by Mary Manners
“You’d better take the sweater off.”
The words were an electric shock to her system. “What?”
“Relax.” Mason’s lips curled into a frown. “I assume you have a T-shirt on underneath?”
“Yes.” She nodded slightly, biting her lip to keep it from trembling. “But, really, Mason…is that necessary?”
“It is.”
Josie forced back tears while she did as she was told, tugging the sweater over her head to expose a cap-sleeved white T-shirt. “Just get it over with.”
“Turn toward me. Relax your arms.” Mason snapped half-a-dozen photos as the icepack melted in her hands, dripping water along the tile floor. Finally, he eased back on his haunches, satisfied. “Now, hold that pack on your forearm while I take a look at your foot.”
“That’s really too much, Mason.” Josie wiggled back on the box that served as a seat. “I can take care of it myself.”
“Pigheaded and stubborn, that’s what you are.” Mason wrapped his hands around her waist and tugged her toward him, planting her rear end firmly back on the box. “Just sit still and be quiet for a full two minutes, will you?”
“Mason—”
“There you go again.” He glanced up, his dark eyes like smoldering embers as he peeled back her sock to expose toes polished in a sassy neon pink. “Do I need to get the duct tape?”
Josie pursed her lips and held her tongue as his fingers skimmed gently over her skin, brushing the butterfly tattoo she’d received on a dare the evening of her eighteenth birthday. “You still have it…nice, tasteful,” Mason murmured as he smoothed a single finger over the tiny wings. Then, just as quickly, he cleared his throat and refocused on the task at hand. “The cut’s not too bad. A little antiseptic and a Band-Aid and you’ll be good as new. Do you have a first aid kit?”
“Stock room, mounted to the wall near the door.”
“Don’t move.” He wagged a finger at her. “I’ll be right back.”
Mason quickly returned with his hands full. He dumped supplies on the floor beside her and dropped to his knees.
Josie grimaced. “Is this really necessary?”
“Yes.”
Josie wiggled her toes, squirming as he swabbed the wound with a chill of peroxide. “That tickles.”
“Good, then it means it isn’t hurting.” He unwrapped a Band-Aid and smoothed it over the cut before looking up, his gaze capturing hers. His brown eyes were dark with concern and a touch of fury. There was something else, too, something Josie couldn’t quite put her finger on. “Did he hurt you…anywhere else?”
The question hung between them, bringing tears to Josie’s eyes. Simms could have hurt her more, most certainly intended to hurt her badly enough to take what he wanted. If Mason hadn’t returned…
“No.” Josie shook her head, her voice little more than a gasp. “I’m OK.”
But the tears came harder as reality set in, choking her. She melted into Mason, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into the shelter of his embrace.
“It’s OK now. You’ll be fine, honey.” His words were a warm breath against her cheek, his touch a gentle assurance as the ice pack slipped to the floor. “He won’t come around anymore. I promise.”
“He just scared me.” Her tears dampened the front of his flannel shirt. “I thought he would—”
“It’s over.” Mason cut off the sentence with short, clipped words. “Like you said, the police will handle things now.”
The shop door slammed open, jarring the overhead bell and startling Josie as a blast of frigid air swirled into the room.
“Josie, oh my baby.” Ali rushed over, followed closely by Maci and Hunter. “Are you OK?”
“Yes.” She eased from Mason’s arms and gazed up at the trio of friends, her vision blurred by hot tears. “But, how did you know?”
“The emergency radio.” Hunter tapped the small black box at his side. “Distress call came in about half an hour ago. I’m off duty today so, without the emergency vehicle, we got here as quick as we could through the snowdrifts. Everything OK?”
“It is now.” Mason rose to face Hunter, extending a hand. The years seemed to melt away as Josie watched them acknowledge each other. “It’s good to see you, man.”
“You, too.” Hunter surveyed the war-zone around the room—shattered glass and the broken coffee carafe. “Good grief. What happened?”
