Chapter Two
S loane woke up with a profound sense of disappointment on two fronts.
Jonas Lohmen had spent more time in Strawberry Ridge over the last two and a half months than he had in years and not once had he made any move to be more than her friend.
He hadn’t asked her out on a date, not even for a simple walk in the park.
There was no quick, surprising kiss. And yesterday, Blake and Malorie’s wedding, except for his surprise that she was dating another man, had been no different.
Geez. She should have known better than to expect that things had changed just because he’d moved back to town and seemed ready to settle down. She’d waited a long time to see that happen. Too long, in fact.
So why shouldn’t she date? She’d had a crush on the rancher-turned-lawyer for as long as she could remember. At least from the sixth grade, when her family moved to Strawberry Ridge and her dad opened Michaels’ Garage.
She’d skipped the second grade at her previous school because, even at the age of seven, she was way ahead of her classmates. By the time she was in the sixth grade, she’d figured out older kids didn’t like hanging out with a younger, smarter girl, even if they were in the same classes.
Except for Jonas. He didn’t care that she was smart and a year younger.
He was kind and friendly and soon became her BFF.
What she’d never told him was that ever since, she’d had this secret crush on the boy who’d made her young life less lonely and then become the man who always had her back, the same as she had his. At least she tried to.
If friendship was all that he wanted from her, she could do that, but the truth was, she wanted more.
At the age of thirty-five, she was running out of time.
It’d taken her long enough, but finally she’d come to the conclusion that she’d waited long enough for Jonas to see her as something more than his best friend.
She didn’t need him making a mess of her feelings now.
While he was doing his lawyer gig in Denver, she’d pushed aside how much she’d missed him and done all the things—finished a degree in mechanical engineering and taken over the garage when her dad decided to retire.
Now, she ran a successful business. She’d even bought her first home in a quiet neighborhood in the town that she loved and wouldn’t leave for anyone. Not even for Jonas.
And since he hadn’t taken her hints about wanting more, she couldn’t wait any longer.
It was time to find a husband who loved her enough to spend his life with her and start a family.
She’d already checked out the dateable men in Strawberry Ridge without finding the one , so if that meant she had to widen her boundaries and maybe try one of the popular online dating apps, then so be it.
After completing her research, she signed up on Perfect Match.
Unfortunately, her first date last night did not go as well as she had hoped it would.
Flinn Isak had looked so good “on paper.” He was a reasonably handsome guy, not that she put much stock in a man’s looks.
He taught history at the high school—a point in his favor because she was a huge history fan.
They would have something in common. He was a widower and a little bit sad.
Not exactly a mark against him. If he truly liked a woman, he might smile more.
Except for his students, he didn’t have kids of his own.
He wasn’t Jonas, that was for sure.
Oh, for Pete’s sake!
Glancing at the clock, she bounced out of bed to head for the shower.
She wasn’t counting on—now that he knew she was serious about dating—Jonas waking up and seeing her as a mostly attractive lady that he might move from the friend category to a more serious possibility.
He already knew that she went on the occasional date and that she hadn’t clicked with any of the men.
Jonas also knew she would often cancel when he showed up unexpectedly.
Well, last night, she hadn’t and look how confused he’d looked when she left him behind before the reception was over.
She should pat herself on the back for standing up for herself, except that it didn’t feel like that much of a victory.
Dressed in jeans and a tee shirt with a classic Ford pickup on the front, she sat down with her laptop to see if there were other men she could connect with on the app.
She’d left her hair down and put on some lipstick, not because she wanted Jonas to be impressed—not anymore—but because being the primary mechanic at Michaels’ Garage, she was often covered in grease and didn’t bother much with the girlie applications that most women used to attract men.
In that regard, whoever she ultimately ended up with, he would have to accept her as she was.
Being asked on bended knee to marry this mythical guy would be nice.
Startled from the cozy daydream by a musical knock on her door she recognized, Sloane slapped her laptop shut in the middle of deciding between Ken and Phillip.
Straightening her shoulders to get rid of the tension suddenly stacking up between her shoulder blades—which was crazy because she’d known Jonas too long for him to be a surprise—she opened the door and grinned as brightly as she could.
