by Liz Isaacson
She loved this pizza, with its sweet sauce, spicy red pepper, creamy cheese, and the char on that crust. She couldn’t even enjoy it tonight, and she ended up only taking two bites before she put her piece back in the box.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I ruined everything.”
“No, you didn’t,” he said, reaching for his second slice of pizza. He loved the homemade pepperoni, sausage, and marinara pizza, and he’d taken the lid off his salad too.
“I did,” she said. “I just…don’t know how to accept large gifts.”
Cy nodded, but Patsy knew he wasn’t happy. “I’d love it if you’d try,” he said quietly. “I promise I won’t ask you to then pay for my dinner.”
Patsy smiled, because Cy was trying to lighten the mood, and she appreciated that. “I’ll try,” she said.
“I can’t ask for more than that.” He lifted his pizza to his lips and took another bite. After chewing and swallowing, he added, “Thank you for an amazing birthday, Patsy.”
A new ray of light entered the kitchen with them. “You liked it?”
“I’d like anything where we get to spend the whole day together.” He finished his pizza and stood up, offering her his hand. “Dance with me?” He was still trying to make his birthday about her, and as she smiled and sighed and stood, she realized she was wrong.
He wasn’t trying to make his birthday about her; he was trying to include her in his birthday.
So she tucked herself into his arms and against his chest and danced with him. She’d gone to several lessons with him by now, and the man was seriously light on his feet.
In the silence, Patsy tried to find a way to go back in time and just thank him for the motorcycle. Of course he wasn’t Cody. Not even close.
Cy Hammond was unlike any other man she’d ever dated, and she felt like a fool for comparing him to anyone else.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“You’re fully moved in?” Ames asked his twin, glancing over his shoulder as he spooned sugar into his coffee. Cy had arrived in Ivory Peaks late last night, and they’d barely had any time to talk.
“Yeah,” Cy said, rubbing his hand down his face. “A couple of weeks ago.”
“And Patsy took your cabin?”
“She’s going to,” he said. “She’s moving this weekend. It’s been very hard for her to leave the lodge.”
“I’ll bet.” Ames poured his brother a cup of coffee and turned to set it in front of him. He retrieved the sugar bowl, moved it to the island, and proceeded to get the cream out of the fridge. Cy started fixing his coffee the way he liked it, and Ames wondered if he’d have to push his brother to start talking.
“She told me to tell you thanks for coming to help her move.”
“Of course,” he said. “Her family sounds kind of whack.”
“They’re okay,” Cy said. “Her sister is just busy, and her brother is still dealing with his divorce.”
“Everyone has something, don’t they?” Ames asked, lifting his mug to his lips.
“Yeah,” Cy said, still stirring, stirring, stirring.
“What’s going on with you and Patsy?”
“We’re good,” Cy said, but Ames thought his voice was a bit forced.
“Did she ever take the motorcycle?”
“It’s still in the shop,” Cy said. “I don’t know what to do with it.”
“Put it in the garage at your rental,” Ames suggested. “She’s moving there; she’ll have it then.”
“I want to teach her how to ride,” Cy said. “Like how Elise and Gray run together now. She did that, because she wanted to spend time with him. Patsy said she wanted to learn to ride, and I thought if she had the perfect bike, and I taught her, we could spend the summer riding all the roads in Wyoming.” He sighed, and Ames wished he could fix things for his brother.
“But it’s almost July now,” Cy said, frustration heavy in his voice. “And I’m just riding by myself.”
Ames didn’t react at all, which usually allowed Cy to keep talking. Today, though, he clammed right back up again.
“Cy,” Ames said.
“No,” Cy said. “Don’t ask me, okay? If I’d done what you want me to do, I’d have told you.”
“It’s not what I want you to do.”
“Yes, it is,” Cy said. “I’m managing it.”
“Okay,” Ames said, keeping the doubt out of his tone. “So why’d you come down here? I know the way to Coral Canyon.”
