Chapter Two
Rain
I breathe in the cool mountain air with a sigh of contentment.
The air in Hollow Peak doesn’t smell like Dior J’Adore or expensive leather; it smells of crisp pine, woodsmoke, and the kind of silence people pay good money for. People here realize what a gem they have in the little town, so they don’t much want to share it.
Not that I blame them. Standing on the wrap around front porch of my uncle’s lodge, I relish the view of Hollow Peak.
The lodge sits overlooking it, offering the best view in town.
This lodge has everything you would expect from a mountain lodge.
Huge stone fireplaces in the great room, a massive dining room for guests to gather at, it is as cozy as can be.
It is the first time in a very long time I’ve made a trip here.
I used to spend summers with Theo in Aspen, before his world imploded.
The Mallory clan comes from old money—which is to say they’re pretentious and all about pomp and circumstance.
Theo is unlike most of our clan, and it turns out so am I.
After a few tries as playing the stuffy socialites, we abandoned the money that made us and ventured out into a brave new world.
Cursing as I stub my toe on a beam, spill some hot coffee on myself, I let out a laugh.
I am most definitely out of my element here.
Which is why I am here. Sure, Theo and I don’t live life on the old money the others, we do use it and our broad connections to give back when we can.
The lodge restoration was my uncle’s pet project and now that it’s up to par, I wanted to be here to experience the place with him.
“Aspen has a little sparkle, sure,” Theo’s warm voice calls from behind me. “But this place...Hollow Peak has its own brand of magic. It’s in the mountains, in the pines, in the dirt beneath our feet, in very air.”
“That should go on your brochures for the lodge, Theo,” I tease him as I turn to let him wrap me up in a hug.
“Good idea. How is the place treating you so far?” he wonders, giving me a quick squeeze before we go sit at two of the rocking chairs situated along the wide curve of the porch.
“So amazing. I needed to disengage from the world for a moment.”
“This is a good place to do it. Just remember once you engage again, those problems that brought you here will still be there, waiting.”
“Ugh, I know, don’t remind me. Daddy is determined it is time I settle down. None of my brothers got the settle down clock ticking for them.”
“Your father treats you differently because you’re very different from your brothers. You’re very different from most of us, Rain. He just worries about you,” Theo muses, always there to defend his brother while still being kind to me.
My father is not a bad man by any means.
He is just...stubborn. Set in his ways. His ways say I should get married, have babies to continue our legacies, show up at all the Mallory Estate events, smile and like a docile daughter.
None of that fits who I am—and to be honest, it is sort of his fault I am the way I am.
I was a spoiled brat earlier in my life.
I was the baby girl my parents had hoped for, with four older brothers to cater to me or come to my rescue if I needed them.
Once they began going off to college, starting new lives in far off places, I realized I had no idea how to take care of myself without them.
I am my father’s daughter—so I am stubborn too—so I started figuring it out.
“He does not need to. I am a big girl now,” I argue even as I pout like that long gone brat I once was.
What I learned along the way was, I had it good back home in The Pillars.
Manicured lawns, sprawling mansion, flashy car, and a black card to cover any expenses I wanted.
I was born into a life of excess but on my own travels, I came to see most struggled in ways I could never dream of.
My father may think I am not settled or lack direction, but he is wrong.
I may not be settled with a ring on my finger and an heir in my belly, but I have direction.
My purpose has become to use my means to ease the burdens of others.
Whether it’s funding animal shelters for a few decades, building havens for survivors of domestic violence, or quietly settling a veteran’s medical debt, I use our old money for something new.
I hope to atone for all those years being a spoiled brat.
“Yes, that is very clear to the rest of us. Your father on the other hand...just give him time. He wants to be sure you’re taken care of.”
“I can do all the taking care of I need. Speaking of taking care of things, what was that ruckus last night about?”
Slowing his steady rock, Theo hesitates.
His eyes swing my way before he lets out a sigh that lets me know a story is coming.
One that will more than likely end with me taking that story on as my new mission.
I never push or prod people who don’t want help, but I still show up to offer it when I can.
