“You’re horribly late! Do you think this wedding is a joke? We’re not paying you to be tardy for meetings!”

  “I understand, and I apologize. As I said in my earlier message to you, my flight was delayed and then my rental car blew out a tire. Unfortunately, these things were out of my control. But I got here as soon as I could and—”

  “None of that is an excuse!” the bride-to-be interrupted. “You should be planning enough extra time into your schedule to account for emergencies like that.”

  Jackie didn’t bother replying. Trying to reason with this woman amounted to the ultimate exercise in frustration. So instead, for the next hour Jackie listened as the bride-to-be and her fiancé complained about every possible detail related to their upcoming wedding. Jackie took it all in silence, reminding herself over and over of how much they were paying her, and of the fact that this would be over in two weeks’ time.

  Besides, at the end of it all, most of this was just frivolous complaints. Even though the couple claimed to hate every detail, when Jackie offered to change things they shook their heads and said they would settle for things the way they were.

  Translation: they actually liked the wedding Jackie had created for them. They just didn’t know how to function without complaining. The only thing they truly wanted to change, it seemed, was the florist. They complained that the samples they’d seen from the currently booked florist were awful, even though Jackie thought they were the most beautiful bouquets she’d ever seen. But no matter how hard she tried to convince the couple that the bouquets were fantastic and that it was too late to find another florist, the couple insisted that they wanted someone else.

  Grudgingly, Jackie agreed to do her best to find a replacement florist, although she could make no promises. She did her best to appease the couple until she was finally able to end the meeting and leave their hotel suite. There would be more meetings tomorrow, and the day after, and probably every day after that until the wedding. But at least today’s meeting was done.

  Jackie needed to check into her own hotel room, and then she needed to figure out how to get someone to fix her rental car. All of that on top of the fact that she now needed to somehow find a florist able to take over the wedding with virtually no notice.

  These thoughts swirled wildly through Jackie’s head as she rode the elevator down to the hotel lobby. But once again, the dominant thought in her mind somehow became Evan. Why couldn’t she get him out of her head? Sure, he was handsome, but that wasn’t enough of a reason to obsess about him so much.

  Jackie decided that she was officially going crazy. After checking into her room and calling the rental car company, who to her surprise promised to send out roadside assistance and have someone actually bring the car back to Pine Springs for her, Jackie decided that she needed to go for a walk. Perhaps the smart thing to do would have been to start researching alternative florists, but she felt like if she didn’t get some fresh air and calm her nerves down that she might literally explode.

  She stepped out onto the sidewalk outside the hotel and began to walk without any plan for where she was actually going. She just needed to move and to breathe. As she walked, she couldn’t help but notice the mountain rising on the horizon in front of her. She knew from her research of Pine Springs that she was looking at Bear Mountain. She also knew that the people of Pine Springs didn’t like the people of Bear Mountain. Even though she’d never been to Pine Springs before, Googling the town for more than five minutes resulted in several online discussions of where the Pine Springs-Bear Mountain feud had come from. Jackie found the whole thing fascinating. Something about small-town feuds intrigued her, and she told herself that if she had some time extra time while she was here, she’d like to dig into the history of the town a bit more.

  But who had she been kidding? There was no way she was going to have any extra time. The Joneses would make sure of that. With a deep sigh, Jackie tore her eyes away from the mountain. When she did, her gaze fell on a cute, local café that boasted strong, fresh coffee.

  “That’s exactly what I need,” Jackie said aloud as she turned to head into the café. Perhaps a strong shot of caffeine and some more fresh air would pull her out of this funk

  When she walked into the café, she was surprised to see beautiful, fresh flowers on every café table. After ordering her coffee, she asked the barista where the flowers came from. It was a long shot, she knew. But perhaps they’d come from a florist who would be willing to help her out on short notice. These bouquets were too fancy to be something the barista had quickly thrown together.

