Chapter One
Eleven months later
Sabrina Leal loved Bliss with all her heart, but she swore she was never going to get used to walking out of her cabin in the morning and being greeted by a moose.
“Bobby and Will are running late again,” Del announced as she walked through the doors of the Bliss County School Grades Pre-K–12. She brushed a dusting of snow off her shoulders. Delilah was the twenty-five-year-old Stefan Talbot had allowed her to hire as a backup. Her mom was a nail tech at Polly’s Cut and Curl, and she’d thought she would move out of Bliss but had been thrilled when this job had come up. She was working on her master’s degree in preschool education, going to class online and driving into Alamosa to Adams State when she needed to.
Sabrina blessed the day Delilah Manning came into her life because she would never have been able to handle these kids alone. They were a joyous handful, but some of them were excellent at sneaking away. Charlie Hollister-Wright was an escape artist. “I’m sure there was an experiment they were involved in. Or they were talking to a girl. Well, Will might have been. Send them back here when they get in. I’ve got their lesson queued up on the main computer. Who’s in for the morning session with our babies?”
It was what she called the preschool class. It was by far the largest of the classes she had. Will and Bobby Farley were her only high school students, and honestly, they were so smart they only needed someone to direct their work and bring in tutors when they had trouble. This was where having a board of directors with seemingly endless pockets came into play. She’d brought in a professor from the University of Michigan’s math department to Zoom with the boys every Thursday while they were taking advanced calculus.
There was morning session and afternoon session, with lunch and a play break in between. Because the school was so small, the parents handled lunch every day. The “trios,” as Sabrina called them, handled those duties. There were more than romantic threesomes in Bliss. Friendships seemed to come in trios, too. Rachel Harper, Callie Hollister-Wright, and Jennifer Talbot handled Mondays and Wednesdays. Laura Kincaid-Briggs, Holly Burke, and Nell Flanders handled Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays were taken care of by Beth McNamara-O’Malley and her two friends, Hope Glen-Bennett and Gemma Wells—she didn’t need all those extra freaking names to remind her she’s married—brought in food on Fridays. Hope was pregnant with her first child, but while Gemma had declared her marriage a child-free zone, she was actually good with the ones who weren’t her own. She also declared it wasn’t fair to leave her out of the whole obvious friendship-bonding thing just because her womb was closed.
Gemma was a lot. Sabrina liked her. She worked with Elisa and always had the best gossip.
“Nell and Henry have a whole lesson planned on recycling,” Del said, slipping behind her desk. “Don’t worry. I looked over it. It’s fun, not an hour-long lecture that will put the toddlers to sleep long before their naps.”
They had a toddler class and a kindergarten/first-grade class. There were also two kids in middle school and a fourth grader. It was a juggling act to make sure everyone got what they needed, but Sabrina had to admit this was the most fun she’d ever had working. There was a challenge here. Some of the kids in the area were still going to classes in Monte Vista, but a couple had already come around.
“Good.” Sabrina sat back, glancing at the clock. Another thirty minutes and then the chaos would begin.
Luckily she liked a little chaos. The fun kind.
“So how did it go at Trio last night?” Del asked, not looking up from her laptop.
Sabrina sighed. The night before had not gone the way she’d hoped it would. It was stupid and she was going to get over it, but she was still thinking about the man from the Christmas party. The asshole. Mr. Nope wasn’t going to ask her out, but she wanted the feeling she’d gotten when she’d seen him. She hadn’t gotten it the night before. “It was nice.”
Del looked up, a brow rising. “It was supposed to be hot. It was supposed to be a date.”
She’d let herself get set up by her sister, who thought she might like spending time with the two deputies who worked part time for Bliss County. Knox Miller and Marshall Lethe. They normally worked in Creede but handled some late shifts for the Bliss County Sheriff’s department. “They were nice.”
Del winced. “So no spark?”
Sabrina let her head fall back on a groan. “No. No spark.” She brought her head back up. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. They were nice, but I didn’t feel anything. I think maybe I can’t feel anything. Maybe the whole romantic thing isn’t for me.”
It was why she was fixated on Mr. Nope. He’d been the first time she’d felt something for a man in a long time. She’d buried that part of herself deep, and she was still trying to get out. It wasn’t like she believed Mr. Nope was something special. He was obviously not for her, but she wanted to feel a spark again.
“Of course it is. You simply haven’t found the right guys yet.”
Sabrina snorted at the thought. “The fact that you make guy plural is still so odd to me.”
