Page 273 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

“Thanks for suggesting the shelter for Iris,” he said. “She looked happier than I’ve seen her since she moved here.”

“No problem,” she said, then turned serious. “She’s a good kid. She’s lucky to have you for a brother. Addy is too.”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that. He felt like a huge failure in the brother department, and not just with Iris. “I don’t know why she doesn’t trash that hunk of junk she calls a car, and I honestly can’t believe Finn hasn’t gotten her a more decent one. The man obviously has money.”

“You think he hasn’t tried?” Maisie asked with a short laugh. “She refuses, of course. Not that I would expect anything less. Plus, she says her car is perfect for loading up literal junk. She’d be afraid to put her finds in a nicer car.”

“I get that,” he said with a frown, “but she should at least get a new engine. Maybe she’ll have enough money after her art show in February. The current one is unreliable at best, and dangerous at worst.”

“Dangerous?” Maisie said. “How do you figure?”

He frowned. “She works late at night in her studio, and her stupid antiquated cell phone doesn’t hold a charge. She could break down in the middle of the night without a working cell phone to call for help.”

“Because Asheville is so dangerous,” she said with a smirk.

“Bad people are everywhere, Maisie,” he said matter-of-factly. “It only takes one to cause irreparable harm.”

She was silent for a moment. “Has someone close to you been hurt, Jack?”

“What?” he asked in surprise.

“Because you seem to see the boogeyman around every corner.”

He was taken aback by that. “Is it wrong to care about my sisters?”

Regret filled her eyes. “No. Of course not. I was out of line. It’s obvious you care deeply about your sisters’ well-being and take your role in their lives very seriously.”

“Why do I sense a but in there?” he asked with a scowl.

She glanced down at her drink, but then her eyes lifted and he found himself sucked into her deep green gaze despite his slight irritation. “I have two sisters, one older and one younger. Both of them love me, but they usually have very different ideas about what’s best for me. They can’t both be right. Sometimes neither of them is. Just keep that in mind with your own sisters, okay?”

What did she mean by that? His mouth parted to ask, but then she leaned closer and whispered, “I know for a fact that Finn’s getting Addy a new phone for Christmas, so you can take that one off your worry list.” Before he could react, she straightened up in her chair, giving someone a sugary smile over his shoulder. “Everything go okay in the restroom, Addy? You were in there for anawfullylong time.”

“They have really awesome soap, so I washed my hands for a full thirty seconds,” she said with a grin as she sat in her chair. “How’d things go out here?”

“Peachy,” Maisie said wryly, picking up her drink.

Jack didn’t respond, his thoughts bouncing back to what Maisie had said. Did she disapprove of the way he was handling Iris? Was it wrong of him to worry about his sister? He’d failed to keep his promise to his grandmother—if he’d protected Iristhe way he should have, one of his mother’s many boyfriends wouldn’t have made a pass at her—and that ate at him more than he cared to admit.

Still, he wasn’t upset with Maisie for challenging him. In fact, that was one of the things he appreciated about her. She was up-front about her feelings, and he doubted she’d shy away from standing up for what she believed in. Forwhoshe believed in. After spending his entire life playing games with his mother and trying to decipher her every mood, he found Maisie’s forthrightness refreshing. At least he’d always know where he stood with her.

He was withdrawn for the next ten minutes, and Adalia shot him several worried glances. Then Maisie’s phone chimed with a text, and she glanced down at the screen and frowned. “I’ve got to make a call. I’ll be right back.”

“Everything okay?” Jack asked as she got up from the table.

She gave him a surprised glance, still clutching her phone. “Yeah, one of my foster dogs is sick. I just need to check in with the vet.”

“Okay,” he said, disappointment filling him at the realization she might have to leave.

“What happened while I was gone?” Adalia asked in a worried tone as soon as Maisie was out of earshot.

“What?” he asked absently, turning to face her.

“Come on. Before I left, there was so much chemistry between you two I was about to pull out my fire extinguisher, and now it’s like it was doused by a tidal wave.”

“It’s a bit soon to be joking about fire extinguishers, don’t you think?” he asked wryly. “We’ll be lucky if Lurch’s health insurance doesn’t sue our homeowner’s insurance.”

Adalia cringed. “So letting Dottie fry a turkey didn’t work out so well. It’s hard to turn that woman down.” She gave him apointed look. “But don’t change the subject. It’s obvious there’s something between you two, so why don’t you ask her out?”

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