“Excuse me?”
“Your brother. He’s one of the police officers in town who was so helpful when we were broken into last month. Great guy.”
Hearing her gush with appreciation over her brother felt a little awkward. “It’s funny. I keep forgetting he’s a police officer in town. To me he’s just my brother.”
Tara laughed. “I get that. I didn’t know that Caleb had family in town. I thought they all moved away. I must’ve heard wrong.”
“No you didn’t. I just moved back.”
“Oh, then welcome back. What can I help you with?”
“I need to find a housewarming gift for my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law’s new house.”
“For the chapel?”
She nodded.
“I love what they’ve done.”
“So you’ve seen it since it’s been renovated.”
“I’ve been nosy. Me and Brody went over and checked it out while they were doing some work.”
“Brody? You mean Brody Whitebear?”
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“Yes. Small world.”
“Yes, it is. I think I know exactly what you can get for a housewarming gift. Katie was in the shop last week and had her eye on something over here.”
Fifteen minutes later, Julie walked out of Sweet Sensations with two hurricane lamps she hoped Katie would like. She knew Caleb would like anything, but Katie had particular taste. She hoped Tara had remembered Katie’s choice correctly.
As Julie walked to her car, she spotted Hunter’s truck in the parking lot across the street. Her heart started beating faster, and she feared she’d make a fool of herself right there on Main Street. She glanced at the hardware store to the right of her, but since the truck was parked closer to the diner, and it was a little past noon, Julie figured that perhaps Hunter was having something to eat before visiting the next ranch on his list of client bookings today.
She walked to her car and placed the hurricane lamps inside the trunk and hoped they wouldn’t roll around when she drove over to the chapel later that day. She questioned whether to go over to see if Hunter was inside the diner. When she slammed the trunk shut, she looked up and saw him sitting in a booth by the window alone. He was staring at her and smiling. She lifted a hand and waved to him. With his hand, he motioned her to come to the diner. That was a good an invitation as any.
There was a lot of traffic in Main Street, something that usually happened right before the festival as people came into town to work on it and set it up. There would be more traffic this weekend when the festival was in full force. She looked both ways and then darted across the street to the diner. As soon as she swung the door open and breezed inside, she felt the cool air bathe her face. A waitress walked up to her with menus in her hand.
“Do you want a seat at the counter?”
Julie shook her head and then pointed to where Hunter was sitting. “My friend is here.”
The waitress glanced over her shoulder to where Hunter was sitting and her smile faltered. “Oh, you’re here with Hunter?”
“Yes.”
The waitress tried to hide how green she felt behind a smile. It made Julie wonder just how many women in this town had a crush on Hunter Williams.
She smiled back of the waitress, and then headed down to the table. Hunter slid out of the booth and stood up, like the gentleman he was.
“You’re eating alone or are you meeting someone?” Julie asked.
“I’m not eating alone. You’re here.”
“So I saved you from eating alone.”
“Normally I don’t mind. Sometimes Brody or Dusty have business in town and we’ll catch a bite to eat together. But if you had gotten into the car and driven away, I would’ve sat here lonely and pathetic.”
She chuckled as she slid into the booth and dropped her purse next to her on the bench. He did the same but on the other side.
“What are you doing in town?” he asked.
“Buying a gift for Katie and Caleb. They invited me to dinner tonight.”
He seemed a little disappointed.
“What’s that face for?”
He shrugged. “The whole time I was watching you walk over to the diner I was hoping I could find a way to get out of work early so I could ask you to dinner.”
“We just had dinner the other night.”
“That wasn’t a real dinner. I mean a dinner where you put on a sexy black dress and I get all dressed up in my best cowboy shirt and boots and we go to dinner and dancing.”
She liked the way that sounded. “We can do that another night.”
“Don’t you go back to work soon?”
“Not until Monday.”
“Might be hard to get a reservation and a place close by with the festival happening this weekend. Word is most of the hotel rooms are booked and most of the reservations at restaurants are filled.”
She leaned on the table toward him and said in a quiet voice, “What’s wrong with here?”
He smiled and seemed to growl in a low, deep voice. “I don’t get to see your legs in that sexy black dress.”
They made plans to go to the festival together. She’d tell Caleb about it later when they had dinner at the chapel house. He wouldn’t be disappointed as long as he knew she was going.
When she left the restaurant, she headed north to Billings. She needed to buy herself a black dress.
Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter Seven
Hunter cursed his busy schedule all week. He hadn’t had time to do much of anything beyond having a simple phone conversation with Julie at the end of the day. He loved hearing her voice right before he fell asleep at night and wondered what it would be like to be in the dark and hear her voice as she lay next to him.
But he had to hold himself back. He couldn’t push her. The more they talked the more his mind filled with questions he had no time to get the answers to. He
