Page 35 of Wind Valley

Everyone shook their heads.

“Well, I guess that leaves us nowhere, then. It’s still a mystery.”

“Was there no information about it?” asked Maura.

“It used to be an oil and gas company, but it’s branched out and rebranded. That’s about it.” She shook her head. “I’ll go back to worrying about my new blended family. I figure Jill and I have one big thing in common, and that’s adoring Hailey.”

“Exactly.” Surprising herself, Maura decided to chime in. “Why should women automatically consider other women to be adversaries or competition somehow? I’ve never liked that.”

“Yesss.” Charlie reached toward her for a high-five. “Sister power. We’re all sisters here, possibly because we were all outcasts in high school. It was a bond forged in the fire of misfit-dom. But you weren’t a misfit, were you?”

“Why would you say that?”

“She might have been.” Ani jumped to Maura’s defense. She was naturally empathetic, Maura saw. “Just because she’s pretty and smart and funny and—are you okay, Maura?”

Maura realized she had tears in her eyes. She brushed them away. “Yes. Fine.” The four women watched with expressions ranging from concern to shock. “Sorry. I just…things have been tough lately, and you all are very kind and I’m…adjusting. Don’t mind me.”

“Cry all you want,” Lila declared as she scooted close to Maura and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I do it regularly. It makes Bear worry, so I search out my friends instead. They’re used to it.”

“We are,” Molly agreed. “So if there’s anything you need to get off your chest, Maura, consider us all ears.”

She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to. But still, something stopped her. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

19

“She’s afraid of something. Very afraid.” Lila held a broom and a dustpan, ready to sweep up now that The Fang had closed. The last customer had just left, singing a sea shanty at the top of his lungs, and Lachlan leaned against the counter, yawning.

“I agree. But she wouldn’t tell you what?”

“No. We talked about a lot of things, but the most she would say was that she’d been through a tough time lately, and that she wants nothing to do with men.”

He grimaced—not that he hadn’t known that, but it still felt like a twist of the knife.

“But not you,” Lila added quickly. “She said only nice things about you.”

“Somehow that doesn’t make it better.”

“I know. I’m sorry. But Lachlan.” She stepped close to him, her purple eyes huge with sympathy. “She’s really scared right now, but I think she’s a strong person, even stronger than she thinks. Everyone wants to be happy, so maybe she’ll find her way through the fear.”

Maybe, he thought. Or maybe he’d eat his heart out over her in silence until she left town and found someone who could make her forget her troubles.

Every bit of him rebelled at that thought. There was something between him and Maura, he really believed that. What could he do for her that would help her “find her way through the fear?”

“Do you know that she met us at the door with a frying pan?” Lila was saying. “As if she thought she might have to fight someone off.”

Fight someone off? That sounded even more serious than he’d imagined. He needed to know more about this; if she was that afraid, she might need backup.

He noticed Lila yawn. “I’ll finish cleaning up. You go upstairs to Bear. You’ve barely seen him today.”

Lila looked like she wanted to argue at first, but the temptation of Bear won out. “Thanks, you’re a superstar.” She blew a kiss at him and danced off toward the kitchen, where a narrow staircase led to the upstairs apartment where Bear lived, and Lila spent much of her time.

Lachlan cleaned up in record time, then strapped on his skis and glided down the moonlit road to the general store. Lately, with the threat of actual competition, Kathy had been intentionally leaving the Wi-Fi active overnight; she’d even set out a bench for people to sit on. Once, Lachlan had seen someone stream a movie on that bench, all bundled up in a fur parka in zero-degree temperatures. Firelight Ridge’s version of a drive-in theater.

Lachlan didn’t even take off his skis, just sat down, slid them under the bench, and pulled out his iPad.

He googled Maura’s name first, but that brought up too many results to be helpful, so he added “Colorado” to his search, then the word “teacher.” His fingers were chilling down, so he took a break to put his gloves back on.

After a number of hits that told him nothing in particular, an article from a local newspaper popped up. The headline read Debate Team Wins State. “The Hopper High School debate team, under the leadership of fill-in coach Maura Vaughn, took first in the state championships,” it said.

---