by Stacy Finz
“Drink lots of liquids,” he said, echoing his mother’s advice whenever one of them got sick, and ended the call.
“What are you, the staff doctor?” Colt wandered in wearing his police uniform.
“May as well be, because I’m everything else around here.”
Colt sat down on the sofa TJ had stolen from his dad’s office. Gray barely spent time at headquarters anymore, preferring to work as a part-time guide. TJ could certainly appreciate his dad’s shift in priorities. Until recently, he hadn’t realized how tough it was for a Garner to be a desk jockey.
“I can lead the speed-riding tour next weekend,” Colt said. Six guys from the city wanted to strap parachutes onto their backs and ski and paraglide down the face of Glory Mountain. Good times.
TJ had hoped Colt couldn’t do it, providing him with an excuse to lose his CEO title for the day and guide the tour himself. “You don’t have wedding planning to do?”
“Probably.” Colt’s lips curved up. “Why do you think I’m volunteering?”
“That bad, huh?” TJ turned his chair around so he could face Colt.
“Let’s just say Delaney and I have differing opinions on how to throw a party. I thought it would be cool to climb to the top of Sawtooth, pop a couple of bottles of champagne, and pitch a tent for the night. She wasn’t into it. Not even a little.”
TJ whacked him upside the head. “Hey, moron, you’re marrying a fashion designer, not the president of the Sierra Club.”
Colt got a lovesick grin on his face, then changed gears. “You hear anything from Stanley Royce?”
“Not yet.” But TJ wasn’t banking on him going away. “At least Operation Porta-potty gave me an excuse to get out of this place for a few hours.” He looked up at the white ceiling.
“Operation Porta-potty? Is that what we’re calling it? And I thought you loved being the boss and lording it over the rest of us.”
“Yeah, right. Herding cats. Or in the case of you, Josh, and Win, idiots.” TJ waved his hand at the window. “I like to see the sun every once in a while, you know?”
Colt looked him over. “You have gotten a bit vampirish, but I hear chicks dig the look.”
“Chicks dig me. Period.” The phone rang. TJ checked to see what line it was and let it go to voice mail. “You missed the meeting, asshole.”
“For your information, I was busy protecting and serving. Anything good happen?”
“I announced that we’re hiring Lauren Fisher for the retail position.” TJ glanced at her résumé laying on his desk. Her credentials were impeccable. She’d worked five years at Patagonia and had moved to San Francisco three years ago to head up the sportswear department at North Face. “Just need to make her the offer.”
For a few crazy moments at Tart Me Up, the idea of Deb doing the job had crossed his mind. It was stupid on a dozen levels, the top one being that she had zero experience and this was too important to screw up. Yet he knew the salary and benefit package they were offering for the position would solve her financial problems.
Uh, when had he risked the future of his family’s company to help a friend? Never, that’s when.
“You think she’ll take it?”
“Pretty sure. She’s hot to live here and has already studied the local real estate market.” TJ got the feeling Lauren had bucks, maybe stock options from one of the companies she’d worked.
“No offense, but it’ll be good to have someone dedicated full-time to Delaney’s adventure wear. Someone who knows what she’s doing.” Colt checked his watch and got to his feet. “I need to get back to the station. We doing our regular hump night at Old Glory?”
“I’ll try to meet you there later.” He stared at the pile of paperwork on his desk.
But instead of tending to his own work after Colt left, TJ spread Deb’s credit cards on his desk. He tried to tell himself it was for Sid and Geri’s sake.
He started calling the customer service numbers on the back of the cards. If he couldn’t work something out, Deb’s only option was to file for personal bankruptcy, which would destroy her credit for the next ten years. He didn’t want to see her do that if it could be helped and continued making calls until it was dark outside.
A light tapping noise made him look up to find Hannah standing in his doorway. “Hey.”
“Hey back.” She came in, kissed him on the cheek, sat in Colt’s vacated spot, and bobbed her head at the clutter of cards. “Deb called and told me about that. It’s nice of you to try to help.”
“So far, I’m not having much luck.” Only a few department stores and one bank had been willing to make minor concessions, but he’d keep trying.
