Grumpy In The Mountains, page 1
Grumpy In The Mountains
Greene Mountain Boys
Olivia T. Turner
Contents
Copyright
Grumpy In The Mountains
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Epilogue
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Copyright© 2023 by Olivia T. Turner.
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Edited by Karen Collins Editing
Cover Design by Olivia T. Turner
Grumpy In The Mountains
After seven years, I’m coming home.
Studying in London was an amazing experience, but was it worth it?
That’s the question I keep asking myself.
It cost me a lot.
It cost me Colin Hill.
I’ve been in love with that boy since the first time I saw him in grade three.
I thought that breaking up with him before college was the right thing to do.
But now, I’m not so sure.
Because I’m back in town and I forgot how special it feels to have the big grump look at me with such possession in his eyes.
I’ve forgotten how incredible it feels to have his strong hands on me.
To have his arms wrapped around me.
I forgot it all.
But it’s all coming back now.
Stronger than ever.
I just wish he felt the same…
This grumpy possessive mountain man is about to have a second chance with the perfect girl he lost years ago when she comes waltzing back into town. Making up for lost time can be so fun!
A SAFE Second Chance Romance with no cheating and a super sweet HEA guaranteed. Double V-Cards! Enjoy!
For all those still thinking about the one who got away…
Chapter One
Molly
How can you dread a moment and look forward to it at the same time?
My stomach is all quivery as I look at the address in my hand and then turn onto the mountain road. It’s so secluded out here. I don’t see anyone as I nervously drive up the steep slope.
I forgot how beautiful the Greene Mountains are in the spring. Sparkling water drops falling from the tall Aspen trees, groggy animals waking up from their longer slumbers, leaves starting to bud, and plants starting to bloom. I smile as I remember all those springs from my youth here, putting on my big purple rain boots and stomping through puddles. Rediscovering toys that had been buried in the snow for months. I loved it here.
I roll down the window and breathe in that fresh spring smell of wet earth and pine trees. It’s nice to be home.
London was amazing, but seven years is a long time to be away from the place that makes your soul sing. I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. That’s what this place does to me. It took seven years of living in London to realize that the mountains are where I belong. They’re where I want to be.
“Wow,” I whisper as I keep driving along the secluded road. No neighbors anywhere…
I wouldn’t expect anything less from Colin. He always did better in his shell. He was always more comfortable hidden behind a few walls and locked in his little bubble.
The last time I saw him, I was in that bubble too.
I wonder what it’s going to be like to talk to him now that I’m on the outside of it.
The roof of a cabin appears over the trees in the distance. I panic and hit the brakes. My heart pounds as I stare at the tip of the roof, wondering if this is a bad idea.
It’s probably a horrible idea, but it’s also unavoidable. I’m going to be sharing this town with Colin and I have to give him a heads up that I’m home.
Even someone as withdrawn and recluse as Colin still has to go into town to get groceries and other supplies once in a while. I’d rather get this over with here than in the middle of Greene Mountain Grocer.
I take a deep breath and continue driving.
My foot hits the brake again when I realize that he could have a girl living with him. What if he has a girlfriend? What if he has a wife? I cringe when I think about him having a family with a beautiful wife and little kids running around.
The thought that he could have moved on never even crossed my mind until now. I guess I just couldn’t picture Colin with anyone but me. I guess a part of me didn’t want to.
“Still,” I whisper to myself. “You still have to go.”
I shake out my trembling hands and keep going. More of the house comes into view as I turn around the bend. It’s beautiful.
It’s more modern than I thought Colin would choose, but the more I look at it, the more I think it’s perfect for him. A huge porch wraps around the place and it’s nestled among tall towering trees with no other houses or signs of civilization in sight.
With my pulse racing, I pull up beside his big silver truck and park my dad’s car. I gulp as I turn off the engine and pull out the key.
A big droopy head rises on the porch and looks at me. “Charlie?” I whisper with a big smile.
The Bloodhound climbs to his paws and waddles down the steps with his tail wagging and big ears swinging.
I burst out of the car and drop to my knees as he comes rushing over. At least someone is happy to see me.
“Hey, Charlie,” I say as I wrap my arms around him and give him a big hug. I bury my nose into his soft fur and breathe in that crisp foresty scent. “Do you remember me? I’m the one who picked you out of the litter and gave you to Colin.”
He licks my hand and then buries the top of his head in my stomach, making me laugh.
“The last time I saw you, you were still a puppy. Are you taking good care of Colin?”
