The Last Second Chance: A Small Town Love Story (Blue Moon Book 3) (18 page)

I
t was a small
, inconvenient twist of fate that had Carter and Summer booking a long weekend at Niagara Falls the same frigid week that Beckett and Gia headed to Belize on their honeymoon.

The inconvenience lay in the weather forecast. It also happened to be the same timeframe that the meteorologists started making noise about the first blizzard of the year.

Carter had immediately balked about leaving. He didn’t want to dump blizzard management and cleanup on Jax and Joey, but Jax knew his brother was also painfully aware that it was imperative to pry Summer away from her magazine for a few days for a pre-twin invasion break. The morning of the storm, Jax, Joey, and Colby had staged an intervention and practically packed the couple’s bags themselves while promising to call if they couldn’t handle things on their own.

Beckett and Gia had also half-heartedly volunteered to reschedule their honeymoon to be on hand for the incoming snowpocalypse, but their offer was brushed aside. Phoebe and Franklin would be taking Mr. Snuffles and staying at Beckett’s with the kids and pets to keep their routine as close to normal as possible.

It was amusing—and a little insulting—to Jax that Carter was worried he couldn’t handle the farm for a few days without him. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t dealt with a hundred times before while growing up here.

He’d always loved snowstorms, even if they meant extra work. Except for a few trips to Tahoe, he hadn’t seen snow since his move. Despite the extra responsibility a heavy snowfall incurred, he still felt like a little kid staring out the classroom window waiting for the first flakes.

Jax—keeping the latest forecast numbers for the storm to himself—tossed Carter and Summer’s bags in the truck himself and waved them off from the front porch with Valentina and Meatball at his side. Colby ambled out of the barn after Carter’s truck disappeared down the drive.

“We are screwed if this storm is as bad as they’re calling for tonight,” he said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket and grinning.

“Yep,” Jax agreed. “Guess we’d better make a plan?”

“Let’s go see Joey,” Colby said.

“We’ll take the Jeep. It’s too cold to walk.”

Carter had thoughtfully attached the plow to the front of his Jeep, putting Jax and his team a little ahead in their blizzard countdown preparations. When the dogs followed them to the garage, Jax shrugged and let them clamor into the back. Well, Valentina’s long legs clamored. Meatball sat on the ground and barked until Colby picked him up and shoved him in next to his sister.

They pulled up in front of the stables where Jax spotted Joey in the paddock on a pretty little quarter horse. Meatball gave a little woof and squirted through the door as soon as Jax opened it.

Joey swung down off the horse’s back and headed their way.

“Geez! I thought you were Carter coming to say he changed his mind about leaving,” Joey sighed in relief, her breath coming out in a cloud.

“Nope. We just waved them off with lies that the snow wouldn’t be that bad and that we’ve got everything under control,” Jax assured her, watching as Valentina loped over to sniff Waffles’ ass. Meatball barreled over and the three dogs took off around the stables.

“If they come back covered in horse shit, you’re in charge of bath time,” Joey warned him.

He threw a salute. “Aye, aye.”

She cracked a smile and that was all the invitation he needed to drop a fast kiss on her mouth before she could pull back. They’d spent a few more very satisfying nights together at her house since last week, but Joey still refused to be as affectionate in public as she was when they were alone.

Colby looked away, whistling.

Joey shot Jax a disapproving look, which had absolutely no effect on him. She was going to get used to being his girl one way or another. And Jax knew from experience that Joey responded well to trial by fire.

“You two realize that we’re fucked this entire weekend, right? The latest forecast says thirty-two inches starting after midnight tonight,” she said, leading the horse toward the barn.

“I heard thirty-five and starting at ten,” Colby said as they followed her into the stables.

“Go grab some coffee and I’ll be back in a minute,” Joey said, leading the horse into the stables ahead of them.

Jax led the way to the office and got busy pouring coffees. Colby made himself at home in one of the rickety visitors chairs.

