2. Grace
TWO
Grace
I looked at the stacks of books on my kitchen counter. Then at the undersized cardboard box in my arms. Then back at the books.
“They’re not going to fit,” Callum said.
“They are too.”
I set the box on the counter. Adjusting my glasses on my nose, I planned my attack. Nestled a book inside. Then another. Taking my time. Callum watched over my shoulder.
“Quit being so stubborn,” he said. “Just grab another box. The garage is full of them.”
“No kidding.” But those were all moving boxes, and I was sick of looking at them.
Niko wandered shirtless into the kitchen. “Hey, Cal. Grace, you look busy.” He was one of Callum’s roommates.
Oops. Make that one of my roommates. Because I now lived with my brother and three other overbearing firefighters instead of in my cute little bungalow by myself .
Exactly why I was annoyed at those stupid moving boxes.
Until the summer, I’d rented the same house for years. My pride and joy. My landlord and I had made an oral agreement that I’d buy the place from him when I had the downpayment saved up, and in the meantime, I’d made all sorts of improvements.
Then my landlord had sold the house out from under me for a far higher asking price than I could afford. And because we’d been going month-to-month on my rent instead of bothering to keep the lease paperwork current, I got kicked out. There was nothing I could do.
I had trusted that man to keep his word. Big mistake.
I should’ve known better .
My brother Ashford had offered me his spare room. But Ashford had my seven-year-old niece, a golden retriever, and a fiancée to take care of. He didn’t need to be worrying about me too.
With no other affordable units available, I’d had no choice but to move in with Callum and his buddies, all of whom treated me like their baby sister. As if I didn’t have enough big brothers already. And the amount of food they ate. It was astonishing . They’d demolished a lasagna last night like a school of piranhas. I shivered just thinking about it.
At least they were good at dishes. Firefighters knew how to keep a place clean.
“Need help?” Niko asked me.
Callum shook his head. “Don’t get involved, man. She doesn’t want help. She’s on an organizing tear.”
“I’m just trying to knock out my to-do list,” I said, arranging the books like Jenga pieces. “I’m taking these to Silver Linings to drop them off with Piper. Then I have Zoom meetings this afternoon with my online clients, and a planning meeting for the next fundraiser for the children’s center. So don’t wait up.”
“Gracie, most people mean something different when they say don’t wait up ,” Callum said as he rummaged in the pantry for food. “To normal humans, it means they’re out having fun.” Callum tossed Niko a protein bar, then ripped into one for himself.
“Don’t be mean. Planning meetings can be fun.”
“You’re cute.” Callum grabbed me around the shoulders and smacked a kiss on the top of my head. I pushed him away.
“Don’t you have somewhere better to be?” I asked. “Like saving a cat from a tree? Serving your community?”
Callum shrugged. “More like serving beers. I’ve got a shift at Hearthstone.” He and his buddies all had other gigs, since there weren’t many full-time spots with Silver Ridge FD.
“But I’ll bring back potato skins for you,” my brother added.
My annoyance disappeared. “I love their potato skins.”
“Yeah, I know .”
“Thank you.” I made my hands into a heart shape, then stuck out my tongue.
Laughing, Callum grabbed his keys and phone, spun on his heel, and jogged toward the door.
Niko turned to me. “I think you’re fun, Grace.”
“Stay away from my little sister,” Callum shouted from somewhere near the back door.
I just rolled my eyes, because that was so not necessary. Niko was a sweet guy, the type to give you his last dime and the last ice cream bar. Easy on the eyes too. But I had no intention of getting romantic with anyone, firefighters or otherwise.
New living arrangements aside, my life was straightforward. Boring . And that was the way I liked it.
Because boring was safe .
* * *
Twenty minutes later, I made my way toward Silver Linings Coffee with my cardboard box of books. Sometimes, I felt like I singlehandedly kept Piper’s used books shelves stocked. But it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
My glasses started sliding down my nose. Praying they wouldn’t fall and get scratched on the concrete, I shifted the heavy weight of the box to one arm and popped my glasses back up my nose with my finger. Then I reached for the door to the coffee shop.
It was an elegant balancing act. I totally had this.
Just as that triumphant thought ran through my mind, I yanked the door open and went inside.