“Ready?” he asked, his stunning green-gray eyes sparkling.
Her heart picking up an extra beat was bad. Breakfast is nothing special , she warned herself sternly before grabbing her shoulder bag. “Yup.”
“How was your date last night?” He lingered on the front porch to let her walk ahead.
She refused to compare Flinn Isak with the OMG! handsome rancher following her to his souped-up Mustang.
The short stubble of his beard and mustache made him handsome in a way that had most women taking a second look. She didn’t want to be one of his groupies anymore. Unfortunately, she couldn’t ignore how well his jeans fit. His cowboy hat and boots...Well...
No drooling was allowed since she was moving on.
There was a reason she was looking for someone else to have a forever-after relationship with. BFF, remember?
“It was fine,” she said, getting in the car.
He started the engine and asked, one brow raised, “Only fine?”
She didn’t want to talk about it. Not with Jonas, anyway. “Where are we going for breakfast?”
“I was thinking about the Country Breakfast House. It’s relatively new. Have you been there?”
Sloane shrugged, then straightened. She was hungry and it had been a while since a good-looking man had bought her breakfast. The last time—yup, it’d been Jonas before he moved back to town. “I read about them in the Strawberry Ridge Journal , but I haven’t eaten there.”
When the silence stretched out, she asked, “How’s business going? Have you gotten many clients since you opened?”
He was a good lawyer. Folks who needed his kind of expertise—which was a little bit of this and a little bit of that—would be lucky if he took them on.
“It’s slowly picking up,” he said, not very enthusiastically.
Sloane twisted in her seatbelt to face her friend. “What’s wrong?”
“Strawberry Ridge is a small town. It’s going to take time to build up a firm here. I knew that when I decided to come home. I was hoping I could leave the Denver office sooner than I think I’ll be able to.”
He parked on River Street, one block past the restaurant. Sloane unbuckled her seatbelt and assured him, “You’ll get there.”
“I know.” He finally grinned, amping up her pulse. “I just wasn’t planning on working remotely part of the week.”
“What a cute place,” she said as a diversion, heading for the covered porch. She was supposed to be the one in charge of her heart, not the man escorting her to breakfast.
From the outside, the gold-colored building looked like an old-fashioned western restaurant and hotel. Flowering bushes and colorful plants bordered the boardwalk to the porch. Jonas held open the door so she could precede him into the restaurant.
“A table for two?” the hostess asked Jonas.
“Thank you. In the back overlooking the river if you have one open,” he requested, his charm on full display.
Sloane shook her head when Betsy, according to her name tag, smiled and led the way. Jonas certainly had a way about him.
“We have one left. The river and park are everyone’s favorite views.”
“Thanks.” Jonas pulled out a chair for Sloane, waiting while she got settled where she could see the walking path along the river.
Sloane barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Was there any woman in all of Colorado who didn’t go gaga over her best friend ?
“I’ll take your order after you get a chance to look at the menu. Our breakfast special today is biscuits and gravy with thick sliced bacon.”
Jonas settled across from Sloane while she took in the wood ceilings and blue-patterned wallpaper on the walls. Lights reminiscent of an old west saloon added a touch of classical magic.
“What do you think? The place has character, don’t you think?” Jonas unrolled his silverware from the cloth napkin and flipped it onto his lap.
“Un-huh.” Sloane opened the menu, quickly deciding to go with the special, rather than spend time exploring all the breakfast options, which looked good too. “Something’s bothering you. What is it?”
Her patience with the good-looking lawyer sitting across from her was wearing a little thin these days. She’d known him so long and had a crush on him for far longer than she should have, and still, he made her heart flutter.
Maybe she should see a cardiologist, just to be sure there was nothing mechanically wrong with her primary organ. A girl couldn’t be too careful with her health, could she?
He looked up from the menu he held in front of him like a wall of bricks whose sole purpose was to keep people out. “What are you having?”
“The special.” She laid aside her menu and leaned on her forearms. “Come on, Jonas. Don’t be a brat. Spill.”
His brows shot up. “Brat?”