He looks up at me with his adorable brown eyes as he wags his long tail.
The screen door opens and closes with a slam. My eyes dart up and I swallow hard when I see Colin step onto the porch.
I thought I was prepared to see him, but I’m quickly realizing I’m not prepared at all. Years of long-buried emotions are rising up like a volcano about to burst.
My chest tightens as I slowly stand up.
He’s just how I remembered him but so different at the same time.
He looks like a man who’s hardened over the years. There are no more easy smiles when he sees me. In fact, there’s no smile at all.
Those dark brown eyes are just as intense as I remembered them. He’s staring at me, but his face is giving nothing. I can’t tell if he’s happy to see me or if he wants to throw me off the mountain.
“Hello, Colin,” I say with a nervous smile. “I’m home.”
Charlie drops at my feet and lies on his back, wagging his tail in the dirt, completely oblivious and unconcerned by the tension in the air.
Colin takes a few deep breaths as he stares at me. He’s larger than I remembered. He’s grown up a lot. The adorable boy I fell in love with is now a handsome man with a big thick muscular body. He’s built like a tank.
I remember his cheeks always being stubbly but now he’s got a long brown beard and long brown hair. I like it. It suits him well.
“I heard you were returning,” he says in a voice that’s much deeper than I remembered. “How was London?”
“It was… different. Fun. An adventure. But I’m glad to be home.”
He looks so uncomfortable as he looks at me. It makes me think that maybe I shouldn’t have come. Maybe it would have been better to run into each other in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. We would have been surrounded by people, we could have faked a couple of smiles, chatted about cereal for a few minutes, and then moved on. I wonder if he would have preferred that. I wonder if he’s just hoping I’ll leave.
It’s weird knowing someone for so long, and then all of a sudden, you don’t know them at all. I can still remember how warm and comforting those big arms felt wrapped around me and now they look like foreign objects. How can something that was once so safe and inviting look so cold and distant? How can all that magic just disappear?
For some reason, I want to cry. My eyes are burning with tears, but I refuse to let them out.
“Charlie is all grown up,” I say as I kneel back down and rub his belly. I’m glad Charlie is here. It’s something easy to talk about. Some familiar neutral ground. “He looks so happy.”
“He’s the best Search and Rescue dog on the West Coast,” Colin says proudly. “He’s tracked down and found thirty-one missing people.”
“Really?” I say, staring at the sprawled-out dog in awe. “You’re a good boy, Charlie.”
His tail really starts going when I scratch his chest.
“You trained him wel
“Last summer, yeah.”
I wait for him to expand on the story, but he gives me nothing. He just stands there on his porch in his faded jeans and an old Nirvana t-shirt, coldly watching and waiting for me to leave.
“The house looks amazing,” I say as I look around at it. He just looks at me. “I remember you talking about it all the time, but I pictured it so differently in my head.”
“Things always end up different than how we picture them,” he says as he stares me down.
I don’t think we’re talking about the house anymore.
“Okay,” I say as the sad realization sets in. There will be no warm reunion. No friendly banter. No smiles. No reminiscing. No friendship.
This is what it feels like to be outside of his bubble.
I’m a stranger to Colin Hill now and Colin Hill never liked strangers.
I stand up as the tears threaten to flood out. “Well. It’s good to see you, Colin. I’m glad you’re doing well.”
Charlie looks up at me with his long pink tongue hanging out the side of his snout.
“I just wanted to say hi now that I’m back.”
Colin nods with a scowl and I head back to the car with my head down.
It can’t be like this… Can it?
We once had something so special together. I refuse to believe it’s all gone. There must be a spark still hidden somewhere behind those cold dark walls.
I take a deep breath and turn around.
There’s zero emotion on his face. He’s giving me nothing. If he wants to make a career change, he could always try professional poker. He’s definitely got the face for it.
But I know this man, and even though he looks like a grumpy curmudgeon right now, I know he’s got a big heart under that massive chest. A big heart that’s probably still hurting.
“I’m going to be at Cliffside Tavern tonight,” I tell him. “I’d love to see you there if you want to have a drink and catch up.”
“I’m busy,” he grunts.
“Oh,” I say as I look at the ground. “Well, I’ll be there if your plans change.”
He doesn’t say another word so I lean down and pet Charlie when he follows me over. “Take care of him, okay?” I whisper into my old friends’ floppy ear.
Charlie licks my hand and there’s nothing else to do, but leave.