“I just needed a break,” Cy said. “The shop is super busy right now, and with all the stress of Patsy quitting and packing and moving…I just needed a break.” He looked at Ames. “So you’re going to show me a good time for the next couple of days. You’re not going to hound me about going to see a counselor or if Patsy and I are serious, and we’ll have a nice drive back to Wyoming together.” He smiled at Ames, who chuckled.
“You got it, bro.”
“Thank you,” Cy said. “Your turn. Five minutes on what you’ve been doing on the dating scene.”
Ames scoffed, the sound loud and a little sharp in his throat. He took a sip of coffee to try to soothe it. “There is no dating scene.”
“None?”
“One, I’m a cop.” He held up one finger. “I actually had a woman tell me that was, and I quote, a ‘turn-off.’”
“Why’s that?”
“She thinks all cops are corrupt.” Ames shrugged one shoulder. Some were, he knew that. And it seemed like the bad ones got the biggest headlines.
“What’s number two?”
“My last name is Hammond,” Ames said. “You realize Dad just donated two hundred million dollars to the research hospital? They’re naming an entire wing after us. Our name is everywhere, and it’s been on the news for four solid weeks.”
“I’d think that would be good for the dating scene.”
“No, what it does is bring out all the women who’re looking to get me to the altar without a prenup.” Ames rolled his eyes, wishing he could get rid of the memories of the past month. The morning after the news had first broken, Ames had left his house to go to work to find at least thirty women on the sidewalk in front of his house.
The German shepherd he had right now, Daisy, had whined and given one bark, and that had clued Ames in to the crowds. The dog looked over at him right now, as if she knew he was thinking about her.
“Is there a number three?” Cy asked.
“No,” Ames said. “Being a cop and a Hammond are bad enough.”
“Well, it seems like being a cop—which you say women don’t like—would cancel out being a Hammond—which they do.”
“I suppose there are women who can live with me being a corrupt, criminal cop if I have a lot of money.” He finished his coffee and stood up. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” Cy said. “But I get it. So no talk about me going to counseling or Patsy, and I’m not going to ask you about dating again.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” Ames stepped over to the drawer beside the refrigerator. “Let’s go get breakfast.”
“And you’ve got yourself a deal.” Cy stood up, a happy smile on his face. Ames knew his twin could paint that smile over almost anything, any feeling. Ames hated that he didn’t just believe Cy’s happiness, but he knew the man almost as well as he knew himself.
Ames knew he wasn’t happy, and while Cy seemed to be doing well with his shop and hanging in there with his relationship with Patsy, he knew he didn’t feel the joy that would counter his misery.
“Is it okay to talk about your job?” Cy asked once they were in Ames’s truck. “I heard you were talking to Wyatt Walker about going to Three Rivers. Colton said he told you to come be on the force in Coral Canyon.”
Ames didn’t answer right away, because he had no idea how to do that. He’d give up seniority in Littleton, and he didn’t want to relocate. He felt a strong responsibility to be a Hammond in the Denver area, though his mother and fa
ther had both told him to follow his heart.
The problem was, Ames felt like he didn’t have one.
“I’m considering a lot of things right now,” Ames finally said.
“Why don’t you come work for me?” Cy offered. “You don’t need to be a police officer. Come run my office, and meet a beautiful woman, and fall madly in love like the rest of us.”
Ames opened his mouth to respond, but his mind stalled for a moment. Usually, he balked at the idea of giving up his career in law enforcement. They’d just agreed not to talk about his dating scene.
And….
“Like the rest of us?” Ames asked. “What does that mean? You’re in love with Patsy?”
Cy looked out his window, and Ames had seen this tactic before. He also didn’t need his brother to answer. He already had.
“How are you—?”
“You agreed not to ask me about her,” Cy said coldly.
Ames released the wheel and regripped it. He couldn’t just let this go. Cy had been in love before—twice that Ames knew of. Both of those relationships had ended and devastated his brother. Ames had been worried that Cy was headed for a huge fall before, but this only made things worse.
