Finding Me (Snowy Ridge: Love at Starlight, Book 3) Read online

  Evan hadn’t given up on life or anything. He still had a healthy ego and knew things eventually had to turn up for him. There was a goal set in front of him; he just couldn’t make out what it was yet. And he still thought of himself as a catch even if he did live with his aunt. Someday he’d find a girl who he couldn’t live without and who would be equally crazy for him. He just wasn’t going to find her hanging out in Snowy Ridge, Wisconsin.

  Evan pulled his car to a stop in front of MoonBeans. He wasn’t ready for an evening at home with Aunt Bets just yet. He needed a little post-work pick me up.

  Evan grabbed his book out of his glove compartment and tucked it in his coat pocket in case he decided to stick around the café for a while. He liked coffee shops: the heavy aroma of coffee that continuously filled the air, the warm, cozy seating that always felt inviting, and the never-ending stream of interesting characters who lingered and made for excellent people watching. MoonBeans had been one of his favorite places in Snowy Ridge from the first day he’d arrived.

  He pushed open the heavy wood door to the coffee shop and the bells hanging over head jingled, announcing his arrival. The cute barista, April, was working the counter and smiled widely at him. He liked when she was working and when he’d first moved to town, he actually thought about asking her out. But his love for caffeine was too great to allow him to take the chance of things going awry and he not being able to frequent the only coffee shop in town. So, they maintained a simple, yet flirty barista/customer relationship.

  “Hey, handsome, you’re here kind of late today.” April said as Evan approached the counter. “Still want your usual?”

  “Yeah, double espresso. It’s been one of those days.”

  “I feel ya. I’m having one of those days myself. But I think I’m going to need something a little stronger than a coffee.”

  Evan smiled at her. If he didn’t think she’d take it the wrong way he’d ask to go along with her for a drink. “How much longer do you have?”

  April glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall, just over the line of coffee syrups, and then returned her gaze to Evan. “Twenty more minutes and then I have a date with Jose Cuervo.”

  “Lucky guy.”

  “You go ahead and take a seat, hon’, and I’ll bring your drink out to you.”

  Evan nodded and headed toward one of the two vacant over-stuffed chairs in front of the stone fireplace. There were a pair of young teens hovering over a chess board at one table and a woman, a mom, Evan guessed from her overstuffed bag with the scattering of buttons featuring various kids holding soccer balls pinned to it. He’d bet she had a large family too, judging from the five-inch stack of coupon papers she was clipping her way through. And then there was a nice-looking, from the back anyway, blonde woman looking out the window onto Main Street with her back to the rest of the café, sipping a cup of tea. Maybe he should sit closer to her.

  Evan walked past his original choice of seat and was about to take the seat next to the blonde when he got a closer look at who she was. Ugh, he thought. It was that woman who wasted his time a couple of months back when she tried to hire him to sell the Starlight Pub. He had prepared a market summary and gone over there, ready to deliver his pitch, when it turned out there were no plans to ever sell the pub. It wasn’t even hers to sell. It belonged to her sister and mother. Evan felt a sense of irritation return just at the memory. He did not want her to notice him or worse yet, talk to him. Sure, she was beautiful and all, but, aside from that, she wasn’t his type. And not just because she’d made him do hours of pointless prep work and gotten his hopes up for a big sale. When he’d met her, he also found her to be overly forward. Like a tipsy bar fly looking for any guy to take her home. It wasn’t an attractive quality.

  Evan did a one-eighty and headed back for one of the over-stuffed chairs, choosing the one that faced away from the blonde. He’d wait for April to deliver his drink and then get out of there before the woman recognized him.

  Just as Evan reached into his coat pocket to retrieve his book, a familiar voice filled the room.

  “Evan, darlin’, I thought that was your car parked outside,” Aunt Bets said. “How did your appointment go? Can I join you, dear?”

  Evan sat up straight in his chair. Great. There went his break. “Sure, Aunt Bets. I was just grabbing a quick coffee.”

  “Oh, that sounds just perfect, I’m going to get me one too.” Bets turned her head toward the café menu on the wall and squinted while she read the choices.

