Love's Sporting Chance: Volume 1: 6 Romantic sporting novellas

by Janice Thompson

  “Yeah, yeah.” Keaton clapped his friend on the back before he stepped out of the bro hug. “As if I had a choice.”

  “What?” Garrett’s eyebrows shot up in a perfect portrait of innocence. The guy had no shame whatsoever.

  “Don’t waste your breath. You think I don’t know you and Tom had that little set up yesterday planned down to the last spoonful of yogurt?”

  Garrett threw his head back and laughed, sending puffs of vapor into the chilly morning air. “It took you this long to figure it out?”

  Keaton shook his head.

  “Relax, Buddy. We did it for your own good and we will have a blast. It’ll be so worth it. You’ll beg me to go on the next one before we’re done.”

  He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye a second before Bonnie flung herself at him. He opened up his arms just in time to catch her. Bonnie Welch was a splash of sunshine from her blond hair to her sparkling eyes and smile. He could never stay glum when she was around; it was totally unfair. No one could resist her vibrant spirit, though he’d tried.

  “It’s so good to see you.” Bonnie wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. “Someday you’ve got to stop making excuses and come to dinner at our place.”

  “Someday,” Keaton murmured. Maybe Garrett was right. It actually felt good being out here at the base of the mountains with old friends. He drew in a deep breath and smiled.

  “If you don’t, I’m going to arrive at your door with a meal I make straight from the cookbook you gave us as a wedding present, and invite ourselves in for a dinner party, and that’s a promise.”

  “Sounds more like a threat,” Garrett joked.

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Keaton agreed as Bonnie playfully pushed on his chest. She stepped back and Garrett encircled his arms around her waist. She lifted her face up and smiled at her husband.

  Keaton jerked his eyes away from the scene. It hurt too much. It was a brutal reminder of what he’d lost. Bonnie and Garrett had been the perfect compliment to Jess and him. Their interests, their wit, their friendship, had taken them on canoe trips and hikes and nights around the fire at the cabin. But that had been a couple thing.

  They’d been great after he lost Jess; at least they’d tried to be. He’d done his best to shut them out, but they refused to give up on him. He’d even ducked their wedding. He knew he couldn’t bear it. Now Keaton questioned the sanity of coming up here with them — a third wheel who flinched at the sight of even the slightest glimpse of genuine love and affection.

  He took off his glasses and rubbed his fingertips across his weary eyes before he polished the lenses on his sweatshirt. When he put them back on, he looked past his friends into the pinched face of a tall blond woman hovering near the front of Garrett’s SUV.

  “Darby.” Bonnie beckoned, and the stranger in bright pink walked toward them, her mouth curved in either a grimace or a smile. It was impossible to tell. “This is my cousin, Darby Irish.” Bonnie linked arms with the taller woman and trawled her forward.

  Garrett moved into position to flank her. “And this is Keaton Atticus Cooper.”

  Darby thrust out a pale hand and Keaton took it for the briefest moment before she slipped her cool limp fingers out of his grip and back to her side. She raised one blond brow. “That’s quite a name. Do they call you Coop for short?”

  Garret chuckled. “Never thought of that one, Coop.”

  Keaton frowned at his friend. “My friends, of which I now have one less, call me Keats.”

  “Keats it is.”

  “Don’t let him scare ya.” Garrett grinned. “His bark is all bark.”

  “Thanks.” Keaton chose to ignore his friend’s good-natured banter and hoped Darby would do the same. He could see the resemblance in the cousins. Bonnie’s blond hair was a shade darker than Darby’s, but they shared the same blue eyes, peaked blond brows, and slightly upturned nose. But where Bonnie’s gamin face radiated a sprite’s joy, Darby’s projected a serious chill. Fine by me. They’d get along much better from a distance.

  Garrett whacked him in the arm and broke into his thoughts. “We’d better get our packs on and get to the meeting site.”

  Keaton followed his friend to the SUV. Clothes, boots, and equipment, were scattered helter-skelter over the back cargo area.

  “What happened to minimalist?” Keaton snorted. “You’ve got enough gear in here for an army. It looks like Bonnie’s backpack blew up.”

