by Taylor Hart
Her Fake New Year’s Eve Boyfriend
A Taylor Hart Snow Valley Romance
Taylor Hart
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
The Beauty’s Groom by Taylor Hart
Also by Taylor Hart
About the Author
Chapter 1
Jax drove into the sleepy town of Snow Valley, Montana, the day after Christmas. He should have been in Cabo San Lucas. Irritation pulsed through him, but he squelched it quickly, the way he would turn off radio chatter if he’d been deployed on a SEAL team mission. He was glad he could be here for his grandpa.
The “Welcome to Snow Valley” sign was on his right. Population of six thousand. The last time he’d been here was when he was fifteen. The summer before, their family had still been together: him, his mother, and his father. A dull ache almost pierced his chest, but his shields had been up a long time, and no enemy missiles were going to sink him.
He thought of the call he’d gotten yesterday as he’d been leaving the base, interrupting the beginning of his two-week leave. “C’est la vie,” as the French would say. Then he wondered where that thought had come from. He’d been to France a couple of times, but not for the tourist spots.
Jax passed a couple of streets of houses before slowing and then finding himself in the middle of the town. There were still Christmas decorations up. Large candy canes leaned against the lampposts. Assorted lights had been draped everywhere. Posters were advertising different town events.
He remembered coming here once when he’d been younger for Christmas. Once. It hadn’t been easy for his parents to make it anywhere specific for the holidays. His father had been in the Air Force, and they were always moving, transferred from base to base. But his mother had insisted they come to Snow Valley that year for Christmas.
His mother.
She’d been calling him for the past three months. He’d ignored the calls.
No, focus. He was here to check in with his grandpa.
The last time he’d seen his grandpa had been last year, when his grandpa had come to Maui to watch him get married to Karli on the beach. Too bad Karli hadn’t shown up. No. He didn’t want to think about Karli, either.
Again, he forced himself outside of his head. He peered at the homes, imagining families who came home for dinner every night and sat together to talk and laugh. How long had it been since he’d had any kind of routine? How long had it been since he’d had a dinner companion?
Ah. He put a hand to his shoulder and tried to ease the tension there. When he was stressed, it tended to ache a bit.
He saw a sign for the hospital and turned off Main, winding up a long hill.
The hospital wasn’t huge, but it did look rather new. The lady on the phone had told him that his grandfather was refusing to be transferred out of Snow Valley. Jax didn’t know if that stubbornness was good or bad after a heart attack.
He parked and got out quickly, locking the rental car. He’d only gotten a small compact rental because he didn’t need anything fancy. Although all of the snow was making him question how well he’d be able to get around the next two weeks.
Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to be here the full two weeks. Maybe he could still get some Cabo time in with his buddies. No commitments. No missions. No shooting. Nothing but women, sun, and surfing.
The Snow Valley wind hit him, and he estimated that it was barely thirty degrees in the sunshine. Dang, Montana was cold. He rushed into the hospital.
“Can I help you?” asked a pretty older lady with purple hair. The color made him think of punk rockers, but she was way too old for that.
He moved to the desk and leaned on it. “I’m here for Roy Casey. He had a heart attack and I came to help.”
Her face brightened, and then she laughed. “Oh my gosh, you’re Roy’s grandson?” She covered her mouth and giggled, sizing him up. “Roy said you were a big, strong Navy SEAL guy, but whoa—you are.” She reached across the counter and patted his shoulder. “You’re not even flexing, and I can tell you’re so strong.”
Weird. He didn’t move, just went to combat quiet.
“I’m sorry, darling.” Unbelievably, the woman blushed. How old was she, ninety? Her face had a lot of wrinkles. “I’m Martha.”
He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
She pointed past him. “Roy is in room one-thirty. Just go past that tree and up that hallway.” She leaned closer, putting her hand on his arm. “I shouldn’t even tell you this, but he was just talking about you this morning, hoping you would come.”
Despite himself, Jax relaxed at this woman’s kind touch. “Thank you.” He moved away from the desk, a bit shaken that his grandfather had been talking about him that morning. He hadn’t even told his grandfather he was coming. The man usually didn’t have a cell phone; they talked on his regular home phone.
Jax rushed down the hallway and found room one-thirty. When he went in, his grandfather was leaning back with his eyes closed. The blinds were drawn, but the room wasn’t completely dark. The monitors were flashing on and off. It was unsettling to see him laid up in a hospital. His grandfather had been full of energy when they’d seen each other in Maui. Was he asleep?
During Jax’s visits, the man was usually doing something around the ranch. When Jax was a boy, he’d loved following his grandfather everywhere. He remembered following him around, feeding the horses, the cows. Helping him do chores. Fixing stuff. His mother would usually hang out in the house and read. She loved to read.
