By the time I finished my brief perusal, JJ had returned, a mug of hot chocolate in hand. He passed it to me, then sat on a nearby chair to nurse what appeared to be tea.
“Thank you,” I said.
The sweet warmth calmed my stomach. I took another eager sip, suddenly ravenous. It seemed to expand in the hollow part of my body. I peered at him over the top of the cup.
“And thank you for . . . you know.”
He shrugged. “Don’t mention it.”
“But you could have—”
“And didn’t.” He finished firmly. “I’m grateful I was there to help. You would have done the same. You just came back to Pineville this summer, didn’t you?”
Grateful for the change in subject, I let out a long breath. “Yes. Around the same time as you. I graduated college in May. Since Bethany was pregnant all summer, and very sick, I’ve been running the coffee shop. I just came from the hospital, actually. She had a little boy.”
His eyes lit up. “Wow. Quite the day for you.”
“Yes. I’m a proud auntie—who’s alive, thanks to you.” I lifted my mug. “Here’s to several new beginnings.”
He clinked his mug against mine with a witty smile.
“What did you graduate in?” he asked.
“Bachelor’s in Computer Science.”
“Impressive.”
“Thanks.”
“You should fix Adventura’s website,” he said. “Mark attempted it last winter. It’s absolutely hideous.”
“I’d love to look at it.”
Website makeovers were a fun part of what I could do, but the idea of working with the Bailey boys was too unreal to think about. Besides, the warm purl of heat in my stomach surely had nothing to do with the curious expression on his face. I curled deeper into the couch, feeling drowsy after the shower.
“What are you going to do next?” he asked.
Great question. “Um . . . there are job options.”
“Ah. I know that hesitation.”
He sat halfway on the couch, elbows resting on his knees. There was something sexy about the way he held the cup of tea in his whole hand, the palm cupping the bottom. Although tempted to drop my gaze, I didn’t.
“I just needed a break for a year,” I said. “College was hardcore for me. Nonstop. So when I finished, I just . . . I needed some time to figure out what I wanted to do. Running the Frolicking Moose and paying down some debt was ideal.”
A grimace crossed his face. “Adulting stuff.”
“Unfortunately. There’s also this job I really want.”
“Oh?”
I nodded.
JJ regarded me curiously for a moment, then turned back to his tea. “I remember that transition. As if it wasn’t hard enough just to graduate, now you have to figure your life out. There’s a lot of pressure.”
Several things startled me there. First of all, I didn’t know college had been part of his world. Second, he was at least nine years older than me. Word around town pegged the Bailey boys at thirty.
“You graduated college?” I asked.
He nodded. “Bachelor’s in Environmental Science.” Then he laughed, presumably at my expression. “I take it you’re surprised?”
“A little.” I gave him a sheepish smile. “I guess I assumed you’ve just always been climbing and living in a van.”
He shrugged and leaned back, leaving the tea to cool. His arms looped behind his head, and it was a struggle not to stare.
“I’ve always climbed. Just like you, after I graduated, I took a step back to see what I wanted to do. Then I just . . . never did it. We did live in a van,” he tacked on with a roguish grin. “For about a year.”
The last words came out quieter, but I couldn’t tell if it was regret in his voice, or something else. A loud bark of laughter came from the attic.
“What about Mark?” I asked, taking another sip of hot chocolate. It was over halfway gone by now, and I almost was too. The snap of the fire had lulled me. Being alert and on guard for so long had worn me out. Not to mention sleeping on and off in a ball on the hospital bed for forty-eight hours.
“Mark went too. Graduated with a degree in business. Eventually did his MBA online while we traveled.”
“And then?”
“We bummed around together for a long time. Neither of us wanted to grow up, so we just kept playing. Traveling. Getting into trouble. My poor mother has too much gray hair because of us.”
I smiled. His mother, a flight nurse in Jackson City where Bethany had just birthed my adorable nephew, was lovely.
“We messed around for almost a decade, living off climbing sponsorships, odd jobs, and sometimes Mark’s rampant charm. We did that right up until he bought Adventura and ‘settled in.’” JJ’s air quotes looked ironic, at best. “Mark will never really stop. He’s started one business and he’s already on to another one. He’s a moving target.”
Sensing something beneath the surface, I asked, “And what about you? Are you a moving target also?”
“Dunno yet.”
The last sip of hot chocolate slid down my throat. Although curiosity tugged at me, I stood with the empty mug.
“Thank you, JJ. This helped calm me down. But I think I’ll go to bed, if you don’t mind.”
My body had relaxed into a state of near-sleep. This seemed as good a time as any to hide away. To avoid the beautiful way the fire warmed his skin to golden tones. No reason for me to study the angle of his jaw and replay the way his arms had kept me from death.
He took the mug from me. “Good. I’m sure some rest will help. I’ll take care of the cup.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, Lizbeth?” he called as I headed for the bedroom.
I glanced over my shoulder. He stood there, holding my mug, looking gorgeous in the firelight.
“If you get too cold, we keep the fire running all night. Feel free to add more
