“TJ’s smart, and I don’t know if you know this, but he’s got an arm. You should have seen that snowball. He pegged me from twenty yards away.”
They carried dinner up to the Gallaghers’ log cabin house. Quinn knocked on the door before opening it. “It’s Quinn and Charity,” he called. “Charity has brought you dinner.”
“Come in,” Jenna called back. “I’m on the couch. Sawyer is, too. I’m afraid if I get up, I might bump him.”
“Stay put,” Charity said as they entered the house. “I’ll dish you up each a big plate, how’s that?”
“What do you have?” Sawyer asked, pushing himself up a bit.
“Rocco’s lasagna and some of their garlic bread.”
“The cheesy kind?” Jenna asked hopefully.
“The only kind I like,” Charity answered. “What do you two want to drink? Milk, water, something else?”
“We both already have water,” Jenna answered. “So just food would be fantastic.” She nodded at the large take-out container. “And please make up a plate for Quinn. He needs to eat. He worked through lunch without a break.”
“It was busy today,” Quinn said, opening kitchen cabinet doors looking for plates. He found them and pulled out four. “I’m not eating without you,” he said quietly to Charity, “so dish up four servings.”
“I can’t do that,” Charity protested. “I brought this food for Jenna and Sawyer. She can’t cook right now.”
“Open the refrigerator,” he said.
She did. The entire fridge was filled with trays and casserole dishes covered in aluminum foil. “Food has been arriving all day,” he added. “There must be at least four lasagnas in there.”
“Oh no!” Charity peeled back a couple foil coverings. A crushed chip tuna casserole. Beef stew something. Chicken pot pie. Spaghetti and meatballs. She carefully recovered all the dishes and closed the refrigerator door. “There are no lasagnas,” she said.
“The point is, there’s a lot of food. Jenna and Sawyer would want you to eat.” He gave her a crooked smile. “And maybe it’s selfish, but I could use your company.”
Her own lips curved in a responding smile. “I suppose I can spare you a half hour. I wish I could give you more, but I’m really popular, wildly in demand.”
He laughed his deep, rumbly sexy laugh. The one that made her heart skip a beat and Charity wanted to be in his arms again. “I’ll dish them up in here, and then bring plates out to the fire pit. But you better go put your jacket on. No jacket, no dinner.”
Charity tossed the salad with Rocco’s house dressing, dished huge squares of still-steaming lasagna, and added slices of cheesy garlic bread to Jenna and Sawyer’s plates before carrying them into the family room and getting them settled to eat.
“I feel guilty being fussed over,” Jenna confessed.
“Don’t,” Charity answered. “Just rest. I’m going to go eat with Quinn outside but I’ll return to check on you and see if you need anything else. If not, I’ll do the dishes and sneak out of here.”
Sitting on fallen logs by the fire, Charity watched Quinn eat. He ate with fierce concentration at first. Jenna was right. He was hungry. Charity picked at her lasagna and devoured one of the garlic bread slices on her plate feeling ridiculously happy.
“You know,” she said after a moment, “I still think this is crazy. You, me, Little Teton, and now here. This is the last thing I expected. It’s just too coincidental that we’re both from the same town.”
“I agree.” He looked up at her. “I think there was some divine intervention somewhere. I think we were supposed to meet.”
“Ha!”
“You don’t think so?” he replied, an eyebrow lifting.
Charity felt a little shiver race through her and she glanced at Quinn from beneath her lashes. “You really think we were supposed to meet?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Maybe God knew we needed each other.”
She swallowed hard, hating the aching lump in her throat, the lump matching the weight in her chest. “Why didn’t I recognize you, Quinn? Everyone in town recognizes you.”
“You don’t like sports. You don’t follow sports.”
“You must have cringed when I said that in Wyoming.”
“I loved it. It was rather… freeing. It’s nice to be liked for who you are and not what you do.”
She thought about this for a moment. “Do you get a lot of that?”
“There are those who want the lifestyle of being a ball player’s girlfriend or wife.”
“Is there a lifestyle?”
“Maybe culture is the better word. There is some prestige to it, and there’s money. Successful, professional athletes can do very well financially.”
“I don’t really know anything about that, but honestly, I don’t care either.”
“I know.” He smiled, blue eyes glinting. “And why are you getting mad?”
“I’m not mad. I’m more annoyed with myself than anything. I should have recognized you. It’s just… embarrassing. Tricia knew who you were the moment you walked into the travel agency. Sam knew—”
“Sam and I used to get into fist fights. He should know.”
She laughed. “Did you really?”
“He was such a pompous little—” Quinn broke off, lifted a hand. “He’s grown up. He’s changed. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Why would you fight?”
“His family was rich. Mine wasn’t.”
“Oh.”
He scooped up sauce with his crust of bread. “I told you we had more in common than just Marietta.”
“True.” She shot him a teasing side glance. “We have Sam.”
Quinn laughed, the deep husky laugh she adored. “You make me laugh,” he said.
“No, you make me laugh, although to be fair, I wasn’t laughing in Little Teton when you nearly got us kicked out of the pool.”
“You were laughing and we didn’t get kicked out.”
“We almost did, and I think we would have if I didn’t apologize for you.”
“I was simply trying to help. You said it wasn’t a very hot hot tub. I was just trying to please you by turning up the heat.”
“Even though the sign said don’t touch the controls?”
Quinn shrugged. “I sometimes take issue with rules, especially if the rules don’t make sense.”
“Whereas I tend to be a rule follower. I don’t like getting in trouble.”
“You were so apologetic, when Phil should have apologized to you for being so ridiculously uptight.”
“It was his job.”
“Now he’s the one who needs a sense of humor.”
“I won’t argue with you on that.”
“Incidentally, I spoke to Peter about the not hot enough hot tub, and as it turns out, the heater was broken, so it all ended up well.”
“Did you say anything to him about Phil?”
“I did.”
She shot him a worried glance. “What did you say?”
“That Phil was a very loyal employee, and that was a positive, but he could maybe use a refresher course on customer relations and how to make customers feel valued and wanted.”
“How did Peter respond?”
“He agreed that it was probably a good idea to give all employees a crash course in customer service.”
She was silent a moment. “I hope the Paces can make it work. It’s a really nice place. I thought it was the perfect little ski town.”
“I agree.”