Hannah had always paid her way.
She’d worked hard for everything she had, and she didn’t expect anything for free.
So offering to help Caleb at his family’s restaurant felt natural. Not because she owed him, exactly, but because that was how she moved through the world. If someone helped her, she met them halfway.
Goodness knows where she would be if he hadn’t stopped last night in the rain.
Sleeping in her car, she thought with a wry smile.
Not that the backseat of her beloved car wasn’t comfortable. She’d spent a week sleeping in it once, between jobs.
A long time ago.
But it was a memory she cherished.
Just as this memory of Caleb and Bear Creek would be cherished. The thought struck her. She was rarely sentimental about people and places.
But for some reason, this was different.
“Here we are,” Caleb said as he parked his truck in front of the restaurant. The building was all small-town charm and weathered timber. It stood dark now, but string lights zigzagged across a seating area outside, and she could imagine diners seated there on a summer evening, lingering over good food.
And then there was the view.
The mountains rose as a backdrop to the building. Dense forest in greens of every hue covered the slopes. Hannah sucked in a breath, the view catching her off guard. She’d glimpsed thesemountains before, through the rain yesterday, but seeing them framed like this, with the restaurant nestled at their base, made her heart ache with unexpected yearning.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured as she opened the truck door and slid out.
Caleb got out of the truck and came to join her, his eyes drawn to the mountains. “You should see it in the fall. The entire valley turns gold.”
The way he saidyou shouldstirred something deep inside her.
Not hope exactly, but the dangerous edge of it.
The part of her that imagined staying.
She pushed the feeling down and turned toward the restaurant.
“I can’t wait to see the interior,” Hannah said, forcing herself to sound businesslike and professional. Because she was here to work.
Not to fall in love with the landscape.
“I can’t wait to show you.” Caleb flashed her a smile, and then led her to the restaurant, unlocked the door, and held it open. “We’ve got about an hour or so before anyone else arrives to start lunch prep.”
Inside, Hannah paused just long enough to take it all in.
Worn wooden floors. Tables spaced generously throughout the room, not the cramped layout you’d see in city restaurants trying to maximize profits. The chairs were eclectic and comfortable. The walls held old photographs of mountains, the town, the people, some whose resemblance to Caleb was unmistakable.
Hannah ran her hand over the polished wooden bar, feeling the smooth surface beneath her fingertips. Everything about the space felt lived-in and welcoming.
Much like Caleb himself.
She glanced up to find him watching her, his expression unreadable. When their eyes met, he smiled, a smile that made her stomach flutter in a way she couldn’t quite interpret.
“Breakfast,” he said, rubbing his hands together, showing no signs of embarrassment that she had caught him staring at her. “You must be hungry.”
He led her through the dining area toward the back, pushing through swinging doors into a kitchen that managed to be both modern and timeless. Stainless steel appliances gleamed beside a massive cast-iron stove that looked like it had been there since the restaurant’s earliest days. Copper pots hung from a rack overhead, and well-worn cutting boards lined the prep area.
Caleb moved with practiced ease, opening the walk-in refrigerator and gathering ingredients with quick, confident movements. He set them on the counter and began working, cracking eggs one-handed, whisking them with practiced flicks of his wrist, reaching for seasonings without having to search.
