Chapter 2
Girdwood Springs. Long time, no see.
Driving slowly down the main drag, Max had to admit that he was impressed. While Girdwood Springs had been charming when he’d first visited seven years ago, it had been a sleepy, run-down kind of charm.
Now, the town was buzzing with energy. Despite the inhospitable weather and the quickly encroaching darkness, families were strolling happily along the sidewalk, small children bundled up in so many layers of winter clothes that their faces were practically invisible.
Fairy lights twinkled in the trees, and an array of cozy little shops that looked like they’d come straight out of a fairy tale beckoned passersby inside with their promise of warmth and good food.
Crisp, white snow lay in a blanket over the town, and woodsmoke lingered in the air.
Girdwood Springs was definitely on its way up… and, Max thought, maybe he’d had a tiny part to play in that.
After all, the last time he’d been here, he’d written a review of the local bakery not as average guy Max Holmes, but instead under his more mysterious nom de plume, Aubrey Z.
It had been a glowing review – and one hundred percent honest. He really hadn’t eaten anything as delicious as that honey cake before.
It had left him so impressed that he’d foregone his usual tendency to include both positives and negatives in his reviews, abandoning humor entirely in favor of, well… gushing, if he had to be honest.
But there really had been no negatives he could comment on, and he’d wanted to ensure that Sylvie’s Sweets and Bakery got the attention it deserved.
He could only imagine how hard it must be, trying to run a profitable bakery in a tiny town halfway up a mountain.
The fact that the food in such a sleepy, remote town was so incredible really was a minor miracle in and of itself.
And now that he’d found himself at a loose end, he’d ended up drifting back this way again.
A kind of restless energy had been building up inside him, and so he’d decided it was time to hit the road once more.
In the end, it hadn’t been too difficult to work out where his first stop would be.
Normally he would’ve looked for something new, but Girdwood Springs had a strange, almost magnetic pull.
He’d heard that travel writer Luna Hayes was based here now, too.
Not to mention that the town’s wildly successful food festival was heading into its fifth year – though it wouldn’t actually be happening for another few months, at the end of spring – and there was a film festival coming up as well.
Clearly, the town was a magnet for creative types these days, and he was curious to see how it had changed since the last time he was here.
All of that aside, did he really need any other reason to come back to Girdwood Springs than to revisit the place that had brought him here originally?
Speak of the devil…
That was definitely Sylvie’s Sweets and Bakery he was driving past right now, right where he’d left it.
He was sorely tempted to drop in for a bite to eat… but, it appeared, everyone else in town had had the same idea. The joint was jumping, and a cursory glance along the street told him that there wasn’t a single parking space to be found.
Besides, he told himself reasonably, you need to go and check in to your B sometimes he’d even just camped out when the weather had been nice. Food had always been his priority, with accommodation merely providing a means to that end.
But on this occasion, this B&B had been the only place available on short notice.
He’d booked it without really thinking about it…
but now, he had to admit, it was looking just a little more attractive than some dingy motel.
Hopefully he wouldn’t get a taste for fancy accommodations on top of his already pretty self-indulgent taste for great food.
Pulling out his phone, he checked the code for the key safe.
The owners had sent it through to him last night, saying that they might not be around when he arrived.
That suited Max just fine, to be honest – he wasn’t what most people would call a social person, and he was happy to just slip in unnoticed and spend the evening relaxing, especially after such a long drive.
The only thing he was mildly concerned about was that the suite he’d booked shared a kitchen with another room – it wasn’t his choice, but it had been the only one available.
Still, he supposed it could be worse. He was here to eat his way through the town, after all – it wasn’t like he actually needed to use the kitchen at all.
He’d just leave his kitchen access door locked, and the other guests could go hog wild in there.
As long as they kept it quiet and didn’t start any fires, he didn’t care.
“Oh, there you are!”
Max didn’t quite jump out of his skin, but he did start very slightly. He’d been so busy fiddling with the tiny numbers on the key safe that he hadn’t even noticed he had company.
He straightened up, keys in hand, to see a tall, gorgeous woman in front of him.
He recognized her right away from her wide smile and her braided hair – after all, he’d scoped out the website for the B&B before he booked it to make sure it was the kind of place he could get some privacy, and the owners had put their photo up on the ‘About Us’ page, smiling and blissful.
She looked exactly as happy here as she had there, and while Max was pleased she was welcoming, he’d been hoping to sneak inside without meeting anyone.
She stuck out her hand, offering a firm handshake. “Hi, I’m Natasha. You must be Max.”
He nodded and shook back, trying not to let his irritation at having his quiet time interrupted show on his face. “Nice to meet you.”
“We just got back ten minutes ago,” she went on, opening the front door and ushering him in. “Did you have any trouble finding the place?”
He shook his head, sending out a silent plea to anyone who would listen to deliver him from the trials of making small talk. It wasn’t like he hated other people or anything – he just really liked having his time be his own, especially when he wasn’t expecting anyone else to be around.
And perhaps his prayer had been answered, because there was a tall, blond man in the corridor, his face almost obscured by the enormous pile of boxes he was carrying. From the way Natasha called out to him and his cheerful reply, it was clear that he was the co-owner of the B&B.
“I can find my way from here,” Max said, holding up the keys awkwardly, in what he supposed was an indication that he was capable of unlocking his door. “You said that the staircase was down the end of the corridor, right?”
“Oh, I can show you up, it’s no trouble at all,” Natasha said breezily, and Max cursed inwardly. “Kieran’s just putting away some of the supplies we just picked up. He’ll be out of our way in a jiffy.”
Kieran, however, wasn’t putting away the supplies.
No – he was just staring at Max with a strange look on his face. It didn’t seem like an expression that suited him. His general demeanor a moment ago had been pretty happy-go-lucky, but now he seemed almost… guarded. Like Max potentially posed a threat.
Which he didn’t, unless you counted the threat he was going to certainly pose to the bakery’s supply of cakes, pies, and cookies. He fully intended to eat his weight in sugar while he was here.
Other than that, though, Max was mystified. He’d never experienced anything quite like this before. Sure, he was a tall guy, but he was pretty inoffensive. And Kieran certainly looked like he could look after himself.
“What’s going on, babe?” Natasha asked Kieran, looking surprised. Clearly Max’s hunch that this was out of character for him was correct.
Kieran blinked a little. It was almost like there was something he was trying to figure out about Max, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.