  “Not Bonnie’s,” Garrett said in a low voice. “Darby’s. She brought a few extra things in case we needed them, but it’s all sorted out now.”

  “A few?” Keaton leaned closer to his friend’s ear as he reached in and hauled out a periwinkle blue backpack. “Obviously she’s coming with us. I take it that was the plan all along.”

  Garrett nodded.

  “When were you going to tell me? I thought I chose the lesser of two evils in avoiding Trish and Tom’s friend. I thought I could trust you.” Keaton’s eyes bored into the back of Garrett’s head, but his friend took cover leaning further into the SUV and tossing Darby’s extra “few things” into the back seat. A sudden thought struck him and his heart lurched. “She doesn’t know about Jess, does she?”

  “Hey, this isn’t what you think, Keats. I’d never ambush you. I haven’t told her a thing about you.”

  “Good. Let’s keep it that way.” No pity dates; no date at all!

  Garrett straightened, turned, and met his glare with the square honest look Keaton prized most in his old friend. “You got it. Relax, Buddy. I don’t expect you to look twice at Darby, and I guarantee she won’t be interested in you.”

  How am I supposed to take a statement like that?

  “This is a team event, a four-member team. I thought I was clear on that.”

  Keaton shook his head.

  Garrett lifted out a pack and set it on the ground before responding. “Okay, I guess not, but she was all we could find. Lisa broke her leg a couple of weeks ago, so this was all last minute. It’ll be fine. She’s Bonnie’s cousin and she’s not so bad. No big deal, right?”

  Keaton grunted as he heard the girls approach. He passed the brand new internal frame pack to Darby. “Thanks,” she said.

  Garrett helped Bonnie into her pack. Keaton didn’t stick around to help Darby. Instead, he went and got his own gear out of the truck. He slipped into his worn and stained pack, locked the vehicle, and trudged after his three companions, keeping a short distance from the rest of them. He’d do this, but he couldn’t wait for it to be over.

  They traveled a few hundred yards through the trees to where the trail opened up on a grassy clearing. A stout man with graying hair stood by the information kiosk and grinned when he saw them. “Garrett! Bonnie! Great to see you.” He hugged Bonnie and shook hands with Garrett. “And I take it this is the revamped Cloud Buster team until Geoff and Carol have their new little hiker?”

  “Brand new for this year,” Garrett said and made the introductions. “Dean is the guy who makes it all happen.”

  Keaton shook his hand and the older man laughed. “I’m just one of many, believe me; this is the combined vision and coordination effort of everyone in the Take A Peak Club. But we have a great race planned out for you. I think you’ll have a good time with it.”

  “I’m sure we will,” Bonnie said. “Who’s the opposing team?”

  “A new group they formed last fall and this will be their second head-to-head hike, so take it easy on them.” Dean grinned. “Just kidding. They’re veterans, a split off from the Peak Baggers. They had too many hikers who wanted to join their team so Randy convinced his sister, Lola, to leave big brother to his own devices and start her own team. They call themselves the Peak Baggers, Too.”

  Keaton turned at the sound of feet approaching. Four hikers strode into the clearing and joined their circle.

  “And here they are now,” Dean said. “Right on time, Guys.”

  Darby stepped sideways and crashed int
o him. The unexpected contact caught him off guard and Keaton’s arm instinctively went around her to steady her reeling form. She was tense as a coiled snake. He let his arm drop with a murmured apology, but her face remained in profile to him. And if he thought her expression had been cool before, now her pale features were frozen, her eyes riveted on the members of the other team.

  Keaton acknowledged the introductions with a polite nod while Garrett shook hands and Bonnie hugged everyone. Darby never moved.

  “You know how this works,” Dean said. “We’ll meet up in two days at Traveller’s Pass. That’s when I’ll reveal the summit quest.” He passed Garrett a plastic bag with paper inside, and gave the other to the Peak Baggers team leader, Lola, and her husband Zach. “Sign in and have fun, and I’ll see you soon.”

  “You’ll see us soon,” Lola said and winked at Keaton. “I’m not sure about these city loafers, but we’ll do what we can to help them through it.”

