Second Chances: Love in Juniper Ridge (Carver Ranch Book 1)

by Heather Tullis

“You’ve got more ambition than me.” Rex slapped him on the shoulder. “If that’s it for tonight, I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Yeah.” Marsh was too distracted with thoughts of tracking down Karissa that night. He’d let her think about his words long enough. Time to take action, and he had the perfect plan in mind.

  Karissa paged out an ambulance, state trooper, and rescue truck to respond to an accident on the winding mountain road. It was snowing and she hated sending people out of their beds to respond in weather like this, but someone had to do it. She was just glad she got to stay warm and dry in her little dispatcher cave.

  The bell at the front of the building buzzed and she peered at the monitor, smiling when she saw Marsh’s grinning face gazing at the camera. She pushed the button to talk to him, “Yes, can I help you?”

  “I brought frozen yogurt, because on a night like this, nothing hits the spot like something cold.” He held up two cups of yogurt from the convenience store down the road.

  The ambulance announced it was leaving the shed, and Karissa acknowledged their radio traffic and listed the current time for the recording. She pushed the button releasing the lock on the front door and told Marsh to come through.

  She turned back and handled the phone call from another motorist who passed the accident, then talked with the fire truck, trooper, and two deputies who radioed in that they were on their way. She buzzed Marsh through two more doors while she spoke with the driver, who was hanging upside down by his seatbelt in the car, and relayed information to the emergency workers.

  When Marsh reached the room she was in, he stood looking a little unsure about what to do, so Karissa motioned to a chair as she spoke to the driver, soothing him as best she could and reassuring him that help was on the way. Her pulse beat in her fingers with worry when he said he felt light-headed and was afraid he’d pass out. A dozen things could be wrong, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

  Karissa accepted the frozen yogurt Marsh passed her and was grateful when she saw it was chocolate. After this, she could definitely use some chocolate.

  One of the deputies arrived on scene and she ended the call with the motorist.

  She handled a few more radio calls, then picked up the spoon and sampled the treat. “So good,” she said when she swallowed.

  “Do you want me to leave? You seem kind of busy,” Marsh said, looking nervous and a little uncomfortable.

  “Wait, I’m almost done.” She had another taste or two of the yogurt while she got through the radio traffic of the rescue crew all arriving on scene. They would report in again when they left, but she should have a few minutes to talk before then.

  Karissa settled back in her seat and swiveled to Marsh. “Thanks for the frozen yogurt. Sorry about all of that.”

  “No, it was interesting. I’ve never been in here, but Trent said you wouldn’t get in trouble if I came by to see you.” He referenced a deputy who lived in Hank’s apartment building.

  “This is my home-sweet-home away from home.” She gestured to the dark room featuring another dispatch desk, a coffee pot, and a bathroom on one end. A bank of four monitors was stretched in front of her with various reporting programs pulled up for her reference.

  “Do you mind telling me what everything is?” Marsh asked.

  Grateful for something not-personal to talk about when she felt awkward—ridiculously so from the memory of their last discussion—she picked up the topic with alacrity. She explained the various programs she used, looked up a license plate and driver’s license for someone that one of the deputies had pulled over, explained how the system of pagers worked for each of the emergency departments, and sent a quick note via messenger to Trent for Marsh.

  “You talked like this place is usually pretty boring,” he said. “But there’s a lot to keep track of.”

  “It has its moments.” She scraped out the end of her yogurt and tossed the cup. She wanted to blame the cold treat for the chills she felt but knew it was actually nerves causing the problem. Despite the officers working in the jail just through the wall, she and Marsh were very much alone again. “How was practice tonight? Big game tomorrow, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, the boys are nervous. Heck, I’m nervous. This is a tough team. If we can beat them, we’ve got a shot at taking region and placing well at state. We just need to stay focused.” His lips twisted slightly and he looked a little embarrassed. “Sorry, don’t get me started or you might end up listening to a really boring monologue about my team. That seems to happen all the time now.”

