Chapter 4 The Mountain Belle
The Mountain Belle
Excitement shimmered in the air two days later, despite the freezing temperatures and oppressive sky once more threatening to dump snow. Winter had come early this year.
Shane surveyed the buzzing crowd gathered at the restored train depot.
He was on duty, though he didn’t expect trouble beyond a puking drunk or Mrs. Danvers threatening anyone who dared to park in front of her house—even though said house was on a public byway.
In other words, he anticipated the usual nonsense.
On one corner of the platform, a four-piece Celtic rock band tested out their instruments, sending errant notes into the air.
As a local, he’d looked forward to this historic event along with the other townsfolk.
Would he have preferred to be on the train, like Sheriff Chesterton?
While riding on the train for its inaugural run would have been a thrill, Shane could do that any time going forward.
But watching it pull into town for the first time in a hundred years? Now that was a special treat.
His community’s generosity, unwavering belief, and sheer stubborn will had culminated in this precise moment in time, and he would witness the final result. How cool was that?
All around him, Fall River’s residents pressed together, craning their heads.
People’s eager chatter puffed from their mouths in little bursts of steam that rose and disappeared into the low-hanging clouds, but no one seemed to be affected by the bleakness.
As the Mountain Belle’s whistle echoed off steep canyon walls below the town, growing louder, so did the burble.
Soon it would be pulling in at the station, and they waited for it to round the corner.
Their shared dream was about to become reality
Today’s inaugural voyage would include the people who had breathed new life into the historic train—a mix of visionaries who had first recognized the potential, the passionate believers who had persisted and pushed to see it through, and the investors who had financed the project.
Accompanying them would be leaf-peeping guests from Silver Summit who had paid for the privilege of being on the Mountain Belle’s first run.
They would disembark and swarm the quaint shops and restaurants lining Bowen Street before leaving on the return run hours later.
Some had booked a night at the Grand Majestic Hotel and would spend their cash in the town’s restaurants.
The wealth of activity would generate dollars for the town’s coffers, and going forward, the train would carry tourists back and forth between the two locales, like a novelty shuttle.
Shane planned to drink in as much of the momentous occasion as possible.
It was a time of celebration for everyone in Fall River, and especially for two of his best friends, Noah and Charlie Hunnicutt, who were part of the passionate contingent chugging toward them.
Hell, Noah, had nearly singlehandedly pushed the project through himself, shouldering the load like Atlas bench-pressing the celestial globe.
And Charlie, the town’s preservationist, had overseen the depot’s restoration, even doing the tedious cleanup on the wooden scrollwork himself.
“Coffee, Deputy?”
Shane’s pulse spiked at the sound of Amy’s melodious voice.
When he looked over his shoulder, there she stood, a dazzling smile on her gorgeous face.
Her straight teeth flashed bright white against her tawny skin, and her luminous eyes were alive with warmth.
He was momentarily so entranced he didn’t realize she balanced a huge-ass tray of coffees-to-go in her hands.
Admonishing himself, he reached for the tray. “Let me help you with that.”
She shook her head, her glossy black ponytail swishing behind her. “Nope. I got it. If you really want to play Dudley Do-right and lighten my load, you’ll take a cup. You know you want to.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief.
Shane barked a laugh. Damn straight he wanted a cup. What she didn’t know was that he would have accepted almost anything she handed to him because it came from her.
Shit! You gotta stop letting these kinds of thoughts roll around inside your head, dude.
“How about I take a few and pass them around for you?” he offered.
“Aw, thank you.” She tilted her head. “The gun and the badass badge just don’t jive with the sweet personality, though I like the way the hat fits. Just sayin’.” She turned up the wattage on her grin.
Heat sparked in his veins. Was she flirting with him? Nah, he was letting his imagination gallop into places it didn’t belong. He jabbed a thumb against his chest before lifting a few cups from her tray. “You think I’m sweet?”
She bobbed her head. “Anyone who volunteers to spend his precious time in my store spec’ing out security cameras—and won’t accept anything in return except for a cup of coffee and maybe a day-old-pastry if I twist his arm—is more than sweet in my book.”
Shane felt the creep of heat up his chest, spreading its way upward, making his ears hot. Usually he let compliments like Amy’s roll off his back, but coming from her, the words had an impact that made his chest swell.
“I’ll stop by to take care of that as soon as my shift here is over,” he promised.
Figuring out camera placement for her wouldn’t be a big deal.
He’d be in and out in a half hour, though if he lingered, he might score a few moments of alone time with Amy.
He always enjoyed talking to her, the words flowing easily between them, whether the conversation was about her different coffee blends or the tortuous yoga poses they sometimes endured.
And those conversations always seemed to end too soon, leaving him with more to say than what he’d started out with.
With most folks, his buddies included, he didn’t spare more words than he needed to, and then he was done. Not with her, though.
“Who’s sweet?” a familiar voice boomed behind them.
Amy lifted her chin at Shane. “This guy.”
“O’Brien? Sweet?” Reece, the oldest Hunnicutt brother, guffawed.
Reece was the head of the county’s search and rescue operation, and he was also Shane’s best friend.
“Did a rock fall on your head and give you a concussion, Amy? Maybe I should take a look.” He mimed pulling out a penlight and shining it in her eyes.
Reece’s words were a little thick and hard to decipher—not because he was drunk but because he was talking around an unlit cigar clenched between his teeth.
Shane had seen Reece puff on the occasional stick during a poker game, but he had never known his buddy to chew on cigars outdoors in the middle of the day.
“Fuck you, Hunnicutt.” Shane shoved a coffee at his best friend. “Take this so Amy doesn’t have as much to carry.”
