Once Burned (7 page)

“Very.”

“I would think you’d be pleased by that,” Henry muttered.

“We are,” John replied.

After that, the conversation turned toward happier things, and Henry detailed his day with Lindsay, Vince, and Evie in Virginia City for them. Beth arrived with Will and Jessie just as Tracie and Lindsay were finishing dinner. During the meal, which was as delicious as usual, they all discussed in detail what other plans Henry and Lindsay had for her stay in Northstar.

Throughout the conversation, Henry noted his family exchanging furtive glances and once or twice caught a sly quirk of lips or the wiggling of eyebrows.
Oh, goody
.

When everyone had finished eating, Henry volunteered to help his mother wash the dishes while Nick, Aaron, and their father and Beth, Will, and Jessie entertained Lindsay with tales about ranch life and all there was to see and do in the outdoorsman’s paradise that was Northstar. Both youngsters were instantly charmed by Lindsay and clamored for her attention, which she gave freely while talking with the adults. Henry listened passively, both amused and excited to learn that she quite enjoyed the great outdoors even if she didn’t get much opportunity to indulge herself. She mentioned playing on the wide sandy beach near her parents’ Indianola, Washington, house with her son.

“Indianola?” Henry asked. “That’s where Bill Granger lives—he’s Aelissm’s uncle. Do you know him?”

“Of course I know the Grangers! My parents’ house is right across the street from theirs, and they let us use their stairs down to the beach whenever we want. They’re great people.”

“Yes, they are.”

“She’s a very nice girl,” Tracie remarked quietly to Henry after the others had returned to their conversation. “I quite like her.”

Henry eyed his mother as he handed her a plate to dry. “She’s refreshingly different from Mel, that’s for sure.”

“Indeed she is, and from where I’m standing, that’s a very good thing, which means I have to ask if you know what you’re doing. You two seem to be getting pretty friendly for knowing each other only a few days.”

“Mom, please don’t go reading between the lines. That’s all just part of the deal.”

“I know what you and she
say
it is. She told me about your
arrangement
.”

“She did?”

“Mmm-hmm. She was rather candid about it, so I’m going to tell you right now that you’d best keep treating her like the gentleman your father and I raised you to be.”

Her tone left no room for misunderstanding; she’d make him pay if he did anything to hurt Lindsay. He shifted his weight and took a moment to organize his response. He hadn’t had a conversation like this with either of his parents since high school, and it was at once unsettling and comforting. That his mother was looking out for Lindsay like she never had for Melanie further intensified the peculiar sensation.

“That’s why I’m taking my time to get to know her before we jump into bed together—and, for the record,
she
propositioned
me
.” He paused and met Tracie’s gaze head on for a moment before looking away. “Mel screwed me up pretty badly this time, and I don’t want to take any of that out on Lindsay.”

“Then why didn’t you just tell her no?” his mother asked.

He couldn’t immediately answer that question. Why
hadn’t
he just said no to Lindsay? He’d wanted to. “She intrigues me,” he said at last.

“Then tread very carefully, Henry. Not just for her sake, but for yours, too, because I think you may have found your match, and I don’t want to see either of you get hurt if you can’t tell the difference between a harmless, casual affair and a deeper attachment.”

With that, Tracie turned away to finish drying the dishes and, in her not-so-subtle way of getting him to think about what she’d said, refused to be drawn back into the same line of conversation. Henry gave up wiped down the stove and counters before joining everyone back at the table for a desert of homemade apple pie and vanilla ice cream. Lindsay was naturally the center of attention and didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she chatted with his family as if she’d known them for years instead of hours. The way she doted on Will and Jessie confirmed Henry’s belief that she was a great mom, and his chest tightened a little at the thought, so he hastily shoved it aside before it could take root.

It was almost midnight when he drove her back to Vince and Evie’s. He walked her to the door, but before he let her go inside, he took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

“I hope you enjoyed yourself today,” he said.

“I had an amazing time, Henry. Thank you.”

“I know this is only a temporary, fill-a-void-for-each-other deal, but I think… when you go back to Washington, I’d like to stay friends and keep in touch.”

She tilted her head back to study him in the bright moonlight. “I’d like that, but I’m a little surprised at the offer.”

“So am I, but you have this strange effect on me. You can make me stop and think when all I want to do is stay angry, and that is a rare quality and an even rarer bond.”

“Your mom
did
warn me that you have a bit of a slow-burning, handle-it-yourself temper that takes a while to burn out.”

“Of course she did,” he muttered.