He remembered the look on his father’s face when she’d told them she was leaving. He’d been shell-shocked, as if their foothold on enemy territory had been compromised. The safe house was gone.
Jax tried to shove down all the memories. He dropped the door quietly back into place and gently massaged his shoulder.
“You came, boy,” his grandfather whispered.
Jax rushed to his side and took his hand. “Grandpa?” Only then did he realize how worried he’d been. He rarely allowed himself to get worried.
His grandfather opened his eyes and smiled at him, squeezing his hand. “Hey, boy.” He’d always called him just “boy.”
“How are you?”
His grandpa gestured to a remote to lift the bed. “Lift me up, please.”
Jax pressed the button, bringing him up to a sitting position. He tried not to smell the medicinal odors of the hospital or allow himself to be overwhelmed by the straws in the glasses and the hospital gown his grandfather wore. He hated hospitals. Most SEALs did. They were there far too often, or at funerals.
He lifted the glass and put the straw to his grandfather’s lips.
His grandfather took a sip. “Thank you.” He smiled, and his eyes became misty. “I knew you’d come. I knew it.”
A contented feeling settled Jax’s nerves. It was a familiar feeling he got whenever they were finished with a mission and he knew his team had preserved freedom. “Of course. What do the doctors say?”
His grandpa leaned back, sighing. “I had a
blockage, but they went in and used a balloon to clean it out. Now I need to stay on medication, and they think it will be okay.”
Relief flooded him. “Good.” His grandfather was still alive. He was going to be okay.
“I’m grateful you came, boy.”
“Yes, I’m here.” He forced himself to give his grandfather a rubbery smile. “I had leave, and I could come.”
“I remember you telling me that you were going to go to the beach with the guys for a couple of weeks.”
“You’re way more important than that.” Jax meant every word.
His grandpa nodded. “I’m so grateful that you’ll be here to take care of things back at the ranch for a bit.”
The ranch. Jax spent a moment in stunned surprise. “You want …” He trailed off, thinking through the logistics. “I haven’t been on the ranch in a long time.”
“Thirteen years,” his grandfather whispered.
Had it been that long since he’d been back? Jax was twenty-eight now, and the last time he’d come to Snow Valley had been the summer before his parents’ marriage had broken up. Yep, thirteen years was right.
His grandfather’s face turned businesslike. “You were good at ranch work. I remember a time when we used to talk about you coming here and settling down. When you were a kid, all you wanted to do was ride the horses and feed the animals and fix stuff.”
It was true, but surprisingly enough, Jax had forgotten about that. He remembered talking to his mother endlessly about how he wanted to live in Snow Valley.
“Doing ranch chores are like riding a bike: you’ll figure it out.”
Jax’s heart raced. “Okay.” Of course he would. He could take down a whole terrorist operation almost single-handedly; he could handle his grandpa’s ranch for a couple of days.
The doctor walked in. “Hey, you must be Jax.”
Jax nodded and shook his hand. “Dr. Banks,” he said, reading the name on the doctor’s jacket.
“Yep. Glad you could make it, and thank you for serving our country.” The doctor smiled and pulled his hand back. “Your grandfather’s been bragging you up.”
It was strange to know that his grandfather had been talking about him. Jax wasn’t used to that outside of his team. “Nice to meet you. What is going on with him?”
The doctor briefed him on the blockage, the procedure they’d done, and how they wanted him to stay in the hospital for a couple of days and make sure everything was working properly. “Anytime we do any kind of surgery like this and then put people on different medications, we have to monitor them closely. But I think he’ll be back to working order in a couple of weeks.”
“Days,” his grandpa said.
Doctor Banks patted his arm. “Hang in there. You’re doing great.” He did a quick check on Grandpa, then left.
Grandpa leaned back, closing his eyes. “Chase Moon has been taking care of things on the ranch. Do you remember Chase? Rodeo bronc-riding star?”
“Nope.”
“Well, anyway, I’ll text him and tell him that you will be covering it. How long do you have off?”
“You text?” This was a shocker.
His grandpa smiled. “Not to you. You have to talk to me.”
Jax shook his head; his grandpa was tricky. “I have two weeks.”
“Great. That will give me time to get out of here and then get back on my feet.”
“You think you need me the whole two weeks?”
His grandfather’s head jerked up.
“I mean, it’s fine.” Jax lifted his hands in surrender. Of course it was fine.
“You thinking of leaving, son?”
“Nope.”
His grandfather frowned. “That woman who didn’t show up on the beach to marry you hanging around?”
He thought of Karli and the fact she’d actually texted him last week out of the blue. It’d been a flirty text, and he’d ignored her. “No, sir.”
“Good, ’cause she was no good for you.” His lip twitched. “You need a Snow Valley girl—that’s what you need.”
