Chapter 1 #2
“Are you sure?” His tone implied he was unconvinced. A German Shepherd stood beside him, the dog’s head tilted curiously at her, seemingly mirroring his owner’s sentiment. “Did you hurt your ankle? If you need me to carry you—”
“No,” she said, trying and failing to quash the image that created in her mind. A really nice image.
“Let me at least help you up.”
“Really, I’m fine,” Haylee insisted, pushing to her feet, purposely ignoring the hand he extended to her as she swiped the snow from her pants. Her fingers burned from the cold contact, and she shoved them into her jeans pockets. Another couple of minutes and they’d go numb.
“Don’t they have snow where you’re from?” she asked.
“Not really.”
Haylee snapped her attention to him.
“I grew up in Arizona. Not much snow unless you go into the mountains, and well, I never did.”
“Never?” Haylee preferred the Alaskan summers to winters, but she couldn’t imagine living anywhere without a season of snow.
“Don’t feel bad for me,” he said, his lips spread into a casual smile that had those hypothetical butterflies in her belly stirring from their long hibernation.
“I hadn’t planned on it.”
“You should get inside,” he insisted. “Your hands are really red. So are your arms.” He slipped off his jacket. “Here.”
“I’m fine.”
“It’s your choice.”
“To what?”
“Be smart or stubborn.” The carefree way he said it put her erratically beating heart at ease. It didn’t make any sense, other than he was right. She allowed him to drape his leather jacket over her bare arms, its warmth instant and welcomed. It smelled of leather, pine, and cinnamon.
“Thank you.”
“Can we go back inside now?”
“Why are you out here?” she asked, glancing at the pup.
“To give them a minute,” he answered, nodding at the building. “You heard the barking?”
She glanced toward the tree line, but there was no trace of Ed.
Good. This whole moose encounter was nothing more than a coincidence.
She was sure of it. Though Melly would certainly be excited to hear about the run-in, Haylee decided then and there not to tell a soul about it.
She didn’t need anyone filling her head with nonsense.
“I did,” she finally answered.
“She’s your dog, right? Allie?”
“How do you know her name?”
“Are you always this cagey?” he asked, a teasing twinkle in those caramel eyes.
“You expect me to share my life story with a complete stranger?”
“I heard the woman inside calling Allie by her name. And I hope you don’t consider me a complete stranger. I was Dylan’s best friend.”
Was.
The word hit her square in the chest, and her entire body shivered. Dylan. Melly’s father. Before Logan showed up on her doorstep two days ago, letter in hand, she hadn’t let herself think about Dylan all that much. But now—
Was.
“Can we please go inside now?” he pleaded.
It was stupid to stay out here any longer. But walking in beside Logan could cause a new problem, with her oldest sister working at the register. Laurel would notice the friendliness between them. She would read into it. There would be questions.
Haylee was under enough pressure with that unopened letter burning a hole in the bottom of her too-full purse. Surely, she’d burst if her family pushed her about Logan. She needed more time to process. Time to work up the courage to read it. Time to decide what, if anything, happened once she did.
“If you won’t go inside for yourself, do it for Jasper,” he added.
“Jasper?”
The dog tilted his head again, wagging tail catching on the snowdrift behind him.
“His paws—”
Haylee flashed Logan a look that said you won this round and led them back around to the front door.
“Did you need something?” Haylee asked after the sliding doors closed behind them. “From the store? Maybe a pair of booties for Jasper?”
“I was looking for a tree, actually,” he said, nodding to the display she had been rearranging when he first arrived.
She studied him then. If he had spotted her earlier, he didn’t let on.
Jasper trotted obediently at his heel, and she wondered if he was a military K9. But that didn’t explain all the barking. Military dogs were trained not to react, weren’t they?
But instead of asking about the dog, she went with the question taking up more space in her brain.
“You want a Christmas tree?”
It didn’t make sense. Why would he need a tree? It wasn’t as though he’d moved to Sunset Ridge. He was wearing an Army uniform the day he showed up at her apartment. And unless something changed right under her nose, there wasn’t a base within a hundred miles of town.
“Did you think I was a grinch or something?” he teased, those brown eyes twinkling at her.
Another butterfly fought to prove its existence.
She didn’t know him at all. Logan was obviously a friend Dylan made while in the service—best friend, apparently.
She nearly asked if they met at West Point or after, but she caught the question just in time to swallow it back down.
The worst thing she could do was get to know him.
Not if she wanted the past to stay in the past where it belonged.
“I didn’t think you were staying in town long. Why do you want a tree?”
“Because it’s Christmas.”
She flashed him an annoyed look at his failure to answer her real question, but his attention was focused on a narrow three-foot tree she’d decorated in Alaskan-themed ornaments, most of them moose.
Ironic now that she thought of it. The branches were frosted, and she used all blue lights.
She was really proud of the little tree she prepared for the store display.
If she didn’t already have a massive one that consumed half of her small living room, this would be her second choice.
“How much for this tree?” Logan asked, following her focus.
