by Nicole Helm
She took the outstretched folder, and gave a little nod. “Sure.”
“Where’s Sarge?” he asked, because apparently his brain hadn’t received the stay out of her orbit message.
She blinked for a second, as though the question took her off guard. Though it shouldn’t have. She knew he’d cared about Sarge as much as she had.
“I’m leasing a house with a yard and a fence. I didn’t think you’d want him running around the office.” She paused and he caught a glimpse of her mouth curving, but he immediately looked away, because that old familiar gut pang was not welcome here.
“Scratch that,” she said, a note of humor in her voice. “I didn’t think Brandon would want him running around the off ice.”
Will almost, almost smiled at that, but it hurt too. This whole thing would, but maybe . . . maybe with enough time, it would stop. Instead of being this big, open wound, maybe it could heal?
God, he had to hope so.
“Bring him to work with you. We’ll figure something out. Gracely gets a lot of out-of-the-blue afternoon thunderstorms. You won’t want to leave him outside.”
“All right. I’ll bring him tomorrow then.”
“Great.”
“Great,” she repeated.
Silence descended over the room, and with it that nostalgic ache for a friendship she’d ruined and abandoned. But that was seven years in the past. The past. He couldn’t let it live in him like this.
“I’ll get you that pen,” he muttered. He walked over to Skeet’s desk.
He thought he heard her mumble something that sounded suspiciously like “This is going to suck.”
Then again, he might just be projecting.
Chapter Three
It was the weirdest thing in the world to be living a dream Tori thought she’d abandoned. For seven years, she’d grieved over losing this. The chance to build an outdoor adventure company with her surrogate family.
Some days, she blamed herself for that loss. Some days she blamed Will. And some days, she realized that was just how life went. Never quite what it should be or what you could expect.
And this, right here, was always the problem with hiking. Too much time to think. When she’d been a ski instructor in the winter and a climbing instructor in the summer, her mind was constantly busy. Or her mouth was.
Hiking with Sam was allowing her brain to coil itself around in all those old ways she’d thought she’d grown out of.
Apparently, she’d just outrun them for a while.
“Solace Falls is the easiest hike we’ve got,” Sam said as they hiked. “It’s hard to get lost on. I figure you’ll want something more challenging than leading this, but it gives you a good view of what you’ll be working with. Which is a good place to start.”
Sam started to climb the outcrop, so she followed. Even if being back with the guys was a million shades of weird, it was nice to see Sam like this. Something close to content, which even before his family tragedy had been something he’d struggled to find.
But after his sister’s death, Sam had changed. Tori had been around when Will and Brandon had gotten through to him to get out of Boulder and try to find some peace. But she hadn’t been around to see if he’d ever found it.
Based on what she’d witnessed from spending some time in his hermit cabin in the woods, he had. Or at least was in the process of finding it.
Isn’t he lucky?
They reached the top of the rocks and at the end of the path there was an open space of overlook. She stepped toward it with Sam, taking a deep breath of pine-scented air.
She smiled as Gracely came into view, stretched out before them in the green valley between towering mountains.
It was a truly beautiful spot for a truly beautiful town and state. Even with all her complex feelings for the people involved, it was good to be here. Pretty much every time she looked around, she was reminded of that. How lucky she was. That even after what had happened, the way she’d left, she had friends who would welcome her back into the fold. It was a blessing, and she had to stop taking it for granted just because Will was being all . . . normal.
He was on board with pretending nothing was wrong between them. So things were great. Everything was fine and great and back to normal.
She wondered if she’d ever believe it.
“Well, I guess they didn’t exaggerate, did they?” Tori said, gesturing out toward the beauty before them.
“No. Gracely is everything they said it would be.”
A rugged beauty. The perfect landscape to build not just a company, but a life. That had been the dream.
She wished she could be happier to get back to it, but under the excitement, and the hopefulness, there was this constant ache. She’d wanted more.
“So, where’s your girl?” Tori asked with absolutely no finesse. But she had to get out of her head and picking at Sam would do that.
Sam slid her a look. “If you’re referring to Hayley, she had her own excursion to lead today.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I like her. I think I like Lilly, too, but she honestly scares me a little bit.”
Sam laughed, smiling easily in a way that surprised her. Even knowing he’d changed, it was odd to see Sam so demonstrative. “I believe that’s the normal response to Lilly. Which makes her just about perfect for Brandon.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
Silence surrounded them, though she could hear birds trill and the occasional animal moving around in the rocks or brush.
There was an elephant in the room, or the wide-open sky above them as the case may have been, but Tori didn’t know how to approach it without making it look like she still had feelings for Will. She didn’t know how to ask any questions about what had happened with him without making it seem like . . .
Wasn’t that her problem? Always a little too worried about someone seeing her weaknesses. Maybe Toby had been right, and if she’d just opened up to him . . .
She rejected that thought immediately, hating herself for even having it. Toby had been an expert manipulator, convincing her he was harmless and sweet. Proving he was anything but.