  “We can always count on you, Lola!” Bonnie laughed. “You’re my idol — the trash talk queen.”

  “I prefer trash talk princess.” Lola grinned. “And I promise to live up to the title.”

  “One thing’s for sure, they’ll never get lost. We can spot that obscene pink a mile away. It’s brighter than a distress beacon.”

  Darby stiffened and her clenched hand brushed Keaton’s. He looked at her but she remained impassive to his presence. He would have thought it impossible for her to be any more rigid than before, but somehow she managed to stand a notch taller; her body could’ve been carved from marble.

  Keaton followed her gaze to the speaker. Felicia somebody. James? No, Jamison. Petite, blond, dressed in earthen tones of soft brown, tan, and greens. While he watched, Felicia slipped her hand into her companion’s, entwined their fingers, and leaned against his meaty build. The guy was massive and just as blond as Felicia. His size accentuated her slight build and femininity.

  Keaton’s photographer’s eye sized up the couple: the perfect portrait of the uber hikers, an outdoor catalog ad come to life.

  “Thanks. I wore it special for this trek.” The woman beside him finally moved, holding her arm out to display some sort of gecko explosion of color on one sleeve. Her voice came out low and slow. “Glad you like it.”

  “Debbie, is it?” Felicia asked.

  “Darby.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Why can’t I remember that?”

  Darby shook her head, but it was Bonnie who spoke. “After this week, you won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.”

  Chapter 3

  Garrett signed them in while Bonnie led them over to a nearby boulder. Darby tried to ignore the other team huddled on the far side of the clearing. How did this happen? What were the chances of Haskel and Felicia showing up here? She wanted to chuck her pack, run to the parking lot, and tear up the road back to the safety of her apartment. She glanced over to the Peak Baggers and, in that moment, Felicia caught her eye and smiled that slow sensuous smile men fall for like idiots.

  Darby quickly ducked her head and stared at the trail map in Bonnie’s hands. She might hate every minute of the next four days but, no matter what happened, she wasn’t leaving here with her tail between her legs or her pink anorak buried in the bottom of her pack.

  “I thought this first day we could split up, girls and guys,” Bonnie said.

  Garrett nodded and Darby saw him squeeze his wife’s hand just as Haskel and Felicia pounded past on the marked trail toward Wyler’s Pond. “Maybe we’ll see you on the peak, Deb.” Felicia tossed the remark over her shoulder, and Darby’s cheeks burned. You want war, you got it, Sister!

  “How do you usually do it?” Darby fought to keep her voice low and steady. “It looks to me like the other team’s splitting up with a girl and guy for each destination.”

  Lola and Zach strolled by and grinned. “Looks like I see some roots growing on those boots, Garrett,” Lola said. “If you ask nice, Zach can pull out his knife and cut you free so you guys can get going some time before noon.”

  “Ha, ha.” Garrett smiled back. “I might take him up on it if his boot was tied.”

  When Zach bent over to tie the offending lace, his water bottle slipped out and clinked on the ground. Lola roared with laughter.

  Keaton picked up the bottle and handed it to Zach. “Would you like me to tie your shoe and fix that clip for you?” He grinned.

  Zach chuckled. “Next thing you know I’ll be turtling. This is gonna be great. Wish we could hang out, but we’re burning daylight. See you at Traveler’s Pass.”

  “We’ll bring the trail mix, as always,” Lola said.

  “I love your trail mix,” Bonnie said. “And we’ll bring the jerky.”

  “Can’t wait.” Zach sketched a quick salute and the couple disappeared down the trail into the dappled sunlight.

  Everyone’s enjoying this but me. What’s wrong with me? The answer was obvious. Felicia and Haskel. The next four days loomed before her larger than the mountains and more gritty than any trail. Okay, I can do this.

  She focused on the map and spoke before she had a chance to reconsider. “Keaton and I can take one route.”

  Bonnie clutched her arm. “Are you sure? The first day is fairly easy, but you might not—”

  “We got this,” Darby said. Don’t try to talk me out of this; I’m doing a bang up job on that score without any help.

  “What do you think, Keats?” Garrett asked.

