The Cottage on Juniper Ridge (8 page)

A scented candle, a proper fire crackling in the woodstove, along with popcorn, hot chocolate and a board game added up to a perfect family evening.

The snow was falling gently the next day when Toni and her family left and Jen treated herself to a walk in the woods. The air up here was so fresh. The snow was so beautiful. And it was so quiet, so peaceful. Oh, yes, she was going to love it here.

* * *

Jen was going to go crazy if she spent another day in this place. After four days stuck in her cozy cottage, she was ready to pull out her hair. It was just her and the trees. And the snow. The white stuff was everywhere—on the deck, on the ground, on her car. On the road. In the driveway.

What did it say about her that she wasn’t adapting to this new life she’d been dying for only a few weeks ago? She’d read two novels, watched six movies and baked two batches of cookies. And on day four she’d thrown Muriel Sterling’s stupid book against the wall.

She was all for living the simple life but she didn’t want to live it all by herself, for crying out loud. She was ready to get out, see people, oh, and get groceries. At the rate she was going, she’d to starve here. All by herself. Well, okay, after all the cookies she’d consumed she had five new pounds of fat to live on, but still.

She also needed to network, and the sooner, the better. In between the baking and reading and movie-watching, she’d called about both of the help-wanted signs she’d seen in those shop windows only to learn the positions had been filled. Her sister was right (as usual); she should’ve lined something up before she moved. Jumping and assuming a net would appear had been stupid.

But she was determined not to go splat. Someone in this town
had
to need help. And the only way she was going to find out was to go and meet those someones.

She looked out the window at the falling snow and gnawed her lip.
You don’t know how to drive in snow,
she reminded herself. Except she was living in the mountains now. That meant if she wanted fripperies such as groceries, she had to learn to drive in the stuff.

She had snow tires and the ground was level. And she’d gotten here in one piece, hadn’t she? It was ridiculous to be such a sissy. She could drive in the snow if she set her mind to it. She just had to take it slow. She could handle that.

Filled with determination, she marched to the little closet where she kept her coat and pulled it out, along with her gloves and scarf. Darn it all, she was going to town.

Once on the front porch she hesitated. More of the white stuff had fallen since Wayne and Jeffrey had shoveled her driveway before leaving, and it was buried under a fresh ten inches. But she was sure the main roads had been cleared. Nonetheless, she took a hike to see. Yep. If she could just get out of her driveway she’d be fine. It was now or never.

She returned home and got the handy-dandy snow shovel she’d found in the shed behind the cottage, then spent forty-five minutes making a path to the road. Then she got in the car and edged it forward.

Holding her breath, she inched out onto the road. The snowplows had come through earlier, but enough snow had accumulated since then to crunch under her tires and make her heart rate increase. She slowly made her way along Juniper Ridge and finally turned onto Icicle Road, one of the main roads into town.

She white-knuckled it for the first five minutes, moving at a sluggish pace, but once she realized she wasn’t spinning wildly out of control she began to relax. Okay, driving in the snow wasn’t really so hard. She could do this.

By the time she got to town she was exultant. Yes, she was going to be fine living here in the mountains.

Her first stop was the grocery store where she stocked up on essentials—bread, eggs, cheese, rotisserie chicken, hot chocolate mix and eggnog (which was on sale now that the holidays were over). Two older women smiled at her, the guy working in the produce department flirted with her and the checker, after hearing she was new in town, gave her a hearty welcome, along with a quick rundown on some of the town’s amenities.

Herman’s Hamburgers was the place to go for the best fries in town. Zelda’s was the number-one hangout for single women on a Friday night. The Red Barn was where everyone went dancing on Saturdays. Of course, for her chocolate supply she needed to frequent the Sweet Dreams gift shop. If she wanted fabulous baked goodies the top choice was Gingerbread Haus. For gossip and girl time, it was Bavarian Brews and for books either the library or Mountain Escape Books. There was always something happening at the bookstore, and they sponsored several book clubs.

A book club sounded like a great way to keep up with new reads and meet some other Icicle Falls residents. Jen decided to stop at the bookstore on her way out of town.

