“Hi, Janet.” Jasper repeats her name, the same way he did with all the people who introduced themselves to him at the Book Nook. “I’d love an old-fashioned, please.”

“One old-fashioned.” Janet’s smile gets even larger and I think Jasper passed a test neither of us knew he was taking. “I’ll get that right to you.”

“Thank you, Janet. I appreciate that.” He aims his bright, perfect smile her way and her cheeks flush bright red beneath the power of it.

Gran always told me there were three types of people we should avoid at all costs:

1. Someone who doesn’t return their grocery cart to the cart corral.
2. A person whose voice doesn’t change when talking to dogs or babies.
3. Anybody who is rude to the waitstaff at restaurants.

“Doesn’t matter what they do with the rest of their time. They do any of those three things, you run for the hills because they’re a jerk who cannot be redeemed,” she would tell me. I took her word as law and it hasn’t failed me yet.

I just wish she told me what to do with someone who is so nice to everyone that it borders on sketchy . . .

“So,” Jasper says once our waitress walks away. “All jokes aside, I really do want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me and help me get to know Denver. I don’t know why I was expecting it to be so much smaller than it is, but between the city and all of the mountain towns, I’m having a hard time pinpointing the setting.”

“It’s not a problem. As a Denver native, it’s my birthright to tell people how wonderful this city is. Now that we have so many transplants it’s expanding really fast, too fast in some areas, but I love that people are starting to understand how great it is here.” I reach into my purse and pull out the pages I stapled together before I came. “I started with Denver. I broke the city down into my favorite neighborhoods, a brief history, and a quick rundown of the overall demographics. I didn’t know what you needed, so there are restaurants, local shops, nighttime hangs, daytime activities, and even schools. Then as you go, I’ve made a travel guide of sorts depending on the direction you’re leaving Denver. There’s a quick rundown of the popular places, your Aspens and Vails, before getting into the hidden gems. I included pictures of my favorite lakes and mountain towns. Little stories I have from when I’ve visited them so you can get an idea of the lay of the land, and then activities you can do in each place . . . depending on the season. Of course.”