  “Fine by me.” Keaton’s dark eyes narrowed behind his glasses. He didn’t glance in Darby’s direction but bent his head next to Garrett’s and studied the day’s route.

  “You have to collect tokens from designated locations on the map as you hike. We also get bonus points, for want of a better word, for anything of special interest you find along the way.”

  Darby listened with half an ear to Garrett’s explanation as she studied her hiking companion. Keaton Atticus Cooper lived up to his name in appearance and, she suspected, character. Did he look like this because of the name his mother had given him, or had she given him the name because he looked like a Keaton Atticus when he was born? Either way, she stood eye-to-eye, rather, eye-to-glasses, with the guy and probably matched him pound for pound. The thought wasn’t appealing and brought back the image of “Hiking Barbie” Felicia tucked protectively under Haskel’s muscular arm.

  NO! Forget about them! Focus on beating her!

  “Got it.” Keaton took the trail map from Garrett and turned to her. “Are you ready, Darby?” His brown hair stuck out under his Boston Red Sox cap and his stern lean face didn’t crack a smile. He looked like a bookworm who spent his time reading about treks, not actually getting his feet muddy. One look at his grubby, dilapidated boots and shabby backpack might tell a different story, but Darby doubted it. His getup was something he’d probably read about in a 1950’s Boy Scout hiking manual: strictly thrift store issue, right down to the faded jeans, purchased on his meager sales clerk paycheck, specifically for this trip.

  She pictured him in a striped button-down shirt and khakis, swallowed up by a leather chair, holed up in a library reading room on a bright sunny afternoon, totally engrossed in something like “The Complete Study of the Earthworm,” or “The Microphysics of the Universe,” oblivious to the hurricane of life revolving around him.

  She nodded. “Let’s go, Atticus.”

  “Keats.”

  Oops! Did I honestly say that out loud?

  He gestured toward the trail to Wyler’s Pond. “Right.” Darby’s face burned and she took off in a hurry, ignoring Bonnie’s big grin.

  “We’ll see you tonight. Meet up at Branch Forks shelter,” her cousin called. “Have fun!”

  “Right.” Darby set a blistering pace, shrugging her shoulders with each step, trying to get her pack settled comfortably. She paid little heed to the play of sunlight on the white birch trunks and the sparkle of melted frost on the bud tips. The well-worn trail wound through a copse of deciduous trees, b
udded to bursting but still without a trace of green. No wonder; the temperature was at least fifteen degrees cooler than the city, but her exertions soon warmed her.

  Darby strained her eyes ahead but saw no flicker of movement, no sign of life, and no trace of any of the other hikers. Of course, with Felicia’s penchant for all things au natural, she and Haskel might as well be wearing tree bark. The thought sharpened her senses and straightened her sagging shoulders. Darby wanted to be prepared just in case they happened to be sitting on a rock around the next bend in the trail, blending in with the environment.

  The path angled upward and soon her shoulder blades burned with the weight of the pack. She used one hand to hold the strap off her right shoulder and ease the strain a bit. With every step, her boots bit into her ankles and she debated stopping for a moment to adjust her socks and pack. She glanced at her watch. Seriously? I’ve only been hiking for thirty-five minutes? Four days might as well be eternity.

  She was never going to catch up to Felicia and Haskel and, if she did, what then? Felicia probably carried a fifty-pound pack while running up the slope and had already finished the daily trek. Forget it. She’d no doubt gotten through the first four destinations and was sitting up at Traveller’s Pass, a big smirk on her perfect movie star face, thinking up rude remarks, her eyes peeled for a pink anorak. Darby sighed. Better to take it slower and save herself for that moment if she wanted to hike, not limp, into Traveller’s Pass with head held high.

  The trail wove through a cluster of rocks. She picked a likely seat and sat, easing her sore shoulders out of her pack, all the while wishing she’d left more of the clothes in the back of the Welch’s SUV. She settled her pack on the ground and took a long swig from her water bottle before flexing her shoulder blades and tilting her stiff neck skyward. Each muscle voiced a protest, but as she stretched her torso left and right, Darby was pleased to find she was doing okay.