It wasn’t that she didn’t look lovely without them—she did—but the faint dusting along her cheeks and nose, all but covered by the color brought on by the cold, made her seem more remote. Less approachable. Maybe she liked it that way. It was none of his business, really. He shouldn’t even be thinking about her attractiveness. Not because she was the enemy or something ridiculous like that, but because Nolan had no time to find a woman attractive.
He didn’t date. It wasn’t that he avoided it; it was that he couldn’t spare the time away from the inn and his family. His mother had been the glue tying them all together, and even if Nolan fit badly in her place, if he suddenly had more important things to do elsewhere, he didn’t want to think of what would happen to Gramps and his dad.
Hence, no dating. No finding women attractive.
No Julie.
Absorbed in his thoughts, Nolan didn’t notice when the trees along the deer path thinned and the lodge with the stables nestled alongside came into view. Snowball launched from between the last of the trees and caught him unawares. She hit him like a freight train, and he flew backward into the snow.
For a moment, he sat there, staring up at the overcast sky, wondering what the heck had happened. Then the dog bounced into view, happily licking his face. It was cold enough out here that he could feel her wet kisses start to freeze on his skin. He nudged her away with a laugh.
“Snowball, enough.”
Her tongue lolling, she sat in the snowbank next to him. When Nolan extricated himself, she leaned down, her rump high, her tail thrashing the air. She wanted to play. Nolan packed together a tight snowball and let it fly. She raced after it, up to her shoulders in snow as she pushed through the drifts along the path. When she couldn’t find the snowball, she ran in circles before realizing she had been tricked.
Nolan laughed again, feeling years of weight lift from his shoulders. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have time for romance. Snowball was all he needed.
She barreled through the snow again toward him. This time, he caught her in midair, bracing himself. She wiggled free and dropped the short distance to the ground. Still full of energy, she chased her tail in a manic circle.
“Settle down, girl.”
She sat. He kneeled in front of her, taking some time to comb the clumps of snow and ice from her fur. She vibrated with energy but remained still for his attentions.
“Good girl. Can’t have you running amok in the lodge, now can we?”
She cracked a canine smile.
As he brushed away the worst of the snow, he thought about Julie. Not about how pretty she was, with her blond hair cut to her chin and the coat and jeans that hugged her figure. No, about what she’d said.
“Ida Green is selling the property to us. So why did she send her granddaughter to throw a party? That sounds more like someone who’s having second thoughts and wants to announce a grand reopening.”
Snowball tilted her head. She obviously didn’t see the problem.
Nolan did. Gramps had his heart set on expanding their property to include the old house.
Nolan sighed. “I just don’t want to see Gramps disappointed. He’s been through enough.” First, with his wife passing. Then, with his daughter. After Gram had passed, Nolan’s mom had been the life of the lodge, even on the days when the chemo had her bedridden. Nolan didn’t have her bubbly personality.
“I miss her,” he whispered.
Snowball licked his chin.
Right. If he stayed out here, his face was going to freeze. He forced himself to stand. “Come on, girl. Let’s go home.”
The attention had calmed her down enough that she trotted at his side rather than bounding through the snow and undoing all their hard work. As they passed the stables, one of the horses whinnied. Snowball stopped in her tracks, ears perked to attention.
“All right,” Nolan conceded. “But only for a minute.”
When he changed course to step toward the stables, Snowball pranced ahead of him. A word of caution slowed her at the entrance.
“Be good,” he warned. The very last thing he wanted was for his dog to rile the horses.
Fortunately, they were used to Snowball coming and going, more so in the summer, and when Nolan pulled open the sliding door to admit them, the nearest horses gave no more than disdainful snorts. Snowball took their condescension in stride and trotted up to a gelding who had his nose lowered outside his stall box. They sniffed each other, a courtesy.
Nolan crossed to his mare, a bay with a white blaze on her face, and stroked her between the eyes. “Hi there, Dolly.”
She softly lipped at his gloves.
“Sorry, I don’t have any treats for you right now. I’ll come back later.”
