“I didn’t come here for lunch,” Luke said, dismissing Roger’s suggestion with a wave of his hand. “And I’m not hungry.”
Roger rolled his eyes. Luke was a proud man, but even proud men had to eat sometime. “Well then,” Roger replied, “I guess I’ll just order one catfish plate to go.”
Luke scowled at him. “I wouldn’t need you to buy me lunch today if you hadn’t ruined my chances of winning that pool game last night.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Roger snapped back. “But the last time you got caught hustling pool, I was the one that had to bandage you up, and I really didn’t have the stomach to do it again.”
Luke huffed but said nothing.
“Fine,” Roger said with a frustrated sigh. “How about this? I’ll buy you lunch to apologize for making you lose.”
Luke shrugged.
Marge appeared with two plates of pie, and, winking at Roger, she placed the plates in front of him and Luke.
“On the house, boys,” she said softly. “And don’t you give me that look, Lucas. Consider it a thank you for checking my fire alarms last week. It was a pain in the butt for those things to keep going off the way they did. You did me a real solid fixing them. The least I could do is give you some free pie.”
Luke scowled, but he still dug a fork into the hot pie. Roger smirked and placed an order with Marge for three to-go plates of catfish with extra fries, figuring he might as well take something back for Sam, too. Marge scribbled the order on a slip and placed it on the hanging ticket rack in the kitchen window before picking up a fresh pot of coffee.
After topping off their coffee, Marge slipped out from behind the counter and made her way from table to table, refilling cups. Roger glanced around at the familiar faces, frowning when his eyes landed on Rose Callahan sitting with a young woman he didn’t recognize. True, he could only see the back of her head, but no one in town—aside from Rose—had long, glossy black hair like she did.
Rose and the stranger stood up to leave, and Roger got a better look at the woman. She was beautiful, tall and tan, with a soft heart-shaped face and startling brown eyes. At first, he’d have sworn they were a deep red. Her full lips turned up in a smile at something Rose said, and Roger caught the sound of her throaty laugh. She tossed her head back, making her long braid swing back and forth. When she and Rose moved toward him, he still couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
If he hadn’t been staring at her, he would have missed what happened next. But he had definitely been staring, so he caught the moment Marge took a huge step backward, unaware of the two women just behind her. At the last second, she turned, crashing into Rose and unintentionally launching the coffee pot she’d been holding, full of scalding hot liquid, at the gorgeous stranger.
Roger shot one well-muscled arm out, swept the woman off her feet, and whipped her around onto his lap. The coffee pot narrowly missed her, shattering on the tile floor.
The diner went silent and still for all of five beats, and then, all hell broke loose. Marge rushed over to the woman still sitting on Roger’s lap, whipping a rag out of her apron and dabbing at invisible coffee stains, muttering over and over how sorry she was. Rose eyed Roger with an unreadable expression on her face before turning her attention to Marge, shushing her and pulling her frantic hands away from the young woman.
“Marge, really, it’s fine,” Rose murmured. “Jill is okay. Right, Jill?”
Rose directed her question at the woman on Roger’s lap, and the woman—Jill—nodded. “Yes,” she choked out. “I’m fine.”
“And who wouldn’t be?” Betsy Flanagan, the diner’s other full-time waitress said from two booths over. “I know I would be ecstatic to be sitting on such a handsome boy’s lap.”
With a squeak of alarm, Jill disentangled herself from Roger and scrambled off his lap. Those odd red-brown eyes met his in apologetic panic, a blush staining her cheeks.
Roger smiled at her and held out his hand. “My name is Roger Mayer. I’m pleased I could be of service.”
Jill took the man’s strong hand in her own and shook it, captivated by his vivid turquoise eyes. She studied his face. He had a strong, angular jawline dusted with the beginnings of a beard the same pale blond as his tousled hair. His muscular arms bulged out of a navy t-shirt emblazoned with the large, white letters SFD. She reflected briefly on how his one arm had felt around her, suppressing a shiver, and glanced down at his cargo pants and work boots. She looked again at the letters on his shirt, realizing he must be a local fireman.