As Mason dove into the story Ali and Maci slipped from their snow-dusted coats and huddled around Josie, wrapping her in tender comfort. Josie let her tears fall, realizing once again how very blessed she was to have friends such as these.
“Stewart Simms is no better than his evil cousin.” Maci retrieved the ice pack from the tile and draped it back over Josie’s bruise. Her eyes, grey-blue as stonewashed denim, narrowed as her lips dipped to a frown. “Bad news…both of them. You’re pressing charges, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good, then.” Ali leaned in. “Your glasses are broken.”
“I know.” And just like that, she was reduced to her gawky high school days once again. She pressed the slipping frames back onto her nose. “I have another pair in my office. I just have to fetch them.”
“I’ll go,” Maci offered.
“Where’s Rory?” Josie asked with a start.
“Back at the inn with Ryder.” Ali hugged Josie and stroked tear-dampened hair from her cheek as Maci slipped into her office for the glasses. “Ryder’s tossing together a pot of his soon-to-be famous chicken gumbo for the guests braving the storm.”
“Sounds yummy.”
“Yes, it does.” Maci returned with the sassy floral frames and leaned in, handing them to Josie. “The symphony’s concert has been canceled for tonight. I say we all head toward the inn and take a break from this craziness. What do you think?”
“I don’t know…I still have a lot of work to do.” Josie’s gaze drifted over the mess of coffee splatter, stacked magazines and unopened boxes. “And I should probably go in search of a new coffee carafe.”
“Stock can wait, and coffee, too.” Mason stepped forward to take Josie’s hand. “I’ll mop up this mess for you and then work is done for today. I think heading back to the inn is a great idea.” He handed Josie her boots. “My SUV is loaded down with sleds I picked up from Peterson’s Five and Dime on the way into town this morning.”
“Let’s break them in.” Hunter handed Maci her jacket. “Remember that giant hill back behind the inn, Mason?”
“The one with the wicked dip and hairpin curve?”
“Yeah. We used to grab some huge air there.” Hunter’s comment was embedded with a dare. “Bet I can still fly higher than you.”
“You’re on.” Mason handed Josie her mittens, winking. “If I remember right, our two-person sled used to race the fastest. Think you’ve still got it in you?”
“You’d better believe it.” Josie rose to the challenge. She swiped her tears and watched as Mason wadded paper towels and knelt to mop up the coffee mess. “And, as I remember, I lobbed a pretty mean snowball, too. Good aim. If I’m going to pack up work for the day, I might as well make it worth my while.”
“Have you just issued a challenge?” He tossed the soiled towels into a trash can.
“Take it or leave it.”
“Perfect.” Maci flipped her braided long, black hair over her shoulder and tugged on a thick, wool hat. “My violin’s in Hunter’s Land Rover. After we sled and wage all-out war with mounds of packed slush, we can enjoy a little after-dinner music. Ali’s asked me to play for the inn’s guests.”
“And we have several who’ve decided to extend their stay through the storm because they aren’t used to these mountain roads.” Ali tugged the zipper on her jacket and slipped her hands into leather gloves. “Come on, Josie. Rory will love seeing you again.”
7
Josie burrowed into the couch, the flames of the inn’s oversized great room fireplace nipping at her toes. Music
from Maci’s violin soothed, and Josie sighed as Mason settled in beside her.
“How are you holding up?” He placed an arm around her shoulders.
“My body aches, and I’m not sure if it’s from Simms’s flailing or the snowball thrashing I took from you.” She turned and leaned into him. “It might take a month to thaw out. It’s a good thing Ali had a change of clothes ready for me.” The jeans were a little long and she’d cuffed them at the ankles, but the sweater fit and the argyle wool socks were fuzzy and warm.
“You toss a pretty mean curve ball, yourself.” Mason lifted a crocheted throw blanket from the arm of the couch and smoothed it over Josie before drawing her closer. The subtle scent of his aftershave mingled with wood smoke and apple cider. The murmur of voices amid the crackle and pop of firewood was a melody that played along with the violin as guests lounged, sipping their drinks and enjoying each other’s company. Across the room, Ryder and Ali snuggled together on the loveseat with a sleeping Rory. “Can I get you anything?”
