by Emily March
She wanted to soak in a hot bathtub, read a book, sip a glass of wine, and unwind. Unfortunately, she discovered that her water heater had picked that day to go out, so she not only had to spend an extra half hour on the phone making arrangements to have it replaced, but the bath she’d looked forward to wasn’t going to happen.
Instead, after tending to the puppies, she pulled on a sweater, poured her wine, and stepped out into the backyard, Roxy at her side. The temperature had dropped with the setting of the sun, making it the chilliest evening in recent weeks and heralding the advent of autumn, which was just around the corner.
Hope took a seat on the lounge chair that sat next to the fountain she’d installed earlier that summer, and Roxy hopped up into her lap. Hope stroked the dog’s coat and smiled. She loved the sound of flowing water, and since she couldn’t afford a home on Angel Creek, she’d decided this was the next best thing. Against the backdrop of a burbling fountain, she gazed up at the star-filled night sky, drew a deep breath, then exhaled the stress of the day. Picking out the Big Dipper, she thought about her daughter. Was Holly out there somewhere looking up at the same stars, too? She’d like to think so.
Roxy lifted her head from Hope’s lap and let out a low-throated growl. “Well, now,” Hope chided. “What’s that for?”
A voice floated from out of the darkness. “I trust you’ll keep hold of old scissor-teeth there. I’m not in the mood to nurse another dog bite.”
Startled, Hope stared in the direction of Lucca Romano’s voice and after a moment, made out the shadowed figured of the man lying on the ground. “Are you drunk, Mr. Romano?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
Because she’d heard through the grapevine that he’d taken to spending most evenings at Murphy’s Pub. “You are lying on the ground in the dark. Seems to me like something a drunk would do.”
“You and your dog are a lot alike, aren’t you? You’re both suspicious and mean.”
“Roxy isn’t mean; she’s sweet. She was protecting her babies when she bit you. And I’m not mean, either.” Suspicious, however, was another thing entirely. What was the man doing out here in the dark?
“Sure you are. You haven’t even asked if I’m okay. What if I tripped on something and fell and broke my leg and I can’t get up?”
“Is that what happened?”
“No.”
“Then I’m not mean for ignoring your broken leg, am I?”
“That’s a technicality. You still shouldn’t have thrown drunkenness as your first pitch.”
Hope sipped her wine and considered it. “All right. I concede the point. So what are you really doing lying in your backyard in the dark?”
“Stargazing. It’s a hobby of mine. I took astronomy in college because it was supposed to be an easy A class. It wasn’t easy, though. I worked hard for my A. Never expected to fall in love with the night sky, but I did.”
Now she was intrigued. “I can find the Big and Little Dipper, but beyond that, I’ve never been able to pick out the constellations. My mind doesn’t see the lines between them.”
After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “Do you have a good grip on that dog?”
“She’s not going to hurt you,” Hope replied, rolling her eyes.
She heard a rustling and watched the shadow rise. He strode into her backyard, his features still hidden on this moonless night. “There’s too much light here. Why don’t you take the mutt inside and turn off your house lights. I’ll show you the stars.”
Hope’s pulse sped up. Her sense of self-preservation told her to take Roxy inside and stay there. Maybe it was her fatigue or the wine or the fact that she hadn’t enjoyed any male companionship in longer than she cared to remember, but she didn’t want to listen to any voices of reason whispering inside her. Without responding, she rolled to her feet, deposited Roxie with her pups, switched off the lights, and returned to the backyard.
Lucca had pulled a second lounge chair beside the one she’d been sitting in and he’d lowered the headrests of both chairs flat. He lay on one of the chairs, his head pillowed in his hands. Hope hesitated, then stretched out beside him.
“It’s a good night for stargazing,” he said. “Cloudless sky, and since we’re on the edge of town, limited ambient light.”
“I have binoculars in the house.”
