go help!” The twin in lilac broke away, tapping down the aisle toward a woman hefting a cello case.
“Well, kids.” Lil clapped her hands. “Time to get this show on the road. Hunter, you have your checklist?”
“I’ll get busy.” The darker, burlier version of Luke gave a grim nod, pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and left.
“Luke? You’ll make sure the musicians are set up?” Lil gave her chair a turn. “The rest of you, come with me.”
“Jerrod, why don’t you…?”
“Sit here and finish reading A Farewell to Arms?” he finished, crooking one eyebrow.
She laughed. “You are a funny kid. I was going to say why don’t you go sit outside?”
“Really?”
“As long as you stay close, I don’t see why not. Keep within sight of the front door.”
“Cool.” He reached in his pocket and hauled out his iPod.
“I can keep an eye on him.” Luke’s voice rumbled near her ear. “I’ll be seating guests.”
“I’d appreciate that. I was hoping there would be kids his age here.”
“Bree’s fiancé, Mac, has a teenage brother. Probably a few years older, but Marcus is a good kid. They might get along just fine.”
“Good. I like your family, Luke.”
“They’re all right. I’ll keep ’em.” A faint blush crept across his high cheekbones. “Although I am sorry. They took a lot of interest in you. I’m afraid they think—”
“—that you and I are an item?”
“Yep. And when they get you alone, they might, uh—”
“—try to sell me on you for my boyfriend?”
He nodded, relieved that she understood.
“Don’t worry. I’m from a big family, too. I totally get it.” She tried to ignore the pinch of pain she felt every time she thought of her family.
“You haven’t written about your family much.” His tone dipped pleasantly. “At least you haven’t shared them with me.”
“Guilty.” Another painful pinch. “Let’s just say my parents aren’t happy with me. I feel the same toward them.”
“Ah, I’ve been there.” The pinch of sadness creasing his face spoke the truth, but she couldn’t picture it.
“I don’t believe it. Your family is great.”
“I’m talking about my folks. Mom—” He hesitated, as if needing strength to talk about it. “Let’s just say we don’t know if she’s going to show up today for Brooke’s wedding. She wanted Brooke to come to Miles City to get married. And then there’s Dad—”
He fell silent and shook his head. A muscle jumped along his jaw. “Dad got out of federal prison not too long ago. He’s made bad choices in his life, and one of them is how he treats people. We’re praying he doesn’t show up today.”
“Nothing can hurt like family.” She reached out to squeeze his hand, meaning to let him know he wasn’t alone, she knew exactly how that felt, but a snap of awareness jolted through her at the first brush of her skin to his. His strong fingers curled around hers, holding on, and the snap deepened. It became an emotional hook that dug into her heart.
Really weird, she thought. What was happening? Before she could analyze it, Luke released her hand, unhooked her heart and the snap of awareness faded.
“You say that like you know.” Luke hiked up his shoulders like a man determined to handle a tough situation. “I thought you were good with your family.”
“No family is perfect, although mine tries to be.” She glanced down the aisle to where sunshine gleamed on the wood floor. On the other side of the open double doors, Jerrod sat hunched over his player, sitting on the front step as promised. Did she really want to talk about her past? “I don’t miss that, but I miss them.”
“I always wondered if there was more to your story than you were telling me. You didn’t come to Montana to work just because Mrs. Lambert is your mother’s friend, right? There’s another reason.”
Too personal, she wanted to tell him. She’d been careful during their correspondence to keep things safe. That’s how she wanted life these days—safe, predictable and level. But one look at the caring on his perfectly chiseled face, and she knew why he had been so easy to chat with online and why she looked forward to his emails. Luke McKaslin was a caring man. She’d been with him in person for less than ten minutes and it shone through as clear as daylight.
She felt comfortable enough with him to admit the truth. “We had a disagreement over whether or not I should give my boyfriend back his engagement ring.”
“Your b-boyfriend?” He stumbled over the word. “Now that’s something I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I simply didn’t want to talk about it.” She gave a little shrug. “Too painful. Besides, he’s my ex-boyfriend now, which is the reason my family is disappointed in me.”
“And that’s why you left California?”
“Mrs. Lambert was looking for a tutor, she was moving to their summer home and I thought, perfect timing. Why not?” She’d been substituting and the offer had been the chance for a steady paycheck. “God seemed to be nudging me along, so I packed up and came.”
“I’m glad you did, otherwise we never would have met.”
“Ditto.” She liked his smile, she decided. It was his most impressive feature, and there were many of those to choose from. “I can’t say that I’m glad I’m stuck in Montana, but something good has come out of this.”
“Maybe after you have fun with us and get in your social time, you’ll change your mind about Montana?” He arched one eyebrow in a challenge.
“It’s going to take more than that. I’m not sure it can be done,” she quipped, taking a step backward, moving away from him. “But I’m liking the chance to actually make new friends.”
“Good. I’m going to change your mind.”
“Is that a warning or a threat?”
“Depends on which one will work.”
“Neither.” She tipped back her head and laughed. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m a California girl. I miss the beach. There’s no beach in Montana. No ocean.”
“True, but we’ve got riverbanks.”
“So not the same.”
They laughed together. He liked Honor as much in real life as he had online. His throat tightened,
