Romance on Mountain View Road (3 page)

She'd pretended not to notice. “I just stopped by to make sure you didn't break anything.”

“Naw, I'm fine.” His briefs were another story, but he wisely kept that bit of information to himself.

“That's good,” she said, handing over the paper plate of goodies. “But if you
had
broken something, I'd have signed your cast.”

Would you have kissed it and made it all better?
That had been an unusually clever remark. Too bad he hadn't thought of it until she was long gone. But even if he had, he'd have never gotten up the nerve to say it. Instead, he'd said, “Then I'd have to save the cast 'cause your signature will probably be valuable someday.”

That had made her smile and making her smile had made his day.

“See you soon,” she'd called as she got in her car.

“Yeah, see you,” he'd called back.

And he had ever since, every day on TV. He'd liked her on Facebook, too, not that she'd noticed. It wasn't much, but it was all he had and it was better than nothing. Barely.

“I wonder if she's coming to the reunion,” he mused.

Next to him Chica whined.

“Yeah, you're right, what does it matter?” Jonathan muttered. These days she was way too busy to hang out with nerdy guys she'd hung with as a kid. And if he went to the reunion, history would repeat itself and the high school hunks would squeeze him out.

He listened as the guest expert talked about how to make a first date with an internet match-up successful. If only there was an expert out there who could help a guy have a successful encounter with a woman he'd known all his life.

“I can't keep just seeing her this way,” he said to Chica. “And I can't go on doing nothing. She won't stay single forever.”

As if, when she finally walked down the aisle, it would be to him! “You're dreaming,” he told himself.

Well, so what if he was? A man needed dreams, needed to think big.
Go big or go home.

Oh, yeah. He was already home. Forget about it, he advised himself.

The morning show ended and Jonathan turned off the TV, leaving Chica in charge of yard patrol and napping, and then got in his car and drove down the long, gravel road toward town. He passed a few large lots with big houses on them, but mostly here, in his neck of the woods, the land remained dense with trees and brush.

He liked it that way. Jonathan Templar, rugged mountain man. Well, mountain man, anyway.

The town itself looked picturesque on this sunny morning. The window boxes and hanging planters that decorated the quaint Bavarian-style buildings overflowed with red geraniums and pink and white begonias. And with the mountains rising up behind, he could almost believe he was somewhere in the German Alps. A few people were stirring, some running errands, some visiting, others sweeping off the sidewalks in front of their shops.

It sure wasn't New York or Seattle but that was okay with Jonathan. Icicle Falls was perfect the way it was. Who would want to live anywhere else?

Lissa Castle, that was who. Would she ever give up her TV career and move back to Icicle Falls? Probably not. Would he say goodbye to this beautiful place and follow her wherever her career led? In a heartbeat, if only she'd ask him.

Even a man caught in the net of unrequited love had to think about other things once in a while. Jonathan parked his car on Center Street and turned his mind to business.

He had plenty to keep him busy the rest of the morning, so busy in fact that he wound up working clear through lunch. He found himself with twenty minutes to kill before he had to be at Mountain Escape Books to work on Pat Wilder's computer, so he decided to duck into Bavarian Brews for a quick pick-me-up.

The aroma of coffee kissed his taste buds as he walked in. Yes, he was probably going to go a million years without sex, might never connect with the woman of his dreams, but at least he had coffee.

Coffee. Sex. Was there really any comparison? Jonathan frowned at the thought of what he was settling for in life.

Cecily Sterling came in right behind him. “Hi, Jonathan. You need a caffeine fix, too?” she asked as they got in line to place their orders.

“Yeah,” he said, showing off his suave to the most beautiful woman in Icicle Falls. Jonathan Templar, lady killer.

He was racking his brain to come up with something clever to say when Todd Black, who had just entered the coffee shop, stepped confidently into the conversation. “By this time of day, who doesn't need a hit?”

Cecily rolled her eyes at him. “You make it sound like you've been up for hours.”