Del shrugged. “My mom would be way happier if she had two guys to yell at. My dad would be happier if he had a friend he could hide behind when he screws up. It’s one of the reasons I decided to stay here instead of looking for a job in Alamosa or Colorado Springs after I finished my degree.”
“I thought it was Stef Talbot’s signing bonus.”
Del’s lips curled up. “Mine came from Seth Stark. And I got him to pay for my Internet for as long as I’m employed. It’s so great having competitive billionaires around. But part of the reason I wanted to stay is having the option to be in a Bliss kind of relationship. Not that I have time right now. Between this job and doing all the online work to get my master’s, I’m swamped. My mom thinks it’s ridiculous I’m doing post-grad work. She says it’s my rebellion. I think she would have been happier if I’d moved straight from high school right to a table beside her at Polly’s salon.”
“You didn’t want to be a nail tech. I think you being dedicated to higher education is great for everyone in this town. My mom wanted me to go into the Army,” Sabrina admitted. “She told me if it was good enough for my sister and her, it should be good enough for me. And that’s why I had to pay every dime of college myself. She did let me live in her garage apartment, though. I paid rent, and I like to think of listening to her complain about my life as extra rent. Speaking of rent, I have to go by Marie’s later today. I’ve got electrical issues, and I am not going to make my brother-in-law do the work for free. Marie is tight fisted, but I swear I’ll get a lawyer if I have to.”
She’d lived in Cassidy and Mel’s guest room through the summer but wanted to be closer to the school when it opened. So she’d rented a two-bedroom cabin in the valley. The sheriff and his wife and partner were her closest neighbors. She had the most peaceful view ever and faulty wiring. She’d asked in writing for someone to come out, but Marie had been ignoring her.
“Oh, Marie isn’t the tight-fisted one,” Del replied. “She’s the agent. Marie is kind of the go between. There are a couple of people who actually own the cabins for rent, but they all use Marie as their property manager. I know Stef and Seth both own multiple properties. Doc Burke rents out a couple of cabins around town.”
“So I can yell at one of the billionaires? It’s probably Doc. He forgets things all the time. If it’s not someone’s blood pressure reading, he ignores it.” She’d figured out the town very quickly. It didn’t hurt that her sister knew everyone.
“Probably,” Del agreed. “Or it’s one of the Texans.” Her blonde bob shook. “They’ve been buying up land here ever since that writer broke down and ended up buying a cabin.”
Sabrina knew the story well. “She’s my sister’s sister-in-law. Or she’s married to her brother-in-law. It gets confusing when there are six people involved. And I don’t think it’s the Texans. They come up way too often for anything more than short-term rentals. I’ve got a three-year lease on mine. It’s well kept, with the exception of the lights flickering on and off at the weirdest times. It’s kind of creepy. I want it fixed.”
“Well, you should go straight to the source,” Del advised, closing her laptop and standing. “And we need to watch the weather. I’ve heard there’s a bad storm coming in tomorrow morning. If it’s too bad, I’ll come by and pick you up. You shouldn’t drive your sedan in this kind of storm. You need to buy a snowmobile. It’s kind of like the bike of Colorado.”
“Oh, I don’t want you to go out of your way,” Sabrina replied. “I assure you my sister will make sure I get into town okay. Or my… He said I could call him Dad. Is it weird I kind of want to call him Dad?”
“Mel Hughes? Yes, it’s weird,” Del replied with a grin. “Everything about Mel is weird, and he’s also a great guy. He’s been a dad to most of the kids who grew up here in Bliss, so I think it’s wonderful he’s got a couple of kids of his own now. Look, he’s not your biological father, but he is your sister’s. If she wants to share, I say go for it. Mel will treat you like family. Mel has never needed blood to love a person. He’s got a big heart. As long as you’re not an alien. Do you like beets?”
Sabrina laughed, something she did often now. “I do. And I eat them all the time. I think my blood pressure’s down. So no one will think it’s weird I call a man I met a few months ago Dad and a woman who has nothing real to do with my bio family Mom?”
“They’ll love you for it,” Del replied with a shrug. “Welcome to Bliss, sister. I’m off to teach several surly preteens about past participles. See you at lunch.”
She turned and walked out as Nell Flanders was walking in. She was a pretty woman in her mid-thirties with a toddler strapped to her back. Nell believed in baby carrying. Along with a lot of other things she was vocal about.
“Good morning, Sabrina. I left Henry in the classroom to do welcomes,” Nell said with a smile. “We brought the snack for the day. I made vegan muffins. I thought I’d bring one in for the teacher.”
