Page 3 of Montana Freedom

I laughed with him. “No, probably not.”

Jude and Lena had circled each other for far too long, and now that they were together, you had to be blind not to see how truly happy they were.

We were approaching the break in the road where I needed to split off for my house, so I clapped a hand on Liam’s shoulder.

“Thank you for this, and if you need to talk about it—”

He held out a hand. “I’ll let you know. See you in a bit.”

I couldn’t respond. He was already jogging toward the main lodge, where I assumed he’d left his truck.

I still had plenty of time before the opening, so I moved slowly on the way back to my small house in a far corner of the property. It was simple, but it suited me. And while I was walking, I tried to puzzle out a little more of what Liam had mentioned. What was it about this woman specifically that had drawn me in?

She was beautiful, no denying it, but there were plenty of beautiful women in the world, and none of them called to me like she did. Was it her? Or was it my own issues rising up to bite me in the ass yet again?

That was quite enough wallowing for one day, so I put it aside as I showered and went to the lodge to take care of a few things before going into town.

By the time I reached Garnet Bend, the line outside Deja Brew spanned several blocks in both directions. I laughed knowing Lena—sweet person that she was—was still probably freaking out at the idea of so many people waiting for her to open the doors.

I found Lucas in line near the front. “You’re telling me Evie didn’t get you in early?”

He snorted. “No. I told her I’d be manual labor and whatever else they needed, but she said I needed to wait like everyone else. Jude is the only one in there with them.”

“Hi!” Cori said, coming up to us with Grant. The local vet and Grant had had their own brush with death, and they were equally as in love as Jude and Lena. The flush on Cori’s cheeks told me enough about what they’d been doing before they arrived.

“We thought we were going to be late.”

“If I know Lena,” Grace called from across the street, “she’s stalling.”

I looked at the patrons behind us in line and smiled. It was good this was a small town with people who knew everyone, so our growing cluster of friends wouldn’t be upsetting to those waiting. The way Deja Brew and Resting Warrior were tangled together was well known by now.

Grace hugged Cori quickly before getting pulled back into Harlan’s arms. An unexpected lurch in my gut had me looking away from them. The men of Resting Warrior were my brothers in every way that mattered, and I was happy for them. But I couldn’t ignore the way their happiness contrasted with the emptiness in my own life.

“What’s up, Daniel?” Lucas asked quietly.

“What do you mean?”

He smirked, holding back a laugh. “I mean that you’re usually dark and broody, but you seem to have taken an extra dose of it this morning.”

I made a show of a big smile. “Better?”

“Sure thing.” Then again, but quieter, he asked, “Seriously, is something wrong?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

He nodded once. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“Of course.”

Cori looked around. “Where are Noah and Kate? I assumed they would be here.”

“I’m sure they will be,” Harlan said. “I think Noah’s still feeding the animals and will be by in a bit.”

Ahead of us, the doors to Deja Brew opened inward, and the line surged forward. We were barely outside the entrance when it stopped. Just inside, Jude was managing the line and making sure they didn’t immediately have a fire code violation on their hands, but the smile on his face told me he didn’t care.

A person suddenly came flying out the doors, past the crowd, and nearly crashed into Lucas. It was Evelyn, Lucas’s fiancée, out of breath and eyes filled with both anxiety and joy. The shirt she wore showed her scarred arms, remnants from her brutal stalker of an ex. She now wore her scars as proud marks of her survival and not of shame.

“Remember when I told you we didn’t need help and everything was fine?”

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