Todd owned the Man Cave, a tavern on the edge of town. He kept late hours and so was bound to sleep late.

“I was up early this morning doing the books. Not easy after a hard day's night.”

“I'm sure you work very hard watching over your kingdom of Kahlua,” she sneered.

“It's not a bad kingdom. By the way, Kahlua and chocolate go well together. Bring me some more of yours and I'll prove it.”

“I'll take your word for it.”

Jonathan had been standing in line behind Cecily, but somehow Todd managed to cut in front of him. He watched with a mixture of irritation and envy as Todd leaned in close to her and said, “One of these days you're going to watch some sappy movie where the couple is dancing real slow and you're going to remember my offer to give you a tango lesson.”

She shook her head and moved away a step. He closed the distance.

Oh, this was a master in action. Jonathan eavesdropped shamelessly.

“Or you're going to get an urge to come check out the action on my pinball machine. You said you were good but so far you haven't proved it.”

“I don't have to prove anything to you.” She turned to look at him and they almost brushed lips.

“You're invading my space,” she said, frowning.

“I bet that's not all I'm invading. How you sleeping these days, Cecily? Do you get hot? Throw off the covers?”

Her cheeks went pink. “I sleep fine, thanks.” She took two giant steps away and placed her order, leaving Todd with a confident smirk on his face.

Jenni, the barista, whipped up Cecily's coconut mocha latte and set it on the counter, but Cecily chose that moment to send a text on her cell phone. Todd's drink order came up and she put away her phone and picked up her to-go cup. They stood trading words that, Jonathan suspected, had secret messages attached, then, with her cheeks even pinker, she left the coffee shop. Todd watched her go, smiling like a man who'd just landed a fish and was now contemplating how he'd cook it.

Speaking of cooking, there'd been enough current zipping back and forth between those two to light the giant fir tree in the town square at Christmas and the rest of the town, too. How did guys like Todd manage to stir up a woman's hormones with nothing more than a few well-chosen words? Jonathan wished he knew.

The only way to find out was to ask.

Todd was about to saunter out the door. Jonathan grabbed his drink and hurried after him. “Uh, Todd. Can I ask you something?”

Todd turned, an easy smile on his face, his brows raised. “Sure. What?”

“How do you do that?”

The brows knit. “Do what?”

Okay, maybe he didn't want to have this conversation in the middle of Bavarian Brews. He opened the door and motioned that they should go out on the street. Once outside he wasn't sure how to frame his question.

“What's on your mind, computer man?” Todd prompted him.

“I was watching you with Cecily. You're smooth.”

Todd shrugged and took a drink of coffee.

“How do you do it? How do you know what to say?”

“I just say what comes into my head.” Todd watched Cecily running across the street toward Sweet Dreams. “She likes being chased. But you know what? She's about ready to let me catch her, and she's going to like getting caught even more.” The smile on his face oozed confidence.

Well, Jonathan would have confidence, too, if he looked like Johnny Depp's kid brother. He realized he was frowning. He probably looked like a pitiful loser.

“Woman troubles?” Todd guessed.

“Always.”

“Yeah, well, women and trouble go together.” He clapped Jonathan on the back. “But you've got to hang in there. Never give up. That's what Winston Churchill said, and he saved England in World War II.”

Jonathan nodded and trudged off down the street. Winston Churchill only had to save England. Jonathan wanted to win Lissa Castle. And he didn't look like Todd Black.

He was halfway to the bookstore when he saw Tina Swift coming down the sidewalk from the other direction. Tina was recently divorced and had half the men in town sniffing after her. Hardly surprising, considering how cute she was.

Cute and stuck-up. She'd been in his class, a cheerleader and a member of the top social tier at Icicle Falls High. She'd never paid any attention to Jonathan then or in the twelve years after graduation. It was only once she'd opened a shop that sold imported lace and china three years ago and needed someone to design a website that she'd remembered his existence.