  When asked about the flowers, the barista’s eyes lit up. “Those are from Pine Springs Florist. A friend of mine runs the place, so she gives me a good deal on flowers for my café. If it wasn’t for the discount, I wouldn’t be able to put these bouquets on every table. She’s pricey, but she’s good.”

  Jackie tried not to get too excited. A florist this good probably wasn’t available for a wedding that was only two weeks away. Still, she had to explore every option, didn’t she?

  “Do you know if your friend does weddings?”

  “Of course. I hardly see her during the summer and winter holidays, because she’s so busy putting together bouquets for weddings. I love this time of year because things are slower for her, so I actually get to see her once in a while.” The barista laughed as she began foaming milk for Jackie’s extra-large latte.

  Jackie’s heart leapt. “She’s not that busy right now? Do you think there’s any chance she might be available for a wedding in the next few weeks?”

  The barista raised her eyebrows. “The next few weeks? That’s awfully soon. But I suppose it couldn’t hurt to ask her. If there’s any time of year she could do a wedding on such short notice, it would be now. Why? Are you getting married soon?”

  Jackie shook her head. “Not me. I’m a wedding planner, and my current clients aren’t happy with the florist we booked. I’m desperate for someone new.”

  The barista shrugged. “I have no idea what Shelly has going on, but it couldn’t hurt for you to ask her. I’ll give you her address and phone number, and you can see what she can do for you.”

  “Thank you!” Jackie gushed.

  A few minutes later, Jackie was walking down the sidewalk again, this time with a purpose. She had the address for Pine Springs Florist in her hand, and she had decided to go directly there. She wanted to see this Shelly woman in person, and hopefully convince her to take on the wedding. If her wedding flowers were anything close to the flowers that Jackie had just seen in the café, then surely the Joneses couldn’t complain.

  Jackie knew all of this was still a long shot, but she also couldn’t help feeling like the fact that she’d stepped into that café had been a stroke of good luck. Jackie had had a bad day, and she deserved to have something go right.

  Hopefully, finding this florist would be that something. Jackie had always been an optimist, and somehow, she felt this was a good omen. Even the fact that her day had been horrible and that she couldn’t get Evan out of her head couldn’t bring her down now. She’d convince this florist to help her, she’d make it through the next two weeks, and then she’d leave Pine Springs and the Joneses behind forever.

  One step at a time, and she’d get through this. As she approached the storefront of Pine Springs Florist a half an hour later, she didn’t notice that the large red pickup truck turning onto the same street was driven by none other than Evan—the very man she was trying to forget.

  Chapter Three

  Evan’s stomach growled as he stepped inside the Bear Paw Diner. This diner was always his first stop when he got back to town after a long trip. After weeks of surviving on subpar truck stop food, eating here always made him feel like he was coming alive again. Perhaps that sounded dramatic, but it wasn’t much of an exaggeration. The food here never disappointed. Poppy, the owner, could work magic in the kitchen.

  And she worked that magic every day without fail. Even when she took the day off, she still got up early in the morning to help prep food for the day. She had a part-time employee who took over for her when she needed a break from serving food, but she never took a break from cooking. Evan thought she was slightly crazy for that, but he wasn’t complaining. Nothing made him happier than digging into a delicious bowl of Poppy’s chili, and Poppy was setting a bowl of that chili in front of him at that very moment.

  “That was a long trip,” Poppy commented.

  Evan grunted an affirmative response. “I couldn’t get any good loads home. I kept trying and I got a little bit closer last week, but when the only loads I could find a few days ago would have taken me further from the mountain instead of closer to it, I decided it was time to deadhead home.”

  Poppy nodded in understanding. All of the bear shifters knew that being away from the mountain for too long wasn’t good. A shifter who couldn’t shift got restless, and it was hard to shift when away from the mountain. All the bear shifters were careful not to change into bear form in front of any humans—that never brought anything good. Of course, now there were two humans on the mountain.