  Bets should have been wearing her glasses but Evan knew that she thought they made her look old and rarely put them on in public. He noticed the line of makeup that ran along Bets’s left side of her face where she’d neglected to rub in her foundation. She always caked her makeup on so thickly that it reminded Evan of a theater student he’d dated freshman year. Bets had on large red dangling earrings that matched her red leather skirt and made a clinking metal sound when she swung her head around too fast. They were the kind of earrings that the majority of Snowy Ridge women in their fifties wouldn’t be caught dead in but, hey, it matched the red collar on her leopard printed top. Aunt Bets always wore colorful ensembles and while most people would think it would hinder her business, it never did. People loved Bets Monroe.

  “I think I’m going to get a vanilla latte,” Bets said with a dramatic nod.

  “Here, sit, Aunt Bets, I’ll order it for you,” Evan said and started to rise, but Aunt Bets wasn’t even listening. Something else, or someone, had already caught her attention.

  “Luci Foster, honey, is that you? How are you doing, darlin’?” Bets walked toward Luci and greeted her with a hug and a kiss. When she pulled away Luci had a set of red lips on her cheek.

  Evan smiled as he sat back down. He wondered if anyone would tell her or if she’d go on the rest of her day with Bets’s mark.

  “I usually see you sitting here in the window when I drive by in the mornings,” Bets said.

  “Yeah. I write here most mornings, but, I…” she paused.

  So, she’s a writer, Evan thought.

  “I just sort of had to get out of the house for a while,” Luci continued.

  Bets nodded like she knew exactly why Luci would need to get out but Evan couldn’t imagine how she possibly could.

  “I was just thinking about you girls and your mother. How’s she feeling? Did she get my fruit basket?

  “Oh, yes, thanks so much, Bets. It was wonderful. So thoughtful of you. And yes, she’s feeling much better,” Luci said. “She’s itching to get life back to normal.”

  “Of course, she is. I’m gonna give her a call real soon. Evan?” Bets called out.

  Evan could feel himself slump into his chair. Crap, he thought.

  “Evan, honey, come here. Have you met Luci Foster?”

  Great, now he was trapped. He had to go over and be polite. Bets had no idea that he was already more familiar than he wanted to be with Luci Foster. When she had initially called about selling the pub, he’d decided he would handle the entire thing and not tell Bets about it. He had wanted it to be a surprise; to show her that he was more than capable of taking on bigger sales. When it turned out to have all been a huge mistake, he was too embarrassed to come clean and tell her.

  Evan slowly stood up from his chair, fixed a smile on his face, and made his way over to Bets and Luci. “Hi, Luci,” he said. He waited for Luci to flash a smile of recognition or make some sort of comment on his looks like she had the first time they met. But she didn’t do either.

  Luci looked up at him with a polite, forced smile. “Hi, there. Nice to meet you.”

  Evan narrowed his gaze at her. Nice to meet him? “Um, yeah,” he begun.

  “Are you new in town?” she interrupted.

  Evan screwed up his face. New in town? Was she kidding? She really didn’t recognize him?

  “Oh, honey, this is my nephew. He works with me now,” Bets said.

  Yeah. As in the realtor you called
and had come out to the pub earlier this year, he thought. Evan waited for some sound of recognition to come from Luci.

  “That’s wonderful. Well, good luck to you and welcome to Snowy Ridge,” she said.

  Evan bit his top lip and examined Luci’s face. Did she have amnesia or was he just that forgettable? And even if it was him she didn’t remember, how do you forget trying to sell a building? “Uh, yeah. Thanks.” To Bets he said, “There’s my coffee now. Do you still want that latte?”

  “Nah, I changed my mind. It’ll just keep me up half the night.”

  “All right, well I’ll see you back at home, then.”

  “All right, Sugar,” Bets said.

  “Bye, Luci,” Evan said and briskly walked back to his chair and grabbed his drink. He was happy to see April had put it in a to-go cup because that was all he wanted to do right now. Go.

