Guarded Hearts (Holiday Hearts #13)

Prologue

Dina

"Alright, okay," I said to myself, as I looked over the orders that had just arrived. There were four orders pinned to the service area just behind the main counter, and it looked like they were all we had to take care of before I could wrap up work for the day and get home.

And, God, I needed that right now. These late summer days were always busy, especially with Labor Day approaching, the town bustling with activity as tourists crowded the streets.

The Jukebox Diner was a regular stop-off spot for people travelling to and from the waterfalls, and we had already served a couple of tour groups who had been making their way down to the town’s square; a path that led from the real waterfall up in the woods all the way down to the small marble recreation of it that served as the centerpiece for Whisper Falls.

"There you go," Pam called to me, from behind the stove where she was working on the last few orders. "That’s the plates for booth number four."

"Thanks, Pam," I replied, and I nodded to the orders tagged to the hooks on the small board in front of us. "Matty just got a couple more, but after we’ve got these handled, that should be us."

Pam pretended to punch the air and I laughed; even though she was nearly twice my age, with long gray hair that she wore back from her face to keep it away from the endless diner food she turned out over the course of the day, I could have sworn she had more energy than me most of the time.

I grabbed the two plates before me and took them out to booth four, which was currently occupied by a young couple who had barely been able to keep their gaze, or hands, for that matter, off each other since they had arrived.

They were holding hands across the table when I appeared next to them, and I might have put down the plates with a little more passion than I normally did, just to break the desperately syrupy gaze they were hitting each other with right now.

"You ordered the eggs and french toast, right?" I asked the girl, and she grinned up at me and nodded.

“Yeah, thank you,” she replied, and I immediately felt guilty for being so sour about how obviously in love they were.

"And you’ve got the..."

"The sausages and beans. Yeah, right here."

The guy leaned back in his seat so I could put the food down before him, and I hovered for a moment, wondering if I should apologize for practically throwing the food at them earlier.

"Anything else I can get you?”

"I think we’re good," she replied, flashing me another smile. I nodded, and turned to head back to the counter, doing my best to remind myself that not every couple who walked in here had been sent to annoy me specifically.

Ugh. I knew I shouldn’t have let all of this get under my skin.

But summer was the worst time of year for all of this.

If you weren’t the kind of person who had someone to go home to, you’d be reminded of that every time you turned around.

Whisper Falls was a popular destination for couples, and there were even a few big weddings that took place at the Grand Pavilion that overlooked the waterfall and river.

I couldn’t count the number of proposals I had seen posted on social media, videos taken on romantic hikes out to the waterfalls, not that I would have any idea what that felt like any time soon.

It wasn’t that I had never had someone to do all that stuff with.

At least, going to the waterfalls, exploring the town, enjoying the warm, comforting bath of sunshine that poured down on top of us as the long days stretched into longer nights.

No, in fact, the last couple of summers, I had actually found myself decidedly not single, at least, in my eyes.

The first summer, it had been Hans, the German student who was travelling around the USA, and then after that, Damon, the Michigan native who had been exploring a little more of the world.

And both of them...both of them, I had allowed myself to believe, really cared about me.

Actually gave a damn about me, even though I wasn’t sure why.

And we spent those summer days together, and I let myself believe, as stupid as it was, that there was something real there between us.

That I could make something work long-term.

And that, however brief they had intended their visits to be, those evenings staring into each other’s eyes couldn’t just be forgotten like that.

Right?

Wrong. They both took off out of town without looking back, shooting off into the sunset as though they barely even knew who I was in the first place.

They had both promised to keep in touch, but even before they’d gone, I had been coping with the sinking suspicion that they were only saying what they thought they needed to in order to get me off their backs.

I could have called them out on it, but I knew it wouldn’t have led anywhere, and soon, my texts weren’t even being opened, and I knew that I had to forget about them for good.

Easy for them, no doubt, since they were out exploring the world, but not so much for me, living the same day over and over again here until it felt like I might lose my mind.

