Page 6 of The Wounded Mountain Man

"Yeah. I guess. For a while."

"Staying at Logan's place?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing." She starts wiping the counter with a smug expression on her face. "Just wonder how long it'll be until you two finally get your act together, and by that I mean get naked and do all sorts of hot man-sex stuff."

"Hattie!"

"Twenty bucks says it's within a month," Joe mutters from the other side of the counter. For an old man, he's got remarkably good hearing.

Hattie laughs while my cheeks flame under my beard. No need to let her or Joe know that, technically, Logan has already seen me naked.

"Seriously, though." She stops wiping and pins me with an earnest look. "You guys need to talk."

"We talk all the time," I reply even though I damn well know that's not what she means.

"I meanproperly. I'm convinced that if you two had just talked after what happened at graduation, Sofie and Jax would have cousins to play with."

She stares at me for a few long beats, like she's trying to make her message sink in. I give a nod to let her know it has, and then she tells me about how well Sofie, who's eight, is doing in school, getting an A in math, while Jax, who's six, has been referred to an educational psychologist to get assessed for potential learning difficulties. "He's been acting out, too, ever since Charlie left. I can't get him to listen to a word I say."

"Want me to play the bad cop?"

"Would you?"

Her accepting an offer of help so quickly means the situation must be pretty bad. "Consider it done."

The kitchen bell rings, signaling food's up, and as she takes off, I start formulating a to-do list in my head. Fix the leaking tap in Logan's shower. Patch up what needs fixing around the diner. Have a word with my nephew about treating his mom with respect.

"You leavin' already?" Hattie catches up to me as I head for the door.

"Yeah. Got lunch with Logan."

A grin spreads across her face. "Drop by for dinner? Bring Logan of course."

I nod. "Sure. I'll let you know when."

She embraces me again, mindful of not placing too much pressure on me this time. "It's so good to have you back."

I inhale deeply, feeling the warm press of her body against mine. "Yeah. It's good to be back."

"And remember," she says, looking up into my eyes. "Talk."

4

Logan

I survey the common room, tallying the group under my breath. "Twelve, thirteen, fourteen."

Hmm. That's not bad. It's only the third Drop-in Tuesday we've run so far, and the numbers have gone up each time.

"You've done a really good job here, kid."

I turn toward the deep voice coming from my left and see Tex approaching. He was super supportive of this initiative, and without his help, I wouldn't have gotten even half the turnout. Former military personnel who live on the mountain aren't the most social of people—something I can totally relate to—but since Tex is one of the most respected guys around here, as well as the Fire Chief of the local wildland firefighting branch, when he summoned these guys to haul their asses in here, they listened. Well, a lot of them did.

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