Page 97 of Love Me Gently

“I like Miss Heather,” June chimed in. “She makes the bestest Shirley Temple drinks in the whole world.”

“And she’s super nice,” Ella added. “If she’s your friend, why wouldn’t you want to see her?”

“Well,” I started, and then stopped. Because there wasn’t a great answer to give a five-year-old. “It’s been a long time, Ella. And besides, you only get so much time with your daddy, I wouldn’t want to take him from you.”

“You can’t do that,” Ella said. “He’s our dad, and he’s never going anywhere. He’s promised.”

A deep, amused chuckle came from the head of the table.

That wasn’t exactly what I meant, but I got her point.

Ella glanced at Cole and smiled. June grinned at me. “We love Grammy B too and Papa. We have lots of people who love us and friends. Ialwayswant to see my friends. And maybe Miss Heather will be so excited to see you, she’ll make you a special Shirley Temple drink, too.”

It was impossible to be worried and riddled with fear with Cole’s girls being so encouraging. “A Shirley Temple does sound good,” I admitted to June.

She shrugged and took another bite of her noodles likeduh.

“Okay then.” I shrugged and looked to Cole. “It would be nice to see her.”

She hadn’t hated me. She hadn’t understood but she hadn’t hated me. And maybe getting into town would be… nice? Scary, definitely, but nice for sure. I had to face everyone in town sometime.

What better time to do it than with, as Cole called them, Kip’s mountain men at my back.

“Then we’ll go,” Cole said. “And by the way, I know I’ve already said it, but this dinner is delicious. You’re a great cook.”

Satisfaction bloomed in me, even if I knew the meal was already good. But sitting around the table with people easily enjoying it instead of judging and critiquing was an entirely new experience for me.

“Thanks, Cole. That’s sweet.”

“We’ll be out front,out back, and in the bar,” Jim said as he pulled into the gravel parking lot behind Max’s. “One of us will have eyes on you at all times, so don’t worry about anything.”

Right. Don’t worry. Easier said than done, for sure.

“And I won’t leave your side,” Cole said, climbing out of the SUV and then holding out his hand for me to slide out after him. “I’m sure you’ll recognize eighty percent of everyone in there, but that doesn’t mean you go anywhere alone. You got it?”

I got that as soon as I told Cole I wanted to go and he went into ultra-protective planning and slightly-bossy mode. But this wasn’t a bad kind of bossy. He was bossy to protect me, not control me, and it made awilddifference in how that felt.

“I’ll be smart,” I promised him, and felt that familiar zing of warmth hit my fingers and then my chest as his hand wrapped around mine. Would that ever go away?

I hoped not.

I see everything.

The words came to mind again, and as we walked into the bar, I wasn’t worried about Jonathan. I wasn’t worried about Heather. I wasn’t worried about seeing anyone else in town I might know.

I was only worried that despite everything I wastryingto do, I was still going to end up falling short.

I tried to brush it off as Rocco led the way into Max’s. He walked in first, holding the door for Cole to grab, but didn’t give us any attention, like he was there on his own, and headed straight to the far end of the bar.

It ran along the left side, with three booths in front of it. The center of the small tavern had two, narrow, bar-height tables that could seat twelve. They were meant for people to hang out, greet new people, and have some drinks, but there wasn’t exactly room to have full plates of food. On the right side, were two more rows of regular height tables. Some square, some round, Max’s Tavern had never been abarbar, with live music or pool tables or darts or all the bar things. It was a restaurant with good, simple food meant to warm your bones after a day of skiing, and drinks meant to cool you off after summer days of hiking. It was the first restaurant and bar ever built in Deer Creek. It wasn’t only a staple to the locals, but it was a hotspot to visitors and tourists.

Given the fact we weren’t yet fully into the ski and holiday season, the place was full and busy, but there wasn’t a wait outside and there were a few open tables.

I scanned it all, recalled dozens of memories I had of being in this place for lunches with friends and dinners with my family and Cole’s, and it took me about two point five seconds to take it all in. Almost done scanning the place, I caught sight of the blond behind the bar, who had frozen in the middle of pouring a drink and whose gaze had stalled on me.

I flexed my fingers for Cole to let go. His hand went to my lower back. “She looks more surprised than I thought she would,” he whispered to me.

“No kidding,” I muttered right back. I took that first step forward, and out of nowhere, Ashley popped into my line of sight.

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