Then I crashed into something very tall and very solid. The books went sprawling across the tile floor. My glasses almost followed, slipping back down to the very tip of my nose. I looked over them at the man who stood in front of me. A man who had a coffee-colored stain the size of Greenland on his cream-colored sweater.
“Well, shit,” he muttered.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry.”
He glanced down at his ruined sweater and shrugged. “No worries. Are you okay?”
Shoving my glasses into place, I lunged for some napkins from a nearby counter. “I’m fine, but you’re not. The coffee here is extra hot. And from the looks of it, you dumped an extra large all over yourself. Or rather, I did.”
He laughed softly, taking the napkins from me to dab at his sweater. “It’s all good. My fault too. I didn’t see you coming.”
“I hope that’s not a comment about me being short.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
I glanced up at him, then had to keep on going. A little further.
I’d just joked about me being short. But this man was tall .
Dark lashes rimmed his steely gray eyes. His wavy brown hair was short on the sides, tousled on top. The sleeves of his sweater were pushed up, revealing tanned, veiny forearms.
Yikes .
The guy threw the wet napkins and his now empty coffee cup in the trash, and then knelt on the floor beside me. “Let me help you with these.” He picked up a fallen book. “ Advanced Techniques for QuickBooks . Looks like a gripping read.”
“Scintillating. But not as good as this one. It’s a beach read, alright.” I reached for my copy of Bookkeeping Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them and held it up.
“Sounds like a bestseller.” His long fingers grazed mine as he handed the books to me. The man exuded the kind of confidence that came from a well-developed ego, the kind that the giant brown stain on his front couldn’t put a dent in.
He had to be a tourist. Probably a rich one to boot.
His type usually marched around town like they owned the place. Yet instead of being furious that I’d run into him, he seemed amused.
Meanwhile, a few new coffee splatters just blended in to the old, oversized sweatshirt I was wearing over my favorite pair of faded jeans. No harm, no foul.
He finished helping me stack my books in the box, then picked it up, balancing the whole thing on one arm like it was easy. “How about I buy myself another coffee, and I can get you one too,” he said. “Just to show there’s no hard feelings.”
His head tilted as he waited for my answer, his smile going lopsided. Despite his air of wealth, there was something disarming about him. Rugged, too. Like if I held his hand in mine, I’d find it rough instead of soft.
Heat prickled as a blush rose in my cheeks, and flutters cascaded through my belly.
Oh, no. Nope. Stop that .
Thankfully, Piper came to my rescue. “I saw the accident!” She handed the new guy a fresh cup of whatever he’d ordered. “On the house. I’d replace your shirt too, but…”
“No, it’s fine.” The man laughed again, smooth and deep. “This sweater isn’t my favorite anyway.” He glanced at me, which I saw from the corner of my eye. But I carried my box of books over to the counter, putting my back to him and hoping he would go away.
I usually prided myself on being direct. But that man had me all kinds of flustered. I held my breath until I heard the door jingle again.
Piper came around to the other side of the counter behind the register. “You okay?”
“Is he gone?” I whispered.
“Mr. Hunky McHandsome? Yeah, he’s gone. Why? He didn’t seem mad about the spill.”
I exhaled. I’d been rude to the guy, just turning my back on him that way, but he’d seemed confident enough to shrug it off. He probably charmed every woman he met. He’d forget about me the moment I was out of sight.
“He offered to buy me a coffee.”
“Is that bad?”
“Not on the surface. But his smile was too nice, and he was way too polite. Serious red flags.”
“Very suspicious. I’ll put him on my blacklist. No more coffee for that guy. Unless you spill it on him.”
We both laughed.
Yes, I was exaggerating. But Piper understood. There was a certain type of man who seemed perfect when you first met him, only to crush your heart, put it through a meat grinder, and throw it out with yesterday’s compost.
Once, I might’ve fallen for that kind of thing. But now I knew better.
Piper waved her hand. “Anyway, forget about Hunky McHandsome. I have much more exciting news.”
I shook off my depressing thoughts. “I’ve got all the excitement I can handle. The fall festival is this weekend. And look at this amazing haul of books I just brought in.”
