Beauty and the Bad Bearlionaire
Scarlett Grove
Chapter 1
Matilda Swank spread the Fate Mountain News across her table at the diner and groaned. Just as she’d suspected: there were absolutely no jobs available for a twenty-year-old would be archeology major with her limited job experience.
The waitress filled her white porcelain cup with black coffee and gazed down at Matilda with a motherly smile on her lips.
“What’s wrong, hun?” Lily asked.
Everyone on Fate Mountain knew Lily Keenan, the co-owner of Fate Mountain diner. For years, she’d taken pride in helping people. She stood above Matilda with coffee pot in hand and her order pad stuffed into the front pocket of her pink waitress uniform. Lily was a sweetheart, but Matilda doubted she’d be much help in this situation.
“I’m looking for a job. Now that I’m living back at home with my mom, I have to start all over.”
“Oh darn, I wish I had known. We just hired three new people over the holidays. There just aren’t any more open shifts.”
“That’s fine, Lily. I kind of figured that when I saw the new faces.”
“Maybe you can ask down at the lodge.”
“I’m afraid it’s the same story there. I can’t find anything. I’m going to have to go back to working for my mom.”
Matilda stared at the black liquid in her coffee cup and opened a few packets of sugar, dumping them inside.
“What’s so bad about that??
? Lily asked.
Matilda gave Lily a shocked look that she instantly regretted. She should be grateful that her mom was helping her out so much. But when Matilda had left two years ago after high school, she’d never wanted to come back to this small town.
All this time, she’d been telling herself that she was saving money to finally go to college. Two years later, she wasn’t any closer to being able to go to school.
“It isn’t that I don’t like cleaning…” Matilda said, trying not to sound like an ungrateful brat.
“You’ve been gone a while. It’s natural to not want to go backward.”
Matilda let out a long sigh, feeling relieved that Lily understood where she was coming from.
“Exactly. I never wanted to be in this position.”
“Don’t get too down on yourself. Everyone needs help now and again.”
“I just wish things hadn’t turned out like this.”
“Broken relationships can take a lot out of you.”
“That’s an understatement.”
Lily gave her that sweet smile again and flicked her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder. Matilda knew that Lily had first hand experience with difficult relationships. Her relationship with her husband Shane had taken over a decade to work out in the end.
Unfortunately for Matilda, she doubted her own, now finished, relationship would ever work out like theirs had. Her ex-boyfriend had burned that bridge beyond repair. And as much as Matilda had wanted to believe it was true love in the beginning, she no longer believed it ever had been. There was only so much BS a girl could take.
“Everything will work out fine, hun,” Lily said, turning away. She stopped mid-stride and turned back to Matilda’s table. “Have you signed up for Mate.com?”
“God no,” Matilda said flatly.
“Just a thought,” Lily said with a smile as she walked down the aisle.