Mountain Escape Books wasn’t the world’s largest bookstore, but it sure felt like the homiest. In the children’s corner several preschoolers sat on colored carpet squares, spellbound, while an employee read from the latest picture book by George Shannon. A gray-haired man stood visiting with a statuesque redhead behind the counter who looked to be around Jen’s mother’s age. She saw a retired couple in the nonfiction section, checking out a travel book while nursing lattes, probably from Bavarian Brews, which Jen had heard about earlier. Three women stood chatting in the fiction section. One was blonde and slightly overweight. She seemed to be in her midforties. The woman next to her was tall with long, chestnut-colored hair. She wore jeans, stylish boots and a great red coat. Jen guessed her age to be somewhere in the late thirties. The third woman was Jen’s age, maybe younger, with brown hair and big, brown eyes. And a friendly smile.

Jen sidled closer and eavesdropped shamelessly.

“I just finished the book,” the well-dressed woman was saying. “I think there’s a lot in there. I hope I can figure out how to apply all of Muriel’s advice to my crazy life.”

Book...Muriel? As in Muriel Sterling? Could they be talking about the book that had inspired Jen to move?

“Well, I sure got a lot out of the chapter on time management,” said the woman Jen’s age. She saw Jen and offered a friendly smile. “Hi, can I help you?”

So she worked here. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” Well, actually, she had. “I’m new in town.”

“A new Icicle!” the fortysomething woman exclaimed. “Welcome.”

“Thanks,” Jen said “Uh, what’s an Icicle?”

“An Icicle Falls resident,” said the woman. “My name’s Stacy Thomas and this is Charlene Albach.”

“Charley to my friends.” The well-dressed woman held out a hand for Jen to shake. “I own Zelda’s, one of the restaurants here in town.”

“The checker at Safeway was telling me about your place. It sounds great.”

Charley beamed. “It is.”

“And this is Juliet Gerard,” Stacy said.

“I work part-time here at the store,” Juliet added.

This sparked a conversation about the bookstore and books in general.

“That one you were talking about,” Jen said, “is it, by any chance,
Simplicity
by Muriel Sterling?”

Stacy nodded. “It’s our book club pick for this month. Have you read it?”

“I have. In fact, that book inspired me to simplify my life and move here.”

Stacy blinked. “You just up and moved?”

Okay, did she sound totally wacky? “Well, I only moved here from Seattle. It wasn’t that far.”

“I’m impressed,” Juliet said in awe.

“Where are you staying?”

“I rented a cottage on Juniper Ridge.”

“It’s nice out there,” Stacy said. “I still can’t believe you just
moved
here after reading that book.”

“You need to come to our book-club meeting,” Juliet told her. “We’d love to talk to someone who’s putting what’s in the book into practice.”

“Gosh, I don’t want to crash your group.” What was she saying? Yes, she did. She wanted her simple life to include more than trees, snow and silence 24/7.

“You won’t be,” Juliet assured her. “Come check us out. You might like us.”

She already did.

The other two women also urged her to come, so, after pretending to consider for a decent amount of time, she agreed and got Stacy’s phone number and address. Then Juliet recommended a couple of good reads and she walked out carrying two romance novels and wearing a big grin. She was going to love it here.

The grin faded once she left the quaint downtown area. The snow had been falling aggressively while she ran her errands and visited in the bookstore and she swerved as she turned onto Icicle Road. Oh, this was not good.

It’s all flat,
she reminded herself.
And you only have one more turn onto Juniper Ridge. You can do this.

She gripped the steering wheel firmly and took a deep, calming breath.
You can do it, you can do it, you can do it.

When an SUV zipped up from behind and passed her, she frowned and gripped the steering wheel harder. Of course, she was going to irritate the more experienced drivers, creeping along like this. But better to irritate people than to lose control of her car and hit them, she reasoned.

The car skated down the road with no problem and she let out her breath. Okay, all was well. She’d be home before dark. Boy, that was like something a little old lady would say. She had to stop being such a wimp if she planned to live here. She decided to go a tiny bit faster simply to prove she could. Nothing awful happened. The car kept moving straight ahead.
There. See? Driving in the snow isn’t that hard. You knew you could handle it and you were right.

Anyway, other than that one vehicle, there was no one out here. She had the whole road to herself.

