Sweet Home Colorado (The O'Malley Men)

by C. C. Coburn

  “How...did you know?” Grace asked, and blew her nose again.

  “Usually is.”

  Grace stood and flushed away the paper. She opened the door and went to the sinks to wash her hands and splash water on her face. The woman offered her a wad of paper towels.

  “Name’s Sally,” the woman said.

  “Thanks,” she said, taking the towels and blotting away her tears. “I’m Grace.”

  “Pretty little thing like you shouldn’t be crying over a man.”

  At five-eight, Grace had never been described as little, but since Sally towered over her by a good few inches, she guessed she could let that slip. Sally looked to be in her late thirties. She was broad-shouldered, fair-haired and freckled, and had the look of a woman who worked hard. Her nails were short, her hands weathered.

  Grace forced a smile. “I don’t know why I gave in to that pity party. I never cry!”

  Sally patted her shoulder. “You cried because you care. So who is he? I’ll go track him down and break an arm or something.”

  Grace’s smile relaxed. “No need to do that. Although I’m tempted to smack him in the head with a frying pan.”

  “Hmm,” Sally said, “So he hasn’t so much broken your heart as bruised your ego?”

  Grace thought about that. Sally was right. “How did you get so wise?” she asked. She bent to splash water on her face again, then looked into the mirror. She was a mess.

  Sally held out more paper towels. “Feel like talking about it over a coffee?” she asked.

  “How about I buy you lunch instead?” Grace offered. “I think my situation will take longer to explain than that. And I’m starving.”

  “Done! What are you driving so I can follow you?”

  “I don’t have a car here. He and I sort of...parted ways in the parking lot.”

  “This is getting more interesting by the minute,” Sally said. “And it sounds like he really does need a frying pan to the head. Come on, we’ll take my truck. I know a great place to eat.”

  * * *

  “SO YOU’VE HAD a fight with Grace already?” Luke said as Jack dismounted.

  “How’d you know?”

  “Al called, said she’d fired you and that you’d be starting on Adam’s house in the morning. I thought Adam didn’t want his house built yet?”

  “Tough,” Jack said, picking up a pair of pliers to help mend the fence.

  “Why’d she fire you?” Luke asked. One thing about Jack’s brothers, they could be downright blunt.

  Jack decided to be equally blunt. “Because I wouldn’t sleep with her.”

  Luke’s head snapped up and for the first time he stopped working. “Whoa! When did this happen—or, rather, not happen?”

  Jack refused to answer and instead concentrated on the fence.

  “Why don’t you want to sleep with her? She’s turned into quite something.”

  “How would you know?” As far as Jack was aware, Luke and Grace’s paths hadn’t crossed since she’d returned.

  Luke shrugged. “Al.”

  Jack cursed as he worked the wire.

  “Did you two ever do the deed in high school?”

  “That is so none of your business, I’m not going to answer it.”

  “Don’t need to, you just did.”

  Jack ran his hand through his hair, wishing he’d worn a hat. The sun was beating down as if it was already mid-August. “I told her I don’t sleep with clients.”

  Luke grinned. “So she fired you and now you can sleep with her. Smart girl.”

  “You have such a simplistic view of life. I have no idea how we’re even related.”

  “Because our parents had sex.”

  “Very funny.”

  “I’m known across three counties for my sense of humor,” Luke said.

  “No, you’re not. You never crack a joke.”

  “Megan’s been teaching me.”

  Jack had to concede that since he’d married Megan, Luke had lightened up. A lot. He’d been married to one of the worst women on earth and now he was married to one of the best. Luke and Megan had met during a holiday romance eighteen years earlier, and it had taken them a long time to find each other again.

  “So, now that you’re no longer her contractor, why aren’t you two steaming up the bedroom?”

  “You’re so crude.”

  “And curious. I’ve got Will on speed dial. He wants to hear what’s up, too.”

  “How did Will get involved in this?”

  “He stopped by the old house just after you took off. Tyrone told him you and Grace left in a big hurry. Naturally, with Will’s overactive imagination, he’s dreaming up all sorts of scenarios. Most of them probably wrong.”

