Countdown to First Night: Winter's HeartSnowbound at New YearA Kiss at Midnight

by Jillian Hart

  But she said it in a way that said she thought he was. Her words were warm, resonant with caring. For one magical moment, her smile became his, her gentleness filled his heart and he stood staring after her as the first snowflakes fell, spiraling all around her.

  And all around him.

  * * *

  “SORRY I’M LATE!” Shelby skidded through the bakery’s kitchen door and glanced at the nearby wall clock. “Whoops, almost late.”

  “Five minutes early isn’t almost late.” Jules looked up from the worktable where she measured flour into an industrial-size mixer. “Ronan texted. He said he held you up.”

  “Yes, yes, he did.” She shrugged out of her coat. “It was all his fault. I was entirely innocent. When a man that good-looking talks to a woman, she is powerless to walk away.”

  “Ronan does have that effect, I’ve noticed.” Jules leveled off her measuring cup, flour tumbling onto the table. “Then again, I’m biased. As his aunt, I think he’s amazing.”

  Shelby hung her things in the closet, moving fast. “Right now he’s putting a new tire on my car. It went flat the night I came to town.”

  “And Ronan came to your rescue?”

  “He does that a lot, I bet.” Her hands trembled as she washed up at the sink.

  “Ronan does like to make a difference for everyone he comes across.” Jules traded her measuring cup for a teaspoon.

  Make a difference? That was exactly what Ronan had done for her. His kindness, his friendship, his closeness... She gulped, turned off the water and dried her hands. She’d always felt comfortable with him, at home. Maybe true friendship was always like that.

  Or maybe this wasn’t friendship she felt.

  “I figured,” she answered Jules, wondering just how many women Ronan helped. “Likely that man comes to every female’s aid, young and old. Half the town is probably in love with him.”

  “Probably.” Jules glanced around at the kitchen full of workers whipping up frosting, making fondant, rolling pastry with care. “The thing about Ronan is that he’s never been interested in anyone.”

  “Since his broken engagement.” Shelby took a place at the worktable.

  “Oh, no. That isn’t the reason, not really. Karen calling off their wedding was hurtful, it couldn’t be anything but. He was missing in action for thirteen months—”

  “He was what?” Shelby went to lean against the table but missed somehow. She caught her balance, but she felt as if she went right on falling. “Missing in action? When he was—”

  “Enlisted. Right. An IED in the road, an ambush, we thought we’d lost him for sure.” Jules grabbed the vanilla extract. “Go ahead and pour the batter in the cupcake tins for me, would you, dear? No telling what he endured hidden in a mountain cave for so long. He didn’t tell you any of this, did he?”

  “Not this.” Her hand felt wooden as she gripped the bowl of batter on the table. The whole of her went numb. “Why didn’t he tell me? Wait, scratch that. It would be hard to talk about something like that to anyone.”

  “Honey, I’m glad you came back to stay with your granny, and I’m hoping you can stay on for a while. Being around you has been good for Ronan.” Jules checked the mixer setting. “It was as if he left a piece of himself behind. At least that’s what I thought until I spotted him up at the lodge last night.”

  “You were at Wildwood?”

  “Had to take in the art exhibit there and the crafts in Aspen Hall while we could, since today and tonight will be all about working.” Jules turned on the mixer, talking over the noise. “I caught a peek at Ronan with you and your little ones. There was the man, whole and healed, the one I’d never thought we’d see again. Laughing and smiling, the way he used to. You’re good for him, Shelby. And I’d say he’s good for you.”

  “Oh, it’s not like that.” Heat flamed across her face. Her hand trembled and she spilled a droplet of batter on the table. “I mean, we’re just friends.”

  “Go ahead and keep telling yourself that.” Jules stopped the mixer and grabbed her spatula. “Sometimes your heart decides for you, and you have no say in the matter.”

  “Luckily that’s not me.” She set the bowl down, the tins full of thick, chocolate batter, almost sure that statement was true—and more afraid that it wasn’t.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “THERE. HUBCAP ON.” Ronan dusted the snow from the driveway off his jeans. It had stopped snowing, but the clouds hung low, as if it would start again soon. “I think we did a good job.”

