Page 8 of Wild Bliss

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 werenice, but I didn’t feel anything. I think maybe I can’t feel anything. Maybethe whole romantic thing isn’t for me.”

It was why she was fixated on Mr. Nope. He’d been the firsttime she’d felt something for a man in a long time. She’d buried that part ofherself deep, and she was still trying to get out. It wasn’t like she believedMr. Nope was something special. He was obviously not for her, but she wanted tofeel a spark again.

“Of course it is. You simply haven’t found the right guysyet.”

Sabrina snorted at the thought. “The fact that you makeguyplural is still so odd to me.”

Del shrugged. “My mom would be way happier if she had twoguys to yell at. My dad would be happier if he had a friend he could hidebehind when he screws up. It’s one of the reasons I decided to stay hereinstead of looking for a job in Alamosa or Colorado Springs after I finished mydegree.”

“I thought it was Stef Talbot’s signing bonus.”

Del’s lips curled up. “Mine came from Seth Stark. And I gothim to pay for my Internet for as long as I’m employed. It’s so great havingcompetitive billionaires around. But part of the reason I wanted to stay ishaving the option to be in a Bliss kind of relationship. Not that I have timeright 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 saysit’s my rebellion. I think she would have been happier if I’d moved straightfrom high school right to a table beside her at Polly’s salon.”

“You didn’t want to be a nail tech. I think you beingdedicated to higher education is great for everyone in this town. My mom wantedme to go into the Army,” Sabrina admitted. “She told me if it was good enoughfor my sister and her, it should be good enough for me. And that’s why I had topay 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 mylife as extra rent. Speaking of rent, I have to go by Marie’s later today. I’vegot electrical issues, and I am not going to make my brother-in-law do the workfor 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 thesummer but wanted to be closer to the school when it opened. So she’d rented atwo-bedroom cabin in the valley. The sheriff and his wife and partner were herclosest neighbors. She had the most peaceful view ever and faulty wiring. She’dasked in writing for someone to come out, but Marie had been ignoring her.

“Oh, Marie isn’t the tight-fisted one,” Del replied. “She’sthe agent. Marie is kind of the go between. There are a couple of people whoactually own the cabins for rent, but they all use Marie as their propertymanager. I know Stef and Seth both own multiple properties. Doc Burke rents outa couple of cabins around town.”

“So I can yell at one of the billionaires? It’s probablyDoc. He forgets things all the time. If it’s not someone’s blood pressurereading, he ignores it.” She’d figured out the town very quickly. It didn’thurt that her sister knew everyone.

“Probably,” Del agreed. “Or it’s one of the Texans.” Herblonde bob shook. “They’ve been buying up land here ever since that writerbroke down and ended up buying a cabin.”

Sabrina knew the story well. “She’s my sister’ssister-in-law. Or she’s married to her brother-in-law. It gets confusing whenthere are six people involved. And I don’t think it’s the Texans. They come upway too often for anything more than short-term rentals. I’ve got a three-yearlease on mine. It’s well kept, with the exception of the lights flickering onand 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 heardthere’s a bad storm coming in tomorrow morning. If it’s too bad, I’ll come byand pick you up. You shouldn’t drive your sedan in this kind of storm. You needto buy a snowmobile. It’s kind of like the bike of Colorado.”

“Oh, I don’t want you to go out of your way,” Sabrinareplied. “I assure you my sister will make sure I get into town okay. Or my… Hesaid 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 tomost of the kids who grew up here in Bliss, so I think it’s wonderful he’s gota couple of kids of his own now. Look, he’s not your biological father, but heis your sister’s. If she wants to share, I say go for it. Mel will treat youlike 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 Ieat them all the time. I think my blood pressure’s down. So no one will thinkit’s weird I call a man I met a few months ago Dad and a woman who has nothingreal 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 pastparticiples. 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 vocalabout.

“Good morning, Sabrina. I left Henry in the classroom to dowelcomes,” Nell said with a smile. “We brought the snack for the day. I madevegan muffins. I thought I’d bring one in for the teacher.”

Nell knew how to make some excellent vegan food. Sabrinawasn’t a vegetarian, but she also wouldn’t turn her nose up at food that didn’tcontain animal products. She’d had Nell’s tofu cake, and it was delicious. Shetook the muffin. “Thanks. I was going to eat a protein bar. I’m a waste in thekitchen.”

It was true. She could burn water. Most nights she ate asandwich or microwaved a bowl of soup. She was sick of protein bars.

“Well, if you ever want to learn vegan cooking, I’m yourgirl,” Nell offered. “Now I overheard you talking about going to see Marieafter school. You’re having trouble with your cabin? Is it anything we can helpwith?”

Everyone here helped. They all pitched in. She’d alreadyattended a party where they’d erected a barn out at the Circle G, a fundraiserfor some poor dog named Princess Two, who needed a ton of meds, and been to theopening of Alexei Markov’s new office in town. The Bliss Mental Wellness Centerwas cozy, and Sabrina was thinking about going to the woman Alexei had importedas the second therapist in the practice.

In fact, her first big town event had been a baking partyfor the Harper family. Apparently when someone had a baby around here, thewhole community made casseroles and easy meals for the family for the firstmonth. She’d brought important moral support to the group baking effort, allthe while thinking her mother would have told Rachel if she wanted free foodshe should go to a church and beg. Or she would say she should have kept herlegs shut.

Yeah, this was why she should go to the clinic. Her mother’svoice still dominated her life, still brought a cloud over everything. She’dchanged five times before her date last night because she could hear hermother’s criticism of everything she put on. “Thanks so much. I will definitelythink about it. As for the bad electricity, I’m going to force my landlord totake care of it. I’m going to tell Marie I won’t take another day of mylandlord putting me off. I might be one small part of this person’s wealth, butthey owe me some respect as a renter.”

Nell seemed to think about that for a moment. “Well, you’llhave to wait until Marie gets back from New York. She and Teeny are therebecause Logan and Seth’s wife, Georgia, went into labor early. They’d beenplanning to have the baby here in Bliss, but life made their kid an Upper EastSider. I hope it doesn’t affect his ideas on climate change. Anyway, I know whoyour landlord is if you want to talk to him yourself. Though he’s on the crabbyside. Don’t blame him. It’s only because no one’s pulled the thorn out of hispaw 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, andperhaps the time he spent away from Bliss. He holds all of his emotions verytightly. He looks like he’s made from granite, but he’s not. There’s a softheart 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 yearsback, and his two brothers didn’t hang around. But now he has a friend. I’malmost certain he knows Sawyer from his…more interesting days, but he seemslike a ray of sunshine.”

“Sawyer?” She kind of thought she’d heard the name beforebut she couldn’t put a face to it. Why did it sound so familiar?

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