“Mmm-hmm, right before she said that she was amazed at how willingly and easily you listened to me and how quickly you let go of your irritation with Nick.”

“Why can’t my family just mind their own business?”

“Because they love you and they want you to be happy.”

“And did she happen to say she thought you would make me happy?”

“No, but I think she likes me. We had a good time cooking together. Did she say something to you about it?”

“Oh, she definitely likes you, and she gave me a crystal clear impression that she would castrate me if I did anything to hurt you.”

“I think I really like your mom.”

“She’s a wonderful woman.” He cocked his head. “She thinks I’ve found my match.”

“Henry… neither of us is looking for a relationship, remember?”

The way she said it made him think she wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea, either. But he, at least, was not yet in a place to entertain the idea of getting involved in a serious relationship again.

“I’m well aware of that,” he said. “But in some ways, she may be right… because I
did
listen to you. That’s something of a miracle, as I’m sure you gathered. It’s easy to talk to you. I was
never
able to talk to Melanie like we are now.”

“If I was ever able to talk like this with Max, it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten,” Lindsay said by way of agreement. “So, yes, I’m open to staying in touch after I go back to Washington. I think we could both use another good friend. Perhaps with a few extra benefits by week’s end if you’re still game for that.”

He slipped his fingers along her jaw and angled his body toward hers as he caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. Before he lowered his mouth to hers, he whispered, “I definitely will be.”

SHOWING LINDSAY A GOOD TIME in Montana had had the unintended side effect of reminding Henry how much about his home he took for granted. Until he’d taken her to Crystal Park on Tuesday, he’d forgotten how much fun it was to play in the dirt and how addicting the hunt for those clear rocks was. Also, prior to their excursion to Bannack State Park on Wednesday, it had been years since he’d last visited Montana’s first territorial capital, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d ridden a horse across his family’s ranch purely for the pleasure of it. Yesterday’s ride with Lindsay, along with the endless laughter that accompanied her total inexperience with horses and her wide-eyed awe, had driven home just how much there was to love about his family’s way of life and how lucky he was to live it.

As he headed out to his small garage a quarter after seven on Friday morning, he tried not to think about today being Lindsay’s last full day in Northstar. Tomorrow was Luke’s football game, and after, she’d be checking into a hotel in Butte because Vince and Evie would be staying in Butte tomorrow night, having the early flight out the following morning. Despite his vow to avoid it, he wondered how she’d spend the hours until her late afternoon flight and wished he could come up with a decent excuse to spend them with her.

It was a pure and simple truth that this week had been an incredible adventure brightened by her vibrant smile, her frank honesty, and her quick wit, and he was going to miss her more than he was willing to admit out loud.

Again, he had to remind himself that this wasn’t real.

That’s not true. The relationship isn’t real, but everything else is.
Thanks to her initial openness, he was able to trust that she and their friendship were absolutely genuine even after Mel’s wrenching deception.
That
was something else he needed to thank Lindsay for. The desire to inflict pain on someone else as an outlet for his own had faded into nothing. It’d be a long time yet before he was able to forgive Melanie and longer still before he stopped wishing the paternity test results had been different, but the anger was gone.

Shaking his head, he grabbed his helmet and the spare he’d bought for Melanie just in case she ever wanted to go riding—she never did—and swung set doors of the garage open. He straddled the bike, shifted it into neutral, and walked it backwards outside. Briefly settling it on its kickstand, he trotted into his house to get his mother’s old leather jacket. Lindsay was about the same size as his mother, so it should fit her. He folded it tightly and stuffed it in the saddlebag. The spare helmet he strapped down with a black bungee.

He had told Lindsay he would be at Vince and Evie’s to pick her up at eight sharp, but he was a bit early. Still, when he rode up to the newlyweds’ home, she was sitting out on the front steps with Evie sipping a cup of something hot and steaming. She was dressed, as he’d suggested, in jeans and long sleeves, and she smiled when their gazes met. His heart tripped a little.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked after he shut his bike down.

“I surely am.” Lindsay drained her drink—French vanilla coffee by the smell—bid her friend farewell until later, and joined him in the driveway.

Henry pulled the leather jacket out and handed it to her, then the helmet.

“Melanie’s?” Lindsay asked.

“The jacket was Mom’s, and the helmet is a spare.”

“Mel never rode with you?”

“Nope.”

“She doesn’t like motorcycles?”

“She likes them well enough. We just never took my old bike out. Then again, I think we only came up here four times when we were together, and two of those trips were over Christmas, which is not a good time to ride Harleys around here.”

