“Seeing as how you’re about to knock me out, I’d say she’s gotten to you in spades.”
“Fuck you.”
A wry grin covered Roman’s face. “Yeah. That’s a popular sentiment around here when it comes to me.”
“She hasn’t gotten to me.”
“Right.”
“Damn straight I’m right.”
“You know, Walker. The mighty really do fall.”
“Well, I’m not one of them.”
Chapter Twenty
C
old wind raced through Indigo’s town square, creating a balmy two degrees for the start of the Great Bachelor Competition. Sloan took in the sight of the transformed town and could only marvel—once again—at the intrepid spirit of the residents of Indigo, Alaska.
The events were strategically placed all around the square, with bleacher seating set up at varying intervals so the majority of the town could get seats to watch. All the shops in town were open, offering places to warm up when the frosty air became too much, but from what she could tell, it was a matter of pride to avoid a warm up until after lunch.
The first event was off to an auspicious start, with twenty-nine of the thirty-two entered bachelorettes hitting their skeet target.
What was apparently a new addition this year was the entertainment during intermission.
“I’m not sure this is what people meant when they complained to the town council that they wanted something to relieve the boredom between events.” Grier huddled against Sloan as they waited for round two of the skeet competition to begin. Two of the men drafted to help for the day were reloading the machines now.
“I do not believe that man has no pants on.” Sloan hugged her sides while a wave of laughter bubbled up as Bear did a sort of strip tease with his coat that, oddly enough, resembled a jig.
A rather dirty jig, but a jig all the same.
“He’s quite agile,” Grier said in a thoughtful voice. As Bear reached under himself and dragged his pants through his legs, she added, “Surprisingly agile.”
Another woman laughed nearby and Sloan turned toward her. “I was so not expecting this.”
“Me either.”
“You’re Amanda, right?”
“Yep. Sloan, right? You’re writing the article?”
“Yes. We haven’t had a chance to meet yet. I’d like to talk to you when you have a few minutes.”
“I’d love to.”
The three of them stood there for a few more minutes, laughing at Bear’s efforts to keep the town entertained between rounds of the competition.
Amanda shook her head. “He’s got to be freezing.”
“Somehow, with all this laughter and attention, I don’t think he feels it.”
Sophie called Grier’s name from the judging podium and Grier slipped away to compete in round two.
A good-natured smile greeted Sloan as Amanda shifted her attention away from Bear’s antics. “Did you come up here for the article?”
“Not really. It was sort of a lucky accident.” Sloan quickly explained how she’d ended up in town and the article she’d pitched to the travel editor.
“It’s going to be a great piece. I’m actually surprised this competition hasn’t gotten more attention. This is just the sort of thing I’d imagine the morning programs would eat up.”
“Have you been here before?”
“Last year was my first year, and I swore I’d come back if my bachelorette status didn’t change. Since it didn’t”—Amanda lifted her hands—“here I am. Although, the striptease is a new one this year. I know I’d have remembered seeing
that
before.”
Sloan admired the woman’s tall, slender form and beautiful blue eyes. “You don’t have a boyfriend?”
“Not for lack of trying. But no, I don’t.”
“I’d say coming up to Alaska in the middle of winter is an awful lot of try.”
A merry twinkle lit Amanda’s eyes before her gaze roamed around the crowd. “Coming up here makes it seem less lonely, somehow. Seeing other women. Makes me realize I’m not the only one. Plus, it’s a lot of fun.”
“Do you have your eye on any of them?” Sloan thought she might have seen Amanda talking with Skate earlier and wondered if the impression she had of the two of them was accurate.
“There are some cute ones, but I don’t have any high expectations. This is the middle of Alaska.”
“Where are you from?”
“Missouri. Not exactly next door.”
Sloan couldn’t keep her thoughts from straying to Walker and the unexpected moments she’d found up here with him. She hadn’t had any expectations either and look where it had gotten her. “You never know, though. I did see you talking with Skate earlier.”
A light flush crept up the woman’s neck. “He’s cute.”
“You should bid on him.”
The flush crept higher and was soon accompanied by a broad smile. “I’m planning on it.”
“How did you find out about the competition?”
“It was a few years ago. I’d just survived the four holidays of the apocalypse and was feeling down. And then I read this little blurb in a magazine, got interested and checked out the Web site link that was highlighted.”
“The four holidays of the apocalypse?”
Amanda laughed. “Sorry. That’s what I’ve dubbed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and Valentine’s Day. Not that they aren’t wonderful at times, but each has its moments, you know.”
Mary Jo’s words in her mother’s kitchen whispered across Sloan’s memory. “What kind of moments?”
“Those ones where being single is not only a challenge, but a semipublic flogging to boot.”
Sloan took a moment to revel in her own laughter and the growing kinship she felt for Amanda. The woman’s sense of humor at dealing with a difficult subject was inspiring, and Sloan couldn’t help but wonder if Thanksgiving wouldn’t have been so bad if she had known Amanda’s description for it. “I’ve never heard the holidays called that, but yeah, that has a surprising ring of truth to it. Just out of curiosity, which do you think is the worst?”
“New Year’s. Definitely New Year’s.”
“Really? Not Valentine’s Day?”
“Not by a long shot.”
