Page 67 of Devoured By the Forbidden Mountain Man

“About forty minutes.” I pulled out the chair across from her and sat. “I’ve known all day he was coming, and somehow that still feels very close.”

She pressed her lips together and looked toward the front windows. “I thought I had more time.”

“So did I.”

That pulled the faintest breath of laughter from her.

She looked down at her hands. “I don’t know whether seeing him will make this easier or worse.”

“Neither do I.”

I wasn’t going to tell her she would be fine, because none of us knew what fine looked like after seven years.

A burst of laughter came from the bar as Case served drinks to a group in elaborate costumes. The sound drew Meredith’s attention for a second, and I stood.

“I’m going back to work. You can stay right here.”

She nodded.

Rex was near the far end of the bar when I reached him. I didn’t have to tell him the exact message. He read enough in my face to ask, “How long?”

“Forty minutes.”

His eyes moved toward the front entrance before returning to me.

I took another sip of cider and set the mug on the bar. Rex’s hand closed around mine for a moment, steady and warm. I squeezed his fingers once and went back to the floor.

The next half hour was the longest stretch of restaurant work I had ever experienced.

I checked trays that didn’t need me and answered real questions while resisting the urge to invent unnecessary ones. When the appetizer station ran low on clean plates, I brought another stack from the service shelf. When the party line reached the front window, I added the second wristband person as planned. I helped a server find the backup napkins and sent a barback for more cider cups, keeping myself in motion instead of standing at the front door.

Watching the sidewalk wouldn’t get Gavin there faster, and it wouldn’t change what might happen once he arrived. My cider went mostly untouched.

Rex noticed every new person entering even while he helped clear empty glasses from a high-top near the bar. I could tell because his attention shifted toward the entrance and back without interrupting what his hands were doing. Case noticed the same thing and stopped beside me while I checked the appetizer station.

“You want me to cover anything?”

“No. I need to keep moving.”

He nodded and returned to the bar.

The front door opened again. I didn’t look up immediately because a server was asking whether the next hot platter belonged at the main station or the smaller table near the bar.

Then I saw Rex standing completely still, his gaze fixed on something beyond my shoulder. I knew before I turned. My hand lowered to the counter, and the server’s question disappeared from my attention.

Gavin stood just inside the front door, and seven years had changed him.

The brother preserved in Rex’s old file had been twenty-five, thick dark hair falling over his forehead and a little more softness still left in his face. The man inside the Lantern House was thirty-two and leaner, his hair shorter, his shoulders heavier from years of physical work. A dark jacket hung open over a plain shirt, and road dust marked the lower legs of his jeans above worn boots.

His hands looked rougher and his face older, but his eyes were exactly the same warm brown as mine.

Gavin scanned the room once and then saw me.

“Georgia.”

Hearing my name in my brother’s voice from across an actual room broke the last of my ability to stand still.

I crossed the dining room. A couple in costume moved aside when they saw me coming, but I barely registered them. Gavin took two steps toward me before I reached him, and then his arms were around me.