Carly and several of her friends, including Eric Worth, decorated the stage and set up the equipment for The GateCrashers’ performance.

Brynne liked Carly Hollister very much, and she was close friends with Shallie, Cord’s wife and Carly’s stepmom. And she couldn’t help noticing Eric’s strong resemblance to his uncle—Eli Garrett.

She hadn’t heard from Eli since their magical snowmobile ride and their talk inside his sparsely furnished log house, though he’d been in her thoughts almost constantly ever since.

Her mind said, Proceed with caution.

Her body had a whole different thing in mind, and caution wasn’t part of it.

She blushed, standing there in the middle of her very popular restaurant, supervising the setting up of three long buffet tables.

The bell over the front door jingled just then, and everything quickened in Brynne; she even caught her breath, hoping Eli would appear, snowflakes dusting his hair and resting on the shoulders of his uniform jacket.

Instead, his sister, Sara, Eric’s mom, bustled in, shivering with the cold.

Sara was lovely, with her long, dark hair woven into a single plait, her deep gray eyes, her enviable bone structure. She and Brynne had become friends after Brynne’s return to Painted Pony Creek.

Today, Sara wore trim jeans, a red turtleneck sweater, boots and a beautifully tailored leather jacket with fringe.

Smiling, she took off the jacket and hung it from one of the pegs near the door. Then she dusted her ungloved hands together and said, “Sorry I was late—Hayley’s going to a sleepover tonight and she couldn’t find the pajamas she wants to wear. Major crisis, loads of drama.”

Brynne laughed, and the two women embraced briefly, the way old friends do. “Still stuck on chapter twenty-three?” she whispered, since Sara’s alter ego, Luke Cantrell, was a closely guarded secret.

“Nope,” Sara answered, with a grin. “I figured it out. Had to throw in another body, though.”

Again, Brynne laughed. Shook her head. She’d loved Sara’s debut novel and looked forward to the sequel with genuine excitement.

She wanted to ask about Eli—he and Sara were fairly close, after all—but she didn’t want to seem too interested.

Which was silly, of course, because she was interested.

Very interested.

But very scared, too, because she’d made a major mistake before, falling for a man too quickly, and she’d been shattered by that man’s betrayal.

She reminded herself that she needed to proceed with caution. Maybe date a few other men, older ones, for instance. In their eighties, perhaps.

Or she could just resign herself to being single and adopting more cats.

Heaven knew that would be safer.

She pushed these thoughts aside, though she knew they would be back, probably when she least expected—or wanted—them.