An Unexpected Love (Treasured Dreams Book 3) by Susan Hatler

An Unexpected Love
    by
    Susan Hatler
     
    I trekked up the mountain in my beloved small town of Whitefish, Montana, waiting for that blissful feeling that hit me every time my boyfriend, Dave, and I hiked together. That feeling didn’t come. Instead every muscle in my body tightened, because in five hours I had to make a decision that would affect my entire future. No pressure or anything.
    As my legs propelled me up the trail, my mind stayed focused on the dilemma regarding my business, Treasured Creations. Making a living beading jewelry with a view of Big Mountain out my window was pretty much a dream come true. Not that I was getting rich off my career choice—far from it, actually. I struggled to pay bills each month, but my ability to gaze out my kitchen window at nature’s beauty while I worked felt priceless.
    Just this morning, I completed setting the stones on a darling butterfly charm while watching the first snow of the season drift gracefully onto the mountain. The ethereal white flakes filled me with joy . . . until my brain spiraled back to my impending decision. Gulp. I decided to keep the butterfly charm for myself, hoping it would give me luck in making the right choice for my business, ergo my life.
    Until now, I’d sold my originally designed creations at local festivals, craft shows, and street fairs. I also had quite a lot of return customers, who purchased items from me over and over. Then two days ago, Karen, the owner of Moxie—a charming and successful shop downtown—called and made me an offer. I nearly fainted when she announced she wanted to carry a special line of my jewelry to sell in her store and online. So flattering!
    Moxie’s new website would launch this Monday, so Karen needed an answer from me right away, in order to promote my products in her announcements. I had until five o’clock this evening to give her my answer. In the back of my mind, I could hear a virtual clock ticking, and my stress level ratcheted up with each tick tock, tick tock, tick tock . . . .
    I chewed my lip and fingered my butterfly charm as I followed Dave up the steep trail, wondering what I should do about Karen’s offer. To say I was a simple girl would be putting it mildly. I’d just turned thirty, lived in the same small one-bedroom apartment I’d rented when I moved to Whitefish after college, and loved hiking, biking, skiing and basking in the surrounding beauty of the little slice of heaven where I lived. Two months ago, I’d met Dave at the Falling Leaves Festival.
    He and I shared the same love for this special mountain resort town, and all of the outdoor activities this magical place had to offer. At least once a week we hiked up this same trail on Big Mountain, with our picnic bag in tow, and ate our lunch once we reached the top.
    Each time we made our pilgrimage felt just as special as the last time. We spotted new and exciting things on every hike: a squirrel, white-tailed deer, bighorn sheep, and once even a black bear. We talked about anything and everything. There seemed to be a bottomless wealth of topics we enjoyed discussing, and each new piece we learned about each other brought us closer together. If hiking the same trail kept bringing me joy, then wouldn’t the same follow to keep the status quo with the jewelry business I love so much? Why make a change when the current plan worked so well?
    Oh, yeah. Savings. Retirement. Not having to stress over paying bills. . . .
    The ticking clock in my head suddenly got louder. I wanted to talk to Dave about the offer, but the insecure part of me worried what he’d think if I made the wrong choice. I wanted to kick myself for being such a coward. Instead, I tripped over a tree root.
    “Everything all right back there, Holly?” Dave called over his shoulder, his blue-eyed gaze connecting me mine, making my tummy do a somersault.
    “I’m fine,” I said, although stressed out of my mind might’ve been more accurate.
    He mumbled