Precious Blessings

“Then he’ll find it just fine, whether I’m here or not.” She could see him starting down the trail, balancing on one ski. He was on his way down.

There was only one thing to do. She propped the slim black ski, brand-new and newly waxed, against the snow berm where it would be easy for Jack to spot when he limped around the corner. “You two have been plotting while I was talking to Jack.”

“Guilty,” Marin admitted. “He’s a great-looking guy. He’s a caring father, so I know he has a lot of heart.”

“You can have him then, because his personality isn’t so great.” Katherine wasn’t sure if that was the whole truth, but Jack’s first impression had been a whopper. Remembering how he’d behaved when they’d first met would keep her firmly entrenched in her state of denial. “C’mon, let’s get moving.”

“You’re just gonna leave the ski?” Holly looked crestfallen. “But, what about our plan? You can’t get to know him better if you don’t stay, talk, meet him in the lodge for hot drinks.”

“News flash. I don’t plan on seeing Jack Munroe ever again even if I have to avoid him. Let’s go, he’s almost here.” She pushed off, leading the way down the trail. Snow pummeled into her like little wind-driven bullets, and she didn’t look back. Didn’t want to.

Because she already knew what she’d see. The disappointment on her friends’ faces and Jack Munroe wobbling on one ski. Jack Munroe, who’d given her flowers and who had enough problems on his plate. Just because he was a widower didn’t mean she was suddenly interested in him. She was pretty sure that Jack was not the man she was looking for.

Humiliation was a sad thing. Jack had found his ski, but his dignity had taken a fatal hit. In front of Katherine McKaslin.

Why her, Lord? He took another sip of strong sweetened tea in the warmth of the lodge’s empty auxiliary dining room and tried to squeeze the memory from his mind of glancing up to see Katherine at the top of the ravine, looking like a gift from heaven dappled with snow.

The Lord wasn’t answering, and Jack had to accept it. Why he was continuously coming across as a bull in a china shop in front of Katherine might forever remain a mystery. Maybe the trick would be staying away from her. That shouldn’t be too hard to do, right?

Right. So stop thinking about her.

Okay, he focused on the view outside the wide picture windows. Stunning. The rugged snow-draped mountain peaks stabbed into the falling veil of snow. Closer in, the mountain slope lay in a pure mantle of white that felt as peaceful as it looked. Out front, just within his view, a half dozen teens on skis were clustered in a half circle around a beginning instructor. Hayden was one of them. She stood at the end, a little farther away than the others. He only saw her from behind but he knew that slump to her shoulders. She was scowling, looking nothing at all like the little girl he remembered.

Where had the time gone? In a blink of an eye, here she was, a teenager, fifteen going on sixteen, and he wasn’t ready for it. Something had gone wrong somewhere, and he didn’t know what. The move here to Montana, to a smaller city and a slower pace was supposed to fix that. And after the stunt she’d pulled in Katherine’s store, it was clear his little girl was a teenager on the edge of trouble. Funny, he’d always blamed the parents for something like that.

But he was simply doing his best.

Maybe finding a church would help with that. He simply hadn’t had the time with the move and the adjustment to a new home and job to start searching for the right one. Thank God for this opportunity. Jack’s chest tightened with a mix of emotions he couldn’t name except for one. Gratitude. If Hayden was going to act out, it had been a blessing that she’d done so in front of Katherine. That they’d been given this chance to make things right. It was an opportunity he refused to waste, and he wouldn’t let Hayden waste it either.

Katherine. His guts knotted when he thought of her. Maybe the Lord was trying to tell him something. Like give up any thoughts of dating. You aren’t cut out for it. Not that he’d been thinking on that real hard, but some of the guys at work were more than happy to offer to set him up. He’d turned them down, so far. He was doing fine enough on his own, right?

Well, as tough as it was to admit, not really.

“More tea, sir?” The sunny waitress breezed up to his corner table with another pot of steaming water.

Not in a sunny mood, he gave a gruff nod and kept his attention on Hayden. The snow was falling harder now, shadowing the kids so that it was hard to see them as they followed their instructor, sidestepping toward the beginner’s run. He watched Hayden’s blue parka grow smaller and disappear over a rise.

That’s when he felt it, a flicker of emotion stretching tight right behind his sternum and then popping free, like a rubber band snapping. What was that?

He didn’t have to look around to know who was coming his way. For some unfathomable reason, he could feel the string pulling tight again, right over his heart the moment he saw Katherine enter the dining room.

His gut instinct told him to duck, but it was too late.

Chapter Five

That man sitting at the window…there was something familiar about those mile-wide shoulders and the tidy shock of black hair. His posture was as rigid as a seasoned soldier’s, and she’d seen that black parka before.

Jack Munroe. Her feet froze in place in the archway between the lodge’s main restaurant and the practically empty room. Maybe he hadn’t spotted her. It wasn’t too late to tiptoe back out of the room.

Don’t be silly, she told herself. She’d planned never to see Jack Munroe again. This was a coincidence, not divine intervention or her secret wish. She’d simply find a quiet table on the far side of the dining room, pull out her book and wait for Holly and Marin to find her. She didn’t have to look in Jack’s direction whatsoever.

Luck might be in her favor. With the way he was gazing out the window, he might not even notice her. She could walk right past him. If he did happen to look her way, she’d toss him a polite smile. It sounded like a good plan.

So why did her feet take on a mind of their own and lead her to his table? “Did you ever find your lost ski?”

There wasn’t an ounce of surprise on his chiseled face as he pivoted in his chair and fastened his gaze on hers. Total control emanated from him like cold from the window. “I did. After a few more runs, skiing came back to me.”

“Good.” Katherine hadn’t spotted him on the advanced runs, so she guessed he’d tried a less challenging trail.

Well, she hadn’t intended to chat and didn’t want to. Time to make her escape. But the instant she took a step, his hand shot out and his fingers curled around her wrist. The shock of the contact startled them both.

“You can’t go yet.” He released her, but his gaze was pure black steel. “Not until I apologize.”

She didn’t know if it was fury at his overbearing manner or something like interest that froze her in place. The imprint of Jack’s hand felt like a brand on her arm. “Apologize? For which offense?”

“Are there that many?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“Sorry. I just—” Jack shook his head. What was he thinking? It had been a mistake to stop her. A mistake not to have kept as much distance between them as possible. “Is there any way we can start over?”

“Start over with what?”

She was going to make this as hard as possible. He squared his shoulders, ready to take a direct rejection. “We can pretend we didn’t meet the way we did.”

“You mean with your daughter stealing from my family’s store and you trying to run over me with your car?” Her soft dainty mouth tightened into a thin line. One slim eyebrow shot up as if he’d insulted her.

She wasn’t insulted, he realized. She was too nice a woman for that. He stood and pulled out the chair next to him. Watched deeper emotions play in her captivating eyes.

Whenever he was around her, he felt off-balance, as if he’d lost his center, his footing, everything he was sure of. Maybe she felt this, too. “If you can put those things behind you, I’d like to try again.”

“What makes you think I want to?”

“Just a hunch. Cop’s instinct.”

“Let me guess. Your hunches are wrong a lot, aren’t they?”

“You’ll have to sit down and find out.”

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