She’d realized in the aftermath of all that, that Brandon, Will, and Sam had been something true and real—truer and more real than any other relationships she’d had. She’d stayed away out of fear—fear that Will would have twisted the story to make her the villain, to make everyone hate her.
But for all his faults and flaws, she should have known that wasn’t Will’s way. Clearly Brandon and Sam were a little in the dark about everything that had gone down. Maybe he’d saved that for stories to his wife? But where was the woman?
It wasn’t that Tori was interested in the state of Will’s relationship. It was just that it was weird. She’d heard nothing spoken of Courtney. Will seemed to be staying at Mile High by himself. Of course, models traveled a lot, so maybe they were just apart until she got back from some jet-setting trip. Maybe she’d return in a cloud of fancy underwear and giant boobs and . . .
Tori couldn’t do this again. She could not get all wrapped up in what Will was doing or not doing, or who.
She just needed to find out what was going on so she could move forward with all the facts. If Sam wanted to give her a hard time for that, so be it. She was stronger than withering at a few well-placed jabs.
“Get over yourself, Appleby,” she muttered under her breath.
“What was that?”
She looked at Sam, whose gaze was on the world beyond the overlook, a soft smile on his face. So weird to see any softness in this man.
But life had gone on, and people had changed, and it was time to dive into that. Headfirst. No matter what.
“So what’s the deal with Will?”
“The deal?” Sam repeated, his expression far too satisf ied for Tori’s taste.
But she forged ahead. “Yes, the deal. Where’s his wife?”
Any enjoyment Sam had been getting out of the conversation fade
d, melted right off his face. “He still hasn’t told you,” he said quietly. Seriously.
“Told me what?”
Sam ran a hand over his beard, scraping his palm up and down across his jaw. “I don’t know that it’s my place to say anything.”
“Look. I’m not . . .” Tori kicked at a few loose pebbles. “I was asking because she’s not around. Quite frankly, we never exactly got along, so if I’m going to have to deal with her, I’d like to know when and where so I can protect my eyes from the avalanche of breasts.”
Sam’s mouth curved briefly, but it quickly went back to the grave expression that was some mix of a million things that had probably happened while she was gone in her own little world trying to escape the Will Evans curse.
“They got divorced.”
“Divorced,” Tori repeated lamely.
“Yeah. Couple months ago it was final. Not sure exactly when they decided, but it’s final now. She was never around much, but she really won’t be around now.”
Tori didn’t know what to do with that information. Will was divorced. Which did not matter in the least little bit. His relationship status was as moot as hers was. She’d walked down that road once, and she wasn’t about to do it herself a second time.
“Don’t go telling him I told you that. He doesn’t need any I-told-you-sos.”
“I wouldn’t tell him I told him so.” Even though she had, though not about marriage, just about Courtney in general. “I’m not the same girl I was.”
“Good, because it’s been a rough few months, and he doesn’t need anyone busting his chops.”
“Maybe he shouldn’t have married a lingerie model,” Tori muttered. Because, hell, maybe she wasn’t the same girl, but getting rejected had been pretty shitty, so being rejected in favor of Courtney had added insult to injury.
“Would you have preferred he married you?” Sam asked pointedly.
“Don’t start with that nonsense,” she returned, her whole chest seizing up, hurting. Would it always hurt?
“I don’t think it’s nonsense.”
“You’re quite the Miss Sassy Pants who butts his nose into other people’s business these days,” she returned, because she couldn’t linger here in all this old hurt.
“Well, shit. Lilly must be getting to me. I’ll knock it off,” he returned, good-natured and casual, but the way he studied her was anything but.
And if she was on this fact-finding mission, asking about Will’s past, she might as well figure out some things about her own. “What exactly did Will tell you about back then?”
“Will told me nothing,” Sam replied, his voice far too gentle for Tori’s liking. “He mentioned you had some feelings for him, and it didn’t work out. That’s all I know. I don’t know that I even want to know the whole story, but as long as there is this whole story none of us know, shit’s going to be weird, Tori. It just is.”
“We’ll get used to it,” she returned, because she had to believe they would, or this wouldn’t be the new start she needed it to be. “Will and I talked this morning, and we’re putting everything behind us. It’s like a fresh start.” She was glad she sounded a lot more chipper and certain than she felt. Because she felt none of those things. She felt a kind of dread, and confusion, and slight irritation that Will could flip a switch and be back to the carefree man she’d once known.
Worse, that that reaction pulled at her heartstrings more than it should. Her poor little rich boy and his legion of issues.
“Well, I’m glad. Because I’m happy you’re here. We’re all happy you’re here.”
Tori wanted to believe it, but of course it wasn’t true. Will was not glad she was here. But he was willing to put up with it, so she had to deal with the emotional upheaval of putting up with it too.
* * *
Lilly Preston-Evans sat on her bed slowly going insane. She had no doubt she was also driving her new husband insane, but it was either that or worry herself into tears and she flat-out refused to do that.