But I had sworn to myself, in no uncertain terms, that I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen again.

There had been a few cute guys who had come through the diner, and a few who had even left their numbers for me after they had tried to flirt their way through their meals, but I had dumped them in the trash along with the leftover eggs and bacon.

I didn’t need that. Didn’t need any of it in my life, actually.

And, with just a few weeks left of the summer, it looked as though I had almost pulled it…

"Hey."

I glanced up as I stepped around the counter, so lost in thought I hadn’t noticed the customer sitting on one of the worn red leather stools that ran alongside it. He was grinning at me as I hurried over to check on him, his slightly-overgrown dirty blond hair falling into his face.

"Sorry to bother you so late," he remarked, nodding back towards the door. "I saw you were open for another twenty minutes…"

"It’s fine," I assured him quickly, as I grabbed the pad from where it sat in the pocket of my apron and hovered my pen over it. "So, what can I get you?"

"Hmm," he replied, tapping a finger against his chin as he pondered his answer. He took his time choosing something, and I pressed my lips together, tapping the pen against the notebook pointedly as I waited for him to respond.

"What would you recommend?"

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Uh, depends what you like."

"I’ll put my dinner in your hands," he remarked, tipping his head to the side as he looked up at me. I shrugged. If that’s how he wanted to play it, I could handle that.

I looked back to see what Pam was making, trying to figure out what would have been the easiest to put together, the quickest to get us out the door.

"Eggs and bacon," I replied. "And some coffee."

"Sounds a little....plain."

"Good amount of protein if you’ve been walking all day, plus the caffeine will give you the energy to get back into town," I explained. "And besides, the way Pam does it, nothing’s plain in here, I can tell you."

He grinned.

"How did you know I’ve been walking today?"

"Everyone comes here to hike," I replied, as I nodded to Pam to let her know she could get to cooking. He didn’t seem to be protesting the order I had put in for him too much, and I was going to take that as all the confirmation I needed. "Clue’s in the name. Whisper Falls, right?"

"Guess so," he agreed. "I haven’t made it up there yet. Is it worth the trip?"

"Oh, of course," I replied. "It’s beautiful. Especially this time of year, with all the trees and flowers in bloom."

"I’ll have to add it to my list."

"It’s not far from here," I told him, gesturing out of the door, to where one of the trails that led up to the waterfalls started. "Probably an hour or so to the height of it, but there’s some nice paths that go around a little lower, too."

"Depends how weighed down I am by this dinner," he replied, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

"Guess so."

He paused for a moment, just looking at me, as I tucked my pad back into my apron.

I love working with Pam, who ordered these uniforms. I mentioned to her that they made us look like we belonged in the fifties.

She insisted that tourists liked the feel of the place when it was a little old-fashioned.

So we were stuck in these red aprons and striped red and white shirts, though thank God she had conceded the point on allowing us to wear slacks, at least.

This guy, for his part, looked far more relaxed, in jeans and a white tee that made his tanned skin look even more rugged beneath the blue light in here.

He was handsome, in that classic sort of way; blue eyes, strong jaw, clear skin, some light stubble on his face.

Not that I was going to let my mind stray there, because I had put the kibosh on any and all potential crushes for my own wellbeing.

I couldn’t be trusted with something as unwieldy as a crush, and the sooner I realized that, the better.

"Might get lost, though, this late in the day," he added, pointing past the large windows, where the orange rays of the setting sun were just beginning to come through the glass. "Could use a guide."

His blue eyes locked with mine, and, for just a moment, all the certainty that I had been hanging on to slipped from my head in a matter of seconds.

His cornflower-blue eyes had something to them, a softness, a warmth, that made it hard to think straight, and I had to rush to push down the urge to offer up my help right then and there, before I could stop myself.

"I already run around enough here," I joked, trying to keep my voice light, so the rejection wouldn’t feel too mean. "I don’t think I need to be dragging my butt up mountains after a long shift."