by Taylor Hart
Hunter had a big, stupid grin on his face. His military frame filled the doorway; he took off his cowboy hat and walked in. “Did you get the text from Cam saying he won’t be here today? I guess he stayed for some wild time in Vegas.” Hunter rolled his eyes. “He’s been married two months. Shouldn’t the honeymoon be over?” He let out a deep laugh. “Hope he plays a good hand for me.”
Montana snorted: Hunter had won his land in Jackson on a good hand of poker. A text pulsed in the phone in Montana’s pocket.
Hunter pulled his phone up. “Oh, it looks like Sterling’s on some movie shoot and won’t be able to make it either. Jerk.”
“I can’t do this today.” All Montana’s control slipped away. In fact, the longer he held onto the envelope in his hand, the less he felt like he had any control at all.
The doorbell sounded, chiming a western tune from his first album.
Marta opened the door.
Cooper Harris walked in, immaculately put together. He wore a blue polo shirt and khaki shorts paired with loafers.
“Nice shoes.” Hunter laughed and shook his head. “Seriously, loafers?”
Cooper rolled his eyes and snorted. “Do you think the flaw in your personality that feels the need to comment on my appearance in a negative way somehow endears you to me?” He spoke in a condescending tone.
Hunter stopped mid-snort. “Why, I didn’t know you cared so much about what I think.” Hunter had sensed weakness, and Montana knew he was about to light into the positive-thinking master.
“I need you both to leave.” Abruptly, Montana turned away from them, feeling perspiration at his hairline and touching it lightly as he rushed through his dining room and opened the sliding door. The cool morning mountain air was semi-refreshing. He hurried to his music studio.
He heard the sliding door open. “Would you wait up?” Hunter was on his heels.
Glancing back, he saw Cooper had followed, too, and was closing the sliding door. Hunter was almost to him.
Montana couldn’t explain all of this to them. Emotion surged into him, and he tore into his studio, going straight to his guitar stool and falling onto it. “I have to work,” he growled at Hunter and then glared at Cooper as they followed him inside anyway.
Hunter stopped next to the other stool. He stood with his hands on his hips, and his flashy belt buckle almost blinded Montana as the sun hit it. “What’s wrong with you?”
Montana still held the envelope. His hand began to shake. He felt moisture pooling at the corners of his eyes. He put his head into his other hand and flung the envelope onto the coffee table in front of him. “Go away!” He made a last attempt to growl out in anger before succumbing to plain weakness.
Cooper went directly to the coffee table, picked up the envelope, and sat across from Montana on the couch. “Montana.” His voice was cool, calm, concerned, and slightly counselor-ish. “What’s wrong?”
Montana couldn’t say anything. The shaking had started in the center of his gut and was now working its way through him. The same kind of shaking he’d felt when he’d been put in foster care for the first time. The same kind of shaking he’d felt when his ex- wife had lost the baby. Their baby. Standing in the hospital, watching her cry, it had undone him.
He couldn’t stop thinking of his friend Jason. He was gone. He thought he’d lost him and Lil before, when he left, but that had been his choice. Having Jason ripped away from this world, where Montana couldn’t even apologize, was a thousand times worse.
“Whoa.” Hunter sat next to Cooper on the couch across from him. “It’s okay, bud. Tell us what’s going on.”
Cooper eyed him, keeping the envelope in his hand. “Can I open it?”
Montana wanted to tell him to take it somewhere the sun don’t shine, but then he reached forward and took the envelope from him. “I’ll open it.” This was ridiculous. The shaking subsided for a second. Yes, he had to be decisive.
When he ripped off the end and turned the envelope to the side, a key fell into his hand. He reached into the envelope with his fingers and pulled out the note, and then hesitated.
Did he want to know what Jason had to say to him?
Words from beyond the grave. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. All these years he’d shut Jason out, blamed him for what happened between him and Lil. His hand shook again.
He stood and read the letter.