  Chapter Three

  Luci stood at the pick-up counter in Starlight and giggled to herself. She still couldn’t believe how she’d behaved at MoonBeans earlier, and how she’d tricked Evan Monroe. She’d acted like she had absolutely no idea who he was and even worse, like she had zero interest in finding out. Like she could honestly forget him. Luci knew exactly who Evan was; all of the ladies in Snowy Ridge did. When a sexy single man takes up residence in their tiny town, believe it that every available woman knows all about him, from the single dimple that appeared in his right cheek when he smiled to the red, two-door ford mustang he drove. Luci had seen Evan around town a couple of times since that day she’d called him over to Starlight but she’d never attempted to speak to him. She was sure he hated her after she’d teased him with the selling of the pub. She hadn’t meant to, of course. When she’d called him she really thought selling was the answer to their prayers. They needed money to pay for their mom’s medical bills and selling the family pub seemed the obvious choice. It wasn’t until Jessie blew a gasket right in front of Evan, and the rest of the pub, that she’d realized what an awful mistake she had made. It wasn’t her best moment, and it took a long time for Jessie to forgive her.

  She supposed Evan had every right to hate her after that. But when she saw his reflection in the MoonBeans picture window that day and the way that he rolled his eyes and curled the left corner of his lip like he’d eaten something bad when he’d spotted her sitting at the table, it hurt her feelings. So, she wasted an hour or two of his time and gotten his hopes up for a big commission from a sale. That was no reason for him to look so disgusted at the mere sight of her. She wasn’t a bad person. Just an impulsive one sometimes. Like her split-second decision to get him back by making him think she had no clue who he was. She would almost feel bad about it; but, Evan seemed the type to have a giant ego, and if her little stunt bruised it, she was sure it was only a tiny bruise.

  Luci balanced a tray of beers, burgers, and fries on her shoulder as she made her way over to the table of four guys, all scruffy and sexy in their post snowmobile ride high. Luci wasn’t a fan of snowmobiling as much as she was a fan of a post-ride romp with a sweaty, adrenaline spiked hunk. And living in one of the top snowmobiling destinations in the country provide ample opportunity for just that. Seasons were starting to change, though, and soon there would be no snow on the paths and no more snowmobilers hanging around the pub until next season.

  Luci circled the table, setting plates down in front of the men; each one even hotter than the last. They had ridden up on their sleds and parked them at the end of the porch out front before coming into the pub for dinner. Their helmets and gloves were perched on a long bench along the wall and their snowsuits were pulled down to the waist and hanging off their hips.

  “You all let me know if you need anything else,” she told the group after she’d finished giving them their food.

  “Big perk of the job,” she said to her sister, Jessie, on her way back to the kitchen.

  Jessie was behind the bar refiling glasses. She looked up at the table Luci had just left and grinned. “They were in here yesterday, too. Good looking group.”

  Luci looked back at the table just as one of the guys, the one with longish shaggy dark blonde hair and a scruffy beard and mustache, winked at her. He looked like he should be standing in front of a mountain range shooting a commercial for soap or something. Luci returned a grin and then turned back around and whispered, “So f-ing cute,” to her sister before retreating to the kitchen.

  Normally, Luci would flirt heavily with the cute men who came into Starlight but after getting burned a few times in the not-so-distant past, she’d chilled out a bit. The majority of their clientele were tourists. People here just for a week-long winter vacation or a bachelor party guys’ trip. Just as Luci would start to fall for someone, they’d up and leave, returning to their normal life, and she’d still be in Snowy Ridge, alone and hurt, and a mere vacation memory the guy would store away with his skis.

  Jessie had been telling her the season was about over and things would slow down quite a bit as the snow melted, and Luci was ready for it. Working at Starlight had been great but it was hard work and long hours. They kept a fairly small staff and with their mom out, it’d been even tighter. Luci was looking forward to the spring lull.

  “Is Wynn on her way in?” Luci asked when she’d rejoined her sister at the bar.

  “Yeah, she said was coming straight from class. Nick had classes, too, so things are pretty hairy in the kitchen.”

