Chapter 2 Noah
Noah
One of life’s great injustices was Delylah Banks.
The girl next door, and Emily’s best friend. Untouchable. But damn, she was gorgeous. Not just pretty—stunning.
Delylah had the kind of beauty that you only found in the wild. Untamed and striking. The type that made a man forget how to breathe. I’d taken a single glance at her in the lobby and nearly given myself whiplash.
Was she dating anyone at the moment? How pissed would Emily be if I chased her best friend around the resort this weekend? Maybe my sister would be too busy to even notice. Maybe Delylah and I could catch up on this impromptu glamping trip.
Camping, I loved. Glamping? Not my thing. But with Delylah along, it might not be so bad.
I crossed the gravel parking lot for my truck, hauling out the last box of decorations from the back.
From the moment I’d arrived this morning, I’d been taking orders from Emily and my mother, hauling boxes of party favors and lights and flowers all over the resort.
This last box had the guest book and framed photos for the reception.
As soon as I delivered it to the barn, I was making a break for it.
Maybe I’d head to the stables and borrow a horse to go for a ride. Some of my favorite trails were on the ranch. When I was in high school and college, I’d worked at the resort as a summer guide and knew these mountains like the back of my hand.
These days, I didn’t get up here as often as I used to, and I missed it.
Haven River Ranch was special, and when Emily had asked Mom and me if we could call in a few favors to secure the resort for her wedding, I hadn’t hesitated. We all wanted her big day to go off without a hitch.
I hauled the box to the barn and left it on a table inside the carved double doors. But my plan to cut loose for a few hours died a quick death when I retreated outside and spotted my sister standing on the lodge’s porch.
The moment she saw me, she waved, so I headed to the lodge, meeting her at the steps.
“I need a favor.” She gave me an exaggerated frown that meant I was going to hate this favor.
“Okay,” I drawled. “What’s up?”
Emily ran her hands up and down her forearms. “Don’t come camping.”
So much for hanging with Delylah. “Why not?”
“Luca invited his friend Jake, and I’m hoping that he and Delylah will hit it off. If you’re there, she’ll be shy.”
Well, that answered my question about Delylah being single. Was she into this Jake guy? Or was Emily just playing matchmaker? “Why would she be shy? I’ve known her since she was five.”
“Not shy to you. She’ll be shy about flirting with Jake. You’re practically her brother. No one wants to flirt with their brother watching.”
Oh, fuck no. “I’m not her brother.” Not even close.
A brother wouldn’t have noticed how long Delylah’s legs looked in her jeans and wondered how they’d feel wrapped around his hips. A brother wouldn’t have drooled over the way her white tank top molded to her torso and imagined dragging it up and over her head.
Definitely not her brother.
“Not literally.” Emily flicked her wrist. “You know what I mean. I just need you to skip camping. Besides, you’ll hate it anyway. We’re not having hot dogs or s’mores. We’re sleeping in beds, not on the ground. And I bet they won’t even bring beer.”
The resort might cater to the wealthy and rich, but this was still Montana. They had beer and hot dogs.
I opened my mouth to remind her that I’d spent plenty of time at that campsite when I’d worked here but stopped myself from arguing. Wedding weekend. What Emily wants, Emily gets.
“Fine.” I wouldn’t tell her no. Not that I ever told her no.
Dad said I spoiled her. Maybe he was right. But he wasn’t the one who’d given her the scars on her forearms. He wasn’t the person who’d been driving the day of the accident.
“Thank you.” Emily smiled and lifted up on her toes to kiss my cheek.
She spun, about to climb the stairs, but stopped and turned back.
“There’s still a lot that needs to get done.
Mom is meeting with the wedding planner at eight tomorrow morning.
Can you and Dad go with her? Help them with whatever they need? ”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Great. When is your date getting here?”
“What date?”
She blinked. “You RSVP’d for a plus-one.”
Yes, but that was six months ago, when I’d been optimistic that I’d meet someone I’d want to bring to this fiasco. “No date. I was seeing a woman this spring, but it fizzled after a few weeks. She wore a lot of lipstick.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“No. Just not my thing.” I didn’t like the idea of smearing red or pink or a purple so dark it was nearly black all over her face and mine if I went in for a kiss.
“Well then, since you won’t have a date, I need you to sit with Luca’s parents at the rehearsal dinner tonight.”
“Why?” There was a good chance that after this wedding, I wouldn’t see them again for a decade. The last thing I wanted to do was make small talk with her future in-laws.
“Please, Noah. I need them to be happy, and you’re really good at making people happy. I need them to have the best weekend of their lives.”
“This is supposed to be the best weekend of your life.”
“And it will be as long as they keep smiling.”
“Even if that means you don’t?”
She shrugged. “Will you just sit with them at dinner?”
I gritted my teeth. “Sure.”
