “This is Ryan’s kid sister, Regina, but everyone calls her Gi.”

  Her face fell when he’d referred to her as “Ryan’s kid sister,” but she recovered quickly before both men looked at her again. Hogan held out his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you from school.”

  She shook his hand—a working man’s hand, strong and rough with callouses, but still gentle. He was good-looking too but not as handsome as Buck. And it annoyed her that she thought that. “No worries. I’m six years younger than Ryan, so I wasn’t in high school at the same time as you. And, honestly, you looked slightly familiar, but I couldn’t remember your name. So, I guess that makes us even.”

  He chuckled. “Okay, that works for me. Um . . . I hope we’re not holding you up, but Buck said you’re a certified accountant, and I am in desperate need of one. I mean, not for me, personally, but for my nonprofit organization. I’ve been a wildlife rehabilitation expert with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department for years, but I just established a new wildlife sanctuary in Largo Ridge, thanks to some very generous donors. Buck says you’re great at what you do, so I’d like to hire you to get me set up with everything I need for handling taxes, and then stay on as my accountant afterward, if that’s okay.”

  Buck had said she was great at what she did? Really? Wow. “Um . . . yes, I’d be happy to.”

  “Do we have to go through the company you’re with or can you take this on as a side job? Honestly, if you’re doing all the work, I’d rather pay you directly instead of the company taking a cut. Of course, it’s up to you—whichever works.”

  “Hogan doesn’t like corporations,” Buck said with a smirk, and his friend snorted then nodded in agreement.

  “Well, I’m allowed to take individual clients or non-profits as side jobs, just not businesses, so I most certainly can take you on. Of course, I’ll only be able to discuss business with you during the evenings and weekends though.”

  Hogan held out his hand to her again. “That’s fine with me. I have more than enough stuff to do to fill my workweek. Can we get together this Saturday? If you don’t mind coming out to the sanctuary, I can show you around and then go over the finances and goals of the organization. I’ll even introduce you to Bonnie and Clyde.”

  Her eyebrows shot up as she shook his hand. “And they would be?”

  “I’m raising one-year-old, black bear cubs—siblings—that were orphaned a few months ago. When their mother was hit by a car and killed, they were too young to be rehabilitated back into the wild, so I adopted them. It’s how the sanctuary went from being a dream of mine to a reality.”

  “Seriously? Wow.” Sure, she’d seen bears occasionally over the years, wandering around Largo Ridge, searching for food. But, like most natives of the area, she gave them a wide berth and made sure not to leave out anything that would attract them. “Um, as long as you promise I won’t become dinner for them, I’d love to meet them. Saturday is fine. Around ten?”

  “Perfect.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “What’s your phone number? I’ll send you a text on Friday to confirm our meeting and give you directions to the sanctuary. It doesn’t show up on most GPS devices yet.”

  She rattled off her cell number and seconds later her phone rang in her jacket pocket. As she took it out and silenced it, Hogan said, “Now you have my number too. Call me if you need to change the time or day, otherwise I’ll see you on Saturday.”

  “Sounds good. And thank you for the job opportunity.”

  A huge smile showed off his dimples. “And thank you for taking it.” He slapped Buck on the shoulder. “Thanks, man. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Yup.”

  Hogan strode away, leaving Regina alone with Buck, and she realized it was the first time they’d been close enough to have a conversation, with no one else around, since she’d returned to Largo Ridge. As much as it disconcerted her, she forced herself not to jump into her vehicle and leave. It would be rude not to express her gratitude for him introducing her to Hogan and suggesting the man hire her. “Thank you for recommending me.”

  With his gaze shifting to the ground, he shrugged and kicked a small pebble to the side. “Ryan mentioned you eventually want to start your own CPA firm. I figured this would give you a step in that direction.”

  “Well, I really appreciate it.”

  “Sure.”

  His gaze returned to her face, and she was surprised to see heat in his stare. It froze her in place for a few moments, but then she remembered the humiliation she’d felt when he’d run from her after their one and only kiss. She gestured toward her SUV. “Um, I have to get back to work. Thanks again.”

  When she pivoted, he said, “Gi . . .”

  Swallowing hard, she glanced back at him. His mouth was open as if he’d wanted to say something but had stopped. After a moment, he shook his head. “I . . . uh . . . never mind. I mean, you’re welcome. I’ll see you around.”

  With a half-hearted wave, Buck spun on his heel and walked away. Regina hated that she stood there and watched until he disappeared through the front door of the inn.

  Sighing, Regina hit a button on the remote, shuffling through the channels searching for something to watch that would hold her attention for more than a few minutes. One would think on a Friday night there would be something good on TV, but, alas, she couldn’t find anything. She had the house to herself for the weekend—Ryan had left that morning for Pennsylvania, where he’d be until Sunday. A guy from his old platoon was getting married and had invited Ryan and a few other Marines they’d served with.

  While it was a comfort to be back in her childhood home again, it was also a pain in the ass to be living with her brother sometimes. He was far too noisy when he got up in the morning, a full hour and a half before Regina needed to start her day. They argued over dishes left in the sink, wet towels on the floor of the bathroom, and whose turn it was to vacuum. At that point in her life, Regina had expected to be doing those things with a husband, not her brother
.

  Although she wanted to get a place of her own, she’d decided to wait until the new year. By then she would have saved up money for all the furniture she’d need. Back in New York, the apartment had been filled with new furniture Zia’s rich grandmother had splurged on for them. Sadie Kemp had been widowed for thirty years and had inherited a healthy sum of money from her husband’s family. She’d invested it well and had made generous donations to several charities. Her motto among her close family and friends had become, “I can’t take it with me, so please let me treat you, just this one time.” Of course, “one time” turned into two or three or a dozen for those she loved the most and her favorite granddaughter was included on that list.

  So, now that she was thinking about getting her own place, Regina would need to buy furniture for every room except her bedroom. She’d be able to take a few assorted pieces that were scattered about the Vaughn home, including the attic. Ryan had told her she was welcome to take anything she wanted, since everything belonged to her as much as him, but she couldn’t take it all. The house was still in both their names and only had a small mortgage left on it, which Ryan had been paying off with his military and subsequent civilian pay. The least she could do was not steal all his furniture.

  As the shows flipped by on the screen, she mentally went over her list of things she was bringing with her to the White Mountain Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and what she had to cover with Hogan. She’d done a little research on the man. He’d graduated from the University of Vermont with a bachelor’s in wildlife biology and then had gone on to get his master’s in wildlife science. After that, he’d spent the past ten years working for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department as a wildlife rehabilitation expert, as he’d told her. Recently, the local newspaper had done an article on him and his rescued cubs—Bonnie and Clyde. The photo of him horsing around with the bears had been adorable, although they weren’t exactly small anymore. Their plight of being orphans, with Hogan unable to find a zoo or sanctuary that’d been able to take the siblings at the time, had apparently caught the attention of several conservationists. With their support and donations, Hogan had been able to start the White Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. In addition to the bears, he’d taken in a few other injured or orphaned animals, some of which had been able to return to the wild when they’d been healthy enough. A huge enclosure, with trees, boulders, man-made caves, and a waterfall flowing into a pool, was in the process of being built for Bonnie and Clyde, and Regina was looking forward to seeing it and the rest of the sanctuary.