High Country Hearts

by Glynna Kaye

  From Rob McGuire to be exact.

  He’d ducked under the net and now stood grinning down at her as his team gave a rousing cheer. She squinted up at him, still breathless. “You weren’t joking with that shirt were you?”

  He laughed as he pulled her to her feet. “No whining. We both played on the church team, so you know I take my volleyball seriously.”

  He released her hand and she brushed the sand off her T-shirt. “But we were on the same side back then.”

  “We were, weren’t we? So, you ready to feed this hungry mob?” He nodded toward the fire pits as the players high-fived the opposing team. The sun had already dropped behind the tree tops, with sunset not far off. The night air would cool quickly, so hot food would soon hit the spot.

  “I’m ready when you are.”

  He ran a hand through his sweat-dampened hair, then clapped his hands together. “Then let’s do it.”

  Where’d he get this energy? Not stopping to catch his breath even at this thin-aired altitude. Definitely in better shape than she was. Volleyball had brought out his competitive spirit, too, the old Rob she remembered. He’d thrown himself wholeheartedly into the games—and now into the meal she’d orchestrated.

  He headed off to check the fires and she ran inside for hotdogs and condiments. When she returned, several teenage girls had gathered around Rob, their admiring eyes following his every move. A shy smile here. A bold flirtatious one there. Boy, did that bring back memories of her Rob’s Admiration Society days. Just as back then, Rob chatted with the girls in a friendly manner but never in such a way as to lead a girl on.

  So unlike Kendal. The lying rat.

  Amazingly, several of the teens she remembered from their childhood days. Regulars with their parents at Singing Rock each summer. She’d watched them grow up. And boy, had they grown up.

  “Here you go, Rob.” The covey of girls parted, allowing her to slip into their midst, all the while openly assessing her. Determining what her relationship might be with the handsome, athletic man. Determining if he was already spoken for. She’d give about anything to have an answer to that question herself.

  As he distributed the hotdogs and roasting sticks to gathering guests, she placed a hand on his muscled arm to see if it would make the teenage girls’ eyes narrow.

  It did.

  Had she once appeared as blatantly adolescent to him as these girls seemed to her now? So groupielike, hanging on his every word, every glance? If he’d thought that of her, he’d never let on. She’d never caught him laughing behind her back, anyway. But then Rob was too much of a gentleman to bow to that type of behavior. With a such a stellar reputation and so many female admirers, how had he eluded marriage all these years?

  He caught her puzzled gaze with an amused one of his own, his eyes twinkling. So he was aware of the stir he’d caused among the young ladies this evening.

  Before she could rib him with a clever line, a childish wail went up nearby. Olivia glimpsed a crying little girl, maybe two years old, pushing through the crowd. Obviously separated from her parents, the panic-lit face searched among the towering adults. But before Olivia could reach her, the toddler pushed past—to Rob. Hugged him around the leg.

  “Daddy! Daddy!”

  Startled, he stared dumbstruck at the tiny mite clinging to him. Then directly at Olivia, eyes dark with alarm.

  She swiftly crouched, attempting to gently pry the child from his leg. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s all right.”

  The red-faced toddler, lips quivering, stared up at Rob through tear-filled eyes. At last perceiving he wasn’t who she thought he was, she screamed all the harder—which, fortunately, brought her real daddy running to the rescue.

  Olivia rose to her feet as the parent-child combo reunited, noting with amusement that the teenage girls had scattered the moment the screaming started. Then she turned back to a still-stricken Rob.

  “Whew.” She laughingly bumped him with her elbow, addressing him with a provocative smile. “For a moment there, when the kid latched on to you and screamed ‘Daddy,’ I thought maybe there was something you hadn’t shared with me.”

  Alarm again flashed through his eyes, followed by the now-customary frown.

  How’d he get to be such a fuddy-duddy? She gave him an exasperated look and bumped him again. “Come on, Rob. It was a joke. You still have a sense of humor buried in there somewhere, don’t you?”

  Chapter Nine

  Heart galloping, Rob managed a faint smile. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Then use it once in a while.”

  “Hey, I’m trying.”

  “Try harder.”

  She had no idea how hard he was trying. When that toddler plowed into him and he’d looked down, saw the brown curls, it was by God’s grace that he didn’t cry out “Angie!” A flashing second later, when he’d met Olivia’s amused gaze, he’d realized the sobbing warmth that clung to his leg didn’t belong to him.

  But for a moment there…

  Then came Olivia’s attempt at a joke. Brushing it off left him reeling, almost as if he’d lied to her. But this crowd wasn’t the time or place to break the news that he did have a child of his own.

  “Earth to Rob.”

  He refocused on Olivia, who was watching him curiously.

  “Yeah?”

  “You okay? Those rounds of volleyball may have left you dehydrated. It’s not that hot at this elevation, but the humidity is low. Sweat dries as fast as it forms, so people don’t realize they’re overheating. Don’t drink enough liquids.”