So, that’s what I do.
Chapter Two
Colin
I grab a log that’s wedged in the melting ice and yank it out with a grunt. “How could she come here?” I grumble as I slam it onto the chopping block. “After all this time? Like nothing ever happened? Like she didn’t tear my heart out of my chest and crush it in her hands?”
I look at Charlie for answers, but he’s just lying on the porch in the sun and watching me with those big soulful brown eyes.
“You’re probably on her side, aren’t you?”
He wags his tail.
“Aw, screw the both of you.”
I grab my ax, yank it up, and bring it crashing down on the log as hard as I can. It explodes apart.
The dull blade sinks so deep into my chopping block that I have to put my boot on it and yank the ax out with a grunt.
“Goddammit,” I mutter as I slam another log onto the block.
Why the hell did she have to come back? Just when I was starting to get over her. Well, not over her, not even close. I’ll never be over Molly Bryant. But after all these years of longing for her, I was finally starting to feel like I could breathe again.
And now she’s back, probably with a boyfriend—an amazing girl like her will never be single for long—and what, I’m supposed to be cool with watching them walking hand-in-hand in town? How does she expect me to watch that and not wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze until the whole damn Sheriff’s office is trying to pull me off?
I slam my ax into the log, splitting it in two as I imagine his pretty boy face next to hers.
You don’t know if she has a boyfriend… What if she’s single?
The voice of reason echoes in my head and I drop the ax with a hopeful feeling blooming in my chest.
Maybe she came back here to rekindle what we had. Maybe she’s not over it either…
“I need to get out of here,” I whisper. “Charlie, want to hike to the lake?”
He looks at me with those lazy brown eyes, not looking interested at all.
“Come on, man. I need some moral support.”
I slap my thigh and he reluctantly gets up and slowly lumbers over.
My mind is on my girl as we hike through the forest on my property. Charlie is smelling everything as we go and I have to keep waiting for him to catch up.
I still remember the first time I saw her. We were in grade three when her family moved to the Greene Mountains. I was playing on the monkey bars before school started when I saw her dad’s blue car pull up. She stepped out of the back, looking like she was fighting back tears.
It was like someone pulled the rug out from under me when I saw that gorgeous girl. It was like my whole life had changed in an instant.
My hands slipped off the bars and I dropped onto the sand, staring in awe as her parents brought her to the school. I can still remember the moment perfectly—how her brown hair shined in the sun with her cute little green headband. She was wearing the school uniform with a purple backpack slung over her shoulder. I was instantly in love. I remember feeling like the ground was shaking under me. Like my whole world was flipped upside down.
I never took my eyes off her until her parents walked her into the school.
“Who’s that?” one of the boys asked.
“Looks like some dumb new kid,” Brendan said, trying to make everyone laugh.
I snapped. I turned and punched him right in the face as hard as I could. He dropped onto his ass, looking up at me in shock and terror.
“Don’t ever call her dumb again,” I warned with my blood boiling.
That landed me in the principal’s office where I came face to face with Molly Bryant for the first time.
Her parents were filling out forms in the principal’s office while she waited outside. She didn’t look at me as I walked in.
I approached her like you’d approach a unicorn in the wild—slowly, carefully—like one wrong move and she’d bolt.
I wanted to say the perfect thing. I wanted to say something that made her fall in love with me since I was already hopelessly in love with her.
“Hi.” It was all I could manage to come up with. But it seemed to do the trick.
She looked up at me with those gorgeous gray eyes that were welling up with tears and she smiled shyly.
“Hi.”
That voice. That smile. Those eyes. I was done for.
And we were inseparable ever since.
Well, until we weren’t.
The lake comes into view and I yank off my shirt. Charlie catches up as I pull off my boots and then start unbuttoning my jeans.
“You coming in?”
It’s still springtime and it wasn’t long ago that the lake was frozen over, so the water is going to be freezing.
Charlie whimpers and backs away.
“Pussy,” I mutter as I yank off my underwear.
Charlie watches from a safe distance as I run into the lake and dive under the crisp icy water. It’s a frigid jolt to the system, but after a while, it feels good.
It takes my mind off Molly, but only for a couple of seconds.
It’s not long before I’m right back to thinking of her.
Thinking of her in high school… I was on the football team and she came to every one of my games. I can still remember how good she looked in my jersey. It went past her knees and one shoulder always ended up popping out of the large neck hole. God, I always felt like I was on top of the world whenever I looked at her, knowing she was all mine.
