Haley's Mountain Man

by Tracy Madison

  Nope. He couldn’t do it. Couldn’t force himself to willingly walk into that world of misery again. Couldn’t bear to confront the demons he’d shoved into the closet.

  Especially now. Specifically now.

  So he didn’t. He tossed the envelope back on top of his dresser and stalked from his bedroom, ignoring the deluge of guilt that the decision brought on. He had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. Not one blasted thing. His mother was here of her own accord. She had kept him waiting for years, had given him false hope time after time.

  She could wait on him now, while he sorted through the garbage and figured out what—if anything at all—he was capable of.

  * * *

  Stretching her neck from side to side, Haley only half listened as her brother Cole finished breaking down the past month’s numbers for the sporting goods store. They always had their family meetings at the restaurant, after closing, and typically shared a late meal. This particular meeting had extended later than normal, as they’d had to skip the last one due to incompatible schedules and the crazy summer working hours.

  Everyone was here: her parents, Cole and his fiancée, Rachel, Reid and Dylan. They’d eaten first and had kept their conversation social, as these dinners also served as family time. Once dessert was served, though, her dad had started the business portion of the night, and one by one, each person had the opportunity to express concerns and ideas, and give updates.

  Tonight, she was having considerable difficulty staying focused. Her thoughts were, naturally, mostly consumed by Gavin, their weekend camping trip and each day since. On the surface, their relationship seemed to be progressing well. There were shared meals, conversations, walks on his property and some—frankly speaking—amazing sex.

  Really amazing sex. Bone-deep satisfying sex that was at once deliciously, physically pleasurable with the heat and energy their bodies created when together, and the intensely emotional completeness that existed only when two souls belonged together.

  So yes, the good was quite good. Better than good.

  But she had this strange, niggling worry that everything wasn’t as solid as it seemed, and that while Gavin was trying, he was also...holding back, still determined to keep her at a distance. She’d analyzed about every minute they’d spent together, and couldn’t quite put her finger on why she had this worry. Yet the feeling persisted and, in fact, continued to grow.

  “Haley? Are you in there somewhere?” her father asked, breaking into her thoughts. “Is there anything on your agenda to discuss tonight?”

  “Um. What? Sorry, I was thinking about...” Her brain faltered, searching for what she’d planned on broaching at tonight’s meeting. Oh. “I’ve decided, if everyone is on board, I’d like to pass over a larger portion of the accounting responsibilities to Rebecca,” she said, naming her cousin Seth’s wife. “Seems silly not to. We have a CPA in the family, and she’ll be more expedient, accurate, than I am.”

  There was some discussion on this, along with a few questions, but in the end—as Haley had fully expected—the decision was agreed to and set. All that remained was arranging a phone meeting with Rebecca, since she lived in Washington State, to hash out the remaining details.

  But when Haley mentioned that her salary should be lowered, no one agreed. After all, as her father explained, she was an equal partner and she worked far more hours during the summer and winter seasons in roles that weren’t specifically her responsibilities. Since this was an accurate assessment, Haley stopped arguing and the discussion ended.

  She assumed they were nearing the end of the meeting, so she leaned back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief. Really, she just wanted to run upstairs and call Gavin. Find out how the rest of his day had gone, and—hopefully—make plans for tomorrow.

  Except, rather than ending the meeting, her father once again focused on her. “One more thing, Haley. I wanted to ask you about that Gavin fellow. Everything working out fairly well?

  A whole bunch of curious eyes landed on her. She coughed. Twirled her hair with her finger. “Um.” What, exactly, was her father asking? “Yes. I think so. Why do you ask?”

  “Gavin who?” Reid asked. “And is what working out well?”

  “Daugherty, I believe he said his last name was,” her father supplied. “Came in here a while back, looking for Haley. Mentioned he’d—”

  “Gavin Daugherty?” Cole’s gaze narrowed in speculation. In the way that told Haley he’d recognized the name, was searching his memory for where he knew it from.