If things didn’t end well with Patsy, Ames felt certain the Cy he knew would cease to exist.
He didn’t say anything else on the way to breakfast, because he had agreed not to say anything else about Patsy that weekend. He’d do what he’d said he would—show Cy a good time, keep his mouth shut about Patsy, and drive them back to Coral Canyon to help the woman move.
Monday morning, Ames woke early as he usually did, and he stretched, leashed Daisy, and said, “Let’s go see what these trails are that Uncle Wes has been bragging about.” He’d take off the leash once they got up in the mountains a little bit, and he’d expect her to stay immediately beside him.
He let his mind wander through the pines and aspens as his feet took him up and up, his breathing growing more labored, and Daisy doing exactly what he wanted her to do. He did love working with the police dogs, and if he quit the force in Littleton, he’d give that up. Neither Three Rivers nor Coral Canyon had K-9 dogs—and yes, Ames had done some research.
Maybe he could buy a piece of land somewhere and get it all landscaped. Build a nice house like Cy had done. Put in a dozen dog runs and start training the pups himself. He could sell them to police departments all over the country once they were ready for service. He knew how to do it. He’d trained at least a dozen dogs in the early stages of their careers, and he had a way with the canines.
He knew them, and they knew him.
“What do you think, Daze?” he asked her, and she looked up at him. He smiled and looked back up the trail. Something buzzed in the air, and Ames slowed his step. Daisy did too, and she hunched down, not quite laying down or sitting, but perching on her haunches, tight, ready to explode if Ames gave the right word.
She whined, and he didn’t like that. He held out his palm to keep the dog back, and he stepped in front of her. “Stay, Daisy.” He looked up the path again, definitely hearing something cutting through the panting of the shepherd and the sprinting of his pulse in his own ears.
Someone was crying.
“Hello?” he called, but no one answered. “Come on,” he said to Daisy. “Slow. Behind.” He went up the path first, the dog’s hot breath on his heels as they crested the hill.
A woman sat on the bench there, her shoulders slumped as she gazed out over the valley. She lifted both hands to her face and sobbed into them again. Her voice filled the air, but it was too high-pitched, and she was too far away, for Ames to understand what she’d said.
“Ma’am?”
She spun toward him, and Ames froze at the beautiful sight of a familiar face. “Sophia?” he asked, the name thawing him enough to get him moving. He crossed the distance to the bench quickly, taking in her ankles and legs, elbows and arms. She didn’t appear to be hurt.
“Are you okay?” He crouched in front of her, still trying to find an injury. In that moment, he realized her wounds weren’t on the outside, and a connection formed between them as she looked at him with tears clinging to her eyelashes.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sophia could not believe who had appeared at the top of this hill. Of course, it had to be Ames Hammond. Hadn’t she embarrassed herself enough in front of this man? Why couldn’t the Lord just give her a break?
One little break, she thought. Would that be so hard to do?
She’d been praying for comfort for the past couple of months. When Patsy had first told her that she was going to try to get control of her family’s orchard, Sophia’s first reaction had been to pray that she wouldn’t be able to.
She never had been able to bring herself to do it, though. She loved Patsy, and she wanted her to be happy. Since her sister had finally agreed to sign over the orchard, Sophia had known Patsy would leave the lodge.
It had taken longer than either of them had thought, and Sophia should’ve been ready. She should’ve been prepared to put on a brave face, help her best friend pack, and then help her carry the boxes into her new place.
Instead, Sophia had gotten up before Patsy, dressed quickly, and left Whiskey Mountain Lodge so she didn’t have to face the fact that she’d be sleeping in the cabin alone that night.
Patsy had called, and Sophia had told her she’d be back in a little bit. That she’d just wanted to get in a hike that morning. Then she’d completely broken down right here on this bench, where Ames had found her.