“Thanks.” Emily turned and hurried up the stairs. Before she opened the door, she straightened her spine and smoothed down the skirt of her denim dress. Then she lifted her chin and went into the lodge to join the fray.
I had no desire to mingle with the crowd inside, so I rounded the corner of the building, walking through the lawn to the back patio.
A bartender was busy setting up a station for tonight’s festivities. Beside his bar were two coolers, and rummaging through one was Delylah.
She fished out an IPA and stood, letting the cooler’s lid flop closed. With a quick twist of the cap, she pressed the bottle to her lips. After a gulp, she let the bottle hang at her side as she closed her eyes, tipping her face to the clear blue sky.
“Long day?” I asked.
She jumped, her eyes popping open.
“Sorry. Thought you heard me.”
“No.” She shook her head and straightened her bangs. She’d pulled her hair up into a ponytail since I’d seen her in the lobby, tying it back with a polka-dot scarf.
My fingers itched to tug at the end and set her brown hair free. I loved her hair when it was down. But I tucked my hands into my jeans pockets instead.
“H-hey, Noah.”
“Hey, Lylah.”
Her cheeks flushed as she smiled. She tried to hide that blush by looking to her shoes, but I caught it.
I grinned, bending down to flip open the cooler and grab my own beer. I twisted off the top and clinked it against hers. “Cheers. It’s good to see you.”
“You too. It’s been a while.” She looked up, smiling as she took another drink. Her warm brown eyes caught the afternoon sunlight, making the caramel and cinnamon flecks in her irises glow.
How pissed would Emily be if I ditched Luca’s parents tonight and followed Delylah around like I was her new shadow instead?
“How’s New York?” I asked.
“It’s all right.” She sighed, closing her eyes as she drew in a deep inhale, breathing in the scents of pine trees and clean air. “But it’s not Montana.”
“Homesick?”
“I think so.” She opened her eyes and gave me a sweet smile.
My chest squeezed, the pressure so tight I forgot to breathe. Now it was my turn to look down and hide a grin. “Still taking pictures?”
She bent and picked up a black camera I hadn’t noticed beside the cooler. “Never leave home without it. What about you? Still teaching fifth grade?”
“Now I’m teaching middle school. Seventh and eighth graders. The kids are obnoxious and loud and sweet and hormonal. They’re either laughing or crying. I love them. They make every day an adventure.”
“I bet you’re everyone’s favorite teacher.”
“Damn straight.”
She laughed, the sound musical and soft, as she looked down at her camera, her fingers nervously fidgeting with the different buttons.
I’d moved home after college to take a teaching job at the same school where I’d gone as a kid. There’d been a few times when I’d considered a big city with a large school, but it was the students who kept me here.
The fifth graders from my first year teaching were in high school now and would be graduating soon. Some still came to see me from time to time. I couldn’t go to the grocery store or gas station without bumping into a student or family I knew from teaching.
Around town, I was known as Mr. C.
Every year that passed, I was more and more invested in my small town.
It wasn’t the life for everyone. Gossip ran rampant, and most of my students would move away for better job opportunities.
I understood why Delylah and Emily had left after high school.
But Montana was home. This was where I’d planted my roots.
“Ready for this weekend?” Delylah asked.
“Should be a fun time. Save me a dance?”
Her face lifted, her eyes wide. Her mouth parted, but before she could give me an answer, the back door to the lodge burst open and Emily’s voice carried across the patio.
“Delylah, are you coming?”
“Be right there.” She lifted her camera. “She hired another photographer for the wedding so I could just enjoy myself and not work. But I’m taking pictures of her dress fitting.”
“And you’ll probably take pictures of the wedding too.”
She gave me a sly smile. “Oh, I’m absolutely going to get the best shot this weekend. This other photographer is just wasting her time.”
I chuckled. “Good luck. Though I doubt you need it.”
“Thanks.”
“Have fun camping tomorrow.”
A crease formed between her eyebrows. “You’re not going?”
“Nah. Not this time.”
“Why not? You love camping.”
Yes, I did. And I liked that Delylah knew me well enough to know I loved camping. “Well, this is glamping. They aren’t bringing hot dogs or beer.”
She feigned a gasp. “The horror.”
I chuckled. “I’ll stay here. Hold down the fort. You’ll have fun.”
With Jake. A sour taste spread across my mouth. The last thing I wanted was to watch Delylah hit it off with one of Luca’s snobby friends.
“I guess.” She shrugged, then nodded to the lodge. “I’d better go. Bye, Noah.”
“Bye, Lylah.”
I watched her hurry to the lodge and follow Emily inside. Then I turned to the meadow that sprawled beyond the patio, staring up at the mountains and trees. My gaze drifted toward the campsite I couldn’t see but knew was up there.
Maybe it was for the best that I was staying behind.
Her life was in New York.
And I belonged to Montana.