“Deb thought it was a long shot. I think she was just happy to have an advocate. Did she tell you what happened at the Morning Glory?”
“No.” He combed his hand through his hair. “What happened?”
“Some perv assaulted her.”
TJ jerked his head in surprise. “What?” This was a town where someone’s wart made front-page news. How was it he didn’t know this?
“A guy who was with a group of male tourists hit on her, and when she rejected him, he got all handsy. She booted him and his friends out of the restaurant.”
“You’re kidding me. She never said a word. Colt was here earlier and didn’t mention it either. Didn’t Felix call Glory Junction PD?”
“I’m probably making it sound more dramatic than it was. Still . . .”
“Damned right. I wish I would’ve been there to coldcock the prick.”
“Win was,” Hannah said. “But from what Deb said, it doesn’t sound like he even knew what was going on. She handled it . . . Jabbed the guy with her pencil.”
TJ chuckled because that was so Deb. Ballsy. Self-sufficient. “Maybe she should spend the night with you guys . . . you know, in case she’s shaken up.” Though she hadn’t seemed remotely traumatized when he’d seen her earlier.
“She’s always welcome to stay with Josh and me,” Hannah said. “But you know Deb . . . she won’t.”
“Won’t what?” Josh came in, sat down next to his wife, and kissed her.
“Deb won’t stay with us.” Hannah started to tell him what had happened at the Morning Glory.
“Yeah, I heard,” Josh said. “I saw Felix at the physical therapist. I miss the old days, when only nice people came to Glory Junction.”
“Yeah, when was that?” TJ asked. For the most part, Glory Junction was the picture of small town USA, embodying all the Mayberry clichés. But the town’s five ski resorts had also attracted its share of self-entitled dickheads who could be real pains-in-the-ass when they didn’t get their way.
“I guess before I left.” After high school, Josh had blown out of Glory Junction faster than a bullet train, first to go to college, then to join the army and become a ranger, nearly losing his leg in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan. Even after a string of surgeries, he’d never be 100 percent.
“You’re reinventing history, dude. But whatever.”
“When did you get so cynical?” Josh put his hand on Hannah’s knee.
“I’m not cynical. Just realistic.” TJ glanced at the clock. He needed to call Lauren. “You two going to Old Glory?”
Josh’s hand moved a little higher. “Nah, we’ve got uh . . . a thing.”
Whatever that thing was, it looked like news to Hannah. But she nodded, and the two made gooey faces at each other like a pair of loons.
TJ rolled his eyes. “You want me to leave?”
Josh got up and socked him in the arm, then held his hand out for Hannah. Married nearly a year and they were still nauseating. Colt and Delaney too. That left him and Win, the second and fourth sons, as the last Garner men standing. TJ was more than ready to kiss bachelorhood good-bye. Win, not anytime soon.
“See you tomorrow,” Josh said and tugged his wife by her hand.
Once they were gone, he found Lauren’s number at the top of her résumé and dialed. Only to get voice mail.
> “Hey, Lauren, it’s TJ Garner from Garner Adventure. It’s six o’clock and I’ll be in the office another hour or so. I’m calling to offer you the job . . . look forward to hearing from you.” He left the number to his direct line but not his cell phone. If she called while he was at Old Glory, he didn’t want to talk salary and benefits from a bar with music blaring and pool balls crashing in the background. Unprofessional.
He grabbed his jacket and walked a few doors down Main Street to Old Glory.
The gastro pub, done up in an American flag theme, was always crowded on Wednesday nights. Boden Farmer, the owner, ran a craft beer special and served small plates at happy-hour prices until midnight. The Garners had their own spot near the pool tables and dartboards. TJ filled a bowl with peanuts from one of the big oak barrels on the floor and made his way back. Colt, Delaney, and Win were already there. A couple of pitchers and a basket of pub fries sat on the table. TJ put the peanuts down and poured himself a glass of beer. In the corner, he noticed Deb and Carrie Jo, Colt’s receptionist, playing a game of darts with two men TJ had never seen before.
Deb saw him and waved. She’d changed out of her jeans from earlier into a tight little black skirt that hugged her perfectly round ass. And suddenly he was eighteen again, wanting to cover her up at the lake so Duffy Manzenelli and Rodney Strong would stop drooling over her.