  “I don’t mind. I like basketball, in case you’ve forgotten.” She’d rarely missed a game when she was in school. “And I’m interested in this year’s team. It seems like you have a talented group of kids.”

  “You should come out sometime, bring Paul. We can always use more people in the stands.”

  “Cheering on the coach?” she teased.

  “I was thinking for the team, but the coach wouldn’t mind your support, either.” He reached out and took her hand. “I have a rare Saturday free this week. We’re supposed to get several inches of snow on Friday. Bring Paul and join me for some inner tubing on Saturday.”

  She hadn’t been sledding in years. “Tubing? Isn’t that on the naughty list for your boys?”

  He grinned. “Sure, but I’m not playing the games, they are. I get to do things they aren’t allowed to do. Like stay up late the night before a game talking to a beautiful woman and do fun stuff that’s against the rules.”

  Karissa fought to keep her smile under control. “Sweet talker.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  Karissa considered how tired she would be after working the night before but nodded. “Sounds like fun. Can we make it afternoon?”

  “I’ll pick you up around two; we can play in the snow for a few hours, then catch dinner.” Marsh stood to leave.

  “Good luck at the game tomorrow. I’ll listen on the radio.”

  “Thanks. See you Saturday.” He zipped his coat and gave her a wink before heading out the door.

  A deputy checked in again and Karissa took down a driver’s license number for him, smiling at the little flutter of excitement in her chest.

  The assistant principal, Evan Wilks, walked into Marsh’s classroom and strode to his desk, the assistant librarian trailing in his wake. “Sarah is going to watch your class for the rest of the period.”

  Surprised, Marsh nodded and stood. He caught confused looks from the kids in his class. Though he had no idea what this was about, he smiled and repeated, “Mrs. Waters is going to keep an eye on you all for the rest of the hour. Behave yourselves.” He stared down a few of the rowdier kids and then followed Evan into the hall.

  As soon as the door closed behind them, Evan turned back to face Marsh. “The school board approved a mandatory drug test for all athletes. They’ve already started taking the kids out of class, individually. We didn’t want to alert anyone to what was going on in advance.”

  “Sounds good. Where do you need me?” The thought of drug testing made Marsh a little nervous; he hated the thought of losing even one of his players. On the other hand, with the rash of student athletes who were testing positive in Colorado, it would be irresponsible not to check up on their teams. The kids needed to know that drug use would not be tolerated.

  Marsh helped collect the kids from their classes and saw them to the locker rooms where they split off the boys from the girls and collected their urine samples. He noticed more than a few nervous glances and wondered how many of the kids had gone to a party after the big win the previous night and smoked a joint or something. Or were they just generally nervous about the testing, despite having nothing to worry about?

  Fourth period was well underway before they finished with all of the students and sent them back to their classes. A couple of the wrestlers were out that day, but Marsh’s team had all been present. The lab personnel who had come to administer the tests would have the results availa
ble on Monday, which seemed ages away at the moment, but wasn’t bad, actually. Marsh was admittedly anxious but forced himself to return to his classroom to work on the pile of assignments. At least it was his teacher prep hour, he thought, so it wouldn’t matter if he was distracted.

  His team was unusually subdued in practice that afternoon, but he ignored it, pushing them all through the usual maneuvers and trying to explain away the furtive looks he saw exchanged between some of the boys.

  Rex was totally unruffled, calling out plays and changing up the routine.

  When practice was finally over, Marsh was more than ready to say goodbye and head home for the weekend.

  He played with his keys as he walked out to his truck, considering the stressed expressions on his boys’ faces. He had a really bad feeling about the drug tests that day. The boys knew one of the group was using, or at least they suspected it. If they were all clean, there was no reason for it to have bothered any of them.

  “Hey, Marsh, you rushed out of there.” It was Rex, coming from the gym. “I wondered if you’ve seen the tapes for East.”