“Don’t need them. Constellations and large comets and meteors are best observed with unaided vision. If you develop your skills this way you’ll have better success once you move on to binoculars and telescopes. Tonight, I’ll be your star chart. Let your gaze wander around the sky and choose something you are curious about.”
“I want to see a constellation. Really see it.”
“Any one in particular?”
“No.”
“Well, then, since you already said you can find the Big Dipper, why don’t we start with the Great Bear.”
“Ursa Major,” she said.
“That’s right. You already know it?”
“Only the little I picked up from shows on PBS.”
“How scientific do you want me to be?”
He was close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body. She wished she could see his eyes—see his expression. She felt a tension in the air that she couldn’t quite interpret without reading him visually. “What do you mean by ‘scientific’?”
“Reality or mythology?”
“Honestly, I like the mythology best.”
“All right, then. Find the Big Dipper.”
“Got it.”
“The handle of the dipper is the Great Bear’s tail. The dipper’s cup is the bear’s flank. Now, Ursa Major is a large constellation, so keep your field of vision wide. You’re looking for the bear’s head now.”
He removed his hands from behind his head and pointed toward the sky. “The bright star at the top of the Big Dipper’s bowl is Dubhe. If it’s the center of a clock, you’re going to draw a line at about one o’clock to the next brightest star. That’s part of the bear’s head. Got it?”
“It’s too dark to see where you are pointing.”
He rolled over onto his side facing her and took hold of her right hand with his. Lacing their fingers, he extended their arms toward the night sky. “Put your index finger against mine.”
His hand was so big. His skin so warm. He leaned forward until their faces almost touched. Hope’s pulse began to race. His voice was low and gravelly against her ear as he moved her hand. “Big Dipper. Dubhe. One o’clock. Bright star. You with me?”
Breathlessly, she murmured, “Yes.”
“We take that line this way to the next brightest star. That’s the tip of the old guy’s snout. See it?”
“I do.” Hope fought the instinct to snuggle against the heat of him.
“Now we’re going to come back and down toward the bottom star in the Big Dipper’s bowl, but first, we stop here. Got to give the old guy his front legs.”
Hope’s attention wandered. He must have showered shortly before he went outside because the scent of the sandalwood soap his sister-in-law sold in her shop clung to his skin. She’d managed not to snuggle, but she couldn’t help but lean forward and sniff.
“We are about halfway between the snout and the lower star in the bowl of the dipper. Okay?” She nodded, and he continued, “Take your line down curving here to what looks like a double star, his knee joint.”
“Are they called knees in bears?”
Lucca seemed to bury his nose in her hair, and goose bumps skimmed up her neck. In a low, intimate voice, he asked, “What else would you call them?”
She couldn’t think of anything, and she forced her attention back to the night sky. “Is the star down from there at five o’clock the foot?”
“Very good.”
She felt his breath on her neck. She shuddered and closed her eyes, and yearned. If she turned her face toward him, would he kiss her? It had been so long and she’d been so alone. What would it hurt? Jus
t to feel connected with someone for a short time would be so … welcome. “Lucca, I …”
He stilled for a beat, then subtly moved away without releasing her hand. Rather than intimate, his tone now sounded instructive. “Now, see if you can find the bear’s hind legs. Start from the bottom of the Big Dipper.”
It took Hope a moment to drag her attention back to the sky, and upon doing so, she discovered she really didn’t care about the bear’s hind legs. She also couldn’t see the stars very well because her vision had blurred.
Watery eyes from the chill in the air, she told herself. Not tears. Tears would be stupid. He was her grumpy next-door neighbor with whom she had nothing in common except an affinity for his mother and sister and an appreciation for starry nights.
How pathetic. Really, a little male kindness and she’s suddenly desperate enough, lonely enough, to melt all over the lawn. Where’s your pride?
She picked out a star and with a hand that slightly trembled, drew a line.