Nell knew how to make some excellent vegan food. Sabrina wasn’t a vegetarian, but she also wouldn’t turn her nose up at food that didn’t contain animal products. She’d had Nell’s tofu cake, and it was delicious. She took the muffin. “Thanks. I was going to eat a protein bar. I’m a waste in the kitchen.”
It was true. She could burn water. Most nights she ate a sandwich or microwaved a bowl of soup. She was sick of protein bars.
“Well, if you ever want to learn vegan cooking, I’m your girl,” Nell offered. “Now I overheard you talking about going to see Marie after school. You’re having trouble with your cabin? Is it anything we can help with?”
Everyone here helped. They all pitched in. She’d already attended a party where they’d erected a barn out at the Circle G, a fundraiser for some poor dog named Princess Two, who needed a ton of meds, and been to the opening of Alexei Markov’s new office in town. The Bliss Mental Wellness Center was cozy, and Sabrina was thinking about going to the woman Alexei had imported as the second therapist in the practice.
In fact, her first big town event had been a baking party for the Harper family. Apparently when someone had a baby around here, the whole community made casseroles and easy meals for the family for the first month. She’d brought important moral support to the group baking effort, all the while thinking her mother would have told Rachel if she wanted free food she should go to a church and beg. Or she would say she should have kept her legs shut.
Yeah, this was why she should go to the clinic. Her mother’s voice still dominated her life, still brought a cloud over everything. She’d changed five times before her date last night because she could hear her mother’s criticism of everything she put on. “Thanks so much. I will definitely think about it. As for the bad electricity, I’m going to force my landlord to take care of it. I’m going to tell Marie I won’t take another day of my landlord putting me off. I might be one small part of this person’s wealth, but they owe me some respect as a renter.”
Nell seemed to think about that for a moment. “Well, you’ll have to wait until Marie gets back from New York. She and Teeny are there because Logan and Seth’s wife, Georgia, went into labor early. They’d been planning to have the baby here in Bliss, but life made their kid an Upper East Sider. I hope it doesn’t affect his ideas on climate change. Anyway, I know who your landlord is if you want to talk to him yourself. Though he’s on the crabby side. Don’t blame him. It’s only because no one’s pulled the thorn out of his paw yet.”
Sometimes Nell could be hard to follow. “He has a thorn?” Actually, maybe that wasn’t the question to ask. “He has a paw?”
Nell nodded sagely. “Oh, yes. It comes from childhood, and perhaps the time he spent away from Bliss. He holds all of his emotions very tightly. He looks like he’s made from granite, but he’s not. There’s a soft heart in there. I think he has abandonment issues. His father left early on, and his mom died. He was raised by his grandfather, who died a couple of years back, and his two brothers didn’t hang around. But now he has a friend. I’m almost certain he knows Sawyer from his…more interesting days, but he seems like a ray of sunshine.”
“Sawyer?” She kind of thought she’d heard the name before but she couldn’t put a face to it. Why did it sound so familiar?
Nell nodded. “Sawyer Hathaway. He lives on one of the mountains. I could go with you to talk to him if you like.”
She didn’t need anyone as an emotional support human. She was an adult, and she would likely be alone all of her life. The school-marm wallflower, all things lonely woman, and it was time she accepted her independence. “No, but I would appreciate directions.”
Nell told her how to get to her landlord’s home.
After school, Sabrina would make her stand.
* * * *
“So we’re like a Waffle House in hurricane country.” Wyatt hopped down and moved to the back of the Jeep where all the supplies they’d picked up in Alamosa were stacked. The snow crunched beneath his boots. There was already a couple of inches on the ground, but according to everyone he talked to this was nothing compared to what they’d wake up to in the morning.
It was weird to think he wouldn’t be spending tonight at the bar. Hell on Wheels had become as much his home as this cabin.
Sawyer popped the back open and gave him a frown. “Waffle House?”
His best friend could be dense from time to time. Although he had to allow Sawyer hadn’t spent much time out of Southern Colorado.
“It’s how people on the coast know if the hurricane is serious rather than media hyped. If the Waffle House closes, you get your butt out of the way. Same for Hell on Wheels. If Hell on Wheels is closed, you know it’s going to be bad.”
Sawyer hefted a case of bottled water. The well water they were on sometimes froze up during bad storms, he’d explained. “Well, the last thing I need is to have to deal with a bunch of drunk assholes who can’t get home.”
“I thought we decided we were going to call them valued customers.” He was working on Sawyer’s business skills. Not that Wyatt himself had any, but he was learning. He’d found the library in Del Norte and checked out books on business and self-help and finance. It had become apparent to Wyatt there were certain parts of Sawyer’s surprisingly varied business portfolio Sawyer didn’t enjoy running. Which was actually most of it.
