“Would you like more soup or bread?” he asked.
“No. Thank you. What about you? Have you always wanted to do what you’re doing now?”
He smiled a little ruefully. “Not even close. When I was young, I wanted to be a professional baseball player, probably like most other boys my age. I was a pitcher. At one point, I had a ninety-mile-per-hour fastball.”
“I’ll admit I’m not that familiar with the sport but that sounds impressive.” She rose and carried her bowl to the sink.
For the next few moments, they worked together to clear the table.
“I played college ball,” he told her as he loaded the dishwasher. “In the last game of my university career, a couple of pro talent scouts came down to take a look at me. I was pitching a shutout and had batted a double and a triple. In the top of the ninth, I was sliding into home and had a bad hit with the catcher and injured my shoulder.”
“Oh no!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah. It was a catastrophic injury. My big pro ball career was over before it ever began. After two surgeries, I tried to work back to the level I’d been before but something had changed. I just didn’t have it anymore and was quite sure I never would again. I knew I needed a plan B so came back and went to work for the local sporting goods store in Shelter Springs, which happened to be owned by an uncle. A year later, he asked if I wanted to buy him out. Two years after that, Bailey Outfitters expanded and we opened five more shops throughout the region. And here we are.”
“And still growing.”
He had big dreams, yes. Right now, all of them seemed to involve the woman in his kitchen.
He wanted to kiss her. She was standing only a few feet away. It wouldn’t take anything to take a step toward her, grab her hand and tug her into his arms.
And what a disaster that would be. He sensed she was nervous enough about having to stay overnight in an isolated mountain cabin with a man she didn’t know.
The power flickered suddenly, once, twice, then went out.
She gasped a little as the room was plunged into darkness except for the glow from the fire in the great room. He saw Toby rise from his favorite spot on the kitchen rug and head to her side. Gemma reached a hand down to pet the dog, a gesture he sensed was more for her own comfort than for the dog.
“There it goes,” Josh said ruefully. “I was pretty sure that would happen eventually. The power goes out every time the wind blows too hard. Don’t worry. I have a backup generator if we need it and plenty of lanterns. Why don’t you sit by the fire and I’ll find some light?”
He gathered up all the lanterns and emergency candles he could find and lit them all.
“Sorry about that,” he said again.
“Do you think it will come back again soon?”
“Hard to say. Sometimes it’s only out an hour, sometimes all night. I’ll keep my fingers crossed it’s a short outage.”
“Why do you live out here, instead of closer to your shop in town?”
He considered his reasons. “The horses, mostly. I can ride into the mountains right after work without having to hitch up a trailer. And I suppose because I like the quiet. I grew up in a large family with two brothers and three sisters. My childhood was never quiet.”
“How do you fare in the winter? Aren’t you stranded up here?”
“There are a half dozen other year-round properties among the vacation cabins. The county plows to the end of the pavement and the rest of us trade off plowing the lower section of the road so we can get out. It’s beautiful up here in the winter.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that.”
He wanted to invite her to come back in a month or so but didn’t want to scare her off. Anyway, she would see plenty of snow in the morning.
“Can I interest you in dessert? We could make s’mores in front of the fire.”
“I’ve never had a s’more. Is it marshmallows and biscuits?”
“Plus chocolate. You can’t forget the chocolate. I have a special recipe. I use Nutella and sliced strawberries. And I happen to have some of both.”
She looked intrigued. “Sure. All right. How can I help?”
“You can help me slice a couple of strawberries, if you want.”
By candlelight, they worked together gathering the ingredients.
“Do you always keep these things on hand in case you’re entertaining a lady friend?”
He had to laugh. “No. My brother and his kids came up to stay and go for an overnight ride last weekend and we did s’mores over the campfire. You’re just fortunate enough to benefit from the extras.”
“Lucky me.” She smiled and Josh suddenly felt a little breathless.
He was the lucky one. Gemma Summerhill was here, in his house, and he wanted to savor every moment.
CHAPTER THREE
“THAT MIGHT POSSIBLY be the most delicious thing I’ve ever had in my life.” Gemma swallowed the last bite of s’more, the marshmallow, strawberry and Nutella melting on her mouth.
“I’ve got a couple more strawberries if you want to go for another one.”
“I can’t. Really. You’ve stuffed me to the brim.”
“Well, I don’t want them to go to waste. I’d better have another one.”
While Joshua speared a marshmallow on the long-handled fork and turned it to the fire’s heat, Gemma sat back, perfectly content.
She should be frightened. She was trapped in a mountain hideaway, possibly for several more hours if not days, with a man she barely knew, in the middle of an October snowstorm.
She wasn’t. All her nerves seemed to have disappeared around the time the power went out.
How
