Praised by the Mountain Man (Whiskey Mountain #3)
Chapter One
Tessa
“Mom! Mom! Mom!”
I am jolted awake by the sound of my sister screaming and my heart breaks even more. I look at the clock. 2:37 a.m. These nightmares aren’t new for Ruby, but they seem to be getting worse instead of better. I wipe the tears streaming down my cheeks away before rising and heading down the hall to her room. I push open her white door with the “RUBY’S ROOM” sign on it.
She’s thrashing in her bed, and I can tell she’s sweating.
“Hey, hey Rubes. Calm down. I’m here. I’m here.” I sit on the edge of the bed pulling her up to me and stroking her mess of blonde curls. She looks just like me, same green eyes, same golden hair, but smaller.
She sniffles. “Sorry, Tessy. I just miss them,” she says through sniffles.
“I know, Rubes, I know,” I say, continuing to stroke her hair, hoping she’ll be able to calm down soon. Ruby was only five when our parents died two years ago. I was freshly twenty-one and heading into my last year of college, hoping to pursue my dream of being an English teacher.
On one of my last nights in town, I offered to watch Ruby so my parents could have a date night. She was their late in life surprise after years of trying to give me a sibling for most of my childhood. When Ruby came along when I was sixteen, I knew our sister relationship would never be a typical one.
By the time I was in college, I realized how hard it must have been for their lives to change so drastically. Right before my mom got pregnant with Ruby, they had decided it was time to invest in building their dream house in our hometown of Whiskey Mountain. My dad had always loved this house just off Main Street, but knew that the family that lived there would never sell. Until tragedy struck.
An electrical fire burned the house down, and instead of rebuilding, the family cut their losses and sold the land. Dad jumped at the opportunity and rebuilt the house, almost exactly the same, except for the paint color. He finally saw his dream come to life.
He only got to live here for a few years before his life came to an end.
That night, I was hanging in the living room, Ruby asleep in her toddler bed upstairs, when I heard a knock on the front door. It was 9:06 p.m. on August 16, a time I will never forget. I opened the door and found two Whiskey Mountain Police Department officers on the front step, and I immediately knew something horrible had happened.
The officers asked if they could come inside, I nodded my head and lead them back to the living room. I sat down on the couch as they stood to the side and told me my parents had been killed in what they could only call a “freak accident.” They were out kayaking on the lake—one of their favorite things to do together, and something they hadn’t been able to do enough since Ruby was born—when a motorboat suddenly lost control. The officers shared the rest of the details with me, but all I could here was a whooshing in my head, like the world was falling out from beneath me.
The next few months passed in a blur. I dropped out of college. I became Ruby’s guardian. I had to learn how to run the house, how to manage the money my parents had left us, but I never learned how to get over losing them. I still haven’t.
We’ve gotten used to our routine in the last few years, Ruby and I, but it’s never really gotten easier.
As I sit in my baby sister’s bed, soothing her back to sleep, I can’t help but wonder what our lives would be like now if mom and dad were still here. If they had been here to see Ruby start school, or to see me finish my degree online. If they would be proud of me for how I’m raising Ruby, for the job I took at the local high school to make sure I’m always free for her.
I like to think they would be.
Although I would never, ever give up Ruby, changing everything in my life for her has been far from easy. I often feel like I’m behind because my responsibilities have changed. I lost my last year of school, my friends, and most of all, any possibility of ever having a normal relationship.
I was so focused on graduating at the top of my class to get into a good university, and then so focused on pursuing my masters in English, that I never even thought about boys. Now, I’m twenty-three and I’ve never even had my first kiss. It sucks.
Ruby finally dozes off beside me, but I can’t bring myself to leave her. Ava, my best friend who I met after she came to the house, wanting to see what happened to her home after it burned down, has been great in showing me a path to some renewed independence. She comes over and hangs with Ruby while I run errands or go get my nails done and the chance to do stuff for myself has made me realize that there is a whole world out there that I have been missing.
Maybe now that Ruby is older, I can finally have a little time to get out in the world , I think as I drift off next to her.
***
The next afternoon, Ruby has gone to a friend’s house for a playdate and I’m not sure what to do with myself. I text Ava and our other friend, Luna, to see what they’re up to and they tell me to head over to Whiskey Mountain Brewing, the local brewery that their partners own.
I’ve been there a few times before and have always had a good time, so I don’t hesitate to head over. I close up my classroom and, because the main part of this town is so small, walk over to the brewery.
I open the door and head into the wide-open space, spotting Ava sitting at the bar and Luna working behind it. I let out a sigh of relief as soon as I sit down.
“Long day?” Ava asks.
“Yeah, these juniors are tough to teach. Great kids, but so many questions. I’m so glad Ruby had a playdate this afternoon because I would have gone crazy otherwise… I know that sounds awful,” I drift off, not wanting to seem like a complainer.
“Tessa, please,” Luna says, sliding me my favorite IPA over the bar. “You know you don’t have to tone it down with us.”
“Exactly,” Ava says, running a hand through her chestnut waves. “We’re here for you to vent.”
So that’s what I do, I spend the next hour and a half venting, and laughing, slowly sipping on my beer. I feel so much lighter by the time I’m walking out of the brewery to go pick up Ruby that I don’t even notice the man rolling a dolly right in front of me.
I walk straight into him.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” I say, looking up at the man. The eyes that meet mine are dark blue and swimming with curiosity. They’re the kind of eyes you could get lost in for hours. He has close-cropped brown hair with a matching, neatly trimmed beard, and I can see a tattoo peeking out of the slightly open collar of his denim button down. He might be the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. He reminds me of Chris Evans.
“All good,” he says, a bit gruffly. He looks me up and down in a way I’ve never experienced, like he’s really looking at all of me . “You’re Ava and Luna’s friend, right?”
I’m surprised he’s keeping the conversation going when everything about him screams that he is in a rush.
I nod. “Yes. I’m Tessa,” I say, somewhat stupidly considering he didn’t ask for my name.
“Tessa,” he says, nodding his head in what looks to be appreciation. “I’m Luke. I run the deliveries here.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Why is this so awkward?
“Well, I need to be heading out.” I scurry off without another word, thinking about the interaction my whole walk back to my car. I get there and realize I don’t have my keys.
Shit.
I spot them on the center console. How could I have been so careless? I don’t have time to wait for AAA to come and unlock it before I need to get Ruby, so I rush back to the brewery hoping that one of the girls could give me a ride.
But, when I walk in, I see them both working behind the bar—Ava helps out sometimes when they get slammed—and I can tell neither of them would be able to get away. I turn and walk out of the door, contemplating my next move.
“Shit,” I say again, this time out loud.
“What’s wrong?” I hear a deep voice ask from behind me. It’s Luke.
“I—I locked my keys in my car, and I have to pick up my sister in,” I glance down at my watch, “fifteen minutes. I don’t have time to wait for the service to unlock it. I was going to see if Ava or Luna could give me a ride, but obviously they’re slammed. I just need to figure out what to do.” I take a breath, realizing I’m rambling and spiraling out of control in front of this man I don’t even know.
He looks at me for another moment, eyes piercing me yet again. After a moment he simply says, “I’ll take you.”
I’m shocked by the offer, from out interaction a few minutes ago, it didn’t seem like he ever wanted to see me again, and now he’s volunteering to help me get Ruby? Men are so confusing.
“Really? Oh my gosh, that would be so nice, but you really don’t have to. We just met, I’m sure you have something better to do—”
“Just follow me, blondie,” he says, cutting me off and grabbing my hand to lead me towards his truck.
Maybe it’s a good thing I walked into him earlier.