“Nope,” Lucca said. “The line goes to one star here”—he moved her hand—“then it branches. Here and here and that’s it. The Great Bear, Ursa Major.”
He released her hand and moved back onto his own lounger. “So, can you find it now?”
Hope stared up into the heavens. She found the Big Dipper, then retraced the paths he’d pointed out moments before, and a slow smile spread over her face. “I can. I see it.”
And really, now that she thought about it, wasn’t this gift better than something as fleeting as a kiss? “You explained it very well. You are a good teacher. Thank you, Lucca.”
He didn’t respond, and Hope wondered if she’d inadvertently wandered back into the same no-man’s-land that she had landed in when she’d called him “Coach.” The moment stretched, and the silence grew awkward and uncomfortable. She was still searching for something to say to interrupt the quiet when he finally spoke.
“You know, I liked it. Teaching, I mean. I never taught academic subjects, but I always believed that sports offer students valuable lessons that they’ll use the rest of their lives. It’s so much more than winning and losing.”
“I agree with that. Knowing how to work as part of a team is invaluable.”
“True. Sports teach the value of discipline, of sacrifice. They teach the value of goal setting and how to deal with failure. Sure, the so-called money sports have that entertainment factor as part of the package, but really, what’s wrong with that? Some people like to be entertained by reading a novel. Others prefer to watch professional baseball. To each his own, I say.”
Hope’s mouth gaped slightly. Why, who knew Lucca Romano had that many words in him? Positive words at that?
“I’ve never believed that sports figures should be considered heroes—that term should be reserved for people like my brother Zach, who has put his life on the line for others more than once—but then I don’t think that about Hollywood stars or politicians or other people our society decides are celebrities, either. But these star athletes, they started out just like everybody else in Pee Wee football or on school teams. People aren’t born knowing how to throw a ninety-two-mile-an-hour fastball or hit a twenty-foot jumper. They learn it through hard work and practice and paying attention to what coaches are trying to teach them. That’s something a kid at home who watches and dreams can pick up on and learn from.”
This had the tone of being an old argument. Hope wondered where his defensiveness came from. “I agree with that, too,” she told him, honestly. “I think sports teach a lot of good life lessons.”
Her comment seemed to stop him. After another long moment of silence, he said quietly, “And, some not-so-good life lessons, too.”
With that, he swung his legs off the lounge chair and stood. “I need to go. Sorry about the soapbox.”
It happened so fast that he was halfway to his house before Hope found her voice. “Lucca? Thanks for teaching me the stars.”
“No problem.”
She heard his footsteps on his back porch and the creak of the screen door. Then, out of the darkness, he said, “The easy A factor wasn’t the only reason why I took that college astronomy class. Back in middle school, I had a teacher who taught a unit on Native American folklore, and many of the stories she taught were based on the constellations. I never forgot them. The tale about Ursa Major is about hunters who chased the Great Bear into the sky and wounded him. In the autumn, the bear’s blood spills from the stars onto the earth, turning the trees red.”
“Well, that’s a gruesome picture.”
“Lots of those tales were violent. I loved them. The point I want to make is … well … teachers can be heroes, too.”
“I’m a teacher.”
“I know that. Good night, Ms. Montgomery.”
The shadows were so deep that she couldn’t see his expression. Why, then, did she picture a smile on his face? The screen door banged shut. Inside her house, Roxie let out a yip yip yip.
Hope looked up at the starry sky and smiled.
FIVE
“Lasagna,” Lucca said, accepting the pan from his sister and pasting a smile on his face while his stomach sank with dread. Gabi had to be the world’s worst cook. “My favorite.”
“I hope you like it. I know Mom’s recipe is hard to beat, but I thought I’d try something a little different.”
Oh, joy. In the two weeks since he’d arrived in Eternity Springs, he’d endured a number of his sister’s culinary experiments. Why was it that such a smart woman couldn’t manage to follow a recipe? “Great. Do you want to come in?”
