One Snowy Night (Sweet Home, Alaska #1) - Patience Griffin Page 0,30

idea how to help her daughter. It seemed as if every parent in Sweet Home, and possibly all of Alaska, had at least one child who was drinking too much. The only thing she could do was to reason with Ella once again.

Courtney sneezed. Then she sneezed again and again. “Your dog’s too close. I’m allergic,” she said between sneezes.

Hope wasn’t proud of herself for smiling over Courtney’s affliction.

Donovan stood. “Rick? Can you take Boomer?”

“Sure.” Rick came over and retrieved the dog.

Sparkle was fond of dogs and came out from behind the counter to scratch Boomer behind the ears. Rick smiled, as if it were his charm that had Sparkle opening up, something she seldom did.

Hope went back to arranging the magazines but realized she might have lingered too long because Donovan glanced her way again. She walked to the register, pretending to be arranging the bags this time.

Courtney pulled out papers and slid them to Donovan. They spoke for a couple more minutes, then Donovan downed his coffee and stood. Courtney did, too. Then they headed for the door, leaving Rick with the dog. It looked like Rick might be hitting on Sparkle, because she was looking down, smiling and blushing. The thought occurred to Hope that maybe Sparkle could be sparkly after all.

Hope looked out the window and both Courtney and Donovan were gone. Courtney’s car was still there, so they must’ve left in Donovan’s car.

It was a bold move, but Hope stepped outside, looking up and down the empty street. Donovan had disappeared. Again.

In an effort to forget him, Hope trudged back inside to work on next week’s order. While she was at it, she pulled cans to the front of the shelves, trying to emulate the big grocery stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

She hustled to the front whenever the door opened and customers came in. The whole time, Rick hung out with Sparkle.

An hour after Donovan left, he returned . . . sans Courtney. Which made Hope exceedingly happy, though she really shouldn’t care. But she wasn’t going to be hard on herself; Donovan was the kind of guy you just don’t get over. By the look on Courtney’s face earlier, she hadn’t gotten over him either. Which made Hope see Courtney in a different light, as they both were in the same boat.

Donovan glanced over at Hope before grabbing one of the shopping carts. “Rick, you want to help with this?”

“I can’t. Sparkle and I are going to take Boomer for a walk.”

“The runt is too little to walk,” Donovan said.

“Then we’ll just take him out for a break.” Rick smiled at Sparkle, who was pulling on her coat. The way Sparkle was beaming at Boomer, Mr. Brewster might’ve given the puppy to the wrong person.

“I appreciate it,” Donovan said to his friend. “I’ll get the groceries.” But he didn’t immediately get to it; instead he hovered nearby, looking down the aisles. “Is Piney around?”

“She’s busy,” Hope said. Probably upstairs, doing her crossword while having a coffee. Like a good store clerk, Hope automatically said, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“No.” He seemed determined on it.

“Fine. I hope you had a nice date.” Hope decided to ignore him until he was ready to check out.

But apparently Donovan wasn’t done with her. “It wasn’t a date.”

“That’s not what Courtney said.”

“She’s my real estate agent. We met to go over what I need to do to the lodge to put it on the market.” He frowned at Hope as if this were none of her business. “Then we looked at the hardware store so she could get it listed.”

“Oh.” Hope felt foolish. “Sorry.” But she wasn’t completely in the wrong since Courtney had led her astray. She shouldn’t get involved but she couldn’t help herself. “You better let Courtney know where you stand. By what she said to me and how she was acting all dreamy-eyed over you, she’s picking out wedding bands.”

Donovan raised an eyebrow, looking completely unamused.

Hope couldn’t shut up. “I just don’t want you to give Courtney the wrong idea, is all.” Because back in the day, I’d gotten the wrong idea and look how I turned out!

As expected, Donovan’s frown intensified.

Yes, Hope had gone too far. Donovan’s affairs were none of her business. Affair being the operative word.

He didn’t respond to her advice but kept his mouth shut and headed down the aisle where Hope had just organized the canned fruit.

At that moment, Piney came down the stairs, stopping near the