  “This conversation doesn’t go beyond this paddock?” Jack insisted.

  “O-kay,” Luke conceded. “But I want all the details.”

  “There are no ‘details’ and you wouldn’t get them if there were,” Jack said as they started to pack up their tools, then mounted up and rode along the fence line looking for breaks.

  “I don’t do casual sex.” Jack said it brusquely, repeating what he’d said to Grace—and referring to Luke’s wild ways when he was in college.

  “Maybe you’re right. We aren’t related, after all,” Luke said with a wink.

  Jack ground his teeth. Talking to Luke hadn’t been such a great idea, after all. He should’ve seen Matt instead. Matt would take the matter seriously. Matt would probably have some good advice. He dug into his horse’s flanks and took off across the paddock, needing to feel the wind against his face. Hoping it would help clear his head. What was wrong with him? He and Grace were adults, so why not make the most of it while Grace was in town and then they could part with no regrets.

  Because you love her, his inner voice echoed as he slowed his horse and then began to pick their way through the boulders littering the hillside. You’ve only ever loved her.

  He halted his mount and took in the scenery unfolding below him. They were so high up here, Jack could see all the way to the next county. The ranch house at Two Elk, where he’d grown up with his four brothers, lay in the valley to the left of him. Leading away from the ranch was the road to town, which forked in the other direction to the valley where Will and Matt lived with their families and where Adam would settle with his family when Jack built him a home there.

  Meanwhile, Jack lived in an old miner’s shack he’d converted at the far end of the same valley. It had been a burned-out shell that had proven to be a good project for his apprentices, a lesson in preserving and restoring old buildings. Most of them had laughed when he’d driven them out there to start the job, but by the end of it, they’d all taken pride in what they’d done. In the process, they’d learned the history of the area and the hardships the early settlers had endured to scratch a living from the land. The settlers’ perseverance against the worst that the landscape and life could throw at them had been a salient lesson for many of the kids....

  He heard Luke’s horse approach, his hoofs scraping the boulders.

  “Sorry I was so flippant before, buddy,” his brother said. “I keep forgetting how different you and I are.”

  “’S’okay.”

  “You’re still in love with her, aren’t you?”

  “Yup.”

  “And you’re scared of getting hurt when she leaves town again?”

  “Yup.”

  “But how will you feel if she leaves town in a couple of months and you never told her how you really feel?”

  Chapter Eight

  “The way I’m reading this,” Sally said, putting down the rib she’d been chewing on, “is not so much that Jack doesn’t want to make love to you, but that he wants it to be more than a quick roll in the hay.” She picked up another rib. “He sounds like a keeper to me.”

  “Except that I don’t want a keeper,” Grace said. “I don’t want to get seriously involved with anyone. No one will dictate my life ever again.”r />
  Sally’s low whistle made several heads in Rusty’s turn their way. She ignored them, saying, “I hear Jack O’Malley’s good people, though.”

  With a sigh, Grace tossed the corn chip she’d been playing with onto her plate of nachos and leaned back in the booth. “He is. Really good. Too good for me, I think.”

  “Don’t go selling yourself short. This relationship is worth salvaging.”

  “There is no relationship!” Grace said more forcefully than she meant to. “Jack and I dated back in high school. And now, we’re...ancient history.”

  Sally sat forward, her lunch forgotten. “Were you doing more than just dating in high school?”

  Grace chuckled at Sally’s enthusiasm. She’d barely known this woman for thirty minutes and had already confessed pretty much everything about her lousy marriage and her initial reasons for returning to Spruce Lake. And now Sally wanted the details of her history with Jack.

  The only women she’d associated with in Boston had been colleagues. She’d kept her private life private, but there was something about Sally, something totally guileless, that had Grace wanting to confess all, as if they were long-time friends rather than two people who’d met in the restroom of a local hardware store half an hour earlier.

  “No, we weren’t intimate—until the night before he left to join the peace corps somewhere in Guatemala,” Grace admitted.