Now she'd spotted him and was smiling as if they were buds, which meant she wanted something. And it sure wasn't a date.

Jonathan pretended not to see and crossed the street.

Undeterred, she called his name and ran after him.

Okay, he gave up. He stopped.

She hardly allowed him time to say a self-conscious hello before asking, “Did you get your reunion invitation?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I hope you put the date on the calendar.”

“Well,” he began.

She didn't let him finish. “It's going to be even better than the ten-year. We've already heard from a ton of people. Cam Gordon...”

Football fathead and snob. There's someone I want to see.

“Feron Prince...”

The Prince of Darkness. He stuffed me in a locker when we were freshmen.

“Kyle Long. He was a friend of yours, wasn't he?”

“Still is.” And Jonathan didn't need to go to the reunion to see him.

“I think Rand is coming.”

Which meant Jonathan wouldn't be, for sure.

“Did you know he got married?”

Married? Jonathan smiled. “No.” So Rand was out of circulation. Well, well.

“Oh, and we just heard from Lissa Castle, our very own celebrity. She's definitely coming.”

Rand was out of circulation and Lissa was coming. Was he imagining it or were the stars aligning? (Whatever that meant.) If he went to the reunion, he'd have a whole weekend of close proximity to Lissa. Maybe he could separate her from her adoring fans long enough to talk with her, impress her, maybe even dance with her. Except he couldn't dance.

“Jonathan?”

Tina was looking at him, eyebrows raised.

He pulled himself back into the present. “What?”

“Like I just said, I was hoping you could help me out with a couple of things. We want a website for the reunion, and I thought maybe you wouldn't mind making one. You do such good work. And you did a wonderful job designing the webpage for the chocolate festival.”

But that had been something he
wanted
to do. This, not so much.

“We could put a bunch of pictures from the yearbook up there, along with any current ones we get. Have a place for people to post. You know, that sort of thing.”

“You could just do that on Facebook,” he said, hoping to dodge this assignment.

“Oh, great idea! Could you do that, too?”

Wait a minute. He hadn't said yes and already she'd doubled his work, and none of it was anything he would get paid for.

But how to say no to a pretty woman? Jonathan didn't have a clue.

“Oh,
please
say yes. I need a tech wizard.”

“I guess I could.” What the heck. She was going to wear him down, anyway, and they both knew it.

He sighed inwardly. Now he could hear all about how successful his former classmates had been, see pictures of their wives and kids. Yuck.

Meanwhile, here was Tina, gushing away. “Fabulous! Thank you, Jonathan. You are just...”

A sucker.

“...the best.”

The best geek.
Nothing wrong with being a geek, he reminded himself. It had worked fine for Bill Gates.

“I should get going,” Tina said. “I'm late for the committee meeting. But I'm so glad I ran into you.”

Yeah, him, too. Before he could say anything, sarcastic or otherwise, she was hurrying off down the sidewalk.

Jonathan continued on toward the bookstore, deep in thought. Lissa would be back for the reunion in August. Now that Rand was married, maybe he stood a chance of at least getting her attention for a few minutes.

Realistically, that was about all he'd get. She'd been way too popular, and practically everyone else would want to hang with her. Still, he and Lissa had known each other for years. Surely she'd want to visit with him, too.

But simply visiting wasn't going to cut it. He had to figure out a way to shake things up, make an impression.

Hmm. Following that line of thought to its logical conclusion... If he wanted to make an impression, he had to come up with a plan.

His earlier conversation with Todd Black returned for a visit.
You've got to hang in there.

He pulled his smartphone out of his jeans pocket and looked up Winston Churchill's famous quote.
“Never, never, never, never give up.”
What chance did he have of winning Lissa's love? About one in a million. If he didn't even try? None.

He squared his shoulders. He was not going to give up. Somehow he was going to find a way to transform himself from zero to hero, find a way to make her see that her truest childhood friend could also be her truest love.

But how?