  “Yeah.” The wind blew down his neck, so Marsh zipped his coat against the cold. “I’ll spend some more time watching them tonight, see if I can figure out their weaknesses.” He shivered and burrowed deeper in the coat. “What do you think about the boys tonight? Something’s up.”

  “You think so?” Rex considered it for a minute. “They were a little quieter than usual, but I think they’re just worn out after their big win last night. Everything will be back to normal on Monday.”

  “You're probably right.” Marsh nodded and smiled slightly, but didn’t believe it. He waved off Rex, then went home. He wouldn’t have answers until Monday, so he would focus on enjoying his date with Karissa the next day.

  The air was crisp and cold, and Karissa’s nose felt half frozen. Air rushed past her face, and the sound of her son’s excited squeal filled the air as they shared an inner tube on the ski resort hill. The slopes were packed, but that didn’t lessen her enjoyment at all.

  When they reached the bottom and skidded to a stop, Karissa looked back and saw Marsh coming down behind them, his whoop growing louder as he approached. She laughed when he dragged one heel, making his tube twist out of the way and then flip him onto his side.

  “Crash and burn,” she called out when he stood, still grinning, and looked her way.

  “What can I say?” he asked as he drew closer. “My motto is, ‘Go big or go home’.” He reached out and took Paul from her lap, then clasped one of her hands, pulling her to her feet. “Let’s do another run.”

  They walked to the lift at the bottom of the ski run that ran parallel to the sledding hill and got into line.

  Paul sandwiched himself between them, holding hands with them both while Marsh and Karissa dragged the tubes behind them. They squeezed into a chair, hooking the rope on the tubes onto the sides of the lift, and rode to the top.

  “I want to go alone this time,” Paul declared when they were halfway there.

  “Honey, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” The slopes were reasonably safe, but Karissa didn’t like the idea of her five-year-old going down alone.

  “You always treat me like a little kid.” Paul pouted. “I won’t get hurt.”

  “Paul, I just—”

  “Karissa.” Marsh’s voice was low but cut her off easily. “You were tubing solo by the time you were his age. And this is way safer than the hill we used to go down.”

  “We only have two tubes,” she protested. He was right, though; the hill they had used as kids had lots of brush and scary-dangerous bumps that had broken many a nose and arm.

  Marsh grinned, his eyes twinkling. “Yeah, so you’ll have to ride with me. Scared?”

  He knew her too well. No way could she let him get away with saying she was afraid to ride with him, though the thought of snuggling that close to him made her mouth go dry. “Of course not.”

  “We can go down behind and keep an eye on him,” Marsh reassured her. “He’ll be fine.”

  “Yeah,” Paul said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Karissa pursed her lips to keep from smiling, but then nodded. “All right. If that’s what you want.”

  “Yay!” Paul scooted to the edge of the seat as the chair reached the top of the hill, and they got off.

  He grabbed one of the tubes and ran ahead on the well-packed path that led to the tubing trail.

  Marsh grabbed Karissa’s gloved hand and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine. Besides, I wanted to get you alone for a few minutes.”

  She looked at him, a little embarrassed, but pleased too. “You said you wanted to invite Paul. I didn’t think he’d gotten in the way that much.”

  “Of course I wanted him to come with us. He’s a lot of fun, but you’re the real reason we’re here.”

  They reached the line and Karissa watched her son go ahead of them down the slope, screaming with joy, and laughing when he hit a bump and the tube flew a few inches into the air. Her stomach dipped a little, but when he didn’t spill out, she reminded herself to be calm and looked back at the attendant, who had let the people who had slipped between her and her son go next.

  Marsh sat on the tube, his long, long legs sticking out the front, and beckoned to Karissa. “Come on.”

  She settled into the V of his legs and grabbed onto the handles on the side.

  “All right,” Marsh whispered in her ear as his arms came around her stomach, pulling her down so that her back was flush against his chest. “You hold onto the tub, I’ll hold onto you.” His breath fanned across her neck, making her shiver slightly as goosebumps spread along her skin.