No wonder he has all that muscle. Forcing her gaze back to his face, she noticed that three lines wrinkled his forehead, showing his concern, and she blushed. Go on, Jill, ogle him some more instead of introducing yourself.
She cleared her throat. “I’m Jill. Thank you for rescuing me. I imagine those burns would have put a damper on my first week here.”
“You just moved here?”
“Why don’t the two of you sit and talk while I finish up my errands?” Rose said, making them both jump. Jill had forgotten there was anyone else in the room. She had also forgotten that she was still grasping Roger’s hand.
Dropping it, she frowned at Rose. “I thought you wanted me to tag along.”
“Oh, I can get things done quicker if I do them myself,” Rose answered. “I’ve shown you the town already, and it will give you time to thank Mr. Mayer here properly.”
Rose winked, and Jill narrowed her eyes. The dark-haired man sitting next to Roger snorted into his coffee but said nothing.
“Okay,” Jill agreed slowly, eyeing the other man.
Rose nodded once and then turned, slapping the dark-haired man upside the head on her way out. He grunted and scowled at her, the angry expression fading to a smirk when she turned back to grin at him.
For lack of anything better to do, Jill sat down next to Roger, who smiled.
“This is my friend, Luke,” he said, gesturing to the man next to him. “He likes to goad Rose whenever he can.”
Luke turned toward Jill and saluted, his green eyes roving over her. Something in his gaze made her whole body snap to attention, and she shivered. His mouth twisted into a lazy smile, and he winked. She had to force herself to listen to what Roger was saying, her heart pounding in her ears.
“Think we’re going to be Rose’s next project?” he half-joked as Jill turned back to him.
Jill rolled her eyes. “You can joke. You don’t have to live with her for the foreseeable future.”
Roger chuckled. “So, you moved into the old inn, then?”
“I’m their new wilderness expert.”
Luke choked on his coffee, sputtering as he spun his stool toward them, looking her up and down. “Really?”
Jill sensed that same shivery feeling beginning deep inside her as she opened her mouth to speak, but Roger interrupted before she could say anything.
“That sounds like interesting work,” he said, glaring at Luke and elbowing him.
Luke shrugged and turned back to his pie.
Roger and Jill talked uninterrupted for another half hour before Rose came to collect Jill, although Jill found herself sneaking glances at Luke while Roger talked, wondering why he had such an effect on her. As she stood to leave, Roger scribbled his phone number on a napkin and handed it to her.
“I work the next few days, but I’m off on Thursday. Give me a call and I can show you around the park. I grew up here, so I know all the best places.”
Jill smiled and nodded, tucking the napkin into her pocket and walked over to meet Rose.
Roger watched Jill leave with a thoughtful expression on his face. He wasn’t usually so slow in asking a woman out, but he sensed that this one needed a little more romance in her life, and Roger was nothing if not a hopeless romantic. Glancing down at his watch, he swore. They had to get back to the station.
“Come on, Luke,” he said, grabbing their bagged plates and laying some money on the counter. “We’re late.”
“Not
my fault you were flirting so much,” Luke grumbled.
Roger rolled his eyes and turned to walk out of the diner, missing the pensive look on Luke’s face. Luke trailed after the shorter man, lost in thought. Roger was obviously interested in Jill, but something about her called to Luke. He had never gone after any woman Roger had shown an interest in, and Roger had more or less done the same for him, but this woman was different.
For one thing, she was incredibly sexy. In fact, Luke thought his heart might have skipped a beat when he got his first good look at her, and he had had to resist a primal urge to grab her and take her right there on the counter. Perhaps the most attractive thing about her was that she didn’t seem to realize how irresistible she was. The way she’d looked at him, all wide-eyed and tongue-tied…
Luke groaned inwardly. He couldn’t steal Roger’s date. It just wasn’t something a best friend would do, and no woman was worth jeopardizing a lifetime of friendship. Even if she was absolutely breathtaking. He would just have to keep his distance. After all, Luke thought, he only wanted a hookup with the woman. It seemed Roger wanted a lot more.