“I imagine not.”

Once Lindsay had pulled on the jacket, which fit perfectly, and secured her helmet, she climbed on the motorcycle behind Henry and waved one last time to Evie. Her cherubic friend returned the gesture with a broad grin.

“Any instructions, boss?” Lindsay asked.

“Hold on to me, try to stay relaxed, and lean with me. Other than that, it’s pretty easy, so enjoy the ride.”

She tucked her legs in behind his with her feet resting on the back pegs and wrapped her arms loosely around his waist. He started the bike and drove slowly down the Carlyles’ driveway to the main road through the valley. After waiting for Ben and June Conner to drive by on their way to the Ramshorn for work, he pulled onto the road, following them north on the Northstar Mountains Scenic Byway. The Conners stuck their hands out their windows and waved as Henry and Lindsay continued around the bend past the Ramshorn’s driveway. Lindsay said something, but Henry couldn’t hear it over the Harley’s engine.

“What was that?” he called back to her.

“I like it here!” she yelled. “Everyone’s so friendly!”

“Yeah, they are!”

The road snaked up through dense lodgepole pine and Douglas fir forest with occasional glimpses of the towering peaks of the Northstar Mountains until just after it crested the pass between the Northstar and Crystal Valleys. Then, the landscape opened up into lush alpine meadows still dotted with wildflowers even this late in the summer. To the east, the more rugged northern peaks stood proud against a deep blue sky brushed with long streamers of cirrus clouds. On the other side of the Crystal Valley, the road twisted around two sharp switchbacks on its way down into the Wise River Valley, and Lindsay asked if they could take a detour to see the Coolidge ghost town. He pulled off the scenic byway on the road to the ghost town but turned the bike back toward the main road rather than up to Coolidge.

“It’s five miles up a gravel road to the trailhead, and another three-quarters of a mile to the ghost town on foot,” he told her. “I don’t want to take the bike up there, but how about we plan a trip up there the next time you’re in Northstar to visit Evie?”

“I don’t know when that’ll happen, but I’d love that if you wouldn’t mind playing tour guide to me again.”

“I would love to. You’re great company, and besides, playing tour guide to you is helping me reconnect with my home. I’d forgotten just how much I love this place.”

She briefly wrapped her arms higher around him, and he captured her hands and held them against his chest in silent gratitude for her presence. Without his deal with her, he wasn’t sure if he would have bothered to take the time to visit all the places and do the things that made Northstar home. Most likely, he would have plunged into work on the ranch and gone on as the rope in the game of tug-of-war between his wanderlust and his soul-deep appreciation of this place.

Always at odds,
he mused.
But not when I’m with Lindsay
.

If he let himself think about it for more than a moment, the realization that she somehow satisfied his desire for adventure and simultaneously provided contentment might have terrified him. So he didn’t let himself think about it and instead concentrated on keeping his Harley rubber-side down on the winding mountain highway. They spotted several whitetail and mule deer, a large coyote, a moose, and three cow elk by the time the valley widened into the sagebrush flats just north of the tiny town of Wise River. Since they were making better time than he’d planned—he was somewhat surprised Lindsay hadn’t asked him to stop—Henry pulled off the highway west of Wise River into one of the many recreation areas along the Big Hole River so they could stretch and walk out any numbness brought on by the vibration from the frame-mounted engine of the bike.

“Enjoying the ride so far?” he asked.

“Absolutely! You’re really lucky to call this place home, Henry. The country up here is stunning.”

“Yes, it is. And yes, I am.”

“What river is this?”

“This is the Big Hole, and it’s prime trout fishing.”

“That’s it. I’m going to have to find a way to come back sooner rather than later. There is just too much here to see and do in the limited time I have.”

“You like to fish?”

“You bet I do. My dad used to take me out salmon fishing in the Puget Sound and Hood Canal every summer. And we’ve been lake and stream fishing a few times, too.”

“You really
are
an outdoors kind of girl, then.”

“When Evie wanted to play dress up, Skye and I would try to talk her into building forts in the woods behind my parents’ house or running through the tide pools on the Indianola Beach. I was a total tomboy, remember?”

“Yes, I do. I’d ask if your parents wanted a boy and tried to make up for not getting one, but I get the feeling tomboy is just in your makeup.”

“It really is,” Lindsay said and laughed. “They actually wanted a girl, and for a while, my mother tried to turn me into a proper one… until she realized it wasn’t going to happen. Then she embraced her little tomboy and encouraged me to be whatever I wanted to be.”