It was a long time ago, he told himself, and rubbed his hand over his face. He had to start dating. Tonight, he promised to make it his mission to find at least one woman he hadn’t grown up with to talk to.
“Yo.” Win shoulder-checked him, making his beer slosh over the rim of his glass.
TJ snatched one of Win’s sliders and popped it into his mouth. “How was your afternoon tour?”
“Dude, you ever talk about anything other than Garner Adventure? We’re in a bar, TJ; have a good time. Come on, I’ll play you a game of eight ball.”
TJ followed Win to an empty table, racked the balls, and grabbed a pool stick off the wall.
Win won the coin toss to break, sinking two stripes. Colt and Delaney came over to watch while Win called his second shot and pocketed his object ball in the corner. On his next try, the shot went wide.
TJ turned to Colt. “Stick around; this shouldn’t take long.” Less than ten minutes, to be precise.
“You suck.” Win refilled his beer.
Colt, a much better player than Win, took the next game. TJ won that one too, while surreptitiously watching Deb and the guys she was with out of the corner of his eye. After the game, she and Carrie Jo wandered over without their dart partners. TJ saw the two men move onto a group of women standing at the bar.
He waited until Carrie Jo walked away to say hi to someone she knew and pulled Deb out of earshot of the others. “I’m still working on your stuff.”
“I didn’t expect you to get it done today.” She smiled, and the pure radiance of it reminded him why helping her or even standing with her in a bar was a bad idea. Slash that. It was worse than bad. It was hopeless. “I know how much you’ve got on your plate, TJ.
“We’ll get you situated.” It was overpromising, but he wanted so badly to fix her problems that the words just burst out. “I heard you got harassed at the diner this morning. Why didn’t you tell me about it at Tart Me Up?”
“It was nothing.” She waved it off, but a spot of red crept up her neck.
“You call Colt . . . ask him to level charges?”
Before she could respond, Win appeared and hooked his arm around Deb’s waist. She looked at TJ uncertainly and rolled her eyes at Win. They started talking, and instead of TJ standing there, watching her with his brother, he went to get another pitcher of beer. Patrons were shoulder deep to order drinks, so he leaned against the bar, waiting his turn.
“You want more of the Blind Pig IPA?” Boden asked from the taps.
Colt was the expert on craft beer, not TJ. He’d happily drink Budweiser.
“Whatever Colt got before,” he responded. “Looks like business is good.”
“Never better, man. In fact, if you know anyone looking to bartend, I’m hiring.”
TJ gazed over at Deb again. The tips at Old Glory had to be better than the Morning Glory. “Deborah Bennett might be. I don’t know if she has bartending experience, though.”
Boden followed his line of vision. “Normally, I make it a requirement. But for Deb, I’d make an exception.”
“Yeah, how come?”
“She’s hot, and as much as I hate to say it, she’d be good for my bottom line, regardless of whether she knows how to make a Sazerac. Plus, I like Deb. Wouldn’t mind hanging out with her.” Boden watched Win give Deb a squeeze and move on to the next pretty face. “What’s the deal with her and your brother?”
TJ’s stomach knotted. “You’d have to ask them.”
Boden nodded, filled the pitcher, and put it on the Garner tab. “I’ll come over to say hi as soon as things slow down back here.”
TJ didn’t see that happening anytime soon. “All right.”
Elbowing his way through the crowd, TJ wondered if Deb would be interested in picking up shifts at the bar. On a night like this, she could take in a good haul. Yet, the prospect of her working here didn’t sit well with him. It wasn’t the atmosphere that disturbed him. It was Boden, who was a great guy. And a chick magnet. And the fact that he was jealous of Boden making a move on Deb, a woman he’d long ago ceded having any designs on . . . well, it was pathetic. TJ told himself that he was just protecting his brother’s interest.
“Hi, TJ.”