  “I’ll grab some water.” He was such slime, letting her think overexertion was why he’d spaced out. It was a wonder, though, that he hadn’t passed out. “You, uh, want anything?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  He lingered a moment to take in the laughing, chatting guests gathering to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. With the sun setting, they’d timed the wrap-up of the games and commencement of dinnertime perfectly. Or rather, Olivia had. “Looks as if we’ve started the holiday weekend off with a bang. Thanks to you.”

  “And it looks like you’ve picked up a few new fans.” She glanced mischievously in the direction of the flock of teenage girls huddled around a picnic table, their eyes trained on him.

  His face warmed.

  “That’s mean of me to tease you, isn’t it?” She arched a playful brow.

  “You seem to get a kick out of it.”

  “I love to see a grown man blush.”

  A smile twitching, he shook his head and again turned to find that water. Then paused once more. “Thanks, Olivia.”

  “For what?”

  “For pushing me to get involved with the mixer.”

  “It is fun, isn’t it?”

  He massaged his shoulder. “I’ll probably feel it in the morning. It’s been a while. Out of shape.”

  “After the way you played tonight, I don’t think anyone would buy that. But you do work too hard, Rob.”

  He shrugged. “You don’t get anywhere sitting on your fanny.”

  “But all work and no play?”

  “You sound like my mother.” From the dismayed look on her face, that wasn’t a comparison a pretty young woman wanted made. “Once the summer season comes to a close, life will settle down.”

  “Maybe. But you’ve changed, you know that?” She studied him as if trying to pinpoint the source of the problem. “You always had your eye on graduation and moving ahead in the business world, but you still managed to kick back, have a good time. I haven’t seen much of that the past few days. It worries me. I’m not sure I like the Rob I’m seeing now.”

  She may as well have socked him in the stomach. If she didn’t like what she saw now, she sure wouldn�
��t like the rest of the story. “You sure know how to make a man feel good.”

  Alarm lit her eyes as she took a step closer. “I didn’t mean I don’t like you. I mean, when I first met you, you seemed so balanced. In tune with God. I kind of expected you might opt out of the business world goals and head into ministry.”

  “Wouldn’t qualify for that.”

  Her encouraging smile discounted his denial. “You were an incredible Bible teacher. You didn’t let us get away with simply filling in the blanks of a generic collection of study questions. You made us dig deep. Challenged us. You knew so much about the Bible. About God.”

  “Knowing a lot about God and knowing God aren’t always synonymous. And there’s a difference between knowing what to do and doing it.”

  Olivia’s smile wavered. “I don’t mean I thought you were perfect. I mean there was something about you that opened up my eyes as to what God could do with a man. You set a standard.”

  He shifted uncomfortably.

  “What I’m trying to say—and messing it all up—is you’re so focused on work now. So serious. Never relaxing. Walling yourself off from people. That’s not healthy.”

  He folded his arms. “You know, you’ve changed, too, Olivia.”

  Amusement again lit her features. “No more wild child? I can’t believe the things I did back then. The dares I took.”

  “See? People do change. You did. I did. The difference is I like what I’m seeing in you, but you’re not liking what you see in me.”

  She gave a huff of exasperation. “You’re still not getting it. Here’s an example. Yesterday Brett asked me ‘does that guy ever smile?’ Nobody would have asked that question in college.”

  “Come on, now, I’m not that bad.”

  “You don’t think so? Do you know how thrilled I was to see you having fun during the volleyball games? Don’t tell me you didn’t feel the difference deep down inside you.”

  He had. It felt good.

  “I like to have fun as much as the next guy. But life isn’t all about fun. I’m not a college kid anymore. I have responsibilities.”

  “Everybody does. You’re not unique. But back then you seemed to know where you were headed more than the rest of us did. Knew where God wanted you to go.”

  “Appearances can be deceiving.”

  “The corporate world wasn’t ‘it’?”

  “Far from it.”

  She studied him with an intensity that made him squirm. What now?

  “I understand you had a close call in Vegas.”

  Who’d told her that?

  A familiar light sweat broke out above his lip. He wiped it away. “Wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “What happened?”

  He didn’t like talking about it, but the depths of concern in Olivia’s eyes tugged at his heart. Maybe he could tell her. Some of it, anyway. He stepped to an ice chest and snagged a bottled water. Nodded to an empty picnic table set off from the others. She joined him there and he lowered himself to the bench across from her as twilight settled in, lending an aura of separation from the laughing, chatting crowd around them.

  He unscrewed the bottle top. Took a long drink. Recapped it. Then sought Olivia’s anxious gaze in the dimming light. “I’d left the job that originally took me there.” No need to tell her he’d been fired. “Was doing home inspections that day in a mostly foreclosed neighborhood—where it turned out drug dealers had taken up residence in one of the empty houses.”

  She pressed a hand momentarily to her lips. “You stumbled in on them?”

  “Yeah.”

  Had it only been a month and a half since he’d been shoved to the cement garage floor in that vacant suburban residence? The gritty surface scraping his cheek. Cold steel at his temple. Punches. Kicks. Threats as his captors rifled through his pockets. He could only think of Angie. His dear Angie. Prayed God would keep his little girl safe as she grew up without him. That she wouldn’t forget him.

  “How did you get away?”