  Haley slid down in her chair a tad. He’d remember in one...two...three—”

  “Got it! Gavin’s the guy who came into the store last winter. The one you just about begged me to hire, even though we didn’t need another instructor. That’s him, right?” Cole said, his tone suggesting he already knew the answer. “The very same guy you got all goofy over, stormed into the back and slammed the door. If, that is, I’m recalling correctly.”

  “Goofy? I believe your recollection is off by a mile. Or more,” she said as flippantly as possible. “But yes, that was Gavin. And I still think you should’ve hired him.”

  “Didn’t have the need,” Cole pointed out. “Maybe this next winter, if he’s still looking.”

  “He won’t be. He’s all set now. Works at the hardware store, and has his own business. Guiding folks on hikes, white-water rafting trips...camping.” Her cheeks warmed as she spoke, as the image of camping with Gavin resurfaced. “In the winter, he’ll offer ski instruction and...and—” She stopped, drew in a breath. “You should’ve hired him when you could.”

  “It’s him,” Dylan said, entering the fray. “This is the guy you’ve been mooning over.”

  “Wait a minute here.” Reid shook his head in confusion. “I’m lost. Someone explain.”

  Paul Foster settled his hands on the table, fingers laced together. “Gavin came in here looking for Haley. He mentioned something about promotional ideas, so I assumed he’d hired her for some design work. Now,” he said, directing his gaze at Haley, “I’m rather confused, myself. Are you two personally involved, sweetheart?”

  Squeezing her eyes shut, Haley silently counted to three. She’d planned on introducing her family to Gavin, but she’d wanted to wait until summer ended. When everyone’s lives calmed down. When her relationship with Gavin had grown some.

  But here it was, so why put off the inevitable?

  She opened her eyes, nodded. “Yes. We’re involved. We’ve been...dating.”

  Everyone began talking at once, asking questions and offering opinions. She kept her mouth shut and waited for a natural lull. She had more to say, more she planned on saying, but any attempts at being heard over the roar of noise would just prove futile.

  When the lull came to be, she lifted her chin. “Gavin is important to me, which is why I haven’t said anything about him before. I love you all, but you can be a bit overwhelming at times. Especially for someone who isn’t accustomed to—” she gestured her hand around the table “—all of this. And he isn’t. He’s...sort of a loner.”

  Uh-oh. Wrong word to use, even if the description was accurate.

  More questions, more comments, more concerns expressed. So she answered the questions the best she could. Initially, they weren’t difficult to answer. Dylan wanted to know more about how they’d met. Her mother wanted to know when they’d started dating. Cole asked some questions about Gavin’s business. But when her father, and then Reid, started asking about Gavin’s family, his past—where he’d lived before moving to Steamboat Springs, his reasons for moving here...she couldn’t, wouldn’t, supply the answers. Not even those she knew.

  Sharing any piece of what Gavin had told her about his mother, growing up in various foster homes, and his dreams for the camp he hoped to start, seemed wrong. This information was private and had b
een difficult enough for him to tell her, and she knew he’d barely brushed the surface. So, no. She was not going to answer these questions.

  Instead, feeling somewhat desperate, she changed the direction of the conversation with, “Actually, back to Cole’s question. I really think we should consider developing a collaboration with Gavin’s business. A partnership of sorts, where we refer spillover customers to each other, share in the profits...maybe help him out with equipment needs.”

  “You’re trying to avoid answering my questions,” Reid said. “Dad’s, too. What is there about this guy that you don’t want us to know?”

  “Nothing. But my relationship with him is private, and any further details—details he should talk about, not me—are not up for discussion.” She pushed out an exasperated sigh. “Besides which, it’s getting late and I’d like to go to bed sometime soon.”

  Reid was all set to argue, she could plainly see the fact of that in his expression, in the hard way in which he held his jaw. Fortunately, their mother must have decided enough was enough. With a brisk smack on the table, all eyes turned to her.