Except...what was this bounding out onto the road? Oh, no! A deer!

She hit the brakes and the car went into a slide. The deer raced off into the woods and Jen veered toward the other lane going sideways.
Oh, no! Oh, oh, no! Turn into the spin, turn into the spin.
Which way was she spinning?

And what was this coming from the other direction?
Noooo.

Chapter Eight

Relationships don’t have to be
complicated.

—Muriel Sterling, author of
Simplicity

G
arrett had joined the Icicle Falls Fire
Department for two reasons. First, he’d wanted to help people. Second, he’d
wanted a job that provided some excitement. Firefighting met both of those
requirements.

His attitude regarding excitement had changed since he’d joined
the department, though. Something he’d known on a mental level quickly hit home
at a gut level—one man’s adventure was another’s disaster. The fire that took
out Zelda’s restaurant had been the final tipping point for him. It was the
first one he’d fought in which everything was lost, and seeing the bleak look on
Charlene Albach’s face as she watched her business go up in flames had been
terrible. He still wanted to help people but now he hoped he never had to fight
another fire. Still, living in the mountains meant there was always the danger
of forest fire, which could be devastating for Icicle Falls. He prayed it never
happened. Meanwhile, the favorite parts of his job were school visits and
fire-safety inspections. Prevention was everything.

He’d gotten to do both on his latest twenty-four-hour shift,
and he’d been in a good mood when he left the station. He’d still been in a good
mood when he’d done his shopping, and when he’d picked up his son at
kindergarten. But then he’d had to deliver Timmy to Ashley and that had
completely eroded it.

Of course, Timmy had been excited. A weekend with Mommy was
like a weekend at Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island where anything went. No rules, no
structure. Just fun, fun, fun. Well, as long as he didn’t get into Ashley’s
makeup. He’d done some decorating with it the last time he stayed (discovering
that lipstick was perfect for drawing on a bathroom wall) and she’d yelled at
him so much he’d come home traumatized.

Now Garrett was feeling traumatized as he drove down Icicle
Road. How he hated dealing with Ashley.

“I’m going to have to bring him back tomorrow morning,” she’d
said.

“Tomorrow?” Wait a minute. He’d had plans for the next day. He
and Tilda were going to play some racquetball and go out for breakfast. And much
as he didn’t like Ashley’s parenting style, she was still the kid’s mother and
ought to be able to take him for two days.

“I’ve got plans,” she’d said.

“Yeah? Well, so do I.”

“Then have your mother watch him.” Ashley always had an easy
solution that involved someone else doing her work for her.

Meanwhile, there stood Timmy, listening to every word. Garrett
wasn’t sure how much a five-year-old understood, but he hadn’t wanted to take
the chance that the kid would feel like a hot potato nobody wanted to keep.

“Okay.” He’d tousled Timmy’s hair. “We’ll go get hamburgers at
Herman’s. How’s that sound, dude?”

Timmy had been fine with that and responded with much jumping
around and chanting “Hamburgers, hamburgers!”

Garrett had given his son a friendly guy punch on the arm. “How
about you go play and let me talk to your mom for a minute.”

Timmy had run cheerfully into the living room, where he’d
promptly turned on the TV. God only knew what she let him watch.

Garrett had regarded his irresponsible ex-wife in disgust.

“What?” she’d said defensively.

“Plans? Seriously?”

“Hey, I have a life.”

“You also have a son and you only have to take him every other
weekend.”

“I always take him. When have I not taken him?” she’d
demanded.

He’d waved her phony indignation away and moved toward the
door.

“Don’t you go making me feel guilty,” she’d snarled. “It wasn’t
my idea to have kids, remember?”

Thank God she’d at least lowered her voice. He didn’t bother to
respond.

If there’d really been a Santa, Garrett would have offered the
old guy beer for life if he’d just haul Ashley away. But the new year had
arrived and, sadly, she was still here. Garrett shook his head. He was so done
with flakes.

“Did you hear that?” he said to the vision of the cute,
freckled strawberry blonde who’d been occupying his mind so much lately. But he
didn’t care how attracted he was to Jen Heath. He wasn’t going to pursue any
relationship with her beyond that of landlord and tenant.

