Rocky Mountain Hero (Roberts of Silver Springs Book 2)

by Cassie Hayes

  Amy nodded somberly. “I thought that might be the case. You’re right, it’s overdue. Now get going!”

  Before she could move away, Spike latched onto her wrist and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t kiss her though, but just stared into her eyes, hoping she could see what he felt. He’d tell her he loved her soon, but he didn’t want to scare her off. As long as she knew the truth in her heart, the words could wait.

  “As you wish,” he whispered.

  From the slight widening of her eyes and the blush that crept up her cheeks, he knew she’d seen The Princess Bride. Then he kissed the tip of her nose and left her gawking after him.

  Spike loves me!

  He’d said the words — not the words, but close enough — and her head had nearly popped off. Good thing he’d left, or he would have seen her slump into the closest chair, tip her head back, and laugh like an idiot. Then cry. Then laugh again. After that scene, he might have changed his mind.

  No way could he have known she and Ethan watched The Princess Bride at least once a month. Much like the little boy in the movie, Ethan claimed to hate the “mushy stuff,” yet he always sat entranced until the final, perfect kiss between Westley and Buttercup.

  As she sat staring at the ceiling tiles, her head spun so fast she couldn’t quite make sense of it all. She only knew it made her happy. Happier than she’d been since the day Ethan was born. She wasn’t quite sure if she was ready to say the words back, but she could certainly see it happening. Someday. Maybe someday soon.

  “You look like the cat who ate an entire cage full of canaries.”

  Amy jerked out of her deliriously happy thoughts to find Josh and Ethan standing in the doorway. Ethan ran to her and leaped into her arms.

  “Mama!”

  “Hey, bug! Did you have fun with Josh?”

  “Yeah! We had a tooting contest!”

  Amy pretended to be scandalized. “Tooting? As in…” She made the noise with her mouth, which never failed to make Ethan giggle like it was the funniest joke ever.

  “He won,” Josh said, waving a hand in front of his face. Ethan beamed with pride.

  “He always does,” she laughed. “I should have warned you to never accept a challenge from him.” She set Ethan down, and pointed to her desk. “I think I see a new coloring book over there.”

  When he was fully engrossed in his coloring, she pulled Josh out of earshot. She wasn’t sure how to start, or exactly what to say, so she simply began.

  “Josh, I think we need to talk.“

  “Amy, I need to tell you something.”

  They smiled awkwardly at their simultaneous statements.

  “Me first,” Josh said.

  After talking with Spike, Amy wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what Josh had to say. If he professed his undying love for her, things would get weird fast. Things were already weird enough as it was.

  “I need to confess something,” he started, causing Amy to cringe inwardly. “I didn’t just come back to meet Ethan. After Tiffani humiliated me, I started thinking about you. About what might have been. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that you would never have done such a thing to me.”

  He was right, she never would have cheated on him. But he’d chosen the senator’s daughter over Amy, so it was hard to feel too bad for him.

  “Not for the first time since the day you called with the news, I wondered if I’d made an epic mistake. The love I felt for you back then… It wasn’t just me, was it?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Amy agreed, though she suspected some of her “love” for Josh had been influenced by her desire to leave her horrible home-life behind.

  “I was so confused after Tiffani dumped me, so alone, you know? When Mother called, I took it as a sign that I should track you down. I guess I had some fantasy that you’d see me and fling yourself into my arms. I’m ashamed to say that I’d sort of hoped you’d been pining away for me, just waiting for my return.”

  Amy bit her lip to not laugh at him. The pain she’d felt at his rejection had burned hot for a good year, until well after Ethan was born. Time had eased it, but more than that, she’d grown. She no longer needed anyone to rescue her from her miserable life. She’d rescued herself. It wasn’t perfect, but whose life was?

  “When you agreed to let me see Ethan, my plan had been to also show you how I’ve changed. I thought we could rekindle our flame and pick up where we left off.”