  “Haley is right,” Margaret said. “While I would love to know more about the man my daughter is dating, there is plenty of time for that.” Pausing, she looked in Haley’s direction. “We’ll have him over for dinner. Soon. We can meet him, discuss these other ideas of yours more fully and have a pleasant evening. You’ll let me know which night works best for him?”

  Her tone bore no room for argument. Not even wiggling room.

  “Of course,” Haley responded, her stomach sinking. “I’m sure he’ll be...pleased.”

  “Good,” her mother said, smiling brightly. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

  Rachel winked at Haley from across the table and offered her a small, comforting smile. She’d always adored Rachel, long before she had become her brother’s fiancée. Cole and Rachel had been friends for almost forever, so Haley had already considered her a sister when their relationship became romantic. Even if she was blonde and beautiful, and had a designer wardrobe that, in the past, had sent Haley into...well, rather girlish fits of delight.

  “Cole and I have some news we’d like to share,” Rachel was saying. She squeezed Cole’s arm, and a light blush spread along her cheeks. “Rather exciting news.”

  “That’s right, we do!” Cole wrapped his arm over Rachel’s shoulder, and cleared his throat authoritatively. “Rach and I have―drumroll, please―set our wedding date. We’ve decided on spring. April nineteenth, to be exact, so everyone mark your calendars.”

  And then, the bedlam started again. A happier, less tense bedlam than when all the intensity of the Fosters had been focused on Haley, on her relationship with Gavin.

  Well, except for Reid. He continued to watch her steadily, with questions and concern in his eyes, coating his expression. She pretended she didn’t notice, pretended to be involved in discussing Cole and Rachel’s wedding plans, pretended to not have a care in the world.

  In truth, she couldn’t stop thinking—worrying—about Gavin’s reaction when she told him she’d brought up the partnership idea without getting his go-ahead first. Still, even if her family ended up agreeing, Gavin could always say no. That wasn’t the issue.

  Heck, he didn’t even want her help in painting walls, or building a new website for his business, or in planning, researching for the camp he wanted to start. So this, she knew, would not go over well. On the other hand, he’d flat-out told her he didn’t want her to change for anyone, so maybe...maybe she was stressing too much. Maybe this would be okay, too.

  Then, assuming they moved past that not-so-little dilemma, there was the matter of preparing him for dinner with her family. Meeting the whole crew of them at once hadn’t been Haley’s plan. She’d hoped to introduce him to her parents when the time came, then maybe Rachel and Cole, and then later to Reid and Dylan. Ease Gavin into the family one person at a time, not throw him in headfirst.

  Haley forcibly shoved her concerns aside. For one, there was nothing she could do about any of it now. For another, she trusted Gavin and she trusted her family. She didn’t have any doubts that, given time, her parents and brothers would recognize all of Gavin’s amazing qualities, or that Gavin would see the same qualities in each member of her family.

  Right. That would happen.

  As long as Gavin didn’t decree the road too bumpy and filled with potholes to bother traveling. As long as he didn’t decide to step off and take a different, less complicated path.

  One that didn’t include Haley.

  * * *

  Late Saturday morning found Gavin walking the aisles at the hardware store, tidying up shelves and helping customers as needed. His shift ended in a few hours, and then he was meeting Haley for coffee at the Beanery. He missed her. They hadn’t seen each other over the past several days, as she’d been up to her neck working crazy hours.

  Whenever they’d talked, though, she hadn’t been her normal, exuberant self. A fact that had raised his concern a good several levels. As much as he tried to ignore the negative thoughts, he couldn’t stop wondering if she was finally having those doubts he felt sure she’d eventually have. Doubts about him, them, if she’d made a mistake that first day when she’d followed him home. And every day, every action she’d taken, since then.

  He could be wrong. She could be tired, nothing more.

