Revived My Heart (Heart of the Mountain #12)

2. Chapter 1

~ Mason ~

Iwatched the happy couple out on the dance floor, their arms wrapped around each other, and I was happy for them, I truly was.

Christian was one of my best friends up here in these woods, away from the world, and our little slice of heaven.

And he found the perfect woman in Janelle, who was busy fighting off every woman that tried to get near her husband.

But I had my wife, the love of my life, and I lost her, stupid cancer. I also knew that I wouldn’t find someone like that again. I was forty-seven and long since believed that a second woman would come waltzing into my life.

Truth be told, I didn’t want it.

My heart would forever belong to my first wife, and no one woman wanted a widower, trust me.

We were grumps and often scared of the opposite sex. Well, at least Janelle wasn’t scared of me. Quite the opposite. I kind of think I was scared of that spitfire.

Not that it matters, because they were both happily married.

I had another sip of my beer, watching them yet again, ignoring the ache in my chest.

If I didn’t acknowledge it, then it wasn’t real, right?

It would go away.

“You look lonely, Mason,” one of the blonde bimbos said, walking up to me. She was just hitting on Christian, but Janelle shot that down.

“Not lonely,” I told the woman. Beth? Barbie? I couldn’t remember her name for the life of me, but I knew it was a B something.

“How about you take me on the dance floor for a spin?” she offered, running her nail over my arm but for some reason, though she looked hot as shit tonight, I wasn’t feeling it.

No, tonight, my thoughts were of my late wife and how she would have loved the cabin I built. She adored the woods as it was some of her favorite places to be, which is why I had to leave the city life and find this place. All so I could honor her.

“Nah, think I’m calling it tonight. You enjoy though,” I said, climbing off the stool. Poor Beth. Barbie. Whatever. She struck out twice tonight and that was very abnormal for her because either one of us would have taken her somewhere.

I threw some cash on the bar top and waved my hand at the bartender before clapping Christian on the back as I walked by them. They both gave me a smile then I stepped outside, smelling the crispness in the air and knew that a storm was brewing in tonight.

Which meant that anyone on these roads was going to be paying heavily if they didn’t get off and soon.

I adjusted my hat, pulling it lower before heading to my truck and starting it up.

It wasn’t quite cooler up here during the summer, but we sure tended to get a lot more rain, which was nice.

But with all the dirt and trees, that leave a lot of mud and debris, so you had better have a truck.

Or at least a vehicle that was able to handle the terrain.

I pulled out of the spot and made my way home, glad I only lived minutes from the small bar. This mountain town was a quiet small place, but it was home.

In fact, I think there was a new diner owner who planned on reviving the only decent place to eat around here.

That would be nice because I was getting tired of making my crappy leftover meals, or frozen shit.

Thank goodness I had friends that took pity on me and invited me over for a bite here and there, or gave me food, because I really was a horrible cook.

I turned down my lane, ready for my bed and to call it a night, letting the ghosts of my past and her amazing cooking haunt me tonight.

~ Patty ~

“You need a change of pace,” someone told me, making me grind my teeth.

“That, in other words, was get the fuck out of town and away from us,” I muttered, making my way up the winding road to the small little mountain town I heard so much about.

When the mayor of Cherryville told the city that I was stealing their money at the local diner, I was furious. I wasn’t, but he claimed I hadn't paid taxes.

Why would he say that?

Because I refused to go out on a date with him.

He was a slimeball and from some of things I heard from certain ladies, he was a creep to date.

I knew the moment I said no, there would be hell to pay, and lookie here.

I was forced to leave town, even though the sheriff knew not to believe the mayor.

He was the one who told me it was best to leave the town, to find somewhere else and start again.

I was forty-six, do you know how hard that was to start again?

So, I asked my son if he approved and he said he did. He helped me find some places to live and businesses that I could either start or take over.

It was by sheer luck that we came across the diner, but I was still seething, so my trust in anyone at this moment was pretty slim.

I cursed as my little truck hit a major hole in the dirt road, seeing how the rain from last night ruined everything this morning. Driving through this was a nightmare, but I had no choice. I needed to see the place I bought and what I was working with in regard to fixing it.

The pictures from the seller showed it still well intact so I was hoping I didn’t have to put too much into it. Especially if I was going to be paying people pretty quickly from my own funds.

I swerved as I avoided a tree branch down on the road, unsure why I was even on a dirt road.

I knew mountain towns were small, but surely the path was paved.

I frowned as I tried to remember when I even got on the dirt road.

Was I that lost in my thoughts I made a wrong turn somewhere and then ended up in some strange place?

I jerked my steering wheel again, avoiding another branch and then screamed as my front end landed against another tree.

“For real right now?” I cried out, glad that my airbags didn’t deploy. I closed my eyes, giving my head a breather before checking to make sure I wasn’t dead or that nothing was broken.

With a sigh, I climbed out of the truck and walked to the front end, nearly groaning again. My baby was gone.

“I don’t need this!” I screamed.

“What the hell did you do?” someone shouted from behind me and I turned around, ready to give whoever just scared ten years off of my life a piece of my mind.

However, I was not expecting a good-looking man to be standing there, shirtless.

In fact, that was really the last thing I thought I’d see this morning.

And if I was on someone’s property, I figured it would be some old dude with wrinkling skin, not a man who seemed to throw logs around like it was nothing.

“Uh,” I started, licking my lips, trying my best to move my eyes away from his chest.

“Why the hell were you on my road? Do you not know how to fucking read?”

“What the hell? I can drive; I know how to read. I just missed a turn.”

“Pretty far back. Did you not think it odd to be driving on dirt?”

I didn’t want to answer because I did question that, I just didn't really think about what to do, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to give him that.

“I need to leave and I can’t, because your yellow piece of shit is blocking the only road from my cabin,” he bellowed.

Okay, I got it, I screwed up, but his hotness was not making up for his dickness and I already dealt with someone like that recently, I won’t deal with it again.