“Why aren’t you helping her with it?” Reece posed logically.
“She won’t let me.” Shane swiped a few more coffees and handed them out to random people. “What’s with the cigar?”
“Glad you asked.” Beaming, Reece reached into the inner pocket of his parka and extracted a cigar he offered to Shane. “I’m told it’s a tradition to hand these out when you’re going to be a father.”
Shane’s mouth dropped open. He absently tucked away the cigar. “Are you fucking kidding me? You and Neve? She doesn’t even look pregnant.”
Reece removed the cigar from between his teeth. “Of course Neve, dumbass. Who else?” Neve, the town vet, was also Reece’s wife. “We just passed the first trimester, so she said I could let the cat out of the kennel. So to speak.”
“Isn’t it great?” Amy whisper-shouted. “She’s due in February! Oops! Sorry, Reece. Didn’t mean to steal your thunder.”
He flapped a hand at her. “It’s okay, Amy. I get it. The excitement’s kinda catching.”
Ignoring the twinge of hurt, Shane aimed his gape her way.
“Wait. How come you knew this and I’m only now finding out?
” Before she could answer him, he turned an accusing tone on Reece.
“Isn’t there some sort of bro code that dictates your bro gets the news first?
” He gave Amy an apologetic side-eye. “No offense, Amy.”
He and Reece had been best friends since they’d been toddlers, so it only made sense—to Shane anyway—that Reece would confide in him before anyone else found out, including Amy.
“None taken,” she chirped gleefully. “This time, my investigative skills were a little sharper than yours, Deputy.” Amy didn’t seem to notice her tray was emptying without her having to move because Shane either handed out cups or people grabbed them as they passed by.
He grinned inside at her investigative skills, especially when she lifted her chin in triumph.
“I thought it was strange Neve stopped drinking coffee and switched to frothed milk, so my nosy self finally asked her about it. I knew something was up the instant she turned bright pink. When she said the acid from the coffee was making her sick and that milk was healthier anyway, I guessed. So technically, she didn’t tell me.
She simply admitted the truth because Neve doesn’t know how to lie. ”
“Neve is a terrible liar, so she doesn’t even try.” Reece stuffed the cigar back in his mouth.
Okay. That made Shane feel a little better. He clapped Reece on the shoulder. “Well, I’ll be damned! Congratulations, Pops! Your mom must be over the moon.”
“Dad too,” Reece agreed. He shifted his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other. “And there’s my bride now!” Neve waved from the platform. “Welp, I’m gonna keep passing these out. Gives me an excuse to tell everyone else before they find out from Neve.”
“Take some coffees with you,” Shane ordered. As he watched Reece wend his way through the crowd, he scratched the back of his head.
“You okay there, Deputy?”
Shane slid a glance Amy’s way. Her tray held only two cups now.
“Yeah, just a little surprised.” Not long ago, Reece and Shane had taken a bachelorhood oath together.
They were probably drunk at the time, but Shane had believed they’d stick with it for a while longer nonetheless.
Instead, Reece had left singlehood in the dust for something that seemed to fulfill him in ways Shane could only imagine.
Shane had never seen his friend happier.
And now he was on his way to building the next generation of Hunnicutts.
Exactly why that notion struck a melancholy chord in Shane’s chest, he had no idea.
Amy yanked him back to the present when she sighed, “The world doesn’t stand still. And he and Neve are both in their thirties. Guess we all grow up sometime.”
And maybe that was part of it. Shane was in his early thirties too, and besides the occasional hookup in another county, he didn’t have any intimate relationships. Lately, his apartment had transformed from a sanctuary after a hard day into a place where his four walls echoed with emptiness.
“Amy! People need coffee over here.”
Shane and Amy swiveled their heads toward the voice on the fringes of the milling crowd. It belonged to a slightly built thirty-something with shoulder-length dirty-blond hair, a mustache, and a pasty complexion.
Micky.
Not everyone grows up.
Shane glowered at the dickhead. “Then get your ass over here and pass them out yourself.” Dipshit. Micky frowned at him as if he couldn’t make out what Shane was saying.
“Um, no, it’s okay,” Amy said softly. “I need to refill the tray anyway.” The beautiful smile had slipped from her face, and a heartstring twanged deep inside Shane’s chest.
He wished he could say the astonishing change in her demeanor was surprising, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t witnessed before.
Like the other day, when Micky had called her about being home late.
Shane had only heard one side of the conversation, but he’d made out enough of the bullshit Micky had fed her, and it had pissed him the hell off.
Just like Micky was pissing him off now.
An urge to protect bubbled up inside him, and he tapped her arm.
“Is everything okay between you two?” None of his business at the personal level, but he told himself it was definitely his business when it came to his profession.
Micky had never crossed a physical line with Amy that Shane knew of, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t go there one day.
And if one thing fired up Shane’s temper, it was a man abusing a woman—especially his own woman, whom he should be laying down his own life for.
Under the law, Shane couldn’t do much about the verbal crap, but he sure as hell would if it turned physical.
When Amy looked up at him, the luster was missing from her dark velvet eyes, and her mouth had thinned into a firm line. The golden tint of her skin had taken on an ashen quality. Was she frightened? Angry? He couldn’t read her right now. “I need to get going.”
“I can help you refill your tray.”
“No, I’m good, but I appreciate the offer.
I’ll just get some more and run these over to Micky.
” She stared up at him. “You really are sweet, you know that?” Then her eyes shuttered, and she hurried away.
He watched her melt into the crowd as she veered toward her tent before swinging his gaze back to Micky and fixing it there.