  But all these worries did was maximize his discomfort in allowing her more into his life than he already had. He wanted to let her in. All the way in, if truth be told. It was difficult, though, wanting something—someone—so much, when he feared what would happen if she changed her mind and walked away. He knew that particular type of pain too damn well.

  Today would help. Spending some one-on-one time with Haley would ease his concerns, would help him set aside that strangling sense of the inevitable. Seeing her always gave him an electric jolt of positivity that muffled his fears over what could go wrong.

  Noticing that a customer had, in his attempts to find whatever they were looking for, left a display of various tool sets askew, he began reorganizing the boxes, lost in thought. Had just finished when he heard someone approach, stop behind him.

  “Excuse me,” the man said, “are you Gavin Daugherty?”

  Turning, Gavin nodded. Only took a second to recognize the owner of the voice. “That would be me,” he said evenly, surprised by the visit. Curious, too.

  “Reid Foster,” the man said. “Haley’s brother?”

  “Yup. I recognized you right off.” He reached out, shook Reid’s hand. “Haley speaks real highly of you. Cole and Dylan, as well. So...what can I do for you?”

  “Well, I was wondering if you had a break coming up, or some time later, maybe tomorrow or the next day, to sit down and talk. I don’t want to keep you from work,” Reid said, his tone also even. Friendly enough, though.

  Gavin looked around, noted the store wasn’t overly busy. “I have a few minutes now.”

  “Here? Or...is there somewhere we can have a little privacy?”

  “Here’s fine. Say what you need to say.”

  This, Gavin’s willingness to discuss whatever the man wanted to discuss in a public venue, seemed to give Reid pause. He ran his hand over his jaw, gave Gavin an assessing type of look, before saying, “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Okay, then,” he said. “Well, see, it’s like this. Haley doesn’t tend to be secretive about much of anything. My sister has a thought in her head, and she shares it with anyone who will listen. But with you, she’s been secretive. That causes me some worry.”

  “I imagine that’s normal,” Gavin said, trying to put himself in Reid’s shoes. Thinking maybe this impromptu visit was nothing more than a way for Reid to satisfy his curiosity, and therefore some of his worry. “She’s your sister,
and you don’t know me.”

  “This is true. And...look, this is an uncomfortable situation, and I dislike behaving in this manner. But she’s my sister, and...” Reid glanced around, as if to ascertain they were still basically alone. They were. “My concern pushed me into doing a little digging.”

  “And you did this how?” Not that Gavin particularly cared, but it gave him something to say while he processed what Reid might have discovered, what he might be leading to.

  “One of those online information-gathering sources. The type that gives you addresses, employment history and the like. And I discovered you’ve moved around a lot, which isn’t abnormal for a guy who makes his living on the slopes during the winter, the mountains and rivers in the summer. That...well, that didn’t bother me at all. Something else did.”

  A muscle in Gavin’s jaw began to tick. Now he knew exactly where this conversation was headed. The path he’d nearly taken when Gavin had received the letter from Russ’s estate. “You’re talking about Aspen,” he said matter-of-factly. “And that I worked for a company where a whole mess of illegal practices were taking place.”

  “That is exactly what I’m referring to.” Reid narrowed his eyes. “Don’t know if you know this, but I’m a ski patroller. Meaning, my job is all about safety. So when I hear about a company renting substandard equipment to unsuspecting customers, hiring folks without the proper training or skill to keep those same customers safe...well, I get a little worked up.”

  “Don’t blame you for that. Bothers me, too.”

  “Were you a part of the misconduct? Aware of it?”

  “Not a part of it, no. Unaware of it for most of the season, yes. Toward the end, I realized what was going on.” Meeting the other man’s eyes head-on, Gavin said, “And I did not react as quickly as I should have.”

  He’d been angrier than all get-out when he’d discovered the truth, and was all set to go to the authorities. But the owner of the company offered him money to keep his mouth shut, to leave Aspen and not look back. Gavin was ashamed to admit he’d considered the offer, for longer than he should have. A good couple of days or so.