Sawyer preferred to be in his workshop. It was his fortress of solitude. Wyatt was pretty certain almost no one else in his life knew how dedicated to creating furniture made of reclaimed wood the man was. He sold each piece online for ridiculously high prices but always had someone else meet the buyer.
Like being an artist would mar his terrible reputation.
Wyatt was working on that, too. Sawyer was awesome, but he had definite abandonment issues and a deep-seated fear of rejection. He’d worked a couple of psych books in, too.
Sawyer’s dark eyes rolled and he headed for the cabin, the snow starting to fall in earnest. Wyatt grabbed two sacks of groceries, including the ingredients for the beef stew he was making. Sawyer also ate like crap before Wyatt came around. Well, Wyatt had, too, but he was on a self-improvement journey, and he’d been told by Doc Burke a healthy diet was important, and bar food wasn’t something a man should live on.
“They’re pains in my ass if they get stuck up on this mountain for the next four days. You were here during an easy winter,” Sawyer explained as Bella started barking at the door as though letting them know they’d stupidly left her behind and what the hell? “Sometimes these storms can last for days, and we’ll be digging out longer. It’s better down in the valley. They’ll be able to get around using snowmobiles, but up here on the mountain it’s dangerous. If the drifts are as bad as I suspect they’ll be, we’ll have to stay put until they can clear the road, and that will likely be into next week.”
He’d survived last winter, though he’d mostly only gone from the bar to the cabin and back. It had been months before he’d actually gone into town with Sawyer. Months later before he’d ventured down himself.
And seen the most beautiful woman in the world.
She was the new schoolteacher and very important, one of the bartenders at Trio had explained as though trying to warn him away. He didn’t need to be warned away then. He hadn’t been ready, but now he rather thought he was. He’d read a lot and figured out what he wanted.
Her.
And Sawyer. A real Bliss relationship.
The only problem was Sawyer was still Sawyer, and Sabrina Leal had no idea either of them existed.
But he was worthy of love and affection. Worthy of getting what he needed.
The other place he frequented was the Bliss Mental Wellness Center. Having Alexei Markov in his head was way nicer than his brother’s voice. His brother told him he was a fucking moron who deserved nothing. Alexei sometimes told him he was good boy who had been twisted by elemental criminals. In a thick Russian accent.
He loved it here.
Sawyer didn’t know it, but Wyatt was never going to leave. One of the things he’d learned was he had to work for the future he wanted. In his younger years, “work” meant beating the shit out of whoever his brother asked him to or getting his own ass kicked. But he wanted more now.
He hoped no one ever found out what he’d done. His last act before demanding out. His final crime against his family.
“You should be happy you have all the other businesses.” Wyatt wasn’t going to dive into the past. Not when the future was so happily in front of him. Once the storm passed. “Are the others going to be okay without having the bar open? Doesn’t Lark have a mom in assisted living? I know Gil’s wife has a job, but they probably need the money.”
He was going to get the man to admit what Wyatt had already learned. Sawyer couldn’t begin to accept the truth about himself unless he was willing to admit it out loud. That was the first step. He would admit he had a heart, and they could start opening it up.
“They’ll be fine,” was all he said as he opened the door and Bella pounced. “Damn it, Bella, down. You know your name should have been Damn It.”
Wyatt had saved the poor dog from the indignity. After a month of living with the dog with no name, he’d started calling her Bella because he’d read it was a popular name for girl dogs. All the dogs in the MC compound he’d lived in had been named things like Bitch and Satan and Butthole. Bella had a more classic ring to it. “Come on, Bella. Let the mean dad in.”
“I am not her dad. I’m the guy she imprinted on, and now I can’t get rid of her,” Sawyer groused.
Sure, he was. All complacent pet owners regularly made their dog’s food themselves because the pet they didn’t really want had a touchy belly. The man was in denial. Still, he couldn’t say it out loud. He needed Sawyer to figure this out on his own. So he played dumb. “Sidney’s got a kid. She doesn’t have anyone. How are they going to be okay losing almost a week’s paycheck?”
Sawyer groaned and put the water down. “Because I’ll fucking pay them anyway. Let it go, man.”
He would. For now. He headed back out for the case of beer they’d bought. The wind had picked up, and the snow was thick now. It was stunningly beautiful here. All of Colorado was, but here they were right on the continental divide, and this high up everything felt fresh and clean and new. Like he felt.
Wyatt let his head fall back, snow landing on his face.
“You having one of those moments?” Sawyer asked, walking past him.