“Sophia?” He’d asked her something, but Sophia couldn’t remember what.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, reaching up to wipe her eyes. She hadn’t put on makeup that morning, and she wasn’t sure if she was happy about that now or not. Scratch that—she was glad she hadn’t. She wasn’t going to be the next sucker to fall for a Hammond cowboy.
In fact, this Hammond brother didn’t even wear a cowboy hat. He was a cop, and her pulse jumped. Cops weren’t regular humans, she knew that. They saw things other people didn’t. Heard little inflections in someone’s voice.
“I’m here to help Patsy move,” he said. “Oh.”
He knew already. Humiliation ran through Sophia like fast-moving water, and she needed to get away from this man. Now.
“I have to go.” She exploded to her feet, causing Ames to fall backward. She didn’t care, because everything was moving so fast now. She walked away while he said something to his dog, who went to his side though the German shepherd looked like she wanted to go with Sophia.
She started down the trail and back to the lodge, because she couldn’t spend the day crying in the hills.
She could put on a brave face and a bright smile for her best friend. She could, and she would. She would not make this day harder for Patsy, though she had literally labeled all of her boxes already. Patsy didn’t do anything without lists, labels, binders, and plans. It would probably be the easiest move in the history of moving, all thanks to Patsy’s extreme organizational skills.
Graham Whittaker had hired a new manager for the lodge, and she’d moved in with the new event coordinator. Julianne and Melinda lived in the cabin where Elise and Bree had once lodged, and Sophia really would be living alone for the foreseeable future.
Instead of hiring a full-time groundskeeper, Eli had contracted with a company to come up and take care of the lawn in the summer and the snow removal in the winter. Sophia felt like her family was being disbanded one member at a time, and she didn’t know how to stop it.
“Sophia,” Ames said behind her, but Sophia couldn’t get herself to slow down or stop. And turning around was out of the question.
“Daisy, stay,” he said, and the dog whined. She could hear him walking and breathing behind her, and she wished he’d go away. But it was a public trail, and she couldn’t demand he leave her alone. He wasn’t doing anything wrong by hiking on the same hill as her.
She hated that she’d though
t more about this man than she cared to admit. She never had gotten his phone number after the grand reopening of Cy’s shop, because she’d slipped out of Gray Hammond’s house before the meal had ended.
It had been a long three months of imagining what Ames might be doing in Colorado, and wondering why she thought about him so much. She’d already made the decision not to fall for the last Hammond standing. So why did her heart wail at her to slow down and let him come to her side? Why did the idea of asking for his number stick in her mind?
She wouldn’t do it. Not again.
“I didn’t know we were so close to the lodge,” Ames said as the building came into view.
Sophia paused for a moment, because it was a beautiful sight. She often went up into the hills south of Whiskey Mountain Lodge, because all of the tourists went west, closer to the Tetons. Their guides had routes for everything from horseback riding to the family hike, and those all went into the forests and woods to the west.
The southern woods had become a sanctuary for Sophia—at least until now.
“You probably parked at the Pine Valley trailhead,” she said as Ames came to her side.
“That’s right,” he said. “Is it far from here?”
“Yeah, you went over the rise. It’s probably two miles to the summit. Half a mile down here.”
“Two miles?”
“At least,” she said. “You didn’t realize you’d been hiking for two miles?”
Ames frowned at the lodge, parking lot, and grounds below. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“Join the club,” Sophia muttered.
Ames looked at her, but she refused to meet his eyes. They were deep and dark, she knew. She knew the shape of his jaw without looking, and she knew what she wanted to have come out of his mouth just before he kissed her.
She shook her head slightly. She’d definitely gone insane by even allowing herself to think about kissing this man.
Ames’s phone rang, and he grumbled under his breath something about Cy. “Yeah,” he said. “I know, I just didn’t realize what time it was.” Pause. Breath. “No, I have my truck. I’ll be there. Fifteen minutes…yes…okay.” He hung up without saying goodbye, and Sophia’s skin tingled.