  The attendant gave them a little push, and they started down the hill, gaining speed as they went. The pine-scented air sped past them, ruffling Karissa's hair as the cold stung her nose. She laughed when they hit a bump and nearly let go when Marsh’s extra weight made them bounce more than she had with Paul. They bounced and jostled and laughed their way down the slope, finally being dislodged about the same place as Marsh had lost his tube before.

  The two of them rolled a little in the snow while their tube continued on without them. They came to a stop, Karissa partly on Marsh’s chest, his arms still around her, cradling her close. When his hold loosened, she took advantage of it to roll off of him but stopped to lie on her back beside him, looking up at a slice of the clear blue sky peeking between the towering trees.

  He rolled onto his side, angling himself slightly above her, and pushed the hair that had escaped her hat out of her face. “That was fun. We should have done that more today.”

  She laughed, made nervous by the slightly husky tone of his voice. “Yeah.” Breathing became a little harder as she looked into his eyes and she felt her lips start to tingle. Then Paul’s voice called her name.

  Marsh sighed, his lips twisting a little in resignation. “Want to go again, or are you ready for hot chocolate?”

  Karissa considered for a moment. Her freezing fingers and toes called for the warmth of indoors, but she was having fun and wasn’t ready to give it up. She sat up and spotted Paul; he gave her a tired look.

  “I’m cold. Can we go inside?” he asked. “I want hot cocoa.”

  That was all it took to tip the scales. “Of course, honey. Did you have fun?”

  “Yes, so much fun! Can we come back again?”

  “I think that might be arranged.”

  They trudged over to the lodge, stopping to turn in their rented tubes along the way. When they finally reached the lodge, it was bustling with activity, but Marsh managed to find an empty table in the cozy café, and in short order they ordered their hot cocoas.

  Karissa had been awake and alert while they played in the snow, but as soon as she sat in the comfortable chair near the flickering fire, she felt her muscles begin to melt in exhaustion again. She’d only slept five hours after she got home from work that day and was ready for a long
nap. A glance at her watch said that a long nap wasn’t going to happen, though. She had only an hour and a half until she had to be to work.

  Marsh caught her eye, his gaze intense, and Karissa felt her cheeks heat. She was glad her face was probably still red from the cold, so he might not be able to tell she was blushing. Her heart rate picked up, and a slow smile lit his face as he watched her, sliding his hand over hers. The touch made her breath catch and, when he leaned toward her, she had to remind herself that her son was sitting with them, to stop herself from meeting him halfway for a kiss.

  “Hey, guys.” A male voice interrupted the moment, and Karissa’s head whipped around to see Gage Matthews standing beside their table. She hadn’t seen him in years, though she’d heard he’d been hired as the ski resort manager.

  “Hello, how are you doing?” Karissa felt like an idiot when she realized her voice was a little breathless.

  “Hey, Gage. I haven’t seen you in the stands at the games this season.” Marsh stood and shook Gage’s hand. They’d been in high school at the same time, barely, since Gage was three years older than Marsh and the twins.

  “Yeah, things have been a little hectic the past few months. Vince is getting married next weekend.” Gage mentioned one of his best friends as he took the empty chair at their table and settled in.

  “I heard. Tell him congratulations from me.” Marsh’s grin took on a teasing edge. “Finally one of your guys bites the dust.”

  “Yeah, he fell hard and fast, but he and Cami are good together.” He stretched his legs to the side and leaned back in his chair. “If things settle down, I’m hoping to make it to the game this week. I hear rumors about a possible state title in your future.”

  “If all stays according to plan.” Marsh slid his hand over Karissa’s on the table top again as he and Gage talked basketball.

  Karissa saw Gage’s gaze flicker to their joined hands but, other than a slight eyebrow quirk, there was no reaction. He knew who she was; they’d run across each other several times over the years, and he asked about her brothers, but he was so much older, they barely knew each other.