  “I’d heard he was a priest or something?”

  “You seem to know a bit about him.”

  Sally shrugged. “Just gossip. I’ve only been living here a couple of months, but his name has come up in conversation. Folks are impressed by what he does to get wayward teens back on track, how principled he is.”

  “Pity his principles extend to me.” She sighed. “I only came here for the house. I never expected that Jack still lived here, nor that my lawyer had asked him to do an estimate. Hell, I didn’t even know he was a contractor. But when I saw Jack, all grown up and virile as hell, my priorities took a right turn.”

  Sally grinned. “Just because he turned you down doesn’t mean he isn’t into sex. You’ll have to go seduce him some other way.”

  “Which isn’t going to happen now because we’re not even on speaking terms.”

  “Hey! Some of the best sex my husband and I have is makeup sex.”

  They shared a laugh at that, and Grace said, “I’m sorry, I’ve been wailing about all my problems and never bothered to find out a thing about you, Sally. Tell me about your husband.”

  “Dex and I were high school sweethearts. I ended up pregnant, so we got married and here I am.”

  Grace raised her eyebrows. “I think your story is a little more detailed than that. Do you have more children? Have you always lived in Colorado?”

  Sally wiped her mouth with her napkin and pushed her plate away. “Dex and I grew up in a small town in Kansas. After we got married we lived with my parents until we both finished high school. Dex did odd jobs around town. We couldn’t afford college, but he started working for a roofing contractor, learned the business and started his own. A few years later, we sold it and moved to Denver, bought a home, had a couple more kids. Our youngest has bad asthma and Denver was too polluted, so we hunted around for somewhere with clean air, good schools and a low crime rate. Spruce Lake area seemed perfect, so we rented out our place in Denver and signed a lease on a house in Harper’s Corner. Once we know exactly where we want to put down roots, we’ll sell the Denver house and buy here.” She grimaced. “Or at least that’s the plan. There was plenty of work until recently, but now it’s not so great. We might have to move back to Denver or somewhere even farther afield for work.”

  “And you don’t want that?”

  “Nope, we both love it here. And we worry about how our son will cope where the air isn’t mountain-fresh and clear. You know much about asthma, Grace?”

  Grace hadn’t yet mentioned her area of specialty, just told Sally she was a doctor and had been married to a surgeon. “Actually, I’m a pediatrician.”

  Sally’s eyes widened with interest. “Well, I’ll be... If you have any insights on the latest research, I’d love to hear them. And the town could do with your skills.”

  Grace didn’t want to disappoint Sally by telling her she was leaving town as soon as she could hand the renovation over to another contractor, so she let it ride.

  “Speak of the devil,” Sally muttered. “If that isn’t one of the prettiest sights in Spruce Lake. Yessiree. Not one gorgeous man, but two.”

  Grace spun around in the booth to see what Sally was talking about.

  Jack—and Matt, the county sheriff—had just entered Rusty’s. Her face burning, she spun back to face Sally before Jack noticed her.

  Fortunately, he didn’t. Unfortunately, Sally was grinning from ear to ear and motioning them over.

  “Sally!” she hissed. “I don’t want to see him.”

  But Sally ignored her. “Sheriff Matt, how lovely to see you again,” she said, offering her hand for him to shake. “How’s that beautiful wife of yours?”

  Sally knew Matt O’Malley enough to ask after his wife? Why hadn’t she mentioned this earlier? Grace sure wouldn’t have spilled her guts about Jack had she known.

  “She’s well, thanks, Sally. And Dex?”

  “Great. He’s working in Silver Springs this week, so I’m doing the books and visiting the hardware store to pick up supplies.” She indicated Grace, who was studying the remains of her lunch. “I think you might have already met my friend Grace Saunders.”

  Grace glanced up at Matt, avoiding Jack’s eyes. She was all too aware of him standing beside his brother, taking up way too much space in the tiny restaurant. Robbing her of air. Preventing her escape.