“Your parents sound like great people.”

“They are. They’ve been there for me through everything, even when I didn’t want anyone’s help.”

“A little stubborn?” Henry asked. “Or just proud?”

“Both, and more than a little.”

“No wonder you and I get along so well.”

“You? Stubborn? Say it isn’t so.”

“Har har. How ‘bout we get back on the bike for the second leg of our ride to Anaconda?”

“Did I touch a nerve?” Lindsay asked. The playful note was still thick in her voice.

“Well, I
do
have my pride you know.”

When she tipped her head back and laughed, Henry found himself grinning. God, she was fun to be around. He offered his elbow, and she slipped her hand around it, and they walked back to his bike as several rafts of fishermen drifted by on the current of the river.

“So, how long have you and Skye and Evie been friends?” Henry asked.

“Since elementary school. We were all in the same second grade class. I should’ve gone to a different school because I lived in Indianola, but my mom taught at Poulsbo Elementary, so that’s where I went.”

“Your mom’s a teacher? What grade.”

“Was. She retired last year, but she taught sixth grade, mostly.”

“Retired already?”

“I wouldn’t say
already
. She taught for forty-two years.”

Henry stopped and stared at his companion. Something didn’t add up. “How old are your parents?”

“Sixty-six. They were forty when I was born and had given up hope of ever having children. Needless to say, I was quite the surprise.”

Henry chuckled. “I bet so. I’d also bet they were thrilled.”

“They were. I am so blessed to have the parents I do, and if I do even half as well with Noah as they did with me, I’ll have done a good job.”

“I’m sure you’ll do every bit as well.”

They climbed back on his bike, and he thought she held on just a little tighter for a moment. He almost told her that he hadn’t said that just to ease her maternal doubts, that he firmly believed every word, but he sensed doing so would cheapen the compliment, so he started the bike and pulled back onto the highway.

The Mount Haggin road was more open than the Northstar Mountains Scenic Byway but no less gorgeous. The towering peaks of the Anaconda Range, still bearing the ragged remnants of the past winter’s snows, rose majestically to the west and north while tall ridges blanketed in pines and firs and groves of quaking aspen flanked the valley on the east and south, and meandering streams kept the narrow valley bottom vividly green beneath the burning August sun. The wind was warm on Henry’s exposed skin, but periodically they passed through pockets of cooler air, particularly when they neared one of the streams and as they climbed higher toward Mount Haggin. Pastures and meadows were still flooded with wildflowers, and Henry recalled his family remarking that the winter had been cold, wet, and long. Good. The area had been experiencing drought conditions for much of the past decade, and he hoped the dry spell was coming to an end.

Henry chuckled at himself.
Yeah, coming back was the right move if I’m already thinking like a rancher again.

In Anaconda, they found a small mom-and-pop sandwich shop and ordered their lunch to go, then headed back toward Northstar to eat their meal picnic-style somewhere along the road. Henry pulled off at a point-of-interest turnout overlooking an old homestead, and they ate at the picnic table just beyond the parking area.

“It’s neat how you can feel the differences in air temperature on the back of a motorcycle,” Lindsay remarked.

“Yep, you definitely don’t get that in a car. Or quite the sense of scale, either.”

“Indeed not.” She set her sandwich down and leaned forward on her elbows. “So, what’s the story behind the bike? I know it has a story.”

“Not much of one. I bought it when I graduated from high school from an old guy down in Devyn for cheap. It needed a little love, so I used it as a project in college. Had it ever since.”

“College,” Lindsay murmured wistfully. “I can’t tell you how often I’ve wondered what I missed by not going right after high school.”

“You could still go, you know.”

“Maybe, but if I
do
, it won’t be the same experience I would’ve had going straight out of high school. I lost that wide-eyed wonder of new independence a long time ago.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“My parents used to tell me that the experiences of discovering themselves, making friends, and testing their independence were even more valuable than the degrees they earned. I already know how I am, and maybe I struggle a lot, but I’ve proven that I can be independent. Do you think they’re right?”

Henry thought back over his four years at the university in Devyn, and with one appalling exception, which he didn’t feel comfortable divulging without Nick’s and Beth’s permission, he very much agreed with Lindsay’s parents. “I’d say yes, definitely. I had a great time, and while I don’t know if I discovered who I am at college, I certainly made great friends and learned a lot about being independent… even if I did go to school less than an hour’s drive from home.”

“Skye and Evie agree, too.”