One Winter's Night

Jonah Owens thought moving to Echo Ridge to open his art gallery would solve all of his problems. The need to sell his grandma's house adds an unexpected complication. It would be easier if his neighbor didn't have all those farm animals. *** Kaya Feidler's family has owned their land for nearly a hundred years--long before the neighbors were there. There's no way she's giving up the animal therapy business she's been struggling to make profitable. She gets a temp job helping Jonah in the gallery. Spending time together is a recipe for romance, but can they overcome their own hangups to be more than friends?

JONAH
OWEN SMILED AT MRS. CHESTER, the prospective buyer for his grandmother’s house.
He saw the dispassionate way she studied the layout, the slight disdain in the
lines of her mouth when she looked at the wheelchair lift in the bedroom, and
the sneer that overcame her features when she gazed out the back window and
focused on the next-door neighbor's house. “How many horses do they have?”

“Three or four I think. I'm not sure. She's very
conscientious about cleaning up after them and the other animals.” His
grandmother had talked incessantly about her neighbor, Kaya's, animal therapy
business, but he'd only met her briefly once or twice over the years. When the
prospective buyer turned and looked at him with disbelief, he realized he'd
said the wrong thing.

Mrs. Chester—the only name she'd offered him—narrowed her
dark eyes at him. “What other
animals? All I see are horses. How did she get zoned for farm animals anyway? I thought this was a residential zone.”

“I believe she has a couple of goats, some chickens and
maybe some rabbits. I'm not sure exactly. She does animal therapy with
children, so she rarely has more than one other car over there at a time.” He
didn't really know as he hadn't spent much time at the house since he'd moved
back to town. “Her family used to own all of this land once, for the entire
subdivision, plus the Fieldstone Manor subdivision. Since they've had horses
and other animals for over one-hundred years, her property was grandfathered in
under the old rules.” That had been a burr in his side since he'd started
trying to sell his grandmother's home.

Mrs. Chester wasn't the first potential buyer to object to
living next to The Red Star Ranch. He had the feeling she wouldn't be the last,
either. She didn't seem all that thrilled with his Gram's house in general, but
he tried to salvage things anyway. “She's very respectful of the neighbors,
keeps the noise and smell down, and isn't the type to have crazy parties or
anything.” He needed to get the woman's focus off the ranch and onto the house
itself. “What do you think of the sun room? It's my grandmother's favorite room
in the house. Warm and toasty in the winter, not too hot in the summer thanks
to the tree that shades that part of the house.”

“Yes, very nice.” She barely glanced at the room as she
headed for the front of the house. “The house layout is nice enough. I could
deal with removing the wheelchair lifts, but I don't like animals. I'm afraid
this won't work for us. Thank you for taking the time to show me around.” She
was on the porch in seconds, not pausing to say goodbye on the way to her car.

Jonah wanted to growl. This was the fourth buyer who had
objected to the ranch next door. When he pointed out the lack of smell, two of
them had reminded him that it was December in ski country, not July, and the
smell would be far worse when it was hot outside. He couldn't dispute that,
though he'd rarely noticed a hint of smell during his visits. Kaya Fiedler may
have inherited the place rather than earning it, and she might have her quirks,
but she took good care of the animals. He supposed she would have to if she
wanted to keep her animal therapy license.

He'd seen up to six horses over there at a time before, but
not recently. He wasn't sure if she had sold one, or if some were just inside
when he looked over. He didn't spend that much time checking out the ranch.

Between his grandmother's health and all of the time he
spent working to get his business off the ground, he had enough on his mind. If
he didn't sell the house soon, he might have to rent the space over the gallery
where he was living now, so he could pay the mortgage here. His grandmother
couldn't afford both the mortgage and the assisted living center where he was
trying to move her.

He watered the ficus before he double-checked the locks on
the doors and windows and headed out. It was breaking his grandmother's heart
to sell her home, but she couldn't live here alone anymore and he worked too
many hours to be here as much as she would need. Ora Owen was a proud woman,
and determined to be independent—which is why she broke her hip and was
currently in a rehab center. If only she had moved to assisted living two years
ago when he first urged her to do so.

He checked his watch—Mrs. Chester had been thirty minutes
late. That was thirty minutes he couldn't afford to have missed from the
gallery today. He'd have to put off that trip to fill his grandmother's
Christmas list until later in the week instead.

“I can't believe you call this organized. Start over.”
Cecilia's strident voice rose loud enough for Kaya to hear her from the next
department. Kaya felt a pang of empathy for Anika, who was a hard worker. If
the place was a mess, chances were it was because of a customer, not because
Anika had done anything wrong. Then again, Cecilia sometimes freaked out over
the smallest disarray, even if the rest of the department was flawless. She was
one miserable woman.

Kaya thought Cecilia could really use a cat to snuggle up
with and take the edge off.

“Isn't that display finished yet?” Cecilia snapped, now
standing behind Kaya.

Kaya turned to look over her shoulder at the older woman,
her dark gray hair seemed to crackle with her bad temper. “I had to stop to
assist a few customers.” She kept her tone apologetic, though she wanted to
growl and snap back. She had worked holidays at Kenworth a few times over the
years, but never under Cecilia Grange. The woman was impossible. If Kaya didn't
need the paycheck so badly, she would kick the woman in the shins and walk out.
And to think she had once considered herself lucky to get the job.

Then again, a temporary, part-time position had been pretty
lucky. The horses would run out of feed if she didn't get more holiday hours
in. She had always liked this job in the past. It was a change of pace from her
struggling equine therapy business, and since she had lost a few clients thanks
to the rising prices of gasoline and the winter weather, she had to work on the
side so the horses would have food. Otherwise she would have to sell one of
them. Or both goats. And she desperately didn't want to do that. She had
thought that nearly three years into her animal therapy business she would be
making enough money to get her through the year, but it had been a tough fall.

Cecilia's beady eyes glared over the tops of her glasses.
“You're all just full of excuses. Get back to work, and don't get so
distracted. If you're going to take breaks while you're on duty, I'm going to
start counting them as your scheduled ones.” She turned and marched off.

Kaya bit her tongue and turned back to the display. She
didn't know why the board of directors didn't kick the woman to the curb; she
was so unprofessional. Not only could the neighboring employees hear, but
several customers as well. And Kaya hadn't
been taking breaks on the job, she'd been working hard. Which is more than Kaya
could say for Cecilia, who seemed to do nothing but walk around, take two-hour
lunches, and complain.

Biting back her anger, Kaya acknowledged that the woman must
do something worthwhile or why would they keep her on staff? It was just not
clear what she actually accomplished besides making all of the employees
miserable.

This job only ran through New Year's Day, Kaya reminded
herself. She could put up with anyone for another month. Especially since the
alternative was losing one of her horses.

It was only a few weeks and then the holidays would be over
and the job would be gone, so she would suck it up and deal with it, for now.
But she was going to tell Keira what she thought of the old bat before she
left. Keira may not be over Cecilia, technically, but it was her family's
store, so she had to have some kind of pull with the board.

Someone needed to get rid of Cecilia before she chased off
all of the good employees.