  “Well, well,” Matt said. “Jack and I were just talking about you, Grace. Mind if we join you?” he asked and, without waiting for an answer, sat down beside Sally.

  Sally, the traitor, slid over to accommodate him. Grace had no intention of making room for Jack and refused to move.

  “We’re taking a late lunch,” Matt explained. “Nice to have some company. Can we order you ladies another drink?” He gestured to a young waiter who practically raced to their table. Anything to keep the county sheriff happy, it seemed.

  “I won’t say no to another root beer,” Sally said. “Grace and I have been talking so much, I’m parched.”

  Great! Why don’t you just tell them everything we’ve been talking about, Grace nearly blurted.

  “Four root beers,” Matt said to the waiter. “Make mine a diet and I’ll have a Cobb salad with grilled chicken. What’ll you have, Jack? And for heaven’s sake, sit down.”

  Since he was given no other option, Jack complied, sitting beside Grace, who scooted over so far she was practically glued to the wall on the other side. “Burger and fries,” he muttered.

  “I’m not sure if you’ve met my brother, Sally,” Matt said. “Jack’s a contractor. Jack, this is Sally Carter. Her husband Dex is a roofing contractor. Maybe you could send some work his way?”

  Jack nodded at Sally. “Nice to meet you, I’ve heard good things about Dex’s work. If you have his card, I’ll get an estimate from him for my next job.”

  “Jack’s supposed to be working on Grace’s house, but she fired him this morning,” Matt said to Sally as if the other two weren’t there.

  “I did not fire him!” Grace spoke up at last. “He fired me!”

  Matt’s eyes narrowed. “Is this true, Jack? One day on the job and already you’re fighting with the client?” He grinned then and Grace suspected Matt was all bluster, not taking the matter nearly as seriously as he was pretending.

  “Stay out of it, Matt,” Jack warned.

  Grace grabbed her purse, ready to get out of there. One problem—Jack was blocking the way.

  “Stay right where you are, Grace,” Matt said. “Neither of you is leaving until you’ve both said sorry to each other and shaken hands on it.”

 
; “The hell I will!” Grace said, crossing her arms. “I have nothing to apologize for. It’s your Neanderthal brother who’s causing all the trouble.”

  Matt nodded sagely and looked at Jack. “She’s probably right. You’ve had so little experience with women, you have no idea how to treat them.”

  The statement surprised Grace. Jack hadn’t had a lot of girlfriends?

  “And you just stepped way over the line,” Jack said, rising.

  Matt reached across the table and pushed him back down. “Food’s here,” he said, then stole one of Jack’s fries and had his wrist slapped by his brother. With a grin, Matt popped the French fry in his mouth, his expression blissful.

  The fries smelled so good, Grace was tempted to steal one herself.

  Matt looked in disgust at his salad, then dug his fork in. Grace was thankful the crisp vegetables would have him chewing for a while, unable to demand one or the other of them to apologize. Not so with Sally, however. She’d long since finished her ribs, declared them delicious and was ready to play devil’s advocate. “So who’s going to say they’re sorry first and when are you starting work on Grace’s house again, Jack?”

  Jack glanced at Grace. “My rules still stand. Unless you’re prepared to agree to them, we don’t have a business contract.”

  “Rules?” Matt and Sally asked at once, both leaning forward.

  “Grace knows them and that’s all that matters,” Jack snapped.

  “Okay, I agree to the rules,” Grace conceded. “But you have to agree to use Sally’s husband for the roofing.”

  “And if his estimate comes in too high?” Jack asked.

  “It won’t,” Sally told him. “I’m sure Dex would love to work on such a beautiful building. Apart from that, we have three kids to feed, so we could do with the work. Speaking of which, I need to collect them from school.” She began to stand and Matt got up to let her by. Shaking Jack’s hand, she said, “Great to meet you at last, Jack. And a pleasure meeting you, Grace.” She removed a couple of business cards from her wallet, handing one to Jack and the other to Grace. “Give me a call sometime. I live in a houseful of men, so it’s nice to have some girl talk.”