Grand Lake Colorado Series - Alexis Winter Page 0,1

my way to his bedroom door.

“I promised my mom I’d be home to help her with canning some veggies from the garden. I’ll come to see you off tomorrow, I promise. Just promise me one thing…don’t forget about us here in the mountains when you make it big-time okay?” He laughs and shakes his head before I head out the door.

One

PEARL-PRESENT DAY

“Pearl, you’ve got a table of pissed off customers. They said they’ve been waiting twenty minutes for their beers!”

I roll my eyes at Delilah and grab a pitcher from the kitchen, walking over behind the bar to fill it from the beer tap.

“Well, maybe if someone wasn’t too busy ogling the local talent, I could get some damn help around here,” I practically shout as our bartender, Will, ignores me and tries his hardest to look down the top of a very well-endowed stranger he’s chatting with.

I drop the pitcher off at the table of pissed-off guys, apologizing and promising them it’s on the house. I make my way around to the rest of my customers and make sure everyone is happy...for the moment.

“Del, I am so sick of this shit.” I pull angrily at my apron strings before pulling it over my head and taking a dramatic seat on a few empty crates in the back. “Why did I even go to college if all I am is a beer wench?”

“The problem isn’t that you went to college, sweetie. It’s that you came back to this shit hole town,” she says, not missing a beat as she plates four orders of country-fried steak and mashed potatoes. “We both know you had no business coming back here.”

“My mo—”

“And don’t you dare say your mama needed you, because this town takes care of its own. We would see to it that her needs were taken care of, and you know that.” She gives me a stern look before loading up her tray and backing her way out of the kitchen.

She’s right. I don’t want to admit it, but at the same time, this is my home. I love my small town. I have big dreams for it. I want to see more businesses come in and be successful. Of course, I hope they’ll also hire me as their marketing manager so I can get out of this rat-hole diner.

I let my chin sink down onto my hand, daydreaming about what life in Chicago is like for Trevor. I haven’t seen or heard from him in over two years.

All those plans we had about spending summers together never happened. He met a girl his first semester and spent every free minute with her family on the East Coast. Can’t say that I blame him.

He came back to town once after graduation, and he wasn’t the skinny nerd I’d fallen in love with all those years ago. He was a man, tall and built, with a thick mop of floppy brown hair that framed his sparkling green eyes perfectly. He looked like a damn model. I could see happiness radiating from him, and I knew he’d never end up back in Grand Lake. I was silly and naive for thinking nothing would change between us. I couldn’t deny the intense physical reaction I still had when I saw him. His voice, which had become thick and rich like molasses, sounded like it had dropped about two octaves.

We had agreed to meet up for drinks, and I was going to finally tell him how I felt. When he touched the small of my back as he walked me to my mom’s doorstep that night, I felt electricity between us. That’s when he told me he had something to tell me: he was engaged and permanently settling in Chicago. I felt my heart shatter into a million little pieces that night. I’ve lived with regret since then. Well, actually, I’ve lived with regret long before then too. I didn't want to break up his relationship. I just needed to tell him how I felt.

“Pearl!” Will shouting my name from the front of the restaurant startles me back to reality. I jump to my feet and retie my apron before shoving my way through the kitchen doors.

“What?” I snap back with my chin tucked against my chest as I finish tying the strings around my waist. I look up to a pair of piercing blue eyes, clear as the sky, staring back at me. Blake Winthrop, Trevor’s older brother. He has the same strong look