“A new body.” Josie splayed a hand across her overstuffed belly, groaning. “One more sip of cider or bite of anything at all and I think I might explode. That chicken gumbo Ryder concocted was fabulous.”
“It was.” Mason grazed a hand across her cheek, laughing softly. “And I like your body just fine.”
“You’re playing dirty again…saying nice things when I don’t deserve them.”
“Why don’t you deserve them?”
“Because I was hard on you earlier, at Posts and Pages, without reason. I let you take the blame for everything, when I should have shared in it.”
“You can share it now.” He pressed his lips to the crown of her head. “Talk to me, Josie. Let’s work this out.”
She removed her glasses, folded them, and set them in her lap before rubbing the bridge of her nose. “When you said those things to me this morning, out of the blue, and then you tried to kiss me, I was blindsided.” She smoothed a hand through her mussed hair, still a bit damp from the snow. “But, even worse, when you walked out of the shop my heart broke a little.”
“Just a little?”
“OK, it cracked right in half. I cried.”
“You didn’t.”
“Yes, I did.” She nodded curtly. “And when I heard the shop door open, I rushed into the front room because I thought you’d come back.” She shuddered and tugged the throw to her chin. “But it wasn’t you. And then—”
“It should have been me.” Mason shook his head and drew her even closer. The scent of his aftershave was intoxicating as his gaze, dark and full of emotion, locked with hers. “I should have been there, Josie. But I let my pride—and my hurt—get in the way again. It’s a bad habit, one I plan to break before it breaks me.”
“I can’t blame you for not telling me how you felt…back then. We were both so young, and I never said anything to you about it either, Mason. I had feelings for you, as well. The truth is, from the first time I saw you in the library and through all the times we studied together, I wanted more. But I never imagined you could like someone as nerdy as me…a gawky bookworm with funky glasses, a mouthful of metal, and a personality about as intriguing as a cardboard box.”
“I never saw you that way, except for maybe the cardboard box thing.” He turned her to face him, grazing a finger along her flushed cheek. “Think about it, Josie. The stock room at your shop is full of cardboard boxes. And what do you find inside them?”
“Books…treasure.”
“Exactly.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I was the one lacking. Why would you, a beautiful girl—woman now—who devours the written word like fine chocolate candies want anything to do with a man who might as well be blind when it comes to books? Sure, I could play football and hold a conversation to challenge anyone. But, intellectually—”
“Blind people read all the time.” She fumbled with her glasses, placed them back on her nose. “They just manage in a different way—like you learned to do.” She twined her fingers with his. “None of us is perfect. But you are one of the smartest, kindest men I know, Mason Donovan. Don’t ever forget that.”
****
“No one’s driving home tonight.” Ryder had crossed the room to where Mason sat and gazed down at Josie, now soundly asleep in Mason’s arms. “This storm has packed a wallop. A full twenty-four hours of the white stuff falling, and it’s still sprinkling down like confetti. The roads are all but impassable.”
“No end in sight, huh?” Mason shifted his weight and turned toward a wall of windows that overlooked Willow Lake and the woods beyond. He’d wished for snow only days ago and had received that wish in spades. Drifts at least a foot high covered the length of the lake’s rocky shore. “It sure is something to look at, though.”
“Yes, it is.” Ryder settled into the armchair beside the couch as Ali approached with Rory snuggled in her arms. She paused long enough to plant a kiss soundly on Ryder’s lips before she climbed the stairs to the nursery to put Rory down for the night.
“You’re happy, aren’t you?” Mason asked when she’d left.
“More than.” The look in Ryder’s eyes spoke volumes. “God has blessed me beyond my wildest imagination. Ali is amazing. And Rory…”
“I’m thrilled for you. I always pictured the two of you together. Strange how things turn out, isn’t it?”
