But how could it just start playing?
Maybe the dream was…a message.
She inhaled sharply at the thought. Maybe George had made that music box play from wherever it was as a soft whisper to…be careful.Or maybe he was saying she shouldn’t fall for a new man at all.
Maybe George, who’d had infinite wisdom when alive and was undoubtedly in heaven with a bird’s-eye view of her life, didn’t think a romance with Matt was a good idea.
Nowthattilted her world a little bit.
Yes, she’d ached for Matt to keep his promise and come back to Park City, but now that he had…what would happen? She hadn’t really thought it through.
Finishing the tea, she stood to dress for the day, making a mental note to dig through the kitchen cabinets and her buffets in the guest dining area. Maybe she’d mistakenly tucked it in the wrong place.
But if she had…then what had she heard in her dream?
“Your imagination,” she told herself.
Unless…it was George. She might not like what he had to say but, dead or alive, there was no one she respected or trusted more than George McBride.
So if he was talking, she knew she had to listen.
“Good morning, Mary Jane.”
MJ gasped when she walked into the still-dark lodge kitchen and heard a voice from the table—and smelled coffee.
“Matt!” She froze in place, not expecting to see him before the sun rose.
“I’m still on East Coast time,” he explained, pushing up from his chair. “And I knew you’d be down here before anyone else.”
She watched him take a few steps closer, still getting used to seeing him in person, not her imagination. In real life, he was even taller, his chestnut hair clipped short and neat, his soft brown eyes full of nothing but warmth, his strong arms reaching for her.
With the echo of George’s song in her head, she hugged him back, but resisted a kiss or a squeeze.
“You okay this morning?” he asked as he drew back, proving that he was tall, good-looking,andperceptive.
“Yes, I’m…” She laughed. “Still reeling.”
“Why are you surprised?” he asked, searching her face. “I made you a promise.”
“But I never heard boo from you.”
He leaned closer, almost close enough for a kiss, and whispered, “Boo. Do you want your morning tea? I know you can’t start a proper day without it.”
She laughed softly, touched that he remembered her habits. “Actually, I was up very early and had some. I could use a coffee now, and company while I make breakfast for the lodge guests.”
“I didn’t think Snowberry Lodge was open yet,” he said, walking to her coffee pot with a shocking amount of familiarity. Yes, he’d spent plenty of time in here, helping her and chatting from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. But it had been a different kitchen then, and a year had passed.
“We’re not officially open for business yet,” she told him. “But we had family and friends who traveled for the wedding and are staying, though most are leaving today. Jack’s mom is staying through the holidays, though.”
“Are Jack and Cindy taking a honeymoon?” he asked.
“Europe in the spring,” she told him. “First of all, their daughter, Nicole, is marrying Cameron Hale on New Year’s Eve.”
“Yes, I heard that last night. Exciting.”
She nodded. “We’re happy for her. Of course, with Jack managing the lodge and filling up the newly renovated suites and cabins, my sister is focused on building the wedding business for the new Starling Room.” She let a smile pull. “All of this, I might add, made possible by a lottery winner from Florida who granted wishes and won our hearts.”
“Oooh, hearts have been won. That’s what this ‘lottery winner from Florida’ likes to hear.”
