Gruff & Grumpy (Cherry Mountain Lumberjacks #2)

Chapter 1

SAVANNAH

It’s Friday morning, and Midnight Tales is bustling with customers. All the bookworms of Cherry Hollow are stocking up for their weekend reading, hauling stacks of paperbacks to the counter for me to ring up.

I love working in a place full of books. Whenever the store is quiet, I get to explore the aisles for my next read—usually a light and fluffy romance with a happily ever after.

Fictional meet-cutes are a great distraction from my own non-existent love life.

Heck, they’re such a great distraction that I’ve even started trying to write a few romance stories myself.

They’re all pretty unsubtle wish fulfillment—curvy small-town girls meeting Prince Charming in a bookstore.

My grandma likes to exaggerate and tell everyone I’m an author, but my stories are never leaving the depths of my laptop—no matter how many times she asks to read them.

She’d probably be disappointed by the lack of smut.

All my stories end with chaste kisses, then fade to black. No sex. I’d like to write something steamier, like the books I actually read, but I cringe at every attempt. Probably because I’m a virgin with about as much sexual experience as a houseplant.

I force this depressing thought aside, smiling at the last customer in line.

The store is quieting down as midday approaches, and my boss takes my place behind the register so I can go grab lunch.

She waves me off as I wind through rows of bookshelves and armchairs, heading outside into the chilly afternoon.

The streets of Cherry Hollow are filled with people heading for lunch, all of them bundled up in coats and scarves as snow drifts to the ground.

I didn’t bother wrapping up. I’m only heading to Mountain Brew, the coffee shop next door, where my best friend and I meet for lunch every day.

Josie works at the diner down the street, so it’s a short walk for both of us.

I enter the coffee shop, savoring the warmth as I breathe in the familiar scent of old wood and coffee.

Josie is already waiting for me at our usual corner table, fiddling with a lock of her long red hair.

She’s got a dreamy expression on her face, eyes far-off and wistful, but she snaps out of it when she sees me approaching.

“Hey, Sav!”

“Hi.” I lean down to hug her before sliding into the seat opposite. Two steaming mugs of hot chocolate sit on the table in front of us.

“Thanks for getting the drinks,” I say.

“Oh, these are both mine.” Josie circles her arms around the hot chocolates, guarding them fiercely. “If you want one, you’ll have to fight me.”

“Or I could just do this.” I reach over to tickle under her arm, snorting when she yelps like a seal and twists away from me.

“Ugh, you win.” She slides a hot chocolate across the table, keeping her arms clamped tight to her sides. “I can’t believe I’m rewarding your evil tactics.”

I laugh, taking a sip. It’s delicious as usual, topped with cream, marshmallows, and chocolate shavings.

“Let me buy the food to make it up to you,” I say, setting the mug down.

“It’s the least you can do for the trauma you just inflicted.” Josie shoots me a teasing glare. “But it’s my turn to pay. I already ordered.”

We always get the same thing. Mountain Brew might be known for coffee, but they also make the best grilled cheese sandwich in town, and my mouth is watering when the server brings our food out a few minutes later.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Josie says as we tuck in. “Tell Aria I said congratulations! Someone at the diner told me the news.”

Of course she knows already.

I only heard about my cousin Aria’s engagement this morning, but word spreads stupidly fast in this town, especially at Bernie’s Diner.

“Thanks. I’ll tell Aria when I see her.”

“It happened pretty fast, right?” Josie says. “Didn’t she only just meet Thorne?”

“Yep, less than a month ago.” I shrug. “When you know, you know, I guess.”

I’m thrilled for Aria. My cousin has been through a lot of crap lately, and she deserves her happy ending with Thorne Dalton. That man is crazy about her, and he obviously couldn’t wait to put a ring on her finger. I know they’ll be happy together…but I can’t help the twist of jealousy in my gut.

I hate myself for it.

“You okay, Sav?” Josie asks, scanning me with those bright green eyes as if she can read my thoughts. Sometimes, it feels like she really can.

“Yep.” The sandwich has turned to glue in my mouth, but I manage to swallow before adding, “I’m good.”

“Savannah, you don’t need to lie to me.”

My best friend always means business when she says Savannah instead of Sav. I can never hide anything from Josie for long.

“It’s just…the way they found each other,” I mumble, gnawing on my lip. “It was like magic. Love at first sight when they weren’t even looking for it.”

Guilt rises in my throat, and I try to swallow it down with another sip of hot chocolate before I continue.

“I know I should just be happy for them. Heck, I am happy for them. I just wish the same thing could happen to me.”

“I get it, Sav.” Josie reaches across the table to squeeze my hand. “Don’t shoot me for this, but have you thought about trying dating apps again?”

Dating apps. The devil’s spawn.

I fight back a shudder.