“The price is over there.” Haylee pointed at the rack with the boxed trees.
“But how much for it fully decorated?”
“Oh, we aren’t selling them that way,” she said.
“But make us an offer and we might consider it,” Laurel, Haylee’s oldest sister, said, inviting herself to the conversation.
Darn it. That meant she noticed them walking into the store together. It also made Haylee keenly aware she still had Logan’s jacket draped over her shoulders. Removing it now would call too much attention to it, so she hugged it tighter against her still-chilled arms.
“Would you take two fifty?” he asked.
“Two hundred?” Haylee clarified, certain she heard him wrong.
“And fifty. And yes, dollars.”
“As opposed to animal crackers?” Haylee inwardly cringed, wishing she could take it back. Animal crackers? Gah. She needed to get out with adults more.
“He’s not Melly,” Laurel teased, chuckling.
“Melly?” Logan repeated.
“Two seventy-five,” Haylee tossed out, desperate to change the subject.
If this handsome soldier found out she had a daughter, there would be questions.
He might put two and two together. If he brought up Dylan in front of her sister, there’d be questions.
So many questions. She was going to cling to every chaos-free moment she could until the truth inevitably came out.
Laurel looked at her as though she’d grown a second head. “Seriously, two fifty is more than generous. It’s a small tree.”
“Two seventy-five and lunch,” Logan said, directing his offer to Haylee. “Tomorrow.”
“Sold,” Laurel declared.
“Hey, I didn’t agree to that,” she objected.
Logan lifted one corner of his mouth in a victorious grin. One that made him even more attractive, which only annoyed her further. The messenger who was going to undoubtedly blow up her comfortable life should not be this easy on the eyes.
“Oh, but you did,” Laurel said, dropping a hand to her shoulder. “Logan, is it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Please call me Laurel. Or if you must, Mrs. Monroe. I’m too young to be a ma’am. I’m Haylee’s oldest and wisest sister.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Monroe.” He offered up nothing else, and for that, Haylee was relieved.
Whether it was out of kindness for her or his own desire to maintain his privacy, she didn’t know.
But the questions about him would start the moment he left the store.
Maybe she’d leave early to pick up hot chocolate for Melly.
“Let’s get you checked out. Unless you want to pick out something for your pup? We have a wide selection of toys, chews, and treats. Haylee, why don’t you show Logan to the pet section?”
Haylee swallowed a groan.
“We could use some booties,” he said, agreeing. He followed her over a couple of aisles. “And I think Jasper deserves to pick out a new toy today. He’s been such a good boy.”
“Is that how you classify barking up a storm?” Haylee asked.
“No,” Logan admitted. “But he sniffed you out, didn’t he?”
“I wasn’t hiding.”
“Just having a casual conversation with a moose out back?” A twinkle danced in his eyes as he flashed her a knowing smile.
Her heart pounded at his words. If he let it slip in front of Laurel that she saw Ed, Haylee would never hear the end of it.
She glanced toward the front counter where her oldest sister busied herself wrapping the Christmas tree that Logan was overpaying for in protective plastic, pretending as though she wasn’t spying on them. But her ridiculously large grin gave it away, filling Haylee with an impending sense of doom.
“How long were you out there anyway?” she asked Logan, selecting a pair of red fleece-lined booties that looked about Jasper’s size and offering them to him.
“Long enough.”
That didn’t bode well. The half smile on those very nice lips said as much.
Haylee, stop staring at his mouth!
“Jasper’s never worn booties before,” Logan said, his conversation shift so casual Haylee almost forgot to feel dread.
“He’s probably going to hate them, at first,” Haylee said, dropping her gaze to the Shepherd because it was certainly safer than stealing glances at Logan’s many enjoyable features.
She didn’t need to give those hypothetical butterflies any further reason to retaliate.
To the dog, she said, “But they’re for your own good, Jasper. ”
“I’ll make you a deal,” Logan said, lowering his voice.
“What?”
“I’ll help you slip out of here before I do.” He flickered his gaze to Laurel, then back to Haylee. The man was certainly perceptive. Whether it was his personality or military training, she couldn’t be certain. “But on two conditions.”
“Two?”
“One, you meet me for lunch tomorrow.”
She glanced at Laurel again. “I don’t think I’m getting out of that one. But you can’t tell her how you know me. Not yet.”
“Okay,” he said, nodding once.
Haylee’s tense shoulders relaxed at the way he simply accepted her request without question.
“And two?”
“I need my jacket back. It’s the only one I brought.”
Her cheeks heated with embarrassment. She’d completely forgotten his jacket was still draped over her shoulders. She slipped it off, not looking forward to the questions that would certainly come later.
“Better run while you can,” he said, nodding toward Laurel, who was still busy with the tree.
“Thank you?”
“Is that a question?” Logan’s casual smile promised to be trouble to those butterflies slowly waking from their long slumber.
She looked back at Laurel, calculating her best, most discreet escape plan. “No, not a question.”
“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow, Haylee.”