“So I started a list,” Joey said, bustling into the room and flopping down in the chair behind her desk.

“Let’s have it,” Jax said, handing her a mug.

“Snow removal is going to be the priority, obviously. But since we have some advance warning, I want to get all the horses lunged and exercised since they won’t be seeing the pastures anytime soon.”

“We’re going to need some help with that,” Colby predicted.

“I think I’ll call in some favors with the students. If I can get four or five of them in here before lunch, we should be in good shape.”

“Problem solved. What’s next?” Jax asked, comfortable letting her take the lead.

“You and Carter already stocked the straw for bedding so we’re good there. But we need to double check the furnace in the stable and the barn and I think it would be a good idea to add some extra insulation to the pipes to make sure nothing freezes. I don’t want to be hauling water to the horses from the house.”

“I’ll see what we’ve got left over from last winter and then I can make a run into town for supplies,” Jax volunteered.

“Great. I’ve got a shopping list, too, if you’re going into town.”

“No problem. So snow removal, I’m thinking we should keep the Jeep over here to dig out here and at the brewery. We should be able to clear at the farmhouse with one or two of the ATVs. Colby and I can hook up the plows to them today.”

“How about the generators?” Joey asked.

“Gas tanks were filled last week for the brewery. I’ll check yours and the farmhouse while we still have some daylight,” Jax told her. “We’ve got a portable one in the garage we can roll out for emergencies.”

“If we work our asses off today, we just might earn ourselves a nice little vacation,” Colby said.

“I wouldn’t say no to a little R and R,” Jax said, giving Joey a wink.

B
efore the first flakes fell
, Jax gave Joey a hand turning out the horses. Six students showed up to help lunge and ride in an effort to get everyone’s energy out while they still could. If the forecast was even close to accurate, it would be days before the horses saw the pasture again.

While Joey saddled up one of the spunkier mounts, Jax, Colby, and Waffles made sure the furnaces in the barn and stables were up to the challenge of a winter storm of epic proportions.

In the barn, he gave the pigs, Dixie and Hamlet, some extra bedding and threw a ball in their box stall for entertainment purposes. Dixie’s curly tail wiggled with pleasure when he gave her a quick pat. One stall down, Clementine, the evil goat monster, was safely secured. But that didn’t stop her from charging the gate when she saw Jax.

Her demonic little hooves scrambled at the wood and her ears twitched. Clementine’s creepy yellow eyes glowed under the barn’s fluorescent lights.

“Clearly not enjoying your captivity, are you?” Jax asked smugly. “You’re not so tough when you’re behind bars, are you?” He took a step closer.

He wasn’t sure if it was possible, but it looked like the goat narrowed her eyes at him. Pressing his luck, Jax waved his left hand at her and when the goat followed the movement with her satanic gaze, he swooped in with his right and patted her on the head.

It wasn’t anything his brothers hadn’t done before. Joey and the girls regularly gave the four-legged beast ear scratches. Hell Evan and Aurora could hug her around the neck. But one pat on the head from Jax and the goat lost her shit. She sprang at the door, hooves clamoring. Something close to a scream erupted from her goat throat.

Jax jumped back in case the enraged goat managed to levitate over the door.

Waffles, fearless defender that he was, jumped at the door and barked three short yips.

Clementine stared down the furry bodyguard and Jax could almost hear her calculating the odds that she could take Waffles in a fight. After a tense few seconds, Clementine must have decided the odds were not in her favor and she slowly retreated, sliding down the inside of the door and sauntering over to her feed bucket.

“You’re getting an entire plate of bacon tonight,” Jax told the dog. Waffles blinked at him in understanding. The dog returned to Jax’s side, tail wagging happily. They wandered down to another large box stall where Carter’s latest charity cases were happily munching on hay. The two neglected Jersey cows that Dr. Ames had guilted his brother into taking in were already putting weight back on.

“You ladies have everything you need?” he asked, glancing at their bedding and feed and water buckets.

