Page 1 of Billionaire Unforgettable: Tanner

Hannah

“Good morning, Silas,” I called out as I entered The Mug And Jug with an armful of cinnamon rolls.

It was early in the morning, but the door had been unlocked because Silas was always expecting his morning delivery.

The elderly man stepped up to the counter of the establishment that served as both a coffee shop in the morning and the local bar in the evening with a welcoming smile. “Morning, Hannah,” he said. “Where’s Joy today?”

I grinned back at him at the mention of my mother’s name as I plopped the trays on the bar. “She said she’s a little tired today,” I answered. “After she finished baking, I told her I’d take the shift at Sweet Mornings.”

My mom had been operating the local donut shop for decades, a little takeout store right across from The Mug And Jug on Main Street in Crystal Fork, Montana.

Delivering her cinnamon rolls to Silas to sell with his gourmet coffees in the morning had been a routine she’d followed for as long as I could remember.

Silas frowned. “Is she okay? Didn’t she finish her cardiac rehab? I thought she was doing good.”

My heart warmed because he looked so concerned. “She says she’s fine. She told me that she got into a good movie last night and stayed up too late.”

Personally, I thought that my mother deserved to retire so she could do whatever she wanted, but she said she’d be bored if she didn’t spend her mornings baking and chatting with everyone at Sweet Mornings.

I worried about her a lot, especially since she’d had a heart attack that had required emergency cardiac surgery several months ago.

Shewasdoing well, but I’d decided that I never wanted to be in Seattle when my mother was in Montana having emergency surgery ever again.

The time it had taken for me to get to her here in Montana had been agonizing.

Relocating back to Crystal Fork after my mom’s heart attack and surgery hadn’t been easy for me, but it was better than me living in Seattle and worrying about her all the time.

“Got time for a coffee and a little chat?” Silas asked with a grin.

“Always,” I answered and plopped my ass on a stool at the bar. “I’ll have the usual, and I’d appreciate the chat since you’re about the only person who’s nice to me in this town these days.”

The older man shot me a questioning glance as he started making me a latte. “That can’t possibly be true. You’re one of the sweetest and prettiest girls in this town.”

I rolled my eyes.

I wasn’t a girl. I was thirty-four years old, but maybe I seemed young to a man who had already seen his eightieth birthday in the rearview mirror.

I adored Silas, but I was also immune to his flirtatious compliments, no matter how well-meaning they were.

I finally shrugged. “Everyone seems to think that I dumped one of Crystal Fork’s heroes and ran off with another man to Seattle. There aren’t very many people who like me here anymore.”

“Do you want my advice?” Silas queried.

I tried not to smile because I knew that however I answered his question, I was going to get that advice, whether I wanted it…or not.

I’d known Silas all my life, and he was known for giving advice to anyone who would listen.

“Sure,” I shot back and was rewarded with an approving smile.

“Ignore them,” he advised. “People in this town think they know the truth about everyone’s business, but they don’t know squat. Honestly, what happened between you and Tanner is old news. It was a long time ago. They’ll get over it when they see that you haven’t changed a bit.”

Honestly, Ihadchanged. I wasn’t the same woman who had been engaged to Tanner Remington years ago.

I sighed as Silas slid the coffee across the bar to me. “Nobody really wants to give me that chance of becoming reacquainted, unfortunately.”

Tanner and I had both grown up here in Crystal Fork. He was almost five years older than me, so we’d never really known each other when we were younger. He’d gone off to college, and I’d moved to New York City to go to cosmetology school right after high school. We’d pretty much been strangers when we’d met up in New York as adults.

Tanner had finished college, relocated to New York, and had started a new job on Wall Street.

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