  “Me, too.” Caleb nodded in agreement, crossing his hands over his chest like a little man, considering their morning work. A smudge of oil stained his cheek. “You’re a good mechanic, Ronan.”

  “My granddad taught me.” He hauled a purple rag out of his back pocket and swiped at the oil streak. He felt warm inside, paternal and surprising. Hard not to like this kid, so like Shelby.

  “My granddads are dead.” Caleb squinted thoughtfully. “I’m glad you know stuff, Ronan.”

  “Me, too, buddy.” He tossed the rag into his toolbox. “Looks like we’re done here. Just in time, too. There’s your great-grandma.”

  “I couldn’t help noticing you were done,” Georgia called from the doorway. “It’s nearly noon. I packed up a lunch for you.”

  “A lunch? You didn’t have to go to that kind of trouble.” He clicked the lid shut on his toolbox and moved it off the driveway. “I have to head out. I promised the mayor I’d help with the final check. I’m pulling double duty tonight.”

  “Fine, that works right into my plan.” Georgia stopped to admire the snow angel Riley had made in the front lawn before returning her attention to him. “Shelby forgot to take anything to eat, so I packed up a picnic. Figured you might want to bring it to her.”

  “You are all kinds of mischief, aren’t you?”

  “I sure try to be.” Georgia produced a wicker basket. It looked a little heavy, so he climbed the steps to take it from her.

  “It smells good. What do you have in here?”

  “You’ll just have to wait and see.” Definitely trouble, that woman, who saw right through him. “I couldn’t help noticing, you seem to get along with the kids pretty well.”

  “I like kids.” He’d always figured on having a family of his own, but it had never worked out. As he gazed at the boy stooping to make a snowball and the little girl lying in the snow, he wondered if he ever would have a family. He felt his phone vibrate, tucked in his coat pocket. He hated to think what the text would say.

  “I hope you’re coming with me.” He gripped the basket, breathing in the smell of chicken and gravy. “I’d like to be surrounded by as many beautiful women as I can get.”

  “Don’t try to charm me.” Georgia giggled at the compliment. “As it happens, the kids and I are going your way. We’ll eat together, I figure, and then we’ve got someone to meet. Why don’t we all head to the First Night celebration together.”

  “That someone wouldn’t happen to be Robert, would it?”

  “Now, that’s none of your business, young man.” Although the blush gave her away. “Robert and I are renewing our old acquaintance, that’s all. We went to high school together. It seems we have a lot in common.”

  “Good. Everyone needs...friends.” He’d wanted to say more, but he didn’t want to overstep. Georgia and Shelby were cut from the same cloth—independent, feisty and tenderhearted. Sometimes it was hard to let hopes show when they were new and easily crushed.

  As the kids hurried ahead of them—Riley hopping over the cracks in the shoveled sidewalk and Caleb dragging a stick through the snowy fringes of the sidewalk—Ronan’s thoughts turned to Shelby. He could only hope that was the way Shelby felt. That his feelings for her, growing bigger with every heartbeat, would—on some level—be returned. Even for
just today. One day would have to be enough.

  “You didn’t have to change the oil in that car.” Georgia padded beside him.

  “Figured I might as well since I was putting on the new tire.” So, Georgia knew he’d fallen for Shelby. That meant she knew, too, that he didn’t have a chance.

  “You can’t fool me, Ronan. You always were a good egg.” The older lady kept a close eye on the kids as Riley sauntered across the empty residential street and Caleb left his stick behind.

  “You’re not so bad yourself, Georgia.” His phone buzzed again, and this time he looked at it. A missed call from the mayor and two text messages from his buddy up in Wyoming. When he checked the message, the strength left his knees. The news had been what he’d been hoping for, but it wasn’t the news he wanted.

  “Bad news?” Georgia asked.

  “Only for me.” He tucked his phone away, trying not to think about it.

