She'd known that her being there had been an intrusion for him, although he had done his best never to make her feel that way. He had been engaging, friendly, neighborly, and charming. He’d been funny and kind and a pure gentleman, even when they were cuddled by the wood stove.
But circumstance had thrown them together. That’s all it really was.
It didn't matter anyway. She knew how spotty cell phone service was up on that mountain. He lost a week’s worth of work with the snow and when she’d left, he probably dove right into it to make up for lost time. He wasn’t up there for a vacation. He was there work.
Now she was at work and needed a distraction from thinking about Nash and why he wasn’t calling her. How completely pathetic was that?
She'd gone about her day. There were three accidents on slick roads that she needed to dispatch an ambulance for. But none of the injuries were anything too serious. Mr. Cummings carbon monoxide detector went off and when it continued to go off after he'd change the batteries, he’d called dispatch. Half the fire department went to the scene to find the source of the problem, which ended up being a clogged stovepipe.
Carbon monoxide was so dangerous. Harper recalled the first year that she'd worked as a dispatcher and she'd gotten a call from someone who said the newspaper was piling up at a neighbor’s house and things didn't look good. Upon inspection by the fire department, she'd learned that a family of four had perished in their beds due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Hearing the devastating news brought back so many memories and just punctuated the dangers that existed. It also made her cherish life for its fragility. She had more than one occasion for that since she'd been working as a dispatcher at the police station. And even more since she’d met Nash.
At the end of the day, Scarlett strolled into the dispatch room holding a box of tissues in her hand and her dinner in the other.
“Did you catch the kids’ flu?” Harper asked.
“They’re so good at sharing,” Scarlett said with a roll of her eyes. “But at least neither of them have fevers anymore.”
Harper gave Scarlett a current run down of the calls she'd had that day and the status of anything pending. She let her know of any potential problems that she might hear about on her shift.
As she walked outside, she glanced at her watch. Five-thirty. Lois, the nurses’ aide who visited with her grandmother twice a week, had probably left for the day and her grandmother was home alone. In Harper’s mind, that was never a good thing.
The people who knew of her grandmother's condition had been fabulous while Harper had been stranded up on the mountain. They’d seen to it that someone had stayed with her overnight. When the power had gone out at the house, Lucy’s son had driven over to the house and brought her grandmother over to stay with Lucy because she still had power.
Now that her grandmother was getting on in years, her health was always a worry. After losing her parents at such a young age, it was hard for Harper to think that she could lose her grandmother in the future.
Harper drove to the market and had to circle in the parking lot a few times before she found a free parking space. As she ran in the entrance, she saw Brenda Collins.
“Looks like everybody's out of milk, bread and eggs,” Brenda said. “I can’t remember the last time it was this busy.”
“Seems like the whole town is here,” Harper said.
Brenda chuckled as she made her way out the door with a cart full of bags. “Pretty much. Good running into you. I’ll see you at the potluck!”
Harper grabbed a shopping basket and started her usual routine of walking through the aisles. She wasn’t hungry, which was the perfect time to shop. But she knew that like most everyone else in Sweet, her cupboards at home were bare. She decided to pick up the basics and come back another day when it wasn’t so crowded.
That’s when her heart stopped. Nash was here.
Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Nine
Nash grabbed a shopping cart and made his way through the produce department. He had a craving for fruit and that was definitely something he couldn’t get from an MRE bucket.
He hadn't expected to come down the mountain so soon. Normally when he went into a remote area, he stayed there until every last provision was gone. But he’d had a sample of huckleberry bread from the bakery when he’d come to the grocery store on his way into town to get bottled water. Now he had a craving for more.
“The more you get today, the longer you’ll be able to stay up in the mountains when work really gets busy,” he said to himself, looking at all the fruit.
He was just about to head down toward the vegetables when he saw Harper pushing an empty cart. His heart pounded in his chest. He half thought of turning around and walking in the other direction, or walking straight out of the store. But that would be ridiculous. It would be childish. There was absolutely no reason for him to avoid talking to Harper just because he'd kissed her.
No. It was because just looking at her now made him want to kiss her again.
He was a coward. She was a woman, not a grizzly he needed to fear.
“I didn't expect to see you here,” she said.
Unlike him, she wasn’t a coward. She’d seen him and smiled. Then she’d pushed her empty cart right over to where he was standing.
Instead of pretending she was inspecting the heads of lettuce stacked up in the bin, she gave him her attention fully. And he'd noticed. Some women were