Montana, if you’re reading this, I’m dead.
First, I’m sorry. But you must know—Lily never loved me. I kissed her. You saw it. That’s all.
I’ve had cancer and fought the good fight. I want you to know I forgave you a long time ago for leaving. But I’m not gonna lie, I missed you.
I missed you a lot.
If Lily brought this key to you, I’m sure she didn’t stay and chat. She’s still pretty mad at you.
Understandably.
Listen, go get her, find out her secret, then forgive her, and let her forgive you.
Oh, and go see my parents. They’ve missed you more than you can imagine.
Ask them about the key.
Again, I’m sorry, Montana. I truly am. We almost had everything, didn’t we?
Your friend forever,
Jason
Montana sat there, tears spilling down his cheeks.
Eight years. Eight years, and he hadn’t looked back once. But he hadn’t known Jason was dying. Gripping the key tightly in his hand, he stood, throwing the letter onto the table and hating the tears on his face.
He couldn’t believe it. It felt like someone had just taken a song he’d poured his heart and soul into and erased the best notes.
Sucking in a breath, he steadied himself. Squeezing his eyes shut, he thought of his friend. Of the sixteen-year-old boy who had welcomed him into his home and treated him like a brother.
Stabbing pain seared into his heart. Cindy and Frank. Jason’s parents. They were the best foster parents he’d ever had. His eyes flashed open. Were they okay? Cindy must be crushed. She had so much love in her being that it overflowed, even washing over Montana when he’d arrived on their doorstep. Frank was a bit more reserved. The old-school kind. Never cried in front of people. Montana knew losing Jason would make him cry.
He tried to steady his breathing. This kind of emotion hadn’t surfaced in him since his wife had left him four years ago. He sucked in another long breath.
Hunter stood with his fists clenched, looking ready to go fight a war. “What do you need, man? Who deserves a pounding?”
Cooper sat coolly on the couch. “What can we do to help?”
Montana let out another breath and gestured to the letter. “My best friend died. A friend I abandoned a long time ago.” He wasn’t going to get into the nitty-gritty.
Hunter eyed his hand. “And left you a key?”
Montana shrugged. Moving to the window, he stared out at his property. What was Jason talking about? Lily had a reason to be mad? The day he left, he’d caught them in a lip-lock. He’d seen it. She was kissing him, too. It was the day after graduation, the day they were supposed to elope. The motorcycle was gassed. His bag was packed. They’d planned it.
He thought of the night before, when she’d been in Montana’s arms at the old fort.
He stared out at the vast property that backed up to the mountains. At his horse corrals and the pool and, when he looked to the west, the gardens.
His mind flashed to Lily Ray and the snotty way she’d thrust the clipboard into his chest and demanded a signature. Rushing back to the letter, he picked it up and crumpled it, taking the envelope and the key and throwing it into the trash.
Hunter grunted. “That’s right. Focus on the future. Let the past go.”
Montana nodded his agreement. “Forget him. Forget them.”
Without warning, pain hit him like a bullet to his chest.
He fell to his knees. “Jason.” He gripped his chest and cursed. Why? Why? Why?
Both Cooper and Hunter were instan
tly next to him, trying to help him up.
Montana thought of leaving them, Lil and Jason, that day. Driving off on the motorcycle, both of them yelling behind him. It’d taken him less than a year to get a record deal. Call it divine providence or sheer luck; he didn’t care what it was. All he knew was that he’d worked his tail off to build up his career. He’d written and sung and travelled the world.
After the first year of “making it,” Montana had hired an investigator to find out what happened to Jason and Lily. He found out she had lived in Denver for a year, then moved to Billings and gone to college. Jason worked at the coal mine in Springs Hollow.
After that, he’d put it to bed. All of it.
Now, he was confused. A million questions went through his mind.
She’d looked and acted so professional.
Cooper and Hunter put him on the couch. Then both sat on the coffee table in front of him. “Are you okay, man?” Hunter asked.