“I just have a few minutes,” she said, stepping into the house and following him back toward his kitchen. “Zach hired a replacement for me and he starts the job tonight. I’ll be working the evening shift with him, showing him the ropes. I had just enough time to run this by and, well, I wanted to ask you a question.”
Lucca set the pan of lasagna on the counter and tried to recall if he’d done something worth getting an ass-chewing over since he’d last seen his sister. He didn’t think so. Warily, he asked, “About what?”
“Mom. You’ve been working at the house for over a week now. How do you like it?”
The house? Lucca knew his sister well enough to understand that she wasn’t truly asking about his experience. “Are you having second thoughts about leaving your job?”
“No. Not really. I know leaving is the right decision. It’s the ‘where I go next’ that’s making me insecure.”
Lucca didn’t like the uncertain look on his sister’s face, so he snorted. “Oh, come on, Gabi. You are the most confident woman I’ve ever known. You don’t have an insecure atom in your body. What is this really about?”
She offered him a tender smile. “You can be a sweetheart when you want, Lucca Romano. Now, give me the scoop. What is it like at Aspenglow Place?”
Lucca opened the oven door and slid the pan of lasagna inside. He set the temperature at two hundred degrees. “I have the siding scraped and sanded and ready to prime.”
“I mean being with Mom all day.”
“I’m not with her all day, Gabs. I’m working outside and she’s usually indoors. But having her boss me around isn’t really anything different than what’s she’s been doing all my life.”
Glumly, Gabi asked, “So she still treats you like you’re ten years old? And I’m thinking about working with her full-time? Great. Just great.”
“Honey.” Lucca folded his arms. “If you’re having this much doubt and you haven’t even spent a day with Mom, I think you should take a long, hard look at what you are doing.”
“You are supposed to make me feel better.”
“Darlin’, that is not my job.”
“Sure it is. You’ve been doing that all our lives. You’ve always been my go-to brother when I needed to feel better.”
“Well, babycakes, times have changed. I have my hands full on that front as it is.”
Gabi cocked her head and studied him. “Ho
w is that going? Is Eternity Springs working its magic on you?”
Lucca aimed a deliberate look toward the wall clock. “Don’t you need to get to work?”
“Seriously, Lucca. How are you doing?”
“I hear your boss is a hard-ass. You’d better get going.”
“It’s one little question. Answer it.” He didn’t respond, and after a moment, Gabi said, “Well, I think it’s a good sign that you haven’t ended up in the sheriff’s office drunk tank again.”
“Eternity Springs has a drunk tank?”
“Not really, no. But people do gossip. I wish you’d talk to me, brother.”
He scowled at her. “Nice weather we’re having.”
“I see you obviously haven’t been here long enough.”
“Good-bye, Gabriella.”
She flashed a grin, then walked over to press a kiss to his cheek. “Good-bye, Lucca. I love you, Lucca. Enjoy your lasagna, Lucca.”
He reflected on her question as he sat at his kitchen table a few minutes later and cautiously speared a bite of her lasagna with his fork. Was he glad he’d come to Colorado?
His thoughts drifted back to the previous evening and the time spent with the sexy schoolteacher. He had enjoyed her company. Hell, he’d come close to enjoying it too much. A couple of times there he’d been a breath away from kissing her.
Something about her stoked him. It wasn’t only her looks, though that glorious hair and curvy ass absolutely did do it for him. But she had this, well, glow about her that drew him. She was light and bright and that appealed to him. He was tired of being dark.
Kissing her, however, would have been a colossal mistake. He had a tough enough job as it was keeping a healthy balance of family involvement in his everyday life; no way did he want them involved in his love life.
“Not that I have a love life,” he grumbled and stuck the bite of pasta into his mouth. The moment the food hit his taste buds, he grimaced. Way too much salt. How could she screw up lasagna so badly? If she does end up working at the B&B, Mom better keep her far, far away from the kitchen.