Page 7 of Wild Bliss

“Let’s get inside. I’ll call the doc. Hopefully he didn’tget into the eggnog.” Sawyer stepped around him, going to the door. “Don’t mindthe dog. She’s not here forever. Just until I can find someone to take her.”

The dog seemed pretty at home to Wyatt. The minute the doorwas open, she ran inside as though afraid of being left out in the cold. It wasactually a smart idea. If he was inside, Sawyer probably wouldn’t lock him out.“I don’t need a doc. I’m handling it.” He managed to walk in like he wasn’tdesperate to get warm. Cool. He was going to play this cool. It didn’t matterthat now he felt a little hot. Weird how he’d been cold before and now he mightbe sweating. “I only need a place to stay for a couple of days until I get myshit together. Maybe you could help me look for a job.”

Sawyer slipped off his jacket and hung it on one of the pegsby the door. “Sure. You can get your shit together in a couple of days. Andwhat kind of job are you thinking? Since you’ve been in an MC all your life.”

It was stuffy in here. He took off the way too thin for thisclimate jacket Lydia had provided him with. A weariness struck him like a wave.“I’ll find something. I only need a couple of days here, and then I’ll be outof your hair. I have plans.”

Sawyer stood in front of him, hands in fists on his hips.“You got no place to live, no job, no skills and you’re going to…what?”

His tongue felt thick in his mouth, and his chest burned. Itwas like he’d held it all together with adrenaline and pure stubborn will, butnow he was in this warm cabin and despite the surly attitude, he suddenly knewSawyer wasn’t going to kick him out, wasn’t going to demand he kill his souloff piece by piece. Sawyer was going to be kind. It made it easy for the painto creep back in. But also the hope. “I’m going to get a job and then I’m goingto move to Bliss and find some other dumbass guy to be my best friend and we’regoing to find a woman to share and I’m going to be fucking happy with kids andbarbecues and I’ll get a truck so I can help my friends when they have to move.And my wife will yell at me to do the dishes.”

Sawyer put a hand on his shoulder. “Good, Wyatt. Sounds likea good life. Buddy, you’re bleeding through your shirt. Maybe we should moveyou to the sofa.”

“I’m okay.” But he wasn’t. He felt the world tip and heardSawyer curse as he caught him and maneuvered him to the couch.

Where the dog decided she could lick him healthy.

“Yeah, I’m going to need someone to get Doc out to myplace,” Sawyer was saying. “No, Luce, People Doc.” He paused. “Unless PeopleDoc drank the damn eggnog, and then bring out the vet. How different could itbe?”

It was different, he wanted to say, but it was getting dark.

And it was okay. It really was okay.

Wyatt let go and found a certain amount of peace inoblivion.

Chapter One

Eleven months later

Sabrina Leal loved Bliss with all her heart, but she sworeshe was never going to get used to walking out of her cabin in the morning andbeing greeted by a moose.

“Bobby and Will are running late again,” Del announced asshe walked through the doors of the Bliss County School Grades Pre-K–12. Shebrushed a dusting of snow off her shoulders. Delilah was thetwenty-five-year-old Stefan Talbot had allowed her to hire as a backup. Her momwas a nail tech at Polly’s Cut and Curl, and she’d thought she would move outof Bliss but had been thrilled when this job had come up. She was working onher master’s degree in preschool education, going to class online and drivinginto Alamosa to Adams State when she needed to.

Sabrina blessed the day Delilah Manning came into her lifebecause she would never have been able to handle these kids alone. They were ajoyous handful, but some of them were excellent at sneaking away. CharlieHollister-Wright was an escape artist. “I’m sure there was an experiment theywere 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 themain computer. Who’s in for the morning session with our babies?”

It was what she called the preschool class. It was by farthe largest of the classes she had. Will and Bobby Farley were her only highschool students, and honestly, they were so smart they only needed someone todirect their work and bring in tutors when they had trouble. This was wherehaving a board of directors with seemingly endless pockets came into play.She’d brought in a professor from the University of Michigan’s math departmentto Zoom with the boys every Thursday while they were taking advanced calculus.

There was morning session and afternoon session, with lunchand a play break in between. Because the school was so small, the parentshandled lunch every day. The “trios,” as Sabrina called them, handled thoseduties. There were more than romantic threesomes in Bliss. Friendships seemedto come in trios, too. Rachel Harper, Callie Hollister-Wright, and JenniferTalbot handled Mondays and Wednesdays. Laura Kincaid-Briggs, Holly Burke, andNell Flanders handled Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays were taken care of byBeth McNamara-O’Malley and her two friends, Hope Glen-Bennett and GemmaWells—she didn’t need all those extra freaking names to remind her she’smarried—brought in food on Fridays. Hope was pregnant with her first child, butwhile Gemma had declared her marriage a child-free zone, she was actually goodwith the ones who weren’t her own. She also declared it wasn’t fair to leaveher out of the whole obvious friendship-bonding thing just because her womb wasclosed.

Gemma was a lot. Sabrina liked her. She worked with Elisaand 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 theirnaps.”

They had a toddler class and a kindergarten/first-gradeclass. There were also two kids in middle school and a fourth grader. It was ajuggling act to make sure everyone got what they needed, but Sabrina had toadmit 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 acouple had already come around.

“Good.” Sabrina sat back, glancing at the clock. Anotherthirty 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, notlooking up from her laptop.

Sabrina sighed. The night before had not gone the way she’dhoped it would. It was stupid and she was going to get over it, but she wasstill thinking about the man from the Christmas party. The asshole. Mr. Nopewasn’t going to ask her out, but she wanted the feeling she’d gotten when she’dseen him. She hadn’t gotten it the night before. “It was nice.”

Del looked up, a brow rising. “It was supposed to be hot. Itwas supposed to be a date.”

She’d let herself get set up by her sister, who thought shemight like spending time with the two deputies who worked part time for BlissCounty. Knox Miller and Marshall Lethe. They normally worked in Creede buthandled some late shifts for the Bliss County Sheriff’s department. “They werenice.”

Del winced. “So no spark?”

---