One of them swung her wet nose in his direction and lowed.

“I’ll take that as a yes. I’ll bring you some bread as a special snowed in treat tomorrow.”

The Jersey’s glossy brown eyes remained interested in him and she approached the gate. She stuck her nose between the slats and sniffed at Waffles. Accommodating as always, Waffles tolerated the sniffing.

Jax moved on to double-check that the flashlights at the barn entrance had working batteries and then loaded the gas cans and Waffles into the Jeep and fired off a text to Joey before heading into town.

J
oey responded immediately
and Jax chuckled.

N
inety minutes
later he considered just opening the bottle of tequila and drinking it while he stood in the checkout line. If the grocery store had been a nightmare—with a fistfight almost breaking out over the last bottle of kombucha—the liquor store was the third circle of hell.

Everyone in town was stocking up in anticipation of the storm. The line snaked around the register and up and down the last three aisles of the store. Bill Fitzsimmons was currently holding up the line trying to decide which pineapple-flavored vodka was superior. He’d been having a heated discussion with Mildred, the clerk, for the last ten minutes and the townsfolk were ready to revolt.

Jax caught Taneisha Duval’s eye. Blue Moon’s long distance running star rolled her eyes at him. “I will pay for your tequila if you get him the hell out of here,” she said, jerking her chin in Fitz’s direction.

“Deal.” Jax handed over the bottle and stormed the front of the line. “Is there a problem here, Fitz?” he asked.

Fitz, looked over his reading glasses at Jax. “Oh good, weigh in here, would you Jax? I was leaning toward the Highland Pineapple, but saw this one was on sale. Now Mildred tells me—”

Jax yanked the bottles out of Fitz’s hands and placed them on the counter with a little more force than necessary. “You should do a taste test. At home. My treat.” Jax fished his credit card out of his wallet and handed it over.

“Well, that’s very generous of you,” Fitz said. “But I still need to pick out my mini liquors. I always like to treat myself to a little something special. Now, let’s see…” He leaned in to examine the register’s display of little plastic bottles.

The line behind him groaned and Jax swore under his breath.

“And now it’s snowing,” someone called from the back of the line.

“We’re gonna get snowed in here and there’s no TV.”

The grumbling got louder.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. Jax swept the entire mini display off of the shelf and dumped it into a plastic bag. “Now you don’t have to choose.”

Fitz looked like he’d just hit the lottery. “Well, if you insist—”

Mildred swiped Jax’s credit card so fast he thought he saw sparks. The crowd cheered as Fitz staggered out of the store under the weight of his haul. He waved cheerfully.

“My hero,” Taneisha called from the middle of the line.

J
oey rode Apollo hard
, setting a grueling pace around the upper meadow trying to burn off the energy that she knew would turn stubborn sassy mounts into destructive dicks when locked up for a few days. She was thankful the indoor riding ring would give them some room to exercise in the coming days.

The air was thick with the onset of snow.

She thundered back into the yard at the stables, Apollo’s sides steaming from a good run. The flakes were already coating the grass and drive. She’d lived through enough New York winters to know that this storm was going to be the doozy that was predicted.

But they were as prepared as they were going to get. Animals secure, food supply stocked, and every precaution for a deep freeze and a mountainous dig out had been taken.

She dismounted and, flipping the reins over Apollo’s head, led him toward the stable. Joey was almost looking forward to the storm. A cozy night in with man and dogs, fire and food.

The Jeep eased up the lane, windshield wipers flying to clear the fat flakes from the glass. Waffles stood with his front paws on the dashboard playing four-legged navigator. She caught Jax’s smoldering look at her through the driver’s side window.

It would seem she wasn’t the only one planning for an interesting evening.

She detacked Apollo and returned him to his stall before heading up to the house. The Jeep was parked out front and foot and paw prints led up the steps onto the front porch. She grabbed the last few bags out of the back and followed the trail.