She made a face, shoving the box to the far end of the counter. “Sadly, your used financial books don’t tend to fly off the shelves.”
“Hey now, there’s some historical fiction and biographies in there too.”
“Be still my heart. By the way, how are your firefighter bros?” She grabbed a peanut butter cookie from her display case, breaking it in half and handing me the other.
“Only one of them is my bro. And they’re actually okay as roommates.”
“The views are probably nice with all those muscles.”
“Gross. That’s my brother.”
“Not Callum. He’s practically my brother too. I meant the other three.”
“Not interested.”
“Sure, but you can look. However, I recognize that you, Grace O’Neal, are the kind of woman who enjoys a hefty serving of brains with her brawn. You need a touch of elegance.”
I gestured at myself, baggy sweatshirt, messy hair and all. “The very picture of elegance, right here.”
“All the more reason that you need a glamorous night out. And I do not mean the fall festival.” Piper reached into the pocket of her apron and produced two tickets, each decorated with a stylized picture of a mask. She glanced around to see who was listening, but the coffee shop was experiencing a rare lull.
“You and I are going to the VIP grand-opening party tomorrow night for the new hotel at the ski resort.”
“ What ? How on earth did you get tickets?”
Pretty much everyone in Silver Ridge had heard about the grand opening of the new hotel. There had been some kind of drama about the ski resort’s finances, and my brother Ashford’s friend from the Army, Dane Knightly, had swooped in to buy them out. Or his family’s company had swooped in. Something like that.
Ashford had always spoken highly of Dane. Yet the man had never made a single trip to Silver Ridge, either before or after buying the resort. Knightly wasn’t even planning to attend the grand opening.
Piper shrugged. “Hanson Barker provided the tickets. I’m going with him, and he had an extra for you.”
“The mayor’s son? You broke our no-dating pact for Handy-dandy Barker? The former king of shop class?” Famous for making a bong shaped like a huge penis. Poor Mrs. Barker had been president of the PTA back then, and at the fine arts festival, I’d never forget the shade of purple that she’d turned when she saw her son’s creation.
Piper hushed me, giggling. “Give the man a break. High school was a long time ago. Hanson is a nice guy. He only got tickets because of his mother’s position, and he wisely chose me to share them with. Besides, my pact with you is about not dating.” Her eyebrows wiggled. “Not about sex.”
“You’re having sex with Handy-dandy?” I deadpanned.
She got a mischievous glint in her eyes and leaned in. “No, we’re friends. But who knows. I might get lucky tomorrow night. Because I’m going to that party, dressed to the nines. And you’re coming with me. I deserve this night out, and I won’t apologize for it.”
Piper had been my best friend since we were kids. She’d lived in the house across the street. She and I had gone to college together in Fort Collins, where we’d had plenty of wild times. Usually because Piper egged me on. We’d been a team. If one of us drank, the other stayed sober. We’d been there for each other no matter what. Looked out for each other. Ride or die.
Now that her ex-husband had left Silver Ridge, she was a single mom. Thank goodness her older brother Teller, the chief of police, was around for her son Ollie. Of course, my brothers and our friends stepped in and helped with Ollie whenever they could. But it still wasn’t right for Piper’s ex to leave her in the lurch like that.
Surprising? No. But so not right. Piper had dubbed our friend group the Lonely Harts club for a reason.
“You do deserve it,” I said.
“But so do you. When was the last time you did something truly for yourself?” She paused. Like she really expected an answer.
I didn’t have one.
I sighed. “I guess you’ll need someone to keep an eye on you.”
Piper pumped her fist in the air. “Yes!”
I took the ticket from her hand and my eyes traced the looping script. “I don’t have anything to wear, though. It says black tie.”
“Leave that to me. I have some of the dresses from our sorority days.”
“You still have those?” I’d cleaned out my closet years ago with a more practical eye.
“Didn’t know when I might need to attend a movie premiere.”
“There are no movie premieres in Silver Ridge.”
“There were no black-tie masquerade balls either. Until now.” She reached across the counter and pulled me into a hug. “This is going to be epic. I promise, tomorrow night will be unforgettable.”
I didn’t know if I liked the sounds of that. So far in my life, the most indelible moments tended to coincide with loss and heartbreak.