  Evan’s face darkened at the thought. He knew that those humans loved the bear shifters they were mated to. But he wasn’t convinced that having humans up here was safe, even if they did claim to accept shifters.

  The shifters of Bear Mountain had been careful over the years to hide their shifter sides from everyone in Pine Springs. The people of Pine Springs didn’t like them, because they knew the mountain folks were different. But they didn’t know exactly why everyone on the mountain was different. If they had known, Evan was sure there would have been hell to pay.

  “Why the frown?” Poppy asked. “I know deadheading isn’t your favorite, but at least you’re home now and eating my chili. No one should be allowed to frown while eating my chili.”

  Evan looked up at Poppy and managed to smile. “You’re right about that. This chili is delicious, as usual. But I was just thinking about how hard it is to hide shifting from humans. Especially when humans are on the mountain now.”

  Poppy gave him a warning look. “Don’t be hating on our human residents. It’s good to have a few people here who understand what it’s like to be fully human. If, God forbid, any other humans were to ever find out there were shifters up here, it would be good to have a few full humans around to advocate for us.”

  Evan merely grunted in response. He’d had this argument with Poppy dozens of times, and neither one of them were ever willing to admit that the other might have a point. Instead of continuing to argue, he took another huge spoonful of chili and shoved it into his mouth. Poppy shook her head at him in exasperation, and went to help another customer.

  Evan watched her, and wondered as he so often did how it was possible that she still didn’t have a mate. She was undoubtedly one of the mountain’s greatest catches, but destiny hadn’t seen fit to pair her with anyone yet. Evan himself saw her as a lovable sister.

  Maybe that was the problem. Everyone saw her that way. It was hard not to, when she treated everyone so much like family. Her honey brown eyes always sparkled and her dark brown hair was always in a perfectly messy bun. Her laughter rang out across the café constantly, as it did even now. She was a bit quirky, wearing colorful flower dresses that skimmed over her bear-sized body. Evan had often tried to think of who he might be able to set her up with, and he found himself wondering again now whether he knew anyone. Occasionally, he spent time on nearby Wolf Mountain or Lion Mountain, where wolf shifters and lion shifters lived. Sometimes, he thought that perhaps Poppy’s mate was there.

  But Poppy wouldn’t leave Bear Mountain, and none of the other shifters would come here. Things seemed to be at a standstill for Poppy, but she didn’t seem that heartbroken by it. Evan wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen her in a bad mood.

  That was a bit different from him. He was almost always in a bad mood these days. Who could blame him? He spent too much time away from the mountain, and now even the mountain felt strange to him. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he thought it might have something to do with fact that his inner bear was getting restless. He wasn’t getting any younger, and he still hadn’t found his own lifemate. Where was she, and when would he finally meet her?

  Almost unbidden, an image of Jackie’s face flashed into his mind, but he pushed it away quickly. Not only was she human, but she wasn’t even a resident of Pine Springs. It sounded like she’d be gone within a few weeks, and good riddance. The last thing Pine Springs needed was more people who didn’t know how to maintain their cars. Perhaps Evan was a bit fanatical about car maintenance, but he was a professional driver. Being fanatical about things like that was part of his job.

  “You’re frowning again,” Poppy said as she returned to her spot across the counter from him.

  Evan did his best to smooth over his features, because he definitely didn’t want to discuss Jackie with Poppy. He was sure Poppy would have something to say. After all, she was the one who had encouraged Joel and Scott to take human lifemates. She might do the same for him, and he wasn’t interested in her opinion on the matter. He was not taking a human lifemate. Case closed.

  But to his surprise, Poppy didn’t press him on why he was frowning. Instead, she refilled his coffee mug and said, “I have a favor to ask of you.”

  Evan raised an eyebrow at her. Poppy hardly ever asked for favors. She was one of the most self-sufficient people he’d ever met. “Oh?”

  “I have a delivery of wildflowers for Shelly down at the Pine Springs Florist. I was supposed to take it to her this afternoon when my part-timer came in to cover the diner for me, but my part-timer just called in sick so I can’t leave. Those flowers have to get down to Pine Springs tonight. Will you take them for me?”