Jax scoffed as he considered the houses on Main Street. Snow Valley didn’t seem like a place full of singles. “Sure.”
His grandpa let out a low rumble of a laugh. “You never know when true love will fall in your lap. And Snow Valley’s just that kind of magical town that brings people together.”
Jax didn’t know what to make of that comment. “Okay.”
“I made a list of things that need to be done every day, and things that need to be fixed.” His grandpa pointed to the tray again. “You’ll need to get some supplies at the hardware store on Main Street, but if you don’t mind, please stop at the flower shop and get some daisies.”
His mind was on a roller-coaster ride. He’d ended up getting chores on top of it all. He took the little piece of paper that had some scrawled writing on it. “Daisies?” he asked. “Who are those for?”
His grandpa’s smile widened. “You met the purple-haired lady at the front desk, I assume?”
“Yes.”
“Boy, you’re not the only one who needs a date. Get the daisies and bring them back before you head to the ranch, please.”
He let out a laugh. “Okay.”
“And son,” his grandpa said, “your mama says she’s been trying to call you.”
“I didn’t get those calls.” Of course he didn’t, ’cause he’d blocked her.
His grandpa frowned. “Would you call her when you get a sec?”
This was a line no one could cross. “Nope.”
Chapter 2
“I’m not sure how to put together funeral arrangements,” Tia said into the phone, which was propped between her shoulder and her ear. She twisted a bow and then wrapped it around a wire to make it into a boutonniere that had been ordered earlier in the day. She was working at Flower Girl Flower shop on Main Street in Snow Valley.
“What do you mean, you don’t know how to do funeral arrangements?” Pastor John said into her ear. “Tia, the funeral is at nine in the morning, and I need a couple of arrangements for the coffin. Can you do that?”
“Uh, I guess I’ll figure it out, Pastor.” Nothing like a little pressure to keep her on her toes.
He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry I’m barking at you.”
Tia shook her head. Pastor John really never barked.
“But this is Minnie Cole. And she was loved dearly by this town, and you know her husband, Herbert, passed away two years ago of cancer. It was just so hard on the family to lose her, too.”
Her heartstrings tugged at the thought of Minnie and the way she’d crocheted those little oven mitts for the whole congregation in Snow Valley. “Yes, I know, I’m sorry. I’ve only been alone at the store for a day, and I have another five to go before my aunt gets back.”
“Is Chase helping you?” the pastor asked.
“Yes, Chase is filling in too, but he won’t make arrangements. He’ll deliver and help with the register, but he says making flower stuff is out.”
The pastor laughed. “He has a full plate with Autumn being pregnant now.”
“True,” she said, thinking of Chase’s cute wife.
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t go on the cruise with your whole extended family.”
“I wanted writing time,” she said.
“That’s right, you’re a writer now.”
It felt patronizing to hear that, but she knew Pastor John would never be patronizing on purpose.
“Are you holding up?” the pastor asked.
“Fine,” she lied. Her eyes darted around the shop, searching for the binder that had examples of the various funeral arrangements.
“You’re not telling the truth.”
She smiled. She’d known Pastor John her whole life, up until she’d gone to New York in hopes of making it as a musician when she was eighteen. But that dream had long been tossed out.
“And what about the New Year’s Eve dance? Are you ready to MC that?�
��
Tia’s lips pressed together. Uncle Michael had been asked to do that, and he’d pawned it off onto her in favor of a cruise. It was something that she hated doing, but how could she refuse her uncle when he was letting her live rent free in their guest house? Her career change to writing wasn’t exactly working out. “It’s all good,” she said, both to answer Pastor John and to comfort herself.
“Okay, thanks again, Tia. I’ll see you at eight a.m. sharp to drop off the flowers tomorrow, right?”
“Right, I’ll be there.”
“Great.” He hung up.
Tia put the phone down and finished another boutonniere she’d been asked to do, sticking it in the front refrigerator. She then sought out the binder of the flower arrangements. After studying the pictures for several minutes, she figured out that all of the flowers she needed were in the back freezer. The store was empty, so she rushed to the freezer and stepped inside.
While she was sorting through the flowers and putting the various ones she needed into piles, she thought of the funeral. Funerals always made her sad, but she loved the church music. The words came to her lips, growing louder until she was belting out the song. “A-mazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; ’twas blind, but now I see.”
“Hello!” a male voice called out.
Tia jumped. She must have missed the doorbell going off out front.
She picked up one of the bunches of flowers and rushed back out front. “Sorry,” she called out to whoever was there while she put the flowers on the counter at the back of the store. “I’m just been slammed with Minnie’s funeral flowers, so I’ll be a sec.” Anyone coming into the flower store would know Minnie.