  She remained mute, boggled at his ego and cluelessness.

  “I’m telling you all of this for context. I really need to apologize to you, Amy. I was an ass. Back then and more recently. I never should have abandoned you like that. I knew what your living situation was like, but I was too afraid to cross Mother. Then for me to expect you not to hate me…” His voice caught.

  “I don’t hate you, Josh,” she said, laying a hand on his arm. “But I’m certainly not in love with you. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but it’s the truth.”

  “No, I get it. The last couple of weeks have given me some clarity. I don’t love you either. Not it that way. I think I was using you as a guiding light. A beacon of hope in the darkness of my depression. Pretty dumb, huh?”

  “Maybe a little,” she said with a smile. “But I’m so glad you figured it out. Growth is hard. So now what?”

  Josh scratched the back of his neck and had the grace to look sheepish. “I was hoping you’d still let me be involved in Ethan’s life. I know you’re not sure about all of this, so we can take it as slow as you like. You’re the boss.”

  “I’d like that, Josh. And I know Ethan would love it. There will be rules and boundaries, make no mistake, and I expect you to follow them to the letter. Don’t go getting it into your head that just because you decided to grace us with your presence you have any rights here. You signed those away six years ago.”

  “I can live with that,” he said, looking over at their son with affection.

  Josh would be a good dad, she was sure of it. Not perfect — she was also sure of that — but a thousand times better than her own father. As long as he tried, Amy would do her best to let go of the past and look toward the future.

  With that settled, there was just one more piece of business.

  “What about your mother? You know she summoned me to her house like a servant this morning?”

  “No!” His eyes widened with alarm. “She knows, doesn’t she? That I’ve been coming over?”

  “Apparently, she has spies stationed all over Silver Springs.” That still creeped her out. “You know she’ll blame me if people start gossiping that Ethan’s your son. She’ll ruin me, Josh.”

  “Could we…” He shot her a pleading look. “Maybe we could pretend we’re dating? No one would think it was weird if we did that.”

  He hadn’t changed so much after all. Back in high school, he’d wanted to pretend they didn’t know each other so Beatrice wouldn’t find out they were dating. Now he wanted to pretend they were dating so Beatrice wouldn’t be embarrassed at having a bastard grandchild.

  But none of that was why she wouldn’t go for it.

  “Josh, what I needed to tell you was that Spike and I are together.” At his shocked expression, she hurried on so he couldn’t interrupt. “It started just before you came back and then there was a break, but now it’s back on. This time it’s for real. So you see, we can’t pretend to be dating, because Spike and I aren’t going to hide our relationship to appease your control-freak of a mother.”

  She hadn’t meant to blindside him, so she gave him some time to wrap his head around the news. To his credit, he recovered quickly and even smiled.

  “Spike’s a great guy. He’d better be good to you. You only deserve the best, Amy.”

  “Thanks,” she said, almost pulling him into a hug.

  Too soon.

  “What if we just say I’m a family friend?” Josh continued. “That could work, couldn’t it?”

  Amy sighed. He’d had a chance to
man up and take control of his own life, but he still wimped out so Mommy wouldn’t discover he was being a bad boy.

  Having him in her life again might not be so easy after all. As long as he was good to Ethan, and none of these immature qualities rubbed off on her son, she’d put up with him. But if he stepped out of line…

  “Fine,” she said. “If that’s the best you can do.”

  He frowned at her comment, but then nodded. “Okay. Hey, would it be all right with you if I took Ethan over to the community center for the… What is it again?”

  Amy laughed. “You remember Spike’s sister, Mike, right? She has a skiing competition tonight that’s being televised. I guess the Roberts all gather to watch her events and welcome anyone else who wants to join them. It should be fun.”

  “Nice! Mike was pretty cool back in school. So…” He batted his eyelashes at her.

  “Sure, go ahead. Ethan will just be bored while I finish up here anyway. I’ll see you there in a few.”