Cooper leaned forward, extracted the key from the trash, and held it up. “It seems you have something pressing you should probably deal with, Montana. Do you need our help?” He held the key out.
Cooper was known for his relationship help. He held seminars at his vast property a few miles down the road. He’d built a whole one-stop “love” headquarters they all teased him about.
Normally, Montana would never get anyone mixed up in his problems, but he didn’t have a choice. He glanced up at both of his friends. “What do you do when your first love comes and tells you your best friend is dead?”
Hunter’s brow creased, and he let out a sigh. “Aw, man.” He’d never spoken much about his military experience, but Montana knew Hunter wasn’t a stranger to friends dying on him. He’d gotten all mushy one night after a few beers. Told them things Montana had tried to brain erase, things that had given Montana a great respect for Hunter.
Cooper reached forward and plunked the key down on the couch beside him. “Well, what do you want to do?”
Montana let out a trigger of a laugh. “Typical response from you, Mr. Life Guru.” This was both the cool thing about Cooper and also the thing that drove the rest of them a bit batty: Cooper always seemed to know the answers, even if that meant pushing Montana to answer the question he needed to answer. “It’s not that simple,” Montana whispered, and he looked away.
Cooper stood, moving to the side of the room and shoving his hands into his pockets. “It never is.”
Montana surveyed the key on the couch for a few seconds, thinking of Lily Ray and the way she’d stalked off like he deserved to be told about Jason that way. Like he deserved to be spurned and left to deal with it all by himself. He whipped out his phone, pulling it to his ear.
His assistant, Kirk, answered on the first ring. “’Sup, boss?”
“The lawyer that delivered the letter to me, where does she work?”
“Uh …” It sounded like he was shuffling papers. “I’m looking at my clipboard, and it says L.R. Gold, attorney-at-law. It says Quinton, Burke, and Lyon Associates. Out of Billings, Montana.”
Hesitating briefly, Montana couldn’t believe what he was about to do. “I want you to find out everything about her firm, find out if she’s been married, and give me her personal address.”
“Okay.” Kirk laughed. “You okay, boss? You sound kind of cagey.”
At that moment, the pain in the center of his chest subsided. “I’m fine, Kirk. I’m more focused than I’ve been in a long time.”
He got off the phone. Hunter and Cooper were now both standing next to the music room door, looking back at him. Both had grins on their faces.
“What?” Montana stood, challenging them.
Cooper turned to open the door. “It’s good dealing with stuff. Good luck, my friend.”
Hunter had a dumb, happy look on his face. “Seems like you’re about to cowboy up and take back the woman of your dreams. Yee-haw.” Dramatically, he slapped the side of his leg and followed Cooper out.
Montana watched them go. A strange surge of determination rushed through him. “She’s not the woman of my dreams.” But even as he said the words, he knew he would dream of her, once again, tonight.
3
Lily filed her final brief for the McMillan case and pushed back from her desk. She relished the feeling of being done with something, having it complete. The little girl would be going to a stable family. She’d worked with the social worker and personally checked out the adoptive parents. They wanted her, and she deserved to be wanted.
It was unusual for Lily to take even a couple minutes to breathe between cases. She liked taking life head-on. It wasn’t her style to sit around. But this last case, where the court had to decide which home the kids should go to, had taken the emotional energy out of her.
Coupled with the funeral last week and the little task of taking that stupid envelope to Montana, it’d been a rough few days.
Staring out the window, she looked at the people in the park below. It’d only been a year since she’d joined the firm, but she’d quickly worked up from associate to junior associate. It might not sound like much to some, but it was everything to her. Their focus was primarily family law, which was her passion. While some attorneys hated working with divorces and dealing with the complications children presented, this was what she loved most—making sure the kids were taken care of. She was good at it.
Of course, like most attorneys, another of her passions was getting her name on the door too. Since it was a small practice, she figured she could achieve that in three to five years if she kept her nose down and did good work.