“All in God’s time.” Ryder’s gaze drifted to Josie. “Funny how the two of you have found your way back to each other, too.”
“I wouldn’t put it that way…not exactly.” The few remaining guests had disbursed, retiring to their rooms for the night. In the stacked stone fireplace, flames had flickered to glowing embers. “She’s a little…skittish.”
“How are you holding up?”
“Good as can be expected, considering I came close to breaking one of the sacred commandments today.” Mason lowered Josie into his lap and stroked the hair back from her forehead as she gasped softly through a faraway dream. “I wanted to strangle Simms. When I saw him grab Josie…when I realized what might have happened if I hadn’t seen him headed toward the book store. If I had been a few minutes later…”
“I know what you mean. I went through something similar with Ali when that creep, John Larder, came sniffing around. I thought we’d seen the worst with that bully of a family, but I guess I was wrong.” He rubbed his hands together and leaned toward the smoking embers. “Maybe this will put an end to it.”
“It better.”
“It’s good to have you back…and Hunter, too. He and Maci plan to marry next month. The wedding’s going to be here.”
“So I heard.” Mason shook his head. “First you and Ali with a baby, now Hunter and Maci. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
“Crazy and wonderful, all rolled together.”
Mason lowered his voice. “Does Ali ever talk about Josh…about what happened that day?”
“Of course she does.” Ryder lifted a framed photo from the side table and brushed his fingers across the glass. “She misses him. We all do. But the memories, for the most part, are good.”
“It still tears me up to think about it. I’m covered in guilt about what happened, like I might have done more.”
“You shouldn’t be. You couldn’t have. It was an accident and nothing can change that. Don’t look back, just move forward.”
“That’s what Josie said, too.”
“Smart woman.” Ryder set the photo back on the table. “How long are you planning to stay?”
“I promised Josie I’d help her remodel Posts and Pages. After that, I don’t know.”
“Well, the sooner you figure it out, the better for both of you.” Ryder stood. “Trust me. I learned that the hard way. Now, you’d both better get some sleep.”
When he left, Mason gathered Josie in his arms, blanket and all, and carried her toward the stairs. Careful not to jostle her, he made his way to the inn’s second level where the guest rooms were located. Three doors down on
the right he found his room just as he’d left it that morning. He pushed open the door to see moonlight filter through a break in the clouds, casting a milky glow across tangled bed sheets.
Josie, wrapped like a burrito in his arms, yawned and stretched. “Mason…where are we?” Her eyes fluttered open, and then quickly slipped closed once again.
“Go back to sleep.”
“I have to go home.”
“In the morning.”
“I can’t spend the night in here.” Her eyes slipped open once again. She wiggled, pressing a palm to his chest. “Let me down so I can go back to the couch.”
“No way. You’re sleeping here.” He carefully set her in the middle of the bed. “And I’m grabbing Z’s on the couch.”
“Oh, right…” She rolled over and tugged his pillow to her chin as he covered her, clothes and all, with a thick, down comforter. She yawned hugely. “Sleep well, Mason. I love you.”
He paused, the words echoing like a waterfall in his ears. For a moment, he stopped breathing, afraid he’d imagined her gentle murmur. Then he eased to the edge of the bed and gave her shoulder a gentle nudge.
“Josie?”
The question was met with a hushed sigh as she slipped back into a dream. Mason frowned, not sure what to make of things. Was she even aware of what she’d said? Would she remember those three simple—yet powerful—words in the morning?
Mason tugged the throw blanket from beneath her and closed the window blinds before backing out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He backtracked quietly through the shadowed hall and down the stairs to the couch. A chill filled the great room and he shivered, crossing his arms tight over his chest as he padded over to the hearth. He added a few logs to the embers, grabbed the poker, and stoked the fire to a roaring blaze once again. Stretching out along the sofa, his feet dangling over the arm, he sighed and wished for a second blanket. Sleep would be a long time coming tonight.
