Page 3 of High Country Escape
He tapped his debit card on the machine to pay and dropped a dollar in May’s tip jar. Was he so obviously bad at meeting women on his own that May had taken pity and decided to match him up? If so, he ought to welcome her efforts. He wasn’t like Carter. Though they were identical twins, they didn’t have identical personalities. Carter had been born with good looks and a golden tongue, while Dalton was more quiet and awkward. The perfect image of a computer geek, right down to the dark-rimmed glasses.
May leaned across the counter, providing a distracting view of her cleavage, but he knew she wasn’t flirting. She and Eldon Ramsey, another search and rescue volunteer, were definitely a couple. Sometimes Dalton felt as if he was the only person he knew who wasn’t paired off.
“I like the glasses,” she said.
Dalton put one hand to the black-framed eyeglasses he had recently taken to wearing. “I’ve had contacts for years, but thedry air here really bothers me,” he said. “I decided to go back to these for a while.”
“Gives you a sexy geek vibe,” May said.
Right. Whatever.
“Are you going to the Fall Festival tomorrow?” she asked.
“I have to be there,” he said. “Search and rescue has a booth.” The festival was a combination beer-tasting and fundraiser for local charities, one of several held throughout the year. Search and rescue volunteers ran a booth to sell T-shirts and collect donations. “I think Eldon and I are working the same shift.”
“Then I’ll see you. Though I’m working my own booth. Or rather, Chris Mercer and I are splitting a booth to sell my jewelry and her art.”
“Good luck,” Dalton said. “I hope you sell out.” If he did have a girlfriend, he would buy her a pair of the earrings May made, intricate creations fashioned out of semiprecious stones and silver and copper wire.
“I’ll send all the single women who stop by my booth to see you,” May said. “Maybe you can interest them in more than a T-shirt.”
“I thought you weren’t going to play matchmaker,” he said.
She smirked. “But now you’ve given me ideas.”
Chapter Two
Eagle Mountain’s Fall Festival was exactly the way Roxanne had always pictured small-town celebrations—lots of cute stalls spread out in a picturesque park, vendors selling locally themed and handmade items, charities hosting bake sales and local restaurants catering roasted corn, barbecue sandwiches and ice cream. Laughing children chased each other through the pumpkin and corn shuck decorations, and families and groups of friends tried their hands at games of skill or sipped drinks in the beer garden.
Roxanne wandered the grounds, determined to get to know her new home. She was going to smile and mingle and fight the urge to hide in her house. This was New Roxanne—the friendlier, more outgoing version. “Hey, Roxanne!”
Startled, she looked over to see the barista, May, waving to her from a booth that advertised Fine Art Jewelry and Paintings. Roxanne hurried over. “Hi, May,” she said. She glanced at a display of intricately sculpted bracelets, necklaces and earrings. “Is this your work?”
“It is,” May said. “And the paintings are by my friend Chris. Chris, come meet Roxanne. She’s new in town.”
A woman with cobalt blue hair and full sleeve tattoos turned toward them. “Hi, Roxanne,” she said. “Welcome to Eagle Mountain.”
“Your work is so beautiful.” Roxanne touched the edge of a canvas that depicted a fairylike figure stepping into a mountain stream.
“Thanks,” Chris said. “What kind of work do you do?”
“Nothing like this,” she said. “Just computer stuff. IT.”
“Oh my gosh. You have to meet our friend Dalton,” May said. “He’s another computer genius.”
“Oh. I’m not a genius.” Roxanne took a step back, but May was already leaning out of the booth and calling to someone across the way. “Dalton, come over here!” She motioned him toward them.
And then Roxanne was face-to-face with a sandy-haired man with black-framed glasses and a tentative smile. “Hello,” he said, and the word touched Roxanne like a caress.
“This is Roxanne,” May said. “She’s new in town. And she’s a computer geek like you. Roxanne, this is my friend Dalton Ames.”
Dalton looked sideways at May, who was grinning at them. Then he shifted his gaze to Roxanne once more. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said. “What brings you to Eagle Mountain?”
Roxanne had planned an answer for this question. She was going to say she had always loved the mountains and now that she had a job where she could live anywhere, she had decided to make Eagle Mountain home. But that rehearsed speech vanished and what came out instead was, “I wanted to make a fresh start. This seemed like a good place to do it.”
“Ooh, I bet there’s a story there,” May said.
“Mom!” A slender girl with long, dark brown hair barreled across the park toward them and skidded to a stop beside Chris. “Hey, Dalton,” she said. “Hey, May.” She looked at Roxanne. “Hello.”