“Well...that might be something you can’t fix, bumble bee,” he hums as he glances towards the mountains in the distance.
Last night, my very first night here, he was talking with another guest at the lodge about an upcoming festival.
The guest was upset a certain someone was refusing to partake the way the rest of the town intends to.
Theo was quick to defend the mystery person as he often is.
It’s something we share in common—fighting for others who don’t or cannot fight for themselves.
“Spill the story, unc,” I tell him, pushing his chair to get him rocking again. I ignore the bumble bee comment. Theo started calling me that when I was a little girl. Always buzzing around, wanting to be part of things, drawn to all the beautiful things in the world.
“Most of the folks in town take part in festivals in some fashion. They have booths or donate time, anything to lend a hand. One resident just...does not. He should not have to. He lives here but he is not from here. They might forgive it if he embraced the town the way other outsiders do. He doesn’t. ”
“Is he some kind of mountain recluse?” I tease, letting out a laugh—until my uncle swings his gaze back to me. I nearly choke on my coffee. “No way. Is that actually a thing? Men really just lock themselves in cabins to forget the rest of the world exists?”
“Reece just wants to be left alone,” my uncle explains. I do not miss his pointed look or the tone of his voice. What he means is he wants me to leave this man alone. Only the moment he said his name, the moment he said he wanted to be alone, I decide I cannot possibly do that.
“Alone up on a mountain? Who wants that?”
“Rain, I know you mean well but...some folks want exactly that. Leave that man alone.”
Shooting a pout at my uncle, I do something I never do. I lie. I promise to leave that man alone. To not go up to his mountain peak to lure him out with a smile and an offer of kindness. Who would refuse that? Not even a man who locked himself up in a cabin could, I decide.
Turns out—I am wrong about everything.
I do not leave that man alone. I go to his cabin to be kind.
To seek him out for a chance to show him what he is missing.
It is not until I am staring up at stormy, tortured eyes that I realize I am missing something too.
I never thought I would find it hiding away on a mountainside.
I was wrong. Because standing on his porch, he asks me the one question no one ever bothered to.
“What purpose is that, princess?”
“Why, to bring you back to the land of the living, handsome.”
“Why would you want to do that?”
“We all deserve a life bigger than the one you’re hiding from.”
Until I said those words to him, I thought I knew what I meant.
I meant seeing the world, letting people in, experiencing life.
That is just the tip of the iceberg. Growing close to someone, sharing something you will never share with another, that is my new purpose.
Because within seconds of meeting him, I am sure that is just what I am going to do with Reece.
I am so shaken by my meeting with him, I pull off the road before I get down the mountain.
I can’t catch my breath. There was something.
..magnetic about him. It’s not his huge body—which was barely covered by a tiny towel—or the scars that I touched on his face.
I touched him. Who just goes up to a beautiful, reclusive stranger and touches them? I do, it would seem.
I couldn’t control it. Reece turned those tortured eyes on me, and I was compelled to touch him.
To try to take some of the rage, the pain, in those dark eyes into myself somehow.
Other men have intimidated me before, they say things or demand things I am not going to give.
But that man...that man said filthy things to me.
Filthy things I wanted him to prove he could do.
Reece might be hiding out on his peak, but I won’t let him stay hidden.
Racing back to the lodge, I am out of breath when I storm into the kitchen.
Theo takes one look at me as I throw open the double fridge, letting out a laugh.
He knows what mode I am in. I told that man on the mountain I was going to make him dinner and I meant it.
I might be a reformed spoiled brat, and yes, a little princess, but one thing I am not is a quitter.
“I see you met Reece. Went well for you, did it?”
Glaring up my uncle, I smile and nod as I let my facade fade. “It went well by my standards. I will need to go to the store. I promised that man dinner. I am taking him a dinner he won’t forget,” I exclaim.
After a trip to the small market, I am better prepared.
I am going to cook him a meal that he won’t forget.
Because with that meal, I will give a little of myself.
In the spices I use for the meat, the lush butter I use to make the potatoes, and the earthy produce.
It will do more than fill him up, I hope.
If Reece can find comfort in my food, maybe he can seek other comfort from me too.