Page 3 of Alone with the Mountain Man

Volunteers were manning one big table that had been set up just inside the garage in front of the fire engine. Town residents had donated enough candy to fill those buckets, even if every kid only got one piece of each type of candy.

I waved to the chief, who was overseeing everything happening in the parking lot—face painting, balloon animals,and pizza. I’d suggested beer and wine, but the chief wanted to keep this a family-friendly event.

“Nash, get in here,” Grayson called out to me.

He was the one who’d told me about this place. We were on the same SEAL team together. We’d been through things I didn’t even want to think about, let alone talk about, and he felt the same.

“I need you to take over for me, giving these tours,” Grayson said as I approached. “You just help kids into the fire engine and show them around. Let them sit in the driver’s seat, that sort of thing. I’m going to grab a slice.”

I gave a nod and scanned my surroundings. What was Aurora’s stepbrother’s name? I couldn’t recall for the life of me, but this company was so big, I couldn’t tell which volunteer firefighters were which.

The kids kept me busy, and soon there was a line. But I found myself subconsciously looking for signs of the gorgeous redhead in the witch costume and the two kids who’d been with her.

Not her own kids, as I’d first assumed. It made sense. She looked too young to have kids that age. But she wasn’t married either. I’d checked for that.

Eventually, I stepped out of the truck and found no kids waiting for me. Both the garage and the parking lot had emptied in the solid hour I’d spent showing kids around the fire engine. Aurora hadn’t shown up, either. Or if she had, she’d seen the line for the truck tour and opted out.

I took off my helmet and hung it on one of the hooks in the garage, then headed out in search of a redhead in black. How would I find her? What if I could never track her down again?

All those thoughts were racing through my mind as I stepped into the parking lot. I was so caught up in my thoughts, I barely registered the girl in the pale pink dress. The kids were here and a man in a firefighter uniform was standing next to them.

He must be their father. He looked vaguely familiar, but I didn’t know—or remember—his name. I scanned the area and saw no sign of the woman in the witch costume.

“That’s him!” the boy called out, pointing in my direction.

He was getting his face painted, and he jerked so abruptly, the artist tossed me a look over her shoulder. I headed in that direction. Maybe I could somehow get a clue as to where I could track down their aunt.

“He said we could ride in the truck,” Harper said.

The man I assumed was their dad narrowed his eyes and looked at me, probably assessing whether I had the authority to do that. None of us did, except the chief.

“They came to my door with their Aunt Aurora,” I explained. “The line’s gone right now, but I’m sure you could still…”

I hesitated, glancing over at the kids. I might’ve just made things harder for the guy if he had no plans to take his kids on the tour.

But the man nodded. “Yeah, my sister said they met you tonight at your house. I’m Wyatt.”

He held out his hand, and I shook it. “Great kids you have here.”

I smiled down at the two of them. I’d never thought of myself as someone who was good with kids, but there was something about these two that had gone straight to my heart. I could say the same for their aunt.

“My sister’s out back, trying out our basketball court,” he said. “If you want to go join her.”

“But Dad,” Aiden said. “Can we go inside and tour the firetruck?”

“We’ll do that in a minute,” Wyatt said.

He gave me a nod and a smile, then turned back around. Something in that look made it clear. He was pointing me in the direction of his sister for a reason. It could be something assimple as he didn’t want her playing basketball alone. Especially since the court was behind the station in an area that wasn’t part of the security camera setup. This was a safe town, but if this guy was former military like most of us, it was almost impossible to turn off the part of us that kept a lookout for signs of danger.

I glanced around, making sure nobody was watching, and headed back into the building where my buddy, Grayson, was showing his girlfriend, Simone, how the fire truck worked.

They were a new couple and really cute together, but their relationship meant I’d lost my happy hour buddy. The way people coupled up around here, there wouldn’t be any dudes to go drinking with if I stayed single much longer.

IfI stayed single.

Those words stuck in my mind. It was the first time in months that I’d even thought that way. I’d assumed I was going to die alone up here in the mountains. But suddenly my thoughts were going in another direction, imagining what it might be like to go trick-or-treating with a certain woman and her niece and nephew. Maybe even our own kids, eventually.

I walked fast and with purpose, hoping nobody would question me if they saw me. But aside from Grayson and Simone, the garage was deserted.

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