  Watching the two walk out the door sent a gush of love through her. She’d long ago accepted Ethan would never know his real father, and that had hurt more than Josh’s cheating. Now that he was back, she saw how much Ethan looked up to Josh, even though he didn’t know the truth yet. That would come — one day — but for now, it was enough for him to have a man in his life.

  Two would be even better.

  She grinned at the idea. How would that even look, Spike and Josh both being a part of Ethan’s life? In that moment, every part of her wanted to find out.

  “Excuse me?”

  For the second time that day, Amy was pulled out of her giddy thoughts. This time, a gorgeous young woman in painted-on yoga gear strolled in. She held a blue flannel shirt, which looked vaguely familiar.

  “Is Spike here?” she asked, her perfectly glossed lips gleaming in the last remnants of sun streaming through the window.

  “No, I’m sorry, he’s not. Can I help you?”

  The woman huffed, then thrust the shirt toward Amy. “Sure, can you make sure he gets this? He forgot it after his shower at my place this morning.” She looked around the office, as if he might be hiding behind a desk or something. “I really wanted to see him…”

  Amy wordlessly accepted the shirt, stroking a hand down its length as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. Amy stared wide-eyed at the woman, very aware of her stunning attributes, and even more aware of her own deficits.

  “Tell him Willow says thanks!”

  Willow’s pert little butt bounced prettily as she skipped out of the office, leaving Amy heartbroken.

  9

  Joe Martin’s bar-slash-sports pub, The Infield, had long ago become too small to accommodate the crowds that turned out to watch Mike Roberts kill it on slopes around the world. Some events were bigger than others, and the number of friends and family who showed up grew and shrank accordingly. For big ones, they used the community center. Tonight’s competition was a high-level annual event held in Hokkaido, Japan. Only the best of the best were invited to compete, and most of the town had turned out to support their favored daughter.

  Spike wandered around in a bit of a daze, chatting with friends, but always thinking about Amy. He couldn’t wait to show the world they were together, that a woman of her caliber had chosen him. Every time the door opened, he’d flick a glance over to see if she was walking in. Glancing at the time on his phone, he wondered where she was. Josh had told him she would be arriving soon, but that had been almost forty-five minutes ago.

  Spike scrolled through his contacts to Amy’s name, and was about to call her, when the door opened again. There she was, looking more beautiful than ever. She scanned the crowd, and he raised his hand to wave her over. Only when she spotted him, did he realize something was off. If he wasn’t mistaken, she looked like she’d been crying.

  He shot a glare over to Josh, who’d been the last person to see her, then hurried to close the gap between them.

  “Hey, are you okay?” he asked, reaching for her. When she yanked her arm back, he froze in confusion.

  “No, I’m hardly okay,” she said, sniffling.

  She had been crying, or at least was trying not to!

  “What’s wrong?” He eased closer to her, ready to comfort her with a hug, whatever had happened.

  “This!” she said, shoving a wad of dark fabric at him.

  Spike shook it out until he recognized it as a shirt. His shirt. The shirt he’d been wearing this morning. He looked between the shirt and Amy and back again.

  “Oh.”

  “Is that really all you have to say?” Amy asked.

  He couldn’t tell if she was on the verge of crying again or killing him. Either way, he didn’t like it. He vowed to never be the cause of such pain again, even if this was a simple misunderstanding.

  “It’s not what you think, Amy,” he started, ignoring her snort of disbelief. “Willow waved me down on my way to work this morning. Her new kitten had somehow managed to crawl into the old pipe from her decommissioned wood stove, and she asked me to help. She was in a panic, and no matter how much I told her the cat would eventually wriggle back out when it got hungry, she kept begging me to save it.”

  Amy frowned and looked doubtful, but at least she was listening.

  “I took my shirt off so soot wouldn’t get all over it. Good thing too, because I had to completely remove the pipe to get that stupid cat, which then decided it would be fun to attack me. By the time I got it all put back together — and plugged, I might add — I looked like that guy from Mary Poppins. Covered head to toe in soot. And a little blood. Do you have any idea how sharp kittens’ claws are?”