  By nothing short of a miracle. One of the men had found a photo of Angie in his wallet. Questioned if she was his daughter. He didn’t answer. Didn’t want them to know. Didn’t want them trying to find her. Harming her.

  His refusal to speak earned him another kick, but the first guy said he knew she was his—that she looked just like him. He’d jerked Rob to his feet, tied his hands behind his back with a discarded electrical cord and shoved him into the back floor of his own car. They drove for what seemed an eternity, Rob praying all the while for the safety of his daughter. That they weren’t headed for home where the babysitter awaited his return.

  When the car finally stopped, he’d been dragged into the blazing sun. Pushed to the side of the dirt road. In a haze of unreality, he’d known that was where it would end—with a bullet through his head. But to his shock, the man tossed his wallet in front of him. Said he had a daughter, too. Told Rob to go home to his.

  “I’m sorry, Rob.” Olivia’s gentle voice, her touch on his hand, jerked him back to the present. Her eyes pooled with tears, as though he’d spoken his thoughts aloud. Had she read the trauma still reverberating through him? “I can tell this was a horrifying experience. I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “No. It’s okay. I probably need to talk about it.”

  He took another long drink, the cold water coursing down his parched throat, then set the bottle on the table in front of him, his hand still gripping it.

  “They, uh, roughed me up—but good.” He winced at the memory. “Took my cash. Stole my car. Then dumped me in the desert. I walked to a highway. Flagged down a motorist.”

  Compassion-filled eyes met his as she leaned across the table, hand outstretched to caress his still-healing cheek with the tips of her fingers. Caught off guard at the intimate gesture, he nevertheless held himself still, didn’t jerk away.

  “Thank God.” Her whisper touched a chord deep inside, sent it reverberating, cracking the shell he’d so carefully built around his heart.

  “Believe me,” he managed, voice husky, “I do. Every day.”

  But why did he so much want to tell Olivia the truth of it? All of it. How he hadn’t saved Angie—Angie had saved him.

  Olivia had not-so-good news to share with Rob.

  Still shaken from the ordeal he’d so obviously endured—clearly he’d shared with her only a superficial recounting of it—it was with mixed feelings that she’d heard the sound of his SUV pulling up in front of the lodge early Thursday morning. After a jam-packed Labor Day weekend, he’d hit the road—to wherever—Tuesday night. Personal business he’d said.

  After seeing the raging emotion in the depths of his dark gray eyes when he’d shared with her his terrifying encounter, she hated to burden him with Singing Rock problems. She understood now how the near-death experience could have changed him. She needed to be sensitive to that. But as the man her parents put in charge, he needed to know of the latest maintenance issues.

  She stepped to the open door of the Singing Rock office to find him, as expected, glued to a computer. This time at the office desktop, with Elmo curled up by his feet.

  “Hey, Rob! Miss me?”

  “Olivia. Good morning.”

  That wasn’t an answer to her question, but would she want to hear him say no? The little pup, shoulder bandaged and tail wagging, rose and trotted over to her, limping slightly. She bent to pat him. “Good morning to you, too, little guy.”

  “I was glad to see he survived his ordeal.”

  “He’s getting around pretty good.” She stroked the pup’s soft, dark coat and his tongue grazed her hand in appreciation. “Do you have a minute for me to fill you in on what’s transpired in your absence?”

  “Sure. I imagine you and Brett found
plenty to keep you busy. Sorry I had to take off like that, but it couldn’t be helped.”

  “No problem. We mostly assisted Mrs. Mabank with cabin cleanup in the wake of weekend guest departures.”

  “Big job. When I finish here, I’ll lend a hand.” He glanced at his computer screen, obviously wanting to get back to it. “Anything else?”

  Elmo bumped against her leg and she reached down to scratch him behind the ear. “Big monsoon came through yesterday afternoon. Left Sunflower’s roof leaking—right over the bed. So I had to get the disgruntled couple moved to Creekside. Bigger cabin at no extra cost.”

  Rob groaned. Did he count that among the verboten freebies?

  “Creekside was empty, so I figured it’s better to keep paying guests happy.”

  “I have to agree,” he said, much to her relief. “I’ll get the roofers out there. Should have them check out all the cabins, anyway, before winter snows start piling up.”

  “Already placed the call. No rain in the forecast for the next few days. They can be out on Monday.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  “I did find time to play with the brochure. I know you have ideas of your own, but I plan to take photos of the property while it still looks summery, then autumn and winter ones.”

  He pursed his lips thoughtfully, watching her stroke the pup’s head. “Promoting Singing Rock year-round is something I’ve been thinking a lot about, too. Seems your folks haven’t taken advantage of that as much as they could.”

  “There aren’t as many people looking for a mountain cabin when there are several feet of snow on the ground. Not that it doesn’t make a cozy retreat, but some years the road up from the Valley is treacherous. Even impassable, especially during times with few breaks between storm systems.”

  “Since we require a minimum two-night stay in the off-season and advance cancellation notice, people may be hesitant to book something they could get stuck footing the bill for.”

  She cupped Elmo’s cute little face between her hands. “If the highway’s closed, Mom and Dad don’t hold people to that.”