  “Ronan, look!” Caleb called out, laughing, holding up a hunk of packed snow. “The perfect weapon.”

  “But not the only weapon.” Ronan gave Georgia the basket, scooped snow into his glove and sent it flying. The snowball sailed through the air, missing the kid by a few inches. “Whoops. Bad aim. I need a do over.”

  “You’re in big trouble now,” Caleb warned.

  A snowball shot out, whizzing like a little white bomb. It hit him midchest. He grabbed a handful of snow. “Good shot, kid. It’s too bad for you that you’re playing against the master.”

  “No, I’m the master.” The falling snow swirled between them, making it hard to see Caleb’s fast pitch, but the icy ball packed some power as it hit.

  “Wow, that’s one arm you have.” Ronan rubbed his shoulder, feigning hurt. “And you’re gonna pay for it. Big-time.”

  “Ooh, I’m so scared. Not.” Before Caleb could throw his next icy weapon, one smacked him in the back. “Hey! Riley!”

  Riley giggled and took off down the sidewalk, the town’s snow maze visible just up ahead, when her brother turned his small arsenal against her. Ronan sprinted to her defense, shielding her as two snowballs thudded against his coat. He slipped and went down in the snow and suddenly both kids were on top of him, pelting him with soft handfuls of snow.

  If he could stop laughing, then maybe he wouldn’t get any more snow in his mouth. Icy wetness penetrated his clothes as the children stood over him, victors.

  “I’m the master!” Caleb punched his fists into the air.

  “I’m the master, too,” Riley announced, but that was as far as she got as Ronan came to life, rose out of the snow and snatched the girl around the waist with one arm. He caught Caleb in the other and lifted them both from the sidewalk, spinning them around like helicopter blades. Riley squealed, Caleb held out his arms, and suddenly he heard Shelby’s laughter. She emerged from the snowy background like magic, bringing color to the gray-and-white world.

  “What is going on here?” She tilted her head to one side. “I can hear the pack of you all the way to the bakery booth. Don’t think I can’t recognize that squeal of yours, honeybee.”

  “Mom!” The instant her pink boots touched down, Riley took off at a dead run. “Me and Grammy made a surprise.”

  “You did? What kind of surprise?” She knelt to welcome her daughter’s hug. She brushed back her daughter’s honey-blond bangs.

  Shelby really had changed him. These past few years, he’d never been able to open up, to feel. He’d been numb, and kept everyone at a distance. For some reason, he could let her in. She was like a hint of spring on a cold winter’s night.

  “Is that so? Did you and Granny make my favorite lunch?” Shelby lightly tweaked her daughter’s nose.

  “Yep. I put on the crust all by myself.” Riley beamed with pride.

  “She’s gonna make a real good cook one day, just like her mama,” Georgia said. “We weren’t the only busy ones. Someone changed the oil in your car.”

  “Ronan,” she admonished. “You’re meddling.”

  “Helping. There’s a difference.” His feet moved him along, following Georgia and the kids, but he was only aware of Shelby at his side. Where he wanted her to be forever.

  “I wanted to go over your car since I had the time and the opportunity,” he explained. “Just to make sure it was roadworthy should a job offer come along.”

  “It’s a holiday. That’s not likely, at least not for a few more days. Not that I’ve been drowning in offers.”

  “Did you hear from the Ludwigs? I keep hoping the rumor I heard was true.”

  “It was. I checked in with them this morning, but they hired someone with more experience.”

  The downtown had been transformed. Local vendors finished setting up at their booths. The smell of roasting hot dogs, espresso and baked goods mingled on the wind. Fire pits blazed cheerfully to warm the revelers on their way from one event to another. Colorful information stands advertised family-friendly events and directions. A couple bands popular with the teen crowd were setting up inside the mall. Their sound check spilled out the open doors into the street.

  Robert waved from the chamber of commerce’s booth near the library, where children’s author Ellie Summers would be doing a reading after hosting the opening ceremony. Face painting, an ice-carving contest, crafts for the kids, the snow maze, ice-skating, Winter’s Folly at the playhouse and even a masquerade ball for the grown-ups later tonight at the Wildwood Lodge, culminating in a fireworks display at the stroke of midnight.

