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ChapterOne
Sparrow
Moonshine Ridge is about as far from Murfreesboro, Tennessee as I could get; just a tiny speck on the maps and a few thousand people in real life, at seven thousand feet above sea level, clear on the other side of the country from where I spent half my life.
My friend, Cami, and her husband run a bar and grill in this tiny community and I'm so glad I stayed in touch with Cam since we went our separate ways after the sixth grade when my family decided to move back east.
It's good to have someone in your corner when you need someplace to go, and Cam assures me Moonshine Ridge is a great place for starting over, or just hiding out.
Of course, she might be biased, since she came up here looking for a summer job and ended up landing herself a real-life, mountain man grump that thinks the sun rises out of her ass.
That's how I ended up behind the bar here at the Tavern, slinging drinks for the locals and envying the love my childhood bestie found for herself.
While I start filling a new pitcher of beer for Ozzie Lancaster and his buddies, I start daydreaming about finding my own mountain man happily ever after.
The first time Vale Diaz walked up to the bar and ordered a double rye on the rocks, I was done for: Black hair with just enough length that the curls can't be tamed, the full, thick beard, and dark eyes that have a way of making me feel like he can see my very soul.
The man is scorching hot. The kind of hot that could keep me a hell of a lot warmer on these long, dark, mountain winter nights than the pitiful wall heater in the room at the lodge that came with my job here.
He's also sixteen years older than me, with strands of silver running through his hair and beard, and lines at the corners of his eyes that crinkle when his eyes narrow with the scowl he always seems to wear.
Vale's been coming in nearly every afternoon, sitting on the last stool at the end of the bar, ignoring his drink while he watches me with his intense, dark gaze while I try to ignore my pounding pulse.
But no matter how I dream about this particular mountain man throwing me over his shoulder and carrying me off to his cabin to make me his own, he's never given even the slightest hint that he feels that way about me.
I guess I'll take what I can get and fill in the rest when I'm alone under the covers at night.
My thoughts are interrupted by the tavern’s door opening; letting in the bright light of the January afternoon as well as a burst of the cold, mountain winter air, as a figure steps inside.
The man that steps inside isn't the one I've been waiting for.
* * *
Vale
Ipromised my family I wouldn't be the recluse vet-- staying holed up on the side of the mountain after retiring from my military career, never learning to live again-- so I started making a point to come into town once a week just to force myself to talk to someone I'm not related to.
That was a helluva lot harder before I discovered Sparrow behind the bar.
She's new to Moonshine Ridge; tells me she was friends with the owner's wife back when they were in elementary school, before her family moved to some place back east and gave her that sweet little accent that gets my blood churned up.
Sparrow's a ray of sunshine wrapped up in a curvy package that inspires a lot of inappropriate thoughts and I know a beat-up old man like me doesn't have a chance at getting a taste of her sweetness, but that hasn't stopped me from spending most every afternoon down here at Cedar McAllister's tavern to keep an eye on her like she was mine.
It's as usual a Tuesday afternoon as Tuesdays get here on the ridge as I pull the truck into the parking lot. I recognize Ozzie Lancaster's personal vehicle in the lot, along with Raine Hart's truck and a few other locals that don't have the kind of jobs to keep them from shooting pool over a couple pitchers of cheap beer on a weekday. A couple cars I don't recognize dot the parking lot as well, but that's getting more common this time of year since the ski lodge is open again.
I have my hand on the handle of the heavy, wooden door with my head full of ideas about the pretty, young bartender inside that remind me what a filthy bastard I really am, when I hear the shouting.
"Get your shit and let's get out of here,now, Spare!"
Inside the dark barroom, I can see Oz and Raine positioned between the bar and the shouting stranger while Sparrow has herself pressed against the wall behind them.
"I'm not going anywhere with you, Travis!"
"Dude, you heard the lady, you need to leave," Raine Hart tells the guy in a tone that's a lot calmer than I have patience for.
Sparrow's standing her ground but her body language and the quiver in her voice lets me know that this isn't just some drunk stranger acting up in the bar. She knows this asshole, and he's trouble.
Whatever the story is, I'll sort it later. Right now, it's pretty obvious that Sparrow's ex wants her back and she wants nothing to do with him...so I cross the room in a few long steps, grab the much smaller man by the collar, yanking him off his feet and backward while I shove him roughly.