“I’m just happy to be here, man.” Months of therapy had cracked him open wide, and he couldn’t quite stop feeling lucky, feeling like he had a real chance at something that had felt so far from him before. “I know you say this storm is going to be dangerous, but it’s so beautiful.”
“Well, anyone stuck out in it now is going to be a beautiful corpse,” Sawyer replied, grabbing the last of the groceries and closing the back of the Jeep. “And it’s not a big deal I pay them even though the bar’s closed. My grandfather was smart enough to diversify. He told me to never count on one source of income. When he had money, he invested it. When his money made more money, he bought land and invested in businesses. When he died he left behind more money than we could ever need. Well, not Wes. From what I’ve heard he’s already gone through all of his, and I have no idea what Jimmy did with his portion. We split everything three ways, with me buying out their parts of the businesses. It was lean for a while, but I’m back to being comfortable.”
Damn, he hadn’t meant to remind Sawyer of everything he’d lost. “Well, I’m just glad you’re able to take care of your people.”
“You’re getting paid, too, if you’re worried about money.”
Of course he would go there. “I might be if you allowed me to pay rent.”
Sawyer frowned. “You won’t be here long, and like you said, I owe you.”
It had been almost a year. They had different definitions of the word long. “Sure, I’m going to start looking for a rental real soon.”
Sawyer’s brows rose. “Really? This is a bad time to look for a cabin to rent. I think you should wait until the spring at least. And you should think about finding a place close to the bar. Even when the snow’s not so bad it can be hard to get to. That little bike you bought won’t handle the snow and ice the way it needs to. You should probably stay put until you have enough money for a proper SUV.”
And this was why he thought his plans might work. He would spend this weekend softening the guy up and then suggest they go down to the valley and deal with some of the tenant complaints they’d recently had. He’d taken over that part of the business, too. Sawyer owned a total of five properties in the area, including his own cabin. Marie Warner was the go between and almost as surly as Sawyer. Wyatt had figured out how to soften her up, though. He went into town once a week to meet with her and sat and had tea with her and her wife, Teeny. He asked about her grandkids and how the business was going. He had a whole checklist of things to ask people to indicate he was truly interested in their lives.
The weird thing turned out to be he was interested in their lives. He kind of loved gossip, and Bliss thrived on it.
He wished he had more gossip on Sabrina beyond she was sweet and smart and probably dating the guys from Creede. If she was into law enforcement guys, it would make things harder, but he intended for her to never see the Wyatt he used to be. Only the man he was becoming.
“I will definitely take your advice. Besides, I liked last winter.” Wyatt followed him back to the porch, but Bella had gotten out and was doing zoomies in the snow. “It was nice and quiet, and the cabin is warm.”
Sawyer snorted. “You liked not getting your ass handed to you on a daily basis and not living in a place where the cops could invade at any moment and take you to jail.”
All true. “I also liked playing games and learning to cook and reading books without someone telling me the state of my sexuality is tied to illiteracy. It’s also nice to not listen to some dude screwing in the room next to me. The dorms there had paper-thin walls. Some of the things I heard… They were extremely wrong.”
“Well, you didn’t get nearly molested by a moose there,” Sawyer pointed out, his lips coming up in a grin.
It had been a weird morning. Wyatt had been standing in the yard, taking in the morning air, and then there was a moose licking the back of his neck. Scared the hell out of him. “I don’t know. Some of those guys got so drunk they didn’t care whose bed they fell into. And one of them liked to snuggle.”
Sawyer laughed, the sound booming in the quiet of the mountains. He put a hand on Wyatt’s shoulder. “I’m glad you got out, brother. Come on. Let’s get settled in. I’m starving. I’ll see if the Internet’s still up. Maybe we can play some Xbox.”
Bella barked and ran past them, zooming around the cabin.
“Bella, come inside,” Sawyer shouted with a shake of his head. “You would think that dog is a damn husky.” When Bella didn’t come back around the other side, Sawyer set down the bags and huffed. “She’ll freeze out here.”
He stomped off, and Wyatt took the rest of the groceries inside before heading out since Sawyer wasn’t back with Bella. He hoped she hadn’t run off chasing a bunny or a deer or something. The sky was getting dark, and the snow was coming down like a thunderstorm now.
He rounded the cabin and then stopped because Sawyer wasn’t alone.
Standing there in the middle of the drive leading from the road down the mountain was Sabrina Leal. She had on jeans and sneakers and a coat that wasn’t anywhere close to warm enough. She was shivering.
“We have trouble,” Sawyer said.
Wyatt felt a smile cross his face.
This was the best kind of trouble. The kind he wanted to get into. Maybe forever.