  He wanted to see everything, Ronan realized, and he wanted to see it with her. To take her kids to get their faces painted and win them stuffed bears at the carnival booths. To wend their way to the ice castle in the center of the snow maze. To take their mother to the masquerade ball, hold her in his arms and never let her go.

  The future stretched out ahead of him, cold and lonely and bleak as he took his phone out of his pocket and scrolled down.

  “I have a friend up in Jackson. He was in my platoon back in the day.” He scrolled through the message menu and showed her the text. “His father is a partner in a law firm. I called him last night asking if they might have a job for you.”

  “You did what?” She skidded to a stop in the street, shaking her head in disbelief. “You went to all that trouble for me? You know you didn’t have to. I can’t believe you did that.”

  “It was no trouble at all. My pleasure.” She had no clue, not an ounce of what he felt for her. What he would always feel for her. He swallowed hard, trying to keep it all down, and said the words that would take her away from him. “Turns out their receptionist was going to go on maternity leave but just decided to turn that leave into a permanent one, so they have an opening. It’s yours if you want it.”

  “Mine? You really found a job for me?” Tears stood in her eyes. “I have a job?”

  “You do, and they’re nice folks. They’ll treat you well.” He squared his shoulders like a man about to take a hit. “They’re offering a decent salary and benefits.”

  “Benefits, too? Granny, did you hear?” Shelby clasped her hands together. “Did you know what Ronan was up to?”

  “Not a clue, but I’m real pleased with him. I’m happy for you, sweet pea.” Georgia wrapped her arms around her granddaughter and held on tight. “But now I’m gonna have to let you go. That’s gonna be hard, I won’t lie.”

  “I know. But I can’t mooch off you, I’ve got to pay my own way.”

  “Sure, I was hoping you might stay. You three fill up my house. You’ve done my heart good.”

  “You’ve done more than that for us.” She couldn’t put into words how she felt. “Now that I have a job with benefits, which means paid vacation, I bet you can figure out the first place I’m heading when I have time off.”

  “Here to Snow Falls?”

  “Here to
you.” She kissed her granny’s soft cheek and caught sight of Robert watching. “Then again, maybe you won’t be quite as alone as you think.”

  “Oh.” Granny caught her meaning and blushed. Maybe Georgia was about to start a new phase of her life, full of love and possibilities. Wasn’t that what New Year’s was all about, celebrating the good things in the year past and believing in the good things to come, and the beloved people in your life?

  “And you.” She turned to Ronan, wonderful Ronan. He’d backed off a few paces, putting him firmly outside the circle of her family. As if she would let him stay there. She caught his hands in hers, and a connection blazed between them like fireworks in a midnight sky. It lit up everything. The part of her that had been dark for so long filled with flashes of brightness. “You saved my life, Ronan. All the worry and uncertainty weighing me down, it’s just gone. How can I ever thank you enough for that?”

  “I don’t think there’s a big enough ice-cream cone you could get me.”

  “No, it would topple right to the ground it would be so high. That’s how much I think of you.” Her feet didn’t seem to be touching the ground, but she wasn’t entirely sure her new job was the reason. Likely it was the man in front of her, good through and through. No matter what difficulty life threw at him, look how he’d turned out. Strong, courageous, the best friend a girl could have. “Thank you. Those two tiny words just don’t feel like enough, considering what you’ve done.”

  “It’s enough, believe me.” His gaze burrowed into hers. “I just want you to be happy, Shelby.”

  “And I could kiss you for that. In fact, I think I will.” She bobbed up on tiptoe and brushed her lips to his cheek. His skin was warm, his nearness dizzying and the inner fireworks returned. She lingered, her lips against him, startled at the sensation—startled? Or was it a revelation?

  She rocked back onto her heels, gripping his hands so tightly she didn’t know how she’d ever let go. What was happening to her?