Tanya Michaels: Mistletoe Mommy

“Dr. Varner here is just passing through Mistletoe,” she said quickly. “He gave me a lift when my car died. Would you and Natalie mind taking me home?”

“Of course not,” Josh said absently. His bright smile had dimmed to a frown. At first Brenna thought he was upset about the car situation-he and Fred had both nagged her to let Fred cosign on a car loan. It’s no more than he would do for me, Josh had said.

Brenna had barely stopped herself from insisting that the situation was different. Instead, she’d simply told him, “I want to be self-sufficient. Need to be.” When you grew up subject to the whims of an unstable parent, you found that as an adult, you liked to be in control. Reliant on no one.

“So, Dr. Varner, you’re an out-of-towner?” Josh asked. His tone had subtly shifted from Welcome to the family to You’d better not have any outstanding warrants for your arrest. “How convenient that you just happened to be driving by in time to pick up a lone woman in distress.”

Adam looked unsure how to answer. “We were glad to be able to help.”

“We?” Josh echoed, his gaze darting to Brenna. “Just how many strangers were in the car?”

She sighed. “Four, three of them not even old enough to drive. Stop looking at Dr. Varner as if he’s suspect. And stop being so overprotective! I’m the older sibling, remember?”

“As bossy as you are,” he said lightly, “how could I forget?”

Natalie politely smothered her laugh.

Adam scooted over on the bench. “Would you two like to sit down? We probably won’t see my kids again until they run out of quarters.”

“Thank you.” Natalie sat next to him, and Josh took a seat on Brenna’s side.

The waitress reappeared, clearing plates and promising a box for Morgan’s cheeseburger. When she asked if Josh and Natalie needed time to decide on their orders, Josh laughed. He had the menu memorized and had probably known what he wanted even before he parked his truck out front. He asked for the barbecue plate, and after a moment’s consideration, Natalie ordered a half-size fried-chicken salad.

“So, Dr. Varner…” Natalie began.

“Please, call me Adam. ‘Doctor’ seems too formal for vacation. And I desperately need a vacation,” he added with a rueful grin.

Considering his traveling companions, Brenna doubted he’d get any real rest or relaxation.

The blonde returned his smile, her interrogation techniques a lot more amiable than Josh’s. “What brings you to Mistletoe?”

“Three weeks of bonding with my kids. I have two girls and a teenage son. We’re looking forward to hiking, exploring the town. We’ll be staying at the Chattavista.”

“What a coincidence!” Natalie said. “Josh works for the lodge.”

It wasn’t that big a coincidence-there were only two real places for tourists to stay around here. The Mistletoe Inn located downtown, as it were, and the more rustic Chattavista Lodge outside the town proper. Nestled among hills dotted with Georgia wildflowers, the lodge was in perfect proximity to a river that offered fishing, tubing and rafting. People made the most of outdoor sports in the spring, summer and brilliantly colored fall. During the colder months of the year, when holiday visitors were more likely to stay at the inn, the lodge offered discount space for corporate retreats, attracting businesspeople from Atlanta and surrounding states.

“I take groups out on the river,” Josh said. “Well, and answer the phone and other stuff. But white-water rafting is a much more exciting job description.”

Brenna smiled in his direction, feeling a big-sister rush of pride. And also feeling suddenly, inexplicably old. The quiet, shaggy-haired boy who’d seemed unsure how to react when his father married Brenna’s mother was now a broad-shouldered, confident man. Despite his joking about “playing outdoors” for a living, she knew how committed he was to doing a good job. “Josh is a trained guide, a CPR instructor and a certified Wilderness First Responder.”

Josh flashed a grin across the table at Natalie. “Brenna’s just trying to make me sound good for you. Is it working?”

His girlfriend chuckled, but before she could reply, the waitress returned with their food.

Josh offered his heartfelt thanks, then stole a glance at Brenna. There was a mischievous gleam in his eye. “Now, if I wanted to repay the favor and make Brenna sound good for anyone’s benefit, I might mention how she kept making the dean’s list and got her MBA.”

Apparently he’d weighed the potential risks of Adam’s being a total stranger against the likelihood of Brenna finding another boyfriend soon and had come down in favor of the good doctor.

Well, can’t fault his taste, anyway.

“You have an MBA?” Adam asked, looking at Brenna in surprise.

Some people found it perplexing that she’d busted her butt for six years in higher education and now walked dogs. “I interned at a corporation after I got my bachelor’s, then tried jobs at two other places once I completed my MBA. After three false starts, I realized that cubicles and Monday-morning meetings just aren’t for me. I lack the corporate group-think mentality.” More alarmingly, she’d felt restless, edgy. For the first time in her life, she’d worried about turning into her mother, so she’d abruptly quit and come “home” to Mistletoe, wanting to feel grounded.

And it had worked. Creating her own business from the ground up was challenging but immensely satisfying; she was carving out her own unique place among family and friends. “My MBA isn’t being wasted, though. I am my own marketing staff, HR and accounting department.”

“Lot of responsibility,” Adam said.

“It’s not exactly on a par with heart surgery,” she said with a wry smile, “but I am very aware that people are trusting me with keys to their homes and members of their family.” Furry, four-legged members, but still.

“Dad!” Geoff yelled from the middle of the dining room. Adam whipped his head around as if anticipating an emergency, but Geoff’s chief concern as he ambled toward them seemed to be, “Any food left?”

Adam stopped his son as he reached for the white square box on the table. “That is your sister’s. And I know your mother raised you with better manners. You don’t shout across a restaurant unless it’s urgent.”

Looking genuinely bemused, Geoff asked, “Was I shouting? Sorry.”

“Now say hello to Brenna’s brother, Josh, and his friend Natalie.”

“Hey.” Geoff nodded politely to Josh, then turned to Natalie. Whereupon he reddened and looked away.

Brenna managed not to smile. When Natalie had been in high school, she’d been one of the head cheerleaders, admired by many tongue-tied teenage boys; a decade later, she was still a head-turner. “We were just telling your father that Josh is a river guide. You have any interest in white-water rafting?”

“That would be awe some!” Geoff sat next to Josh, temporarily forgetting Natalie’s good looks and even food. “Dad, can we try that while we’re here? I know you said we’ll go fishing and tubing, but can we try rafting, too?”

Dumb, Bren. Seeing Geoff’s animated expression, she realized that she shouldn’t have said something before finding out if it was okay with Adam. It was akin to asking someone else’s dog, “Wanna go for a walk?” and getting it all excited without knowing whether the owner had time for that.

“I don’t know.” Adam sounded dubious but refrained from shooting her any accusatory glances. “How old do you have to be to do that, Josh?”

“For rafting, the minimum age is seven. It goes up from there, depending on the intensity of the trip you sign up for.”