Page 7 of Take Me Away, Cowboy

The thing was, when she looked back at the mystery man in his flannel and jeans—the uniform of the Montana working man—she believed those last words about being happy to be home.

He caught her watching him again and his eyes narrowed, took her in from head to toe, appraising her. This time, instead of a frown, he smiled, showing off perfect white teeth.

The heat in her stomach moved south—he was handsome, all right. A dentist’s dream of a smile that reached his light brown eyes. Stubble that belied a good couple days without a shave.

Who was this guy? A voice in the back of her head argued that a one-night stand while she was home wasn’t completely out of the question.

Shut up and stop being a harpy.The last thing she needed was another reason not to come home between stints abroad.

Paige snuck her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and scrawled out a text to Aurelie.

Made it. They threw a surprise party for me. With pink decorations. Hurry up and save me. Miss you already. K and C. Xoxo, P.

She thought of adding something about the handsome—and still unclaimed—stranger but something held her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her brother come in off the porch, a beer in each hand. He didn’t look as angry, but what she saw was worse. His smile was sad, and telltale tracks of tear stains outlined his cheeks.

Her phone chimed, alerting her to a message. She opened it and laughed.

On my way. Bringing you a case of rum and a rubbish bag for the decorations. Hang in there. Remember, you can always come back here and wait tables at the Crab Shack. They could use a white girl like you to draw in the tourists. Miss u too. Kisses and conch.–A

Paige shoved the phone back in her pocket and stormed up to her brother.

“Hey, you. Come outside and talk to me,” she commanded. He nodded and followed her out, downing the beer.

Paige walked out on the back porch of Brad and Julia’s small home and inhaled, filling her lungs with as much oxygen as she could. Her body just didn’t seem to want to acclimate.

It wasn’t only the altitude.

Her heart refused to assimilate, let Banberry in.

Their backyard opened up to the forest, Rocky Mountain maples and juniper bushes forming a natural hedge to the intimate paver stone patio and sparse deck furniture. Behind the forest, the Elkhorn Mountains closed around them like a fence, protecting them from the rest of the world.

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe the inability to see the horizon was part of the reason she couldn’t stay long in Banberry.

She took another breath, desperate for this place to feel like home. The sweet aroma of the maples brought her closer, but something was still missing.

“I don’t want to hear it right now, Paige,” Brad said. He leaned against the tan clapboards, his head in the palm of his empty hand.

“I wasn’t going to say it, Brad. I promise. I just wanted to give you the chance to get out of the party for a minute to regroup.” She met him where he stood and wrapped a protective arm around his waist.

A stray tear fell. He sipped his other beer, the first one long gone, his eyes raised to the plywood roofline he’d built for Julia to cover the patio he’d also put in for her. Paige’s heart wanted to shatter for what her brother was going through.

“Thanks, sis. I’m sorry about the party, too. It was Julia’s idea. I told her you’d be destroyed after trekking halfway across the world, but she insisted. Which was cute until I realized who she’d invited. It’s like she doesn’t know you—or me—at all. I mean, your old grade school librarian? Your hairdresser from eighth grade?”

Paige laughed, a deep cackle that came from her chest.

“Yeah, I was wondering about that. I thought it was just you being my typically clueless brother.”

“Please. If I were in charge of the party you know I’d have invited all your ex-boyfriends, maybe a couple of the girls from your seventh-grade volleyball team that used to tease you. I definitely would have had the kid who gave you mono in high school. There’d have been pizazz to welcome my baby sister home.”

This time, Paige snorted. “Nowthatwould have been a party.”

“Seriously, Paige. I’m so sorry. It was the first thing she’d taken off my plate in as long as I can remember, so I let her have it.”

“It’s fine, Brad. I mean it,” she added when he shot her a furrowed brow. “I don’t have a spare electron of energy to give people I care about, Mom and Dad included, today. Since they’re busy with gossip from Ms. Hamshire, they won’t have time to make me feel guilty for leaving again in a week. You, good sir, just bought me a night of freedom.”

She playfully punched his shoulder, delighted when his goofy, crooked grin crept back.

“Wanna bail? I doubt anyone here would care too much. I can sneak you into the apartment above the garage before Mom and Dad try and make you take your twin bed from high school.”

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