Her Heart's Bargain. Cheryl Harper
though it was, was a first step.
“A beautiful day for eating at the campground diner. No phones. No worrying over Ash.” For December, it was beautiful weather. Sunny. Warm enough to forget that Christmas was lurking somewhere in the near distance.
Although spending the holiday alone meant it was pretty much like any other day.
Except there was no work. No ranger station.
No distraction.
No Ash.
“But it gives you plenty of time to catch up on all your projects, Macy Elizabeth. Free time is a luxury you better appreciate.” Even her grandmother would have taken off Christmas Day. All the chores could wait. Since she was the last of her particular branch of Gentrys and holidays could be lonely, Macy had already decided she’d spend the holiday hiking Yanu Falls. Getting outside of her apartment would be required.
Her inability to name any projects she was dying to finish was something she needed to think about. She’d moved to Sweetwater when Administrative Services had offered her a permanent position running the visitor information desk at the Otter Lake Ranger Station. During her first year with the Smoky Valley Nature Reserve, she’d bounced around locations, doing a wide variety of temporary assignments. The job she had now, managing the visitor center and administration support, fit her best. Even the months she’d spent in the district office in Knoxville had been less satisfying, although some people would think the ranger station was a step down.
The minute she’d signed a lease on a one-bedroom apartment in town, Macy knew she’d found her home.
Friends were easy enough to claim in the small town. Odella at the coffee shop remembered how she ordered her coffee. She and Astrid, the town’s librarian, had spent many a Friday night at The Branch bemoaning the town’s lack of night life.
And then there was Ash, the man who...
Approved her timesheets.
Looked like he wanted to pat her on the head now and then.
Needed her.
Enough wasting time, Macy.
That familiar voice in her head belonged to her no-nonsense grandmother. Gran had been easy enough for Macy to love, but the whole town of Myrtle Bend, Georgia, and the three cousins Macy claimed there had always trembled when she drove down Main Street.
Gran had been fierce. Tough. Some days, Macy had to remind herself that fierce made people uncomfortable. As long as she’d remembered that, that it was easier to get along than follow in Gran’s tradition, making Sweetwater home had been easy enough.
Still, she’d be fighting that bossy voice in her head until she died.
“Lunch is an hour, Macy. Quit wasting precious seconds,” she muttered to herself, a bad habit she wasn’t even trying to break.
After days alone at work and at home, Macy was ready to make conversation. The campground diner would have food and people, so it was an easy choice.
As Macy pulled into the deserted parking lot, she worried the diner was somehow closed for business that day. Then she realized if anyone should know the schedule for the Otter Lake Campground convenience store-slash-marina-slash-diner, it would be her. She could recite the hours with a second’s notice, both winter and summer.
Normally, at least one or two cars would be parked in front of the glass doors, even in winter.
“Business must be slower than usual.” Macy slid out of the car and marched inside. “I should do this more often.” For some reason, she’d always imagined a wild lunch rush, filled with loud conversations and not enough time.
When Christina Braswell turned to greet her, Macy was relieved. They didn’t know each other well, but Christina was a familiar face, and they had a built-in topic of easy conversation: Christina’s boyfriend, Ranger Brett Hendrix. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” Macy said.
“Yeah, I usually handle the breakfast shift, but Luisa asked me to stay later this week because she’s on vacation. If she’d known how few people would be through here, she might have shut the place down.” Christina held her arms wide. “Pick a spot. Any spot. I suggest the large booth by the window. I can stretch out my legs.”
Did that mean she was joining Macy? Macy had only planned to order something to go. Ash was no good with the phones and if a reporter came in...
Do something different, Macy. He’s a grown man, not a child. Ash Kingfisher would not appreciate her rushing back because she was afraid he couldn’t handle being left alone.
“Come on. This once, have a lunch here. At a table. With refilled drinks and everything.” Christina folded her hands beneath her chin. “Please. It’s so slow. I’m begging.”
Macy laughed. “Okay. I’ll take the best seat in the house and your finest club sandwich, all the fries you have and a big glass of tea. Might as well do this right.” Even out-of-towner Macy had been warned about wild Christina Braswell. Apparently, the people of Sweetwater had long memories, because all the stories she’d heard featured a teenage girl out of control. Granted, Macy’s grandmother would have rained down fire if she’d ever been caught stealing. People changed. Macy had seen nothing but positive things from Christina, and the way she clapped her hands in delight when Macy slid into the booth was just charming.
Brett Hendrix was one of the best guys she knew. All signs pointed to people being dead wrong about Christina.
Never let people tell you what you can see with your own eyes, Macy. Her grandmother’s impatience for all types of foolishness meant she never fell for stupid gossip.
“Friendly company.” Christina pointed at her. “I knew I liked you. Monroe, put the cookie dough away. We’ve got a lunch to make.” She turned around to slip an order through the window to the kitchen and then banged around making Macy’s drink.
“The kid’s been testing cookie recipes for your open house. He mans the grill well enough, but he was born to bake.”
“I only asked for drinks. Tea and hot chocolate.” When she’d finagled a yes out of Ash for the open house and managed to get the chief ranger’s approval, Macy hadn’t wanted to push the cost or overdo on the details.
“You ordered drinks as I recall,” Christina answered. “If we were busy, Luisa would have never offered to do cookies, too, but we aren’t and Monroe makes a mean chocolate chip.”
Christina set a glass on the table as Macy’s phone lit up with a text. It said, Pecan pie. Please.
She shook her head. The man could issue an order using a meager two words in a text. That please had been a tacked-on afterthought.
It was a sign of growth.
Macy sighed. “And make sure I leave here with at least one slice of pecan pie.” It was a good thing she knew her boss so well. Ash was having a hard day. Things were weird at work and between them, but he could still count on her. Pie always helped.
He depended on her to understand that. “No problem. Brett never delivers bad news without a slice of pie in hand. Plenty of news lately, and it does seem kinda bad.” Christina hurried behind the counter to box up the pie. She brought a white to-go bag and two beautiful sandwiches to Macy. “I guess I was waiting to have lunch today for a good reason.”
When they’d doctored the fries with ketchup and had both taken satisfying bites, they turned to stare out over the calm water of Otter Lake.
“It’s nice to be slow sometimes. I like a chance to enjoy this view.” Christina sipped her water and stretched slowly. “I like sitting down even more.”
“I could not do what you do.” Macy shook her head. Life at the ranger station was about silence and peace, broken only by the occasional visitor and the chance to tell them all about the reserve she loved. Sometimes school groups came in