TJ turned to find Mandy Forsyth standing there and switched the pitcher of beer to his other hand so he could shake hers. Probably too formal, given the fact that they were in a bar and the Railbenders were on the jukebox singing “Let’s All Get Stoned.” But she was a business acquaintance: an event planner at the Four Seasons at Winter Bowl. Garner Adventure and the Four Seasons had a partnership of sorts. GA put many of their high-paying clients up at the hotel and used the ski resort for a lot of winter activities. In exchange, the hotel and resort referred Garner Adventure like crazy.
“How’s it going, Mandy? You trek down the mountain to hang out with us proletariat?”
She laughed, and he took a moment to appreciate how pretty she was. Petite, blond hair, blue eyes, very put together. She ran the entire event and banquet division of the hotel, a big deal because the Glory Junction Four Seasons was a huge destination wedding venue, hosted two golf tournaments a year, and had a busy concert schedule in summer. That didn’t include its top-notch ski program. Suffice it to say, a lot of people wanted Mandy’s job. And on paper, she was the perfect woman for him.
Yet he continued to search the bar to see what Deb was doing and caught her by the stage staring at him. He snapped his gaze away and went back to focusing on Mandy.
“Sometimes working and playing in the same place can give you cabin fever. A group of us came.” She pointed to a table at the other side of the room, away from the pool tables. TJ recognized a few faces. “We love the live music.”
He scanned his table to see if they were waiting for the beer and decided a few more minutes wouldn’t kill anyone. “My brother’s band plays occasionally.”
“I know. His is one of our favorites.”
Huh; he’d never seen her at one of Colt’s shows. Then again, the concerts were crowded and he hadn’t been looking. He wondered if our meant she had a significant other. She didn’t wear a ring, so not married. “You and your boyfriend’s?” How was that for subtlety?
“No.” Her face lit up at his obvious attempt to see if she was single. “The gang from the Four Seasons. We all hang out because we apparently don’t see enough of each other at work.”
“Ah.” Out of the side of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Boden heading over to Deb. “Hey, I’ve gotta go deliver this.” He held up the pitcher. “It was great seeing you.”
“Oh. Yeah, you too.” She looked disappointed, but TJ did
n’t want the beer to get warm. That and he was a freaking loser.
He dropped off the brew and inconspicuously tried to listen in on Boden and Deb’s conversation. It was too loud to hear anything. But having seen Boden in action many times, TJ knew how smooth he was. Though he sent off that bad-boy vibe—the tattoos, biker boots, and two hundred pounds of muscle—he was always quick to donate beer for charity events, volunteer his bar for community meetings, and put his back into any town project that required a little elbow grease. Deb could certainly do worse.
TJ searched the bar to see if Win saw Boden. Nope; his little brother had moved on to a redhead, who was teaching him how to line dance. From the looks of things, she was the one he’d be taking home tonight.
TJ checked his watch. Ten o’clock. Tired of watching men vie for Deb’s attention, he found his jacket by the pool table and headed out. He was halfway to the door when he heard Colt say, “Where you going?”
TJ turned around and nearly collided with him. “I’ve got an early morning.”
“I thought you’d hang out with Mandy for a while. She’s cute, man.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna call her.” TJ didn’t know where that had come from, but maybe he would. She seemed interested.
“Good.” Colt scrutinized him for a second. “You okay?”
“Of course; why wouldn’t I be?”
Colt punched him. They did that instead of hugging. It drove their mother crazy. “See you tomorrow.”
TJ started walking toward Garner Adventure, where his car was parked, and heard someone shout his name. Deb came chasing after him in her short skirt. It had to be twenty degrees outside.
“What’s up?”
“I had an idea for you . . . about your store.”
“Yeah?” His lips quirked because why now? Why outside of a bar in the freezing cold? He cocked his head in the direction of GA. “Should we go inside?”
“Okay.” Her teeth began to chatter and he hustled her along.
They got inside, and he disabled the security system and motioned for her to take a seat in the foyer on one of the sofas near the big river-rock fireplace.
He went to turn up the thermostat and wondered at the advisability of being alone with her. All these years he’d managed to keep his distance and suddenly he’d done a one-eighty by offering to help with her finances. He tried to tell himself it was just one of those things, happenstance. But he knew better. Then he told himself to grow a set, but it was too late because he was already staring at her bare legs.
