“Don’t be snotty.” Nic frowned at him. “The world needs small dogs, too. She’s opening a business in town, and that’s good for Eternity Springs.”
“What does she do?”
“Handmade soaps and lotions. She’s rented Harry Golightly’s old place on Fourth Street. She’s planning to use the first floor as retail space and the carriage house in back as her workshop. She said she mostly sells her stuff at street festivals and craft fairs, as well as online. She plans to open the retail shop only during tourist season.”
Zach considered the space. The Golightly place was one of the old Victorian houses in town. The house had good bones, and with a coat of paint and some landscaping, it could be a tourist draw. The location worked since it was cattycorner to Sage Rafferty’s art gallery, Vistas, one of the town’s biggest tourist draws. “What is she like?”
“Honestly, I thought she was a little quiet and reserved at first, but once I got her talking, she opened up. I like her. I think she’s a great new addition to Eternity Springs. I’m excited about the new shop.”
“Me too,” Zach replied in a tone that clearly suggested the opposite.
“Now, Zach,” Nic chided. “It is exciting.”
“You are such a girl, Nic. Having Cam open a sporting goods shop was exciting. A soap shop? I don’t think so.”
Nic’s expression turned knowing. “Want to make a bet you’re singing a different tune after you meet her?”
Zach decided to put a stop to this matchmaking business here and now. Choosing his words carefully—he didn’t like to lie to his friends—he said, “The ski instructor I’ve been seeing wouldn’t be amused to learn that I found a soap shop exciting.”
“You’re seeing someone?” Nic asked, shock in her tone. She folded her arms and scowled. “I didn’t know that. Why don’t we know about this?”
“ ‘We’? Do you mean your coven?”
She sniffed with disdain. “Now, that’s just mean, Zach Turner.”
He reached out and thumped her on the nose. “I adore you, Mrs. Callahan, but I don’t need you and your friends sticking your noses into my love life.”
“We care about you, Zach. We don’t like seeing you alone.”
Zach was accustomed to being alone. An only child whose parents had died almost a decade ago, he’d adjusted to solitude. In fact, he relished it. Solitude was one of the appeals of Eternity Springs, in his opinion. “In that case, rest easy. I’m not alone. I have a dog. And a new fly rod. You and the girls can turn your attentions to somebody else. Now, let’s talk dog food. The Trading Post has begun stocking a new specialty brand.” He named it, then asked, “In your opinion, is it worth the extra money?”
Zach left Nic’s office ten minutes later with Ace on a leash and a spring in his step, telling himself he wasn’t the least bit curious about a soap maker from Georgia. He had more important things than women on his mind—namely, a free afternoon breaking in his new fly rod at his favorite fishing hole up above Lover’s Leap. When he strolled into the Mocha Moose a few minutes later with the intention of getting a boxed lunch to go, he almost pivoted on his heel and marched out. Sarah Murphy, Sage Rafferty, Ali Timberlake, and Cat Davenport sat at one of the tables eating lunch. During his split second of indecision, Sarah spied him, though, and then it was too late.
“Zach!” she said, waving him over to the table. “We were just talking about you. Have you heard the news?”
He swallowed a groan and ordered a sandwich.
On a sun-kissed spring afternoon, Savannah Moore sat atop a picnic bench at an isolated landmark outside Eternity Springs called Lover’s Leap. Lifting her gaze from the rainbow of wildflowers adorning the valley below, she looked toward the mountain range rising beyond, where patches of snow clung stubbornly to shady spots. “It’s a feast for the eyes,” she murmured, speaking to herself as much as to the dog in her lap.
The day was a banquet for all the senses, in fact. Birdsong drifted on air perfumed with the clean, crisp scent of pine, its slight chill offset by the warmth of afternoon sunshine. When Savannah had mentioned she wanted to visit a high, peaceful, isolated place where she could meditate, her new friend Sarah Murphy had directed her here. “It’s one of my favorite places in the entire world,” Sarah