Page 56 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
“Hey, JJ!” one of Cody’s friends called out to him.
He lifted a hand before losing the woman in the crowd again.
“Hey, buddy.” This came from Ethan, who was impossible to miss even in all the people. Tall and broad, the firefighter probably didn’t even realize how many women were looking his way as he cut through the crowd.
“Ethan.” JJ shook the other man’s hand. “You trying to find a place where you won’t be trampled too?”
Ethan chuckled as he leaned against the wall beside JJ. “It never ceases to amaze me how the people of this town come together for events like this one.”
JJ murmured his agreement. It was one of the things he liked best about this place. He’d overheard some tourists talk about Aspire like it was just another quaint small town, but he knew better.
There were lots of quaint little towns around where he’d grown up, but none of them had ever felt like this. Like a true community.
Like home.
He supposed if one had, he might not have wandered all over the world trying to find it.
“Have you seen Levi?” Ethan asked.
Levi was one of Ethan’s closest friends, and the town’s sheriff. His two young sons went to this school, so he was bound to be around here somewhere. “Not yet.”
“How’re things going up on the ranch?” Ethan asked. “Dex says the mean O’Sullivan sister is back in town for a few extra days.” His grin was filled with mischief, but it quickly died. No doubt hustled away by JJ’s scowl.
“She’s not mean,” he muttered.
“Sorry. I was only teasing.” Ethan cleared his throat, looking slightly uncomfortable and so obviously trying to amend his faux pas. “I haven’t officially met her yet, but I caught a glimpse of her in town a couple weeks back. She’s as pretty as the others, don’t you think?”
Prettier.
JJ shrugged, keeping his mouth shut. But there was a flicker of something dark and green in his gut at Ethan’s mention of Dahlia.
Nope. Not pretty at all, he wanted to say. It would be a lie, of course, but some part of him had a hankering to keep her to himself.
All the ladies seemed to love the tall, dark, and handsome firefighter. And the thought of Dahlia giving Ethan one of her hard-to-earn smiles had him frowning.
He looked away with a huff of amusement at his own idiocy. Yes, sir, it was a darn good thing she’d be leaving the next day.
Even as he thought it, fate called him out as a liar.
Dahlia came into view, shuffling along in the crowd behind Rose, Dex, Lizzy, and Kit. He only caught a glimpse of her before she was swallowed up by the crowd again, but that glimpse was enough. A surge of happiness hit him hard at the sight of her, and when she didn’t see him and kept walking…
Well, this falling sensation could only be called disappointment.
But you’re glad she’s leaving, huh?
He shook off the thought, focusing on Ethan instead. “We still on for the pancake fundraiser next month?”
Ethan nodded. “If you’re up for it.”
JJ cracked his knuckles and adopted a fierce scowl. “No one makes pancakes like I make pancakes.”
Ethan chuckled. “That’s the spirit.”
They were both laughing by the time Levi showed up, only one of his kids in tow.
“Howdy, Mikayla.” JJ nodded to the thirteen-year-old, who looked like she was sucking on a lemon.
“Hi,” she grumbled.