“’Sup, buttercup?” Her friend and assistant, Charity, walked in the door. Charity was quirky. Today her brown hair was tied up on the sides in Princess Leia buns. She whisked around the room, picking up files and replacing them with other files. She made up for her quirkiness with her excellent organizational skills.
Lily felt caught, and jerked back to her desk.
“Nice blue sky today. You should take the rest of the day off and go for a hike or just go lay in the park and let the vitamin D soak in.” She winked at her. “I’m sure Brad would go with you,” she said in singsong.
Charity’s goal in life was getting Lily to take a vacation day or getting her and Brad hooked up. She was a part-time law student at MSU, but she was generally more of a free spirit. This was why she was the same age as Lily and still not done with school. She’d taken off a semester and backpacked through Europe, saying she would never regret the extra school loans.
Lily let out a light laugh. “Right.”
Charity moved to her desk. “Listen, today is a day one should do something like scale a mountain or skydive or something … C’mon, I’ll even go with you.”
Lily snorted. “You know how to scale a mountain?”
Charity grinned. “Hey, didn’t I tell you I was a climbing guide one summer?”
Lily wasn’t surprised, and she grinned back. “That’s pretty cool.” Picking up a file on top of the stack, she opened it. “Looks like the Carter boy has another court date.”
“Five days. You have to file in five, or the boy goes back to his father.”
Lily’s heart sank. The boy’s father was more than just verbally abusive. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to find concrete proof. Lily had spoken with the little guy, Jared, and he was just the sweetest thing. She focused. “Okay, I’ll be looking this over for the rest of the day.”
Charity sighed. “You just got done with the Carol girl. You deserve to have a little fun now and then. Plus, there was the funeral and that other thing you had to take care of.” Charity picked up another case file off the side of Lily’s desk and lightly tapped her shoulder with it. “Heads up: Brad’s coming your way now. Probably wants a lunch date.”
Butterflies circled in her stomach. Brad had gone with her to Jason’s funeral, and it’d meant a lot to her.
Brad walked through the door, a big grin on his face. His blond hair was gelle
d in a retro, urban way. A pale blue tie accentuated his silver suit. He’d been a basketball player, and it showed in his height and athletic build. He was also good-looking.
They’d both gone to law school at Montana State. He was six years older than her and had just made partner six months ago, making him the youngest partner at the firm. She’d been assigned to work with him on a couple of cases, and he’d taught her a lot. She admired him. He was diligent, smart, and competent. Pausing in front of her desk, he scrunched up his nose. “I’m not going to give you a chance to tell me you’re too busy or you aren’t hungry. I’ve missed you, and you never texted me and told me when you got back, so the way I see it, you owe me lunch.”
Staring at the “checkmate” look on his face, she shook her head. When had he come to know her so well that he already had counterarguments to her points? A smile played on her lips as he narrowed his eyes.
He reached out his hand to her. “C’mon, you know you want to.” He said it in a low, throaty voice.
Lily always tried to make her boundaries with men clear. She had to. Lily hadn’t allowed herself to get serious with anyone. She’d dated, but it’d never felt right to her. Sometimes, late at night, she wondered if it would ever feel right again. Wondered if falling in love so hard the first time had somehow ruined her. Plus, she’d been driven to get through her bachelor and law degrees, working part-time to keep student loans to a minimum. There’d never been a lot of time for dating.
Charity let out a sigh and went for the door. “Don’t make the man beg, Lily.”
Lily stared at Brad’s all-American good looks and suddenly wanted to go, partly because she liked him and partly because Charity was right: she did deserve to have a little fun. She stood. “Fine, but I only have an hour.”
He grinned. “The Carter case?”
She nodded. “And we have to talk details over lunch.” She moved around her desk, grabbing her purse.
He took her hand. “You drive a hard bargain.”
Half an hour later, Lily sat at her favorite French restaurant, waiting for her food and listening to Brad’s strategy for the case.