I know they’re not all bad, but when I finally caved and downloaded Small Town Singles, my first match was a guy who communicated solely using eggplant emojis.

My next match asked to video call because he wanted to show me his actual eggplant.

I instantly deleted the app, and the thought of re-downloading it doesn’t exactly spark joy.

“I think I’d rather die alone.”

Josie smiles, but she knows I don’t mean it.

All my life, I’ve been craving love. True love.

Marriage, babies, and a white picket fence kind of love.

I just wish I didn’t have to use an app to find it.

Wading through eggplant emojis doesn’t fill me with butterflies like the meet-cutes I write about in my stories.

“Honestly, Sav, I know how you feel,” Josie says, the smile dying on her lips. “It’s tough out there. Lumbersnack still doesn’t know I exist.”

“He must know by now.”

“Nope.” She picks glumly at a string of cheese oozing from her sandwich. “I’m invisible.”

Josie has been talking about Lumbersnack ever since he started coming to the diner a few weeks ago. She insists he’s the most gorgeous man she’s ever seen, but he refuses to make eye contact with her, even though he comes to the diner every morning. It’s been driving her nuts.

“It’s his loss,” I tell her. “You deserve someone who notices you, Josie.”

I change the subject before I can ruin her good mood, but as lunch winds down, we’re clearly both still lost in our thoughts. It’s almost time to head back to work, so we drain the dregs of our hot chocolates and head out of the coffee shop together.

“Don’t forget you’re invited to Grandma’s party tomorrow,” I tell Josie as we hug goodbye outside.

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss Bonnie’s birthday for the world.”

My grandma’s birthday is always a big deal in Cherry Hollow. As the owner of Bonnie’s Tavern, she knows practically everybody in this town, and it feels like all of them show up to her parties.

“Maybe Lumbersnack will be there,” Josie sighs as we pull apart. “I doubt it, though. He looks too grumpy for parties…or human contact in general.”

With one last sympathetic squeeze, we go our separate ways. Josie walks back to the diner, and I head inside Midnight Tales, where the rest of the afternoon slips by quickly. I work the register and restock bookshelves, but I’m only half concentrating as I smile mechanically at customers.

Talking to Josie about Thorne and Aria has stirred up a lot of emotions. I’m usually good at burying all the negative stuff, but right now, it’s hard to ignore the ache in my chest. Sometimes it feels like my heart’s about to explode—bursting with love that has nowhere to go.

Keep it together, Savannah.

Just get through the rest of the day.

When it’s finally time to close the bookstore, I grab my purse and wave goodbye to my boss. Her husband steps inside just as I’m about to head out, a dark glint in his eye when he sees his wife behind the counter. He doesn’t even notice I’m still in the room.

“Hi, beautiful,” I hear him say to my boss. “Fuck, I missed you.”

She giggles. “Duke, we just saw each other a few hours ago.”

The door swings closed behind me, and I scurry out of the bookstore, throat tight as I head for my car.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.

Usually, there’s nothing I love more than seeing people get their happy endings—whether in books, movies, or real life.

But right now, it just feels like a painful reminder of everything that’s missing… everything I want but don’t have.

Maybe this is my sign to try Small Town Singles again, I think to myself reluctantly.

It’s getting dark out, the sky turning a deep shade of indigo as I get in my car and reverse onto Main Street. I turn on the radio for the short drive back to my apartment, flicking through the music playing on local stations.

All you need is love—

Next.

We found love in a hopeless place—

Next.

And I…will always…love you—

“Not now, Whitney!”

I jab the button again, relieved when a weather report finally breaks the streak. At least the weather can’t make me feel bad about my love life.

“—followed by some light snow across Cherry Hollow on Saturday. And that’s it for the weather in Crave County.”

“Thanks, Stuart,” a woman says brightly. “Now, folks, let’s talk Valentine’s Day plans!”

“Ugh!”

I turn the radio off and hang a right onto my street.

My apartment building is just up ahead, tucked away near the hardware store on the outskirts of town.

Some of the tension eases inside me as I get closer.

I need a long bath, another hot chocolate, and a whole lot of quality time with my Kindle to cheer myself up.

Maybe I’ll skip romance books tonight and try a new genre.

A thriller or a horror. Something where everyone dies…

As I pass the hardware store, a flash of gray darts into the road in front of me

Bushy tail. Beady black eyes.

I swerve instinctively, slamming on the brakes. But my tires hit a patch of ice, and instead of stopping, my car skids toward the sidewalk.

Crap!

I see the man a second too late.

He looms in my headlights like a giant shadow, and I crash into him with a shriek. The impact jolts through me, throwing me back against the seat, sucking the breath from my lungs like a punch to the throat.

Everything goes still.

Silent.

All I can hear is my heartbeat thudding in my ears.

No, no, no.

I can’t move. Can’t breathe.

Please no, this can’t be happening.

But it is.

I just hit someone.