  When he pulled the collar of his shirt aside to show her the scratches, he thought he saw a hint of a smile.

  “Willow was nice enough to let me use her shower, but I guess I forgot to grab my shirt on the way out.”

  “Explain to me how someone ‘forgets’ to wear a shirt when it’s thirty-eight degrees outside.”

  Spike couldn’t help laughing. “If you’d witnessed the scene Willow was making about that cat… She’d bathed it in the kitchen sink while I was washing up, and was using a freaking blow dryer on it by the time I got out. All that cooing and baby talk was just too much for me. I couldn’t find my shirt, so I threw on my coat and bolted. I knew I had a spare in my desk.”

  Amy stared up at him, and he never let his gaze waver. She needed to know he was telling her the truth. She needed to know he’d never do something like that to her. It was okay she didn’t quite trust him yet — she’d been disappointed by men so often, he couldn’t expect otherwise — but he’d spend every day from now until eternity proving he wasn’t like the other men in her life.

  Finally, she smiled and all was right with the world.

  “You really are a hero, aren’t you?” she said, snuggling into his embrace and tilting her head back for a kiss.

  He was only too happy to oblige. As his lips brushed against hers, he was tempted to dive deeper, really give her something to remember, but this wasn’t the place. Later, if he was lucky. A peck would have to do for now.

  Wrapped in each other’s arms, she grinned up at him. “I talked to Josh. We’re cool.”

  Spike hadn’t been expecting that to happen so soon, but he wasn’t complaining. It was just another sign she really wanted to pursue this relationship.

  “How did that go?” he asked.

  Amy opened her mouth to answer when Ethan sprinted up to her, followed closely by a panting Josh.

  “Mama!” Ethan squealed, tugging on her hand. “Come see the popcorn machine! It’s just like the one at the movies!”

  Amy shot Spike an apologetic look, then followed her son to the other side of the room. Josh caught his gaze and nodded, then followed after them. It was all the discussion Josh and Spike would likely have on the subject, and Spike was relieved his friend gave his tacit approval. Apparently the Bro Code was strong in him.

  “
Michael!” His mother hurried across the floor, waving a frantic hand. “We need more soda. Can you get it? It should be in the storage room.”

  Before he could answer, she was off to check some other inconsequential detail. Christina Roberts was a master delegator, but God help the minion who didn’t obey. He dutifully headed down the hallway toward the storage room, but stopped short outside the ajar door when he hear voices inside.

  “Do you see them out there, like the perfect little family?” a woman hissed. He didn’t recognize the voice immediately, but she sounded familiar. She also sounded pretty angry.

  “If we don’t do something about this, people are going to figure it out!” she ranted.

  “And what do you expect me to do about it, Beatrice?”

  That was Uncle Steve! And once he heard the name, he recognized Beatrice Bodin, Josh’s mom.

  What are they talking about?

  He knew, deep down. They could only be talking about Amy. Josh had mentioned something about his mom being involved and how things could be bad for Amy. As much as he hated to eavesdrop, he needed to know. Maybe he could help.

  “I don’t know, Steven. Escort her out! Do…something!”

  “Be reasonable, Beatrice. She has just as much right to be here as anyone else.”

  “No! I want her gone. That’s why I came here tonight. First thing in the morning, I want you to file papers to sue her. You know she told that no-good nephew of yours.”

  No-good? It took a half-second before he realized she was talking about him.

  Rude!

  “I don’t believe that,” Steve said in a calming tone, but there was no soothing this savage beast.

  “Of course she did, and I won’t stand for it. She signed an agreement, Steven! I think you should also sue for custody of the child.”

  “Excuse me?” Steve gasped.

  “The way they’re parading around together, the entire town will soon know Joshua is the father. How would it look if everyone knew I knowingly allowed my grandchild to live in squalor?”