  The last thing Evan felt like doing was driving more, especially when that driving would take him into Pine Springs. He made a face in Poppy’s direction. “Isn’t there someone else who can help you out? I’m a long-haul driver, not a local delivery guy.”

  Evan hated to tell Poppy no. Despite the fact that she occasionally annoyed him by being too nosy, she was a good friend. But there were probably a dozen other people on the mountain who could run the flowers down for her tonight. Surely, she understood that he was beat.

  Or maybe she didn’t. Poppy didn’t look at all fazed by his protest. “Come on,” she said. “There are plenty of other people who could take the flowers for me, but no one who will take care of them the same way you will.”

  Evan knew why Poppy had said that. He was known around the mountain as a plant guy. Even though he was a big, tough bear, he had a soft spot in his heart for plants. He kept up a big garden outside of his cabin, and treated those plants like his babies. That might seem odd for someone who was gone quite a bit due to his driving job, but he made it work by paying a couple of local kids to take care of the plants when he was gone. He supposed Poppy was right, and that he would be gentler with the bouquets of flowers than anyone else. But still, how gentle did she need someone to be? The flowers were already picked and therefore would be dying soon enough, anyway. Would it make much difference whether he took them or someone else?

  The look on Poppy’s face told him that she thought it would. It also told him that she wasn’t going to let this go without a fight, and Evan was too tired to fight right now.

  “Fine. I’ll take the flowers for you, but then you owe me one.”

  Poppy beamed. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down. Can you take them when you’re done with your chili? The bouquets are already here and ready to go. They’re in the walk-in refrigerator in the back.”

  Evan nodded wearily. “Just let me finish my food and I’ll take them. Really, though, I don’t even understand why you spend time picking those flowers. Don’t you have enough to do with the diner?”

  Poppy shook her head. “The diner keeps me busy enough, but I don’t make much money from it since I keep my prices so low. Picking the flowers and selling them brings me enough money on the side that I don’t have to charge too much for my chili here. Surely, you can appreciate that.”

  Evan shrugged, and nodded. Poppy sold her food so cheaply that it was nearly impossible to eat for less, even if you cooked and ate your own food at home. Evan had plenty of money, and wouldn’t have minded paying more. But he knew that many people on Bear Mountain weren’t as well off financially as him. Life on the mountain could be a struggle, and everyone here did whatever they could to help their neighbors with that struggle.

  Poppy’s way of helping was to offer cheap food, and Evan supposed that he could help by helping Poppy out with her side hustle. He would have preferred to go home and spend time with his own plants, but he’d do that later tonight. Now, he wolfed down his meal and then followed Poppy into the back area, where she helped him gather the bouquets from the giant refrigerator.

  “I really appreciate this,” she said. “You really are the best with plants. Besides, everyone else that I could have asked is busy tonight with family.”

  That innocent comment from Poppy didn’t make Evan feel any better. He would have loved to be busy with family, but having a family required first finding a lifemate. Now, instead of frolicking with cubs of his own in his garden, he was taking a bunch of flowers down to a Pine Springs resident. Evan knew that Poppy had worked with that Pine Springs resident for a long time, but he still didn’t trust Shelly. No matter how much Poppy swore that the woman was a good person and didn’t hate the mountain folk like the rest of Pine Springs, Evan preferred to keep his distance.

  He suspected that Shelly was just using Poppy, and didn’t really care about her. The wildflowers on Bear Mountain were the best in the area, but they were hard to find if you didn’t know where to look. Poppy picked bouquets that were truly magical, and sold them at prices that Evan thought were far too low. Shelly must be making a killing off of the flowers, but Poppy refused to charge more. She said she didn’t like to feel like she was ripping anyone off. Evan had given up trying to convince her to change. Poppy was Poppy, and Poppy would do what Poppy wanted.

 

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