They sidled into the station fifteen minutes later and grinned apologetically at Sam, who gave them a half-serious scowl.
“Where were you?” he demanded.
“At the diner,” Roger offered. “We met Rose’s newest hire.”
“I take it Rose’s newest hire is a woman since you’re both an hour late coming back?”
Roger shrugged. “Sorry.”
Sam sighed. “Was she pretty, at least?”
“Beautiful,” Roger answered immediately.
“Did you ask her out?”
“Not yet, but I offered to show her around.”
Sam threw a pencil at him. “So, you’re telling me you’re an hour late coming back and you didn’t even ask her out?” He raised an eyebrow at Luke. “And what about you? I’m disappointed. Roger might chicken out, but you never pass up the opportunity to claim a pretty woman.”
“I didn’t chicken out,” Roger snapped before Luke could answer. “I want to ask her out in just the right way.”
Luke snorted but said nothing.
“Well, tell me about her, then,” Sam said. “And there better be catfish in there for me.”
Roger told Sam how he and Jill had met while Luke unpacked their lunches.
At the end of Roger’s tale, Sam rolled his eyes. “I don’t know how much more romantic you could get. You literally swept her off her feet. Not to mention, saved her from second or third-degree burns.”
“Right?” Luke interjected. “The least she could do is put out.”
“That is exactly why no woman in a twenty-mile radius will date you,” Roger bit out.
“It’s not the dating I’m interested in,” Luke quipped, waggling his eyebrows.
It was Roger’s turn to roll his eyes. Friends they may be, but he and Luke were as different as night and day. Roger was sweet, deliberate, and romantic. Luke, on the other hand, was passionate but rough and reckless.
Even their coloring was different. Luke contrasted Roger’s blond hair and blue eyes with brown hair so dark it looked black and vibrant green eyes. He had the slightest shadow of a beard on his square jawline today, although he usually had a much more substantial beard and moustache, giving him a rugged handsome look that drove the ladies crazy. His hair fell in waves over his forehead and curled at his ears, and although he swore up and down to Roger that he didn’t use product in his hair, Roger knew better. Nobody got that much body without using something.
The only similarities between the two men had to do with their occupation and their interests. Being firefighters meant staying in the best shape they could manage. Luckily, the pair loved outdoor recreation, and they filled their days off with rock climbing, hiking, white water rafting, and even spelunking. It paid off, since both men boasted impressive, muscular physiques that earned them constant appreciative glances from women.
But again, when it came to women, they differed. It often irritated Roger how Luke spoke of women as conquests. Roger saw them as potential mates, but Luke only ever saw them as potential lays.
“Well, I am interested in dating,” Roger replied, a little too heatedly.
Luke raised an eyebrow.
“I like women,” Roger continued. “I like talking to them, spending time with them, and making them happy. I don’t look at them as a one stop shop for pleasure and pain.”
Luke’s eyes flashed with anger. “I don’t hurt women,” he growled.
“That’s not what I meant, Luke,” Roger insisted. “But you have to admit you’ve left a trail of broken hearts in your wake.”
“You really know how to apologize, Roger,” Luke snapped.
Roger shrugged. “You know it’s true.”
“Whatever.”
“Want to play cards while we eat?” Sam asked, ending the argument before it got any more heated. The boys were more brothers than friends sometimes, and they could sure fight like brothers if given half a chance.
Both men nodded at Sam, who shuffled the deck of cards. Luke shifted in his chair, carefully concealing how much Roger’s words bothered him. He wasn’t interested in talking out his reasons for what he did. He never was. But he didn’t hate women. And he wasn’t opposed to the whole idea of romance even though he hadn’t met a woman in a long while he’d had even the faintest interest in romancing. Maybe he just hadn’t found the right one yet. Was that his fault? Was he supposed to remain celibate just because all the women in this town bored him to death outside the bedroom? There wasn’t a chance in hell that would ever happen.
