Wait until she told Charlotte and Lydia. Small town life was just too full of coincidences!
RYAN RETURNED to the table with his giggling niece. He took Zoey’s hand and bowed low over it. The other two girls were jumping up and down. “My turn!” Tessa yelled.
“Zoey first and then you, Tess,” he said firmly. “Then Becky.”
“Oh, no!” Zoey said, coloring. “I couldn’t leave the girls here all alone.”
“Why not?” Ryan shrugged. “They’re fine. There’s plenty of neighbors around. Hell, here’s Cam, he’ll sit with the kids.”
As he led her onto the floor, he said something to his brother. Cameron looked at her, over Ryan’s shoulder, and Zoey got the funniest sensation. That he didn’t approve? What possible business was it of his, if Ryan danced with her?
Just then Elizabeth and Arthur came back and Becky launched herself at her father. “My turn, Daddy! My turn!”
Elizabeth fanned her flushed face and waved gaily at Zoey as she sat down. Zoey knew exactly what her friend was thinking. That she and Ryan had hit it off. That there was suddenly the excitement of romance in the crisp, cold air of the Fullerton Valley. That Zoey, unmarried at twenty-eight and probably, in Elizabeth’s view, pretty near over the hill, could do a heck of a lot worse. That it was no coincidence that Zoey’s old heartthrob was unmarried and very, very eligible. That, indeed, this was not only serendipity—it could even be fate.
Ryan was a good dancer, just as Zoey remembered. He held her close and her head swam. Everything about him was so familiar and yet so very, very strange.
“Where are you living these days, Zoey?”
“Toronto.”
He whistled. “The big city, huh?”
She didn’t say anything. She was normally an excellent dancer but for some reason she was having trouble keeping in step with him. Nerves?
“Hey! Remember the time we drove out to Varley’s old barn and had a picnic, you and me and Adele and that guy she was going with—what the hell was his name?”
Zoey nodded. “Burke Goodall, wasn’t it?”
“That’s it! Burke the Jerk, I always thought of him.” She felt his right arm tighten around her shoulders. “I was always crazy about Adele, remember that?”
Did she! “Whatever happened? You two ever get together?” Zoey hoped her question sounded nonchalant. It was a question she’d agonized about for a long time, even after she’d left Stoney Creek.
Ryan’s face clouded, and he sighed. “No. Just one of those things, I guess. For a while there—” He shrugged, then went on. “Hell, it wasn’t meant to be, I guess. Enough about me. What about you—married?”
“No.”
“Boyfriend?”
“No.”
“What? Good-looking lady like you?” He hugged her and Zoey thought she’d burst with pleasure and pride. He meant it, he actually meant it!
“Not that I believe you for a minute, but—”
“Hey, believe it. You were always a pretty little thing, but, damn, you’re gorgeous now.”
Pretty little thing? No way! Zoey didn’t think she could stand much more of this. She was glad when the dance ended and Becky materialized beside them, tugging at Ryan’s shirt. “My turn now!”
Elizabeth wanted to leave after the next dance. Tessa had obviously been crying; Zoey had no idea what that was about, either. Kids! At one time, she might’ve been annoyed that they had to go but tonight she welcomed the opportunity. Her head was spinning—worse than before.
“I’m just going to check out the silent auction, okay?” She might as well drop some more money while she was here. It was all for a good cause, as the mayor had reminded them.
“Sure. Fifteen minutes?” Elizabeth glanced at her watch.
“Fine.”
Zoey moved along the line of products and services displayed on the paper-covered tables at the back of the room, pausing occasionally to mark down her bid, leaving Elizabeth’s phone number for a contact since she didn’t know where she’d be when the hotel threw her out. Looking for another place was next on her to-do list. She’d been invited to stay at the Nugents’, but Elizabeth’s offer, while kind, was impossible. She needed peace and quiet.
Okay. Twenty bucks for a manicure. That was a deal. Fifteen for a string of Christmas lights—she’d give those to Elizabeth if she won. Twenty-seven dollars for a sack of premium dog food. Elizabeth and Arthur had a big black Labrador that probably ate them out of house and home.
“Ma’am?”
“Yes?” To her shock, it was Ryan’s brother, hovering behind her right shoulder.
“Care to dance?”
CHAPTER THREE
ZOEY SCRIBBLED on a piece of notepaper she’d found inside the desk in her room.
Greetings from the Fullerton Valley!
Lydia: You’ll never guess. I ran into my first love—remember I told you about Ryan Donnelly, the great-looking rancher?—yesterday. Already! He was at a dance I went to with Elizabeth and her family. Here’s the best news—he’s single and he thinks I’m gorgeous! Nice change, huh? Oh, I also met his brother (didn’t know he had one) plus a niece. The hotel is chucking me out this week and I might have to stay with Elizabeth until I can find something else. When you hear from Charlotte, pass on my news. Wonder if she’s met her first love yet? Bet I got you both beat! I’ll keep you posted.
Luv, Zoey
P.S. Haven’t even had time to look at the manuscript—too much going on!
MARY ELLEN ARRIVED Monday night, and Elizabeth and Zoey met her for lunch the next day at the trendy—for Stoney Creek—Martha’s Grainery, a fern-draped, health-menu establishment at the corner of Tremont and Main Street.
Mary Ellen, who’d worked for a travel agency for six years and had recently left it to open her own business, a bed-and-breakfast inn on Vancouver Island, was the same shy, warmhearted girl she’d always been. The Osprey’s Nest—so-named, she told them, because it perched all alone on a hilltop overlooking Georgia Strait—was closed for the winter season, just like Zoey’s hotel.
With no makeup and dressed in sneakers, jeans and a red silk shirt, Mary Ellen didn’t look much older than she had in high school.
“So, any news on the man front?” Zoey thought they ought to get straight down to business. “Not you, Elizabeth, you’re married—unless you’ve got some suggestions for us.”
Elizabeth laughed, but Zoey thought she sounded pleased. Marriage, husband, children. In Elizabeth’s eyes, she had it all. And Zoey had to agree; if you were going to live in a small town like Stoney Creek, you might as well be married. What was there to do for singles?
“No,” Mary Ellen said, with a small shrug. She picked up one half of the shrimp-and-cheese-stuffed croissant she’d ordered. “Too busy these days. You?”
“Same.” Zoey attacked her vegetarian burger, wishing she’d ordered some fries. Elizabeth looked content with her huge Caesar salad and grilled chicken breast.
“Speaking of men, you’ll never guess who we ran into on Saturday?”
“We?”