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“Misty Mountain doesn’t get enough snow for skiing,” she said.
“Manufactured snow.” Nic shook his head. “It seems expensive to me, but apparently some places make it work.”
She’d heard of people skiing in Gatlinburg, and that town was hardly Aspen, Colorado. In fact, their snowfall was similar to Misty Mountain’s.
A silence followed. Charity had a tough time coming up with a way to fill it. She was busy staring at the ground, looking for icy patches. Wearing heels had been a bad idea, but so far she’d managed to make it through the evening without falling flat on her face.
“I guess it doesn’t really matter how much it costs if people are willing to pay to ski,” Nic said. “Anyway, he didn’t say he was actually taking action yet. He definitely seemed interested in my agriculture work, though. Maybe he’s thinking about starting a farm.”
Charity smiled at the thought of that guy in the mud with pigs and cows…all while wearing an expensive pair of sneakers. He had a ruggedness about him, but he also looked like a salesman—someone who knew how to run a business.
She wondered what the situation was with J.J.’s mom. Holden didn’t wear a wedding ring. She had actually been racking her brain to come up with a friend she could fix up with him. Maybe he’d be interested in her sister, Ana.
“The guy appears to be single,” Nic said.
Was he reading her thoughts? Sure seemed like it.
“Yeah, I was just thinking—”
Before she finished confessing she was considering matchmaking Holden with her sister, Nic broke in. “He’s probably the most eligible bachelor in town. We were commiserating about being divorced.”
“Really.”
She looked over at him as long as she dared to before returning her attention to the ground. An icy patch could pop up at any minute.
“He’s been divorced a couple of years. He has full custody of J.J. So whoever married him would become an instant stepmom.”
Yeah, she wasn’t sure how Ana would feel about that. She was so married to her career, anyway, it was doubtful she’d settle down. Especially not with someone who had ties to Misty Mountain. Although if he owned a helicopter tour business, surely he could somehow get her flights to take her back and forth from Misty Mountain to…wherever.
“J.J. is adorable, though,” Charity said. “Any woman would be lucky to have her for a stepdaughter.”
And she meant every word of it. Holden was older—probably in his early thirties. That made him closer to her oldest sister Faith’s age, but she wasn’t single. Ana was single and twenty-eight, so Charity had automatically put the two of them together in her mind.
But she knew neither sister would appreciate her playing matchmaker. Even if the guy was a handsome multimillionaire.
Nic was quiet as he opened the passenger door for her and waited for her to get in. There was a tension coming from him that she hadn’t noticed before. Was he upset about something? Maybe he was just deep in thought about whatever was going on with his job situation.
She fastened her seatbelt and waited as he climbed in and started up the truck. She waited and waited and waited for him to say something. Instead, he pulled out of the lot and into the line of traffic on the main road.
“Is everything okay?” she finally asked. “You’re being quiet.”
“Fine.” He shook his head. “Just thinking about work.”
He didn’t glance over at her, though. She would have expected a reassuring smile. Something was definitely off.
“I just have a lot on my mind,” he continued. “I probably should at least be trying to figure out a way back to the farm. As soon as the roads are clear, they’re going to expect me to be pulling into that driveway.”
He was looking for an excuse to get out of town. She should have expected that. But the question was, how did that play into his sudden mood shift? Was he looking to get away from her…or from Misty Mountain? Was he starting to feel trapped? Why all of a sudden? Maybe it had to do with the talk of the ski lodge. That was when he’d gone quiet, after all.
And then traffic started to move. They were just a few minutes from the entrance to her neighborhood, so she’d better work it all in while she could.
“It was great spending time with you,” she said. “If you do leave and I don’t get to see you again, any time you’re in town, be sure to send me a quick text. We can always get together for dinner at the Mexican restaurant. Or for coffee.”
She was smiling by then, mostly to let him know that everything was fine between them. Yes, they may have kissed beneath the mistletoe and in the front seat of this very truck, but that didn’t mean she expected this to become anything more than just two exes who remained friends. That was how she wanted it to appear to him, anyway.
On the inside, though, she was crushed. Heartbroken. In some ways, it was even worse than the first time he’d broken up with her because she’d gotten a glimpse at how perfect things could be between them.
But there would never be a future for them. It was silly to even dream of one. He didn’t want to live in Misty Mountain, and she didn’t want to live anywhere else. But even if she did, it was clear he could live without her. That much she could see from the way he was acting.
