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“Well, that was something,” Derek said, his dark brown eyes shining with excitement and barely concealed laughter.
“Isn’t it, though?” Clark nodded. “A movie star in Snowy Pine Ridge.”
“Oh, that wasn’t what I was talking about.” Derek smirked, walking up to the counter and leaning on it before raising his brow sardonically. “I’m talking about how you were almost tripping over your feet back there to get her what she wanted. ‘I can rush order it for you, I do it all the time.’” His voice took on a different cadence as he mimicked Clark good-naturedly. “I’ve never seen you like that before.”
“Like what?” Clark scoffed.
“Smitten.”
Clark rolled his eyes. “Now you’re just making stuff up.”
“Sure, I am.” That same, amused smile danced along Derek’s lips, and Clark just shook his head. When he didn’t take the bait, Derek chuckled and then clapped his hands on the counter. “All right, then. I’m going to get going. Try not to swoon over our new resident movie startoohard throughout the night.”
Clark didn’t answer him, opting instead to just narrow his eyes at his friend while Derek and the dogs filed out of the building.
Once he was left alone, his mind couldn’t help but wander to Valerie, and to Derek’s observation of his reaction to her. Not that Clark would ever admit it, but he was quite smitten with the woman. Who wouldn’t be? With a smile that shone so bright it lit up the entire room, he was sure he wouldn’t be the only one stumbling over himself around her.
But the fact of the matter was, she was just visiting. People loved to come to Snowy Pine Ridge for short stints of time, but not a lot of them ended up staying. The town was what most would call “sleepy.” Charming, yes, but the pace was slower than what some people craved, and that ended up chasing city folk away a lot of the time.
Besides, Valerie was a celebrity. Someone like her? She’d be there long enough to get her rest, to have some revelation about self-love and heal whatever it was that had brought her to town in the first place. Then she’d be gone, just like almost everyone else that rolled into town.
Because what could Snowy Pine Ridge ever offer to a woman like that?
CHAPTERFIVE
Shelley pulled open the door to Frosty’s Shack, stepping into the familiar building and inhaling deeply when the scents of the delicious, greasy breakfast food floated up to greet her. She glanced toward the diner’s counter, noting Louise standing behind it. Shelley gave the woman a friendly wave before walking toward her favorite booth in the far corner.
It was tucked in between two large windows, and had great views of Main Street, which ran through the center of town. It made it the perfect spot for her to sit and people watch while she waited for Rudolph to join her for breakfast so they could discuss some of the outstanding items regarding the children’s showcase.
The moment Shelley sat down and made herself comfortable, Louise took out a notepad and began bustling her way toward the booth that Shelley now occupied.
“What’ll you have today, love?” Louise asked, her friendly words at odds with her brusque tone.
The diner owner was frequently like that. She had a hard, gruff exterior, but once you got to know her, she was all warm and squishy on the inside. She might be hard as nails, but Louise cared about the people in Snowy Pine Ridge more than nearly anyone that Shelley had ever met.
“A coffee to start,” Shelley said. “And then two orders of biscuits and gravy.”
“Two?” Louise’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“Rudolph is supposed to be meeting me here in a few minutes.”
“That old grump?” the other woman asked, but there was no bite in her tone.
“One and the same,” Shelley answered with a nod.
Louise just chuckled again, noting the order on the small pad she held aloft and then walking away to deliver it to the kitchen. She returned a moment later, pouring Shelley a mug of piping hot coffee before telling her the food would be out shortly and then hustling away to take care of another customer.
Shelley sighed as she wrapped her hands around the mug, letting the warmth rock through her as she lifted it off the table and to her nose, inhaling deeply. Coffee was her favorite thing about mornings, along with the feeling of peace that often crashed through her when she had a mug of it in her hands. It was something she planned to soak up as much as she could before Rudolph got there.
But apparently, the universe had other plans for Shelley, because a split second later, the door to Frosty’s Shack was pulled open, allowing a frigid breeze to whip briefly through the restaurant before a frazzled looking Colette Hillis stepped through it.
Colette had an excited look on her face, her strawberry blonde hair glinting in the winter sun as she threw a wild glance around the restaurant. Eventually, her light brown eyes landed on Shelley, and Colette’s lips tugged up to a wide, excited grin.
“Hi!” Shelley called out a greeting as Colette approached her booth. “What’s going on?”
“You’ll never believe what Derek and Lacy just told me,” Colette murmured excitedly, stopping to stand by the booth Shelley occupied.
Colette was Derek’s cousin and was also incredibly close with his wife, Lacy. She was a staple of the town and one of its sweetest residents, and she lived in town with her boyfriend, Zach McKnight. The pair had met when Zach had come to Snowy Pine Ridge a little over a year ago.