Watching her in action the day she’d moved into his place had
given him a clear idea of what her personality was. All that talk of home-canned
food the first day he’d met her had been nothing but a smokescreen. Here was a
good-time girl who’d quit her job at the drop of a hat, who’d abandon the work
of moving in to play in the snow. Some people would call that being a free
spirit. He called it irresponsible. And if she didn’t burn his place down it
would be a miracle.

He’d seen the car up ahead coming toward him. But now he
realized the car was
really
coming toward him,
skidding into his lane. What crazy idiot— He turned his truck to the left and
skated by the vehicle on the wrong side of the road. Daylight was fading but not
so fast that he didn’t get a look at the other driver, seeing the expression of
terror on her face as she went past him. He also saw that it was his new tenant.
He got back in his lane and eased off the road, watching in his rearview as her
car skidded into the ditch.

Even though he wasn’t going to get involved with her, he sure
couldn’t leave her there, stranded in the snow.

He climbed out of the truck and trotted over to where her car
sat, nose in the ditch, its motor still running. He could hear her sobbing
before he got to her door. He tapped on the window and she let out a shriek.
Then she recognized him and her expression of panic morphed into one of
gratitude.

She lowered the window. “I...I...”

That seemed to be all she could get out. “Turn off your
engine,” he instructed.

She nodded and cut the engine. She tried to talk again, this
time around tears. “I thought I could drive in the snow, but...I almost hit that
deer,” she finished on a wail.

The deer was long gone. Garrett assessed the situation. There
was no point in trying to pull her car out of the ditch. She was still too
agitated to drive. “Come on, I’ll give you a lift.”

“But my car,” she protested.

“Is not going anywhere. I’ll call Swede and he can send someone
to tow it back to your place.”

“Swede?”

“He owns the garage in town.”

She grabbed her purse and a bag from Mountain Escape Books.
“I’ve got groceries in the trunk.”

He nodded and held out his hand for her keys. As she dropped
them in his palm he saw that her hand was shaking.

“I could have hit someone.” Her eyes suddenly got wide. “I
could have hit you!”

“Well, let’s be glad you didn’t.”

“How am I going to live here if I can’t drive in the snow?” she
fretted.

He figured that was probably a rhetorical question and kept his
mouth shut.

He opened the trunk and saw that her grocery bag had tipped,
sending stuff every which way. A carton of eggnog lay on its side on top of the
eggs. He was willing to bet several of them had broken. A plastic produce bag
had spilled its contents and apples had rolled everywhere.

“My apples are going to be bruised.”

“Better your apples than your body,” he said.

Her lower lip began to tremble.

“It’s okay,” he said gently. “You’re okay.” He helped her
gather up the food, then they walked to the truck and he called Swede’s garage
while she dug in her purse, muttering, “I’ve got my Triple-A card here
somewhere.”

“Don’t worry,” Garrett told her as she got inside the truck
cab. “We’ll sort it out later. Swede’s easy.”

It only took a couple of minutes to make arrangements for her
car to be towed.

“Thanks,” she said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you
hadn’t come along.”

He shrugged, glad he hadn’t come along any sooner. If he had,
they would have collided for certain. “No problem,” he said.

He swung the truck around and she clutched at the armrest.

“Don’t worry, I won’t put us in a ditch,” he promised. “I’ve
driven in snow and ice all my life.”

She still hung on until they’d straightened out. Then she
slowly let out her breath.

“See? No worries,” he said, and she nodded.

“I don’t think I’m ready to drive in snow yet,” she said in a
small voice.

“You just have to be careful in these shady patches where the
road gets slick. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“I guess you did. Did you grow up here?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Idaho. We moved here when I was a senior in
high school.”

“That must’ve been a hard adjustment.”

Not if you played football. “I managed.”

She rubbed her arms. “So you’ve lived here ever since?”

“Pretty much,” he said, and turned on the heat full blast. “I
went away to school.”

“But then you came back.”

“After a few years.”
And got caught by
Ashley.

“I can see why you came back,” Jen said. “It’s such a cute
town, and the people are all so nice.”

He had to admit Icicle Falls was a great place to live. And a
great place to raise kids. In fact, it would be a perfect place if he could just
get rid of Ash. “Yeah, it is.”

