Page 38 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
Lizzy gave him an exasperated look, like he was being purposefully obtuse. “You must have seen how she acts. And the way she’s always snapping at people and trying to boss Rose around…”
He glanced over at Rose. She was rubbing her baby bump and not meeting his gaze. But to Lizzy, she said, “She’s been better about that since I stood up to her.”
“Well, that’s something,” Lizzy murmured, giving Rose an encouraging little grin.
JJ’s head fell with a huff of rueful amusement. Lizzy was a good woman, kind and loyal and generous, but at first glance some people in this town had gotten the wrong impression, taking her for a spoiled brat just because she was in a bad spot and didn’t know where she belonged.
Now here she was judging Dahlia harsher than anyone. It would have been amusing if it wasn’t so irritating.
But then again, maybe that was the issue. Maybe it was the fact that they did share similarities that bothered Lizzy.
“What are you laughing about?” Lizzy narrowed her eyes at him.
He shook his head. “Just wondering what Chloe meant about me taking Dahlia out.”
He arched a brow, and Rose blushed again.
“Oh, well, um…” Rose started.
“You know how Emma won a date with you in the bachelor auction,” Lizzy began.
He grinned. He’d been teasing Emma and Nash about it for months now. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, what about taking Dahlia out instead?” Rose finished.
His heart skipped a beat, his pulse picking up its pace. “You want me to take Dahlia on a date?”
Both women nodded, and the twins grinned, all mischief and enthusiasm.
“When’s she flying back to New York?” he asked.
“Monday,” Rose said. “She figured she may as well spend the weekend with me before heading back.”
“But instead you want her to spend it with me?”
She blushed. “Just one date. Maybe Saturday?”
It was disorienting how much he loved this idea. He hadn’t seen her much this week, and when he had, everyone else was around as well. One more one-on-one outing with Dahlia sounded perfect. But he pretended to mull it over. “I’m not sure Emma will just want to give our date away so easily.”
His mischievous grin made the women laugh, and the kids joined in too, though he suspected they didn’t know what they were laughing about. JJ mussed up the kids’ hair and picked up a crayon, getting to work on Chloe’s picture.
She gave him an adoring grin and tapped the paper. “You do the grass.”
“Should we make it rainbow grass?” He wiggled his eyebrows, and she beamed.
“Yes, please!”
A waitress came over to take JJ’s order, and he handed her the menu, not even sure why he’d grabbed it in the first place.
“The usual?” she asked.
“Yep, but hold the fries. I’m only here for a snack.”
The waitress cracked up laughing as she walked away from the table. “One monster burger for a snack. Gotcha.”
“And don’t forget my vanilla milkshake!” he called after her.
She was still laughing as she wandered around the counter to deliver his order.