When Brandon appeared with another glass of water, she nearly screamed. He kept foisting them on her like it would magically keep the babies healthy and growing inside of her.
Babies.
But instead of insisting she drink the water under his watchful eye, or piling another blanket around her, Brandon smiled. “I brought you some visitors.”
“Ooh!” Lilly straightened in the bed, smoothing her hands over her hair. “It better be someone from Mile High with work for me to do.”
“Never say I don’t understand you, wife. Sam and Hayley came by to give you a full report.”
Lilly clapped her hands together, she couldn’t help it. Finally, finally something to think about that wasn’t the past few days. Nothing had been scarier than finding blood and rushing to the doctor.
Or finding out she was carrying twins. That multiples tended to complicate pregnancies, and she would need to be on bed rest until the bleeding stopped.
She was too damn scared to ignore the doctor’s orders, but Brandon kept hiding her computer, and she had nothing to take her mind off the worry, the fear, the prospect of two babies coming out of her.
Sam and Hayley entered her bedroom and she grinned broadly at them. She couldn’t remember ever being so happy to see random people in her bedroom in her life.
“I want a progress report.” She ignored her husband’s disapproving look and fixed Sam and Hayley with a look that she hoped would trump Brandon’s.
“Hello to you, too, Lilly,” Sam returned dryly.
She waved a hand at him, completely undeterred. “Oh, don’t act like you want chitchat. Out with it.”
“Things are going great,” Hayley offered. “Plenty of excursions.”
“I, uh, took a meeting with Corbin,” Sam added, rocking back on his heels.
“You did?” Lilly demanded, shocked that Sam would take any meeting, let alone such an important one. Forming a partnership with Corbin to get Mile High’s customers staying in Corbin’s lodge had been a special feat for Lilly when she’d started with Mile High as public relations manager. Introverted, grumpy Sam taking on any responsibility in that vein was . . . well, a shock.
“Between Will’s history with him, and Brandon being busy, and Hayley so new, I seemed like the only choice. Much to my dismay.”
“And?” Lilly prompted, her mind whirring over what she would have wanted to say to Corbin if she’d been able to take the meeting. She tried not to worry over Sam handling . . . well, any of it.
“We agreed on some terms for winter specials. I e-mailed all the information to you before we came over.”
“I think I married the wrong man,” Lilly said fervently.
“He only did all that stuff because I told him to,” Brandon returned.
She smiled over at him. “Okay, maybe I married the right one, then.” She didn’t know why, but knowing what was happening at Mile High sent relief coursing through her. She managed to relax a little bit, which hadn’t been happening at all.
She needed more. “How’s the Will and Tori thing going?”
Sam and Hayley exchanged a glance that did not bode well for the answer.
“It’s actually really, really weird,” Hayley said.
“Weird not World War Three?” Brandon asked.
“No,” Hayley said carefully. “Considering how antagonistic they were toward each other before, this week has been . . . I mean, I know I don’t know them like you guys do, but it’s . . . They’re very civil.”
“Tori told me they agreed to put the past behind them. But . . .” Sam trailed off and shook his head.
“You can really tell that something happened,” Hayley continued. “No matter what they say to each other, or how polite they are. It’s obvious something bad went down between them. There’s so much tension brewing it’s downright uncomfortable to be around.”
A problem to fix. One she couldn’t control, but could at least focus on without crying. “Well, then, we need to
do something about it.”
“Lil, you can’t sweep in and fix everything. Isn’t that what you’re always telling me?”
Lilly waved Brandon’s question away. “This is different. The way Will and Tori are with each other affects our business. We have to pay attention to it. We have to act on it.”
“You’re reaching.”
She was. Totally. She couldn’t bring herself to care, so she focused on Sam and Hayley instead of her disapproving husband. “We need to find a way where they’ll have to spend a lot of time together.”
Sam burst out laughing and only stopped once he met her gaze. “You’re not serious.”
“Of course I am. We can come up with some kind of excursion where they’d have to go camping together, and work together. It could help them work out their issues.”
“I repeat, you’re not serious,” Sam said.
“Well, what’s so wrong with my idea?”
“Aside from the fact that they are two grown adults who can deal with their own shit without our interference?”
“Yes, aside from that. They need a catalyst. Hayley, what do you think?”
Hayley stood next to Sam wide-eyed. She’d only joined Mile High this summer, only met Brandon and Will, her half brothers, this summer as well.
But Hayley was a sweetheart. She had a softness to her that Mile High desperately needed. A vulnerability that was somehow steeled with a strength Lilly admired. It couldn’t be all bearded testosterone all the time.
“I . . . I don’t know anything that happened with them. I don’t know their history. Don’t ask me.”
“No one knows what happened, do they?”
Brandon sighed. “No, not exactly. But clearly they had a gigantic argument that ended a friendship.”
“See?” But Lilly noticed that Sam was expressly looking anywhere but her. “Sam?” she said in a warning tone. The little bastard knew something he’d been keeping from them.