A half hour later, Sam left to call his wife and catch up on paperwork, leaving the two younger men to play a few hands between themselves. They started a game of poker, and Roger, as usual, began losing spectacularly. He muttered curses under his breath, ever the sore loser. Luke hid his amusement behind his cards and eyed his best friend.
“So,” he began. “When do you plan on asking this woman out?”
Roger shrugged. “When I show her around the park, I suppose.”
“Wait a second,” Luke said, grinning. “You’re taking her out on what seems like a date to ask her out on an actual date?”
“Oh, shut up, Luke.”
Luke laughed and set his hand of cards on the table.
Roger looked at Luke’s full house and grunted in disgust, slamming his cards face down on the table. “You better not be cheating,” he growled.
“Roger! You wound me,” Luke said. “I would never cheat. At least not with you.”
Roger rolled his eyes as Luke scooped up the cards, shuffled them.
Unable to stop himself, Luke asked, “So, how are you going to ask her?”
Roger shrugged. “She’s going to be taking Rose’s guests out on recreational excursions, so she needs to see the activities that the park has to offer. They keep the ski lift open all year long, and I thought I could end our hike near the lift at the end of the day. On our way back down, the sun will be setting over the valley. That’s when I’ll ask her.”
Luke stared at him. “Have you ever considered that you might go just a little overboard sometimes?”
“I already told you, I like women. I like pampering them. You should try it sometime.”
“Who says I don’t?” Luke raised a dark eyebrow. “All the women I ‘date’ leave very satisfied, don’t you worry.”
Roger shook his head but chose to let the comment go. One day, Luke would learn the difference between passion and romance, between sex and love. One day, he’d learn romance always won in the end.
Impressions
The shrill beep of the alarm clock woke Jill before the sun had crested the horizon. She groaned and rolled over in her soft bed, pulling a pillow over her head to muffle the insistent beeping. Blindly reaching out, she swatted at the offending piece of machinery until she finally hit the snooze button.
Stretching, she tried to remember the dream f
rom which she’d just woken. It had been a good dream, filled with warm, fuzzy feelings, but its details eluded her. The alarm clock beeped again. Peeking out from beneath her pillow, she squinted at the glowing green numbers.
4:45 in the morning. Jill sighed heavily. She had to meet the park ranger at 6:30, so she had to get moving if she wanted breakfast. After one last stretch, she sat up, turning off the alarm clock and switching on the bedside lamp.
Soft light illuminated the half dozen books she had piled on her bedside table. A dozen more cluttered her little desk. Rose had given her numerous books on the geography, history, and mythology of the area, and Jill had stayed up a little too late reading them. She had flipped through the selections, getting a feel for each subject, until she had stumbled upon an actual diary among the texts—a diary belonging to a woman named Kate Callahan. Given the last name, Jill assumed Kate must have been some relative of Rose’s, and she made a mental note to ask Rose about the diary later. Although her curiosity urged her to read the diary, Jill wasn’t entirely sure that it hadn’t made it into her pile by mistake, and she really didn’t like invading people’s privacy.
After padding into the bathroom, Jill brushed her teeth and then hopped into the shower for a perfunctory rinse. A few minutes later, she stepped out, wrapping a towel around her body and quickly French braiding her hair without bothering to dry it. She threw on her usual eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss combo, then dressed in a pair of cargo pants and a purple t-shirt with a polar bear and the word “chill” written in bright blue letters on the front.
Jill had bought the shirt a year ago at a wildlife expo after the salesgirl had assured her that half the proceeds from the sale would go toward raising awareness of the polar bears’ plight in the northern parts of the world. Jill wasn’t sure how raising awareness would do more to help the poor creatures than actually physically helping them, but she was always more than willing to buy anything that benefitted animals, wild or otherwise. In fact, half her wardrobe was from an online store that gave 80% of their proceeds to elephant conservation efforts in Africa. Jill was an avid animal lover, as well as a lover of the environment, and she always tried to do her part to save both the world and its inhabitants.
Destiny: AN MFM Romance Page 3