Everything reminded him of Faith. From the dusted tree branches laden with snow that resembled the floury flurry in herbakery, to the clinging icicles that looked like sugar crystals, she kept popping up in the periphery of his mind at every turn.
The team building exercise had been Captain Anderson’s idea. It was a good one. Both Danny and Mitch were new to the company, and even though RJ had been firefighting for years, his recent paternity time off left him on the outside of a tightly knit community.
Mitch liked the guys. They’d been dispatched on several calls together already and worked well as a team. And he had wanted to check out Major Hart Mountain Sports, too. But he hadn’t counted on spending his entire afternoon on the slopes. With every glance at his watch, he saw that it was nearing closing time at Summit Sweets. He’d hoped to drop by. Not for something sweet, but to see Faith again. It felt marginally less intrusive than knocking on the door of her apartment. At the bakery, he could pretend he was merely there to pick up a treat or a snack. He didn’t have that same excuse when showing up unannounced on her doorstep.
“You coming, slowpoke?” RJ cupped his hands around his mouth to holler at Mitch, still hanging back in the ravine. He’d unknowingly slowed to a crawl, his thoughts dragging him down mentally and physically. “Throttle’s on your right!”
Using his forearm, Mitch wiped the remaining bits of slush free from the visor, opening up his field of vision so he could see clearly. All three men waited at the crest of the hill, their snowmobiles idling, producing a low, thready hum.
Mitch kicked it into high gear. The rear of the snowmobile fishtailed, whipping back and forth before shooting up the hill at three times his earlier speed. Wind whistled in his ears. His cheeks stung from the slicing burn of mountain air. He found that he couldn’t breathe and drive at this speed and in these elevations. His lungs felt like they were full of razorblades, and tears stung his eyes, despite the visor on his helmet as a shield.
He could now officially check it off his list, but it was safe to say snowmobiling definitely wasn’t his thing.
“Thought we’d have to come back and get you,” Danny ribbed him once Mitch finally rejoined the group, winded and disheveled. “You get distracted by something down there?”
Just my thoughts, Mitch mused but didn’t dare say aloud. “I thought I saw a bear cub in a tree, actually,” he lied. He needed an excuse. A reason for lagging behind when the other men reveled in the adrenaline rush.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Holden, their guide, said. “We’re in bear country up here.”
“You think you could show us where you saw it, Mitch?” RJ asked, appearing more intrigued than afraid. “I’d love to take a pic to send my family back home. Never seen a bear in the wild before, just at the zoo.”
The last thing Mitch wanted was to take the guys down the hill and eat up more time. If he left soon, he’d still be able to make it over to the bakery before Faith locked up. That wouldn’t be the case if they continued the expedition, searching for an imaginary bear that definitely wasn’t there.
“If there’s actually a cub out there, mama probably isn’t too far behind and she’s not someone we want to cross paths with,” Holden said, unintentionally coming to Mitch’s rescue. “Even on a snowmobile. Let’s get these back to the shop and wrap things up for the day. Good run, guys.”
Mitch had never disrobed so quickly. He had his helmet, boots, and rental gear taken off and returned, as well as settled the necessary fees, and in less than five minutes, was in his truck, pointed in the direction of his favorite confectioner’s shop.
If RJ and Danny had sensed his urgency to hightail it out of there, they didn’t make it known. Either way, it seemed like the two were happy to hang back, inquiring with the employeesabout the other winter adventures the store offered. Maybe Mitch would join them, but the bigger adventure right now was sorting out his feelings for Faith.
He liked the woman. She was beautiful. Stunning, actually. But what he liked most was her personality. The way she was so easily flustered around him. How one minute she appeared confident and calm, and the next she was a blubbering mess of fumbled words and anxious emotion. While he didn’t want to catch her off guard by showing up unexpected again at her place of work, he hoped to connect with her. It had been so long since he’d experienced anything like this.Thiswas his adrenaline rush, his thrill. Pursuing Faith Porter.
There was an open spot right in front of the bakery. Once he powered down the engine, he popped open the driver’s side and climbed out of his truck. He didn’t give himself time for nerves to form. He had his hand on the door, stepping inside the establishment like it was all one solid motion: the driving, the arrival, the entrance.
His smile was on his mouth before he could stop it from appearing.
And even when his brain registered the scene before him, it took a moment for that giddy grin to dissolve.
Faith was there, just as he’d hoped.
But Mitch hadn’t expected her to be in the arms of another man. A man who was clearly more to her than their stranger-turned-neighbor-turned-new-friend status. The guy was curled over her, his face near her hair, his arms threaded at her back.
Regret punched Mitch squarely in the gut.
He’d been too presumptuous, too hopeful.
Praying the embrace was enough of a distraction to keep Faith from noticing Mitch’s brief entrance and equally swift exit, he grabbed the door handle once again. But this time, those bells chimed too loudly, betraying him with a resounding tattle.He hadn’t heard them when he came in, but the ringing in his ears and excitement in his stride had made him feel like he was floating on air, unable to fully register his surroundings.
Rushing down the shoveled pavement, he ducked out of sight, slipping into Bitter Cold to get swept up in a small group of patrons also entering the busy coffeehouse. It wasn’t easy to hide in a small-town like Snowdrift, but he did his best, taking a seat at a table in the far back of the establishment.
It wasn’t like Faith would follow him in here, anyway. She was at work. But it didn’t really look like she had been working just then.
Mitch propped his elbows on the table and dropped his forehead to his hands. Was he being crazy? Probably. He’d spent all day out on the mountain thinking about her. Maybe he’d built something up in his mind that wasn’t truly there. Even thoughhehad felt a connection between them, things might not be the same on her end.
Saving his table by draping his coat over the back of his chair, Mitch found his way into the line to order something to drink. He didn’t need caffeine; he was too jittery already. But tea might warm him up and help to shake off the restlessness from what he just saw.
Did Faith have a boyfriend? It seemed like an important detail, one Mitch never actually asked. He probably should have.
“What’ll it be?” a young kid with a checkered beanie asked, all smiles. He drummed his palms on the counter enthusiastically. “Pick your poison, my friend.”