  Nick was their one and only bus boy/dishwasher and like their oldest sister, he also attended school full time. They all pitched in and covered whenever Nick couldn’t be in.

  “I noticed. Want me back there?”

  “Nah, I need you out front. We’ll get caught up when Wynn gets here.”

  “All right. I’ll grab a tub and bus table five and seven.”

  Luci retrieved the large beige tub from the back and set to work cleaning up the remnants of a party of six. There had been a toddler dining with them so food was tossed around everywhere. Luci was bent over, sweeping a mound of crushed crackers off the floor and into her hand, when she heard a wolf whistle. She stood up, prepared with a retort to hurl at whichever of those hot boys whistled at her, when she saw her sister, Wynn, standing behind her, grinning.

  “I was about to cuss you out,” Luci said.

  “I know. You thought I was one of the cute snowmobilers, didn’t you?” Wynn asked.

  “Yes. Now go put your stuff down and come help me.”

  “Okay, okay, don’t be a grouch.” Wynn retreated to the office and Luci continued working on the mess the toddler tornado had created.

  Luci finished bussing the tables and headed for the kitchen, but, before she went in, Jessie stopped her.

  “Can you believe Mom?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah, I know. She’s getting antsy being cooped up at home.”

  “Sure, I get that. But dating?”

  “What?” Luci asked, almost losing grip on the tub.

  Wynn swiftly joined the sisters at the kitchen door, equally alarmed. “Dating who? Are you sure? Mom doesn’t date.”

  Jessie looked back and forth between her sisters. “Yeah, I’m sure. I figured you two knew already since you live with her. I caught her filling out a profile on Match.com the other night.”

  “No way,” Wynn said.

  Luci glanced at Wynn. She knew just what she was thinking. It was only a couple of months ago when Wynn had a crazy stalker, a guy she had met online, hunt her down here in Snowy Ridge. Wynn swore she’d never date anyone that she met online again. It was a surprise that their mom even considered it an option after seeing what Wynn went through.

  “Yep,” Jessie replied. “She seemed pretty excited about it.”

  Luci shook her head slowly. “I thought she was just joining a book club.”

  “She’s joining a book club?” Wynn asked.

  “Yeah. I guess she’s full of surprises.” Luci was having a hard time picturing her mom with another man. Sure, after their dad died she
had wondered if her mom would find someone else and remarry but it didn’t seem like something she had any interest in. Her mom was fine alone, just running the pub with Jessie. Luci had thought she was the type to only have one true love her whole life and live out her days alone. She couldn’t picture her getting remarried now. Or herself having a step-father at this age in life. He surely wouldn’t expect to be called Dad. Luci wouldn’t do it. It would be a betrayal. But maybe she was getting ahead of herself. “Mom has never even mentioned dating again” she said to her sisters. “I thought she had no interest after Dad died.”

  “I think we all thought that,” Jessie said.

  “She wants to come back to work, too,” Luci said.

  “Back here? No way. Too soon,” Jessie said firmly.

  “That’s what I said.”

  “She should be resting,” Wynn added.

  “Yeah, I know. But she’s tired of resting. Maybe after everything she’s been through with the cancer, she’s feeling like life is short and wants to live every day to the fullest.”

  “Maybe we should find her a hobby?” Wynn offered. “Like painting. We can get her some canvas and paint and enroll her in an art class.”

  “Maybe,” Luci said, but she wasn’t convinced that would do the trick. She slumped back against the bar.

  Jessie slumped next to her and the two sisters crossed their arms and gazed out at the scattering of tourists eating in the pub.

  Wynn picked up a drink napkin and twisted it in her hands. She was the one who finally broke the silence. “Well, I’ll tell you one thing. It definitely can’t be any of our customers.”

  “Oh, definitely not. No way,” Luci agreed.

  Jessie looked back and forth between Wynn and Luci. “Or anyone who works here.”

  Luci giggled. “Who would she date? Ralph?”

  Ralph was their head cook. He was short and balding and wore the same outfit every single day: a white t-shirt and white apron with jeans.

  Jessie smiled. “No of course not. Besides, Ralph is married.”