Maybe she should go back in the house and wait for the dog to leave? She couldn’t do that. The cat might freeze, or what if he came down and the dog got him?
“Snowball?”
The dog perked up its ears at the sound of the man’s voice. It turned in a circle, excited, before bounding away. Thank goodness. Maybe now Julie had a chance to rescue the wayward cat. She braced the toe of her boot against the rough bark of the tree trunk, made slippery by the snow, and reached overhead to grip the sturdiest-looking branch.
Behind her, a dog barked. She yelped, lost her grip, and tumbled onto her butt in the snow.
Great. Just great. This was the cherry on her day.
“Snowball, come here.”
Though, come to think of it, Snowball was an adorable name for a dog. Julie looked up through the wisps of blond hair falling in front of her face at the man who had emerged from the trees. He wore solid snow boots, the kind that laced up to the calf, well-worn jeans, and a heavy brown coat. That coat fit over broad shoulders and up to a face that made her thoughts stop in their tracks.
No. It couldn’t be.
Nolan Miller extended a gloved hand. “Sorry about that. She tends to get overly enthusiastic when she meets new people.”
Numbly, Julie put her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet. Although his gloves weren’t covered in snow, the leather was cold to the touch. His brown eyes were warm as he smiled at her encouragingly, displaying a slight gap in his teeth that solidified her suspicions. Nolan Miller had grown into his front teeth, the gap making him look more boyish than awkward. It was definitely him.
His eyes narrowed. “Wait. Julie Green? Is that you?”
“Yep. Nolan Miller?”
“Yes. Good to see you. Gosh, it’s been a long time.” He looked down at her bare hands. “Did you lose your gloves?”
Nolan was looking around at the snow and the imprint Julie had made in it when she’d fallen. She shook her head. “I left them inside. I didn’t plan to be out long.”
He dropped his gaze to her feet. “Those boots really aren’t made for snow country. If you’re planning on traipsing around out here, you should get yourself some Sorel boots, or maybe North Face. The store in town sells them. Looks like you might need a warmer coat too.”
Great, unsolicited advice. Apparently, Nolan hadn’t changed that much in the intervening years, after all.
Julie crossed her arms. She was freezing, from her cheeks to the soles of her feet. “Thanks for the fashion tips. I wouldn’t even be out here if your dog hadn’t chased the cat up the tree.” She pointed overhead.
Nolan tipped his head back and looked up at the cat. “Well, I haven’t seen you around here.”
Julie didn’t know whether he was talking to her or the cat. “Do you know all the animals that hang around in these woods?”
He tilted his head to turn his smile on her. “Pretty much. I live at the lodge full time now, helping my father and grandfather out,” he said, pointing down a deer trail cutting between the trees. Through the gap, she could just make out the roof of a stone building impressive enough to look like a castle from this distance. “Snowball and I spend a lot of time walking in the woods.”
She vaguely remembered Nolan only visited in summers back when they were kids. Truth was she’d hardly paid much attention to him back then. And she doubted she would now either.
“There are bobcats roaming the area. You should keep your cat inside,” he said.
More annoying advice.
He stood there examining the branches leading up to the cat perched out of reach over his head as if formulating a plan to get him down.
“If you’ll take your dog someplace else, I’m sure I can get the cat down myself.”
The dog in question calmly lumbered between her and Nolan and sat patiently on its rump. It looked up at Julie with soft brown eyes.
“I assume Snowball chased him up there? If so, I should fix the problem, shouldn’t I?”
Was Nolan always this unshakably cheerful? He flashed her another smile before he gripped two of the branches and easily started to climb up.
“Besides, you haven’t been here in what, a decade? I bet you’ve lost your knack for tree climbing.”
It was a knack she’d never really had to begin with. Probably one of the reasons why she’d acclimated so well to city life.