Amanda grew quiet and shifted her attention toward a loud shout that went up over near the skeet launcher. After the sound died down, she turned back. “Speaking of shots, sorry. Here I am running my mouth off and there’s a competition going on.”
With dawning realization, Sloan laid a hand on the woman’s arm. “I won’t put it in my article, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Amanda took a deep breath, then shook her head. “It’s sort of dumb, but if you really want to know.”
“I do.”
“I began to hate New Year’s Eve the year I realized I was the lone horn blower.”
Sloan sensed there was something there she should understand, but she just couldn’t piece it together. “What’s that?”
“You know those horns everyone gets at a New Year’s party? The cardboard ones with the plastic blowers?”
“Yes.”
“It was a few years ago. I was at this party and the clock hit midnight and we’re all yelling and everyone’s screaming ‘Happy New Year’ and blowing their horns. And then all of a sudden, I realize that I’m the only one left blowing my horn.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone else is kissing.” A broad smile spread across Amanda’s face, but it didn’t quite reach the bright blue of her eyes. “That’s the moment I decided to make a change. And then a few months later I saw the article and well”—she flung up a hand—“here I am. And you know what? I’m enjoying myself. A lot. And if I bid high enough on a certain bachelor, I may enjoy myself even more.”
Sophie’s voice rang out over the loudspeaker, calling Amanda up as the next contestant. “I’d better get over there.”
“Good luck,” Sloan called after her, with Amanda’s words ringing in her ears.
She did know what Amanda was talking about. Moments that struck without warning—those sharp barbs of reality—that rose up and swamped you. She’d had one on Thanksgiving, but it was hardly the first.
If she were even more honest with herself, it was those moments in her mother’s kitchen that had helped sway her to Grier’s plea to come to the wilds of Alaska. Admittedly, she’d likely have come to help her friend anyway, but the opportunity to escape for a while had certainly been a factor.
One single moment
.
It was sometimes enough to force you out of your comfort zone and could change your life.
Or force you into something you never wanted or expected.
Wasn’t that what Walker had talked about when he explained his situation with his father? In mere moments, his father had altered what Walker thought of the very foundation of his life.
“You must be planning your attack strategy?”
Walker’s voice rumbled in her ear, the warmth of his breath sending delightful shivers down her spine and dragging her out of her thoughts. Shifting her attention to the man who had appeared at her side, Sloan realized right here—at this exact point in time—were a few moments she could take all for herself.
So she decided to take Amanda’s advice and enjoy herself. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
A heavy gloved hand settled at the base of her spine and, despite the layers that separated them, she could feel the heat of his body. “I promise I won’t tell.”
She turned, shifted so that his arm came around her. “How can I be sure you can be trusted?”
His eyebrows shot up as a wicked grin lit his face. With one gloved hand, he ran a finger down her cheek. “You can spank me if I tell.”
“And exactly who’s getting punished, Counselor?”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
She heard her name ring out over the loudspeaker and reluctantly stepped back. “Wish me luck.”
“I’ll do you one better.”
Before she could guess his intention, he pulled her close and pressed his mouth to hers. The kiss was hot and electric and she could barely breathe at the onslaught.
Embracing the moment Sloan kissed him back with everything she had kept bottled up for so long inside.
If there were unexpected moments of sadness that struck without warning, this was their antithesis.
And she was damn well going to enjoy herself.
After years of sullen acceptance of his grandmother’s annual event, Walker found himself oddly enamored of the goings-on for the festival. The day was crisper than he remembered in the past and the events had a sense of good-natured fun that was pervasive.
Bear’s “intermission” events were inspired, his latest striptease-cum-dance-routine—in which he chose to demonstrate how to lap dance with a moose—had infused the day with a new spirit of fun and laughter.
Or had it always been like this and he’d simply chosen to ignore it? More likely, he’d chosen to grump his way through what everyone else found so enjoyable.
“Is that a smile I see on your face? A real, honest-to-God smile?”
Walker leaned down to kiss his grandmother on the cheek. “You, Mary and Julia have simply outdone yourselves.”
“It’s a great day. The weather’s perfect and the women are all lovely. Not a rotten apple in the bunch, as far as we can tell.”
Walker would wager the contestants might feel slightly different, but overall the competition had maintained its intended air of good old-fashioned fun and games.
“Sloan’s doing quite well.”
He nodded as his gaze found her in the crowd, waiting her turn for the mini-Iditarod. “She is.”
“She came in second in skeet and took the sandwich-making challenge hands-down.”
“Yet another story that will live in Bear’s memory for all eternity.”
Sophie rubbed her mittened hands together. “I figured he’d be delighted when she chose to run the sandwich and beer to his recliner.”
“Understatement of the century. Although, I think the main source of his delight was when she dropped into his lap and kissed his cheek.”
“I’m surprised, though.”
He shifted his gaze back toward her. “Surprised about what? It’s a great day.”
“I would have thought you’d be more upset she didn’t choose
your
recliner.”
Wrapping a heavy arm around her shoulders, he pulled her tight against him. “You know, Grandmother. A hands-off approach usually works far better than a sledgehammer to the head.”
“I’m old, Walker. I don’t have time for games.”
He glanced down at her, not sure if her comments were meant to be as serious as they sounded. She had seemed slightly off since the night the climber from Denali died and he didn’t know what to make of her references to age. “Don’t go all maudlin on me, now.”