She looked out the window. “I’m glad I didn’t hit the
deer.”

Garrett was glad she hadn’t hit
him.

“I thought I’d be okay with snow tires. I should have them put
chains on.”

“You’d be taking them off every time the snowplow came
through.”

She began to gnaw her lip. He should say something to distract
her.
What kind of perfume are you wearing?

Not that!
He cleared his throat.
“So, what did you do in Seattle?”

She shrugged. “Worked all the time.”

“Corporate mover and shaker?”

“More like office peon. Plus I sold candles at home
parties.”

So she sold fire hazards in her spare time. “Candles can be
dangerous,” he warned.

From the way she was looking at him it was obvious he’d just
insulted her. “I explain that at all my candle parties. You should never leave
lit candles to burn unattended and never burn them near curtains or any
flammables.”

“I guess you know your stuff,” he said, and nodded
approvingly.

“I guess I do,” she said with an answering smile. “What I don’t
know about is woodstoves. I never had one. But now I’ve got the stove figured
out, so you won’t have to worry that I’ll burn your place down.”

“Never thought it,” he lied.

“Uh-huh.”

He pulled up in front of the cottage. Piles of snow marched
down the driveway to the road. She’d obviously been busy shoveling. “I’ve got a
plow attachment for my truck. I’ll come by when we get snow again and dig out
the driveway for you.” More exposure to Jen Heath. What was he thinking? He was
thinking it would be a nice thing to do, that was all.

“That would be great.”

It
would
be—as long as he shoveled
the drive and got out of there.

“I thought I was going to keel over shoveling all that snow,”
she confessed.

Then someone would’ve had to give her CPR. He shook off the
image of his mouth on hers. Damn, where did this stuff keep coming from? “I’ll
get your groceries for you.”

“Thanks.”

They climbed out of the cab and she went to unlock the cabin
door while he collected the groceries. She had it open and had turned on the
lights by the time he reached the porch. It was like walking into a different
place with her white leather couch replacing the old sofa. That and the matching
chair and fancy coffee table made this dump seem downright stylish. She’d
covered the old dining table with a red cloth and a fancy arrangement of candles
and greens. The place had gone from looking like the rough-and-tumble little
dump it was into something a lot classier.

“Nice,” he observed as he set the bag on the counter.

“Thanks,” she said. “And thanks again for rescuing me. Can I
make you an eggnog latte?”

The place looked good and so did she. Which was why he said, “I
appreciate the offer, but I should get going.”

“Okay.”

He almost breathed a sigh of relief until she added, “Then how
about if I cook you dinner? As a thank-you for helping me out.”

Oh, no. Dinner would be a disaster. He’d get sucked right in,
just like he had with Ash. “No need, really. But, uh, thanks.” Now he was edging
toward the door like a gauche kid. “Well, take it easy,” he mumbled. Then he
bolted down the stairs for the safety of his truck.

* * *

Jen watched Garrett Armstrong racing for his truck as if
his pants were on fire. What was wrong with the man? Surely if he was seeing
someone he would have used that as his excuse.
Sorry, I’ve
got to get back to my girlfriend.
Or,
Sorry,
I’ve got to get back to my boyfriend.
He hadn’t mentioned anyone. So
maybe it was her? He wasn’t attracted to her, plain and simple.

She went into the bedroom and checked herself out in the
beveled mirror of the antique dresser. She had a cute enough face—oval with
hazel eyes. Her nose wasn’t bad. Neither was her mouth. Okay, maybe her lips
weren’t as full as Angelina Jolie’s but they were still nice. Her hair was long.
Guys liked long hair, didn’t they? And so she wasn’t a 38D. She wasn’t
flat-chested, either. The girls were big enough to attract a man’s attention.
Well, most men’s, but obviously not Garrett Armstrong’s. What the heck was wrong
with her?

“Nothing,” she told herself firmly.

So, that left only one alternative. Garrett Armstrong was shy.
That flaw could be corrected over time, she decided as she returned to the
kitchen to put away her groceries.

That was when she discovered half the eggs in the carton had
broken. Which meant scrambled eggs for dinner. Good. A nice simple meal.