But even after all these years, it still hurt something deep inside him just to be near her. She looked the same—with long brown hair showing gleams of red in the sun, creamy skin, eyes that seemed to change color depending on her mood, brown to olive green and back again, sometimes with a hint of gold.
Yeah. She looked the same. But even better, so smooth and classy. Luke had mentioned that she’d gone on to graduate school after four years at the University of Colorado. He’d said she had some high-tech accounting job and she owned her own house in Boulder.
None of that information surprised Derek. Amy had been the smartest girl at Rust Creek Falls High, put ahead a year when she was twelve, so they’d ended up in the same grade. She’d been valedictorian of their small graduating class. Her dad was a rich guy from Boulder who’d given up the rat race for a while to become a rancher in the Rust Creek Falls Valley—and then moved back to Colorado when Amy left to go to college there.
Derek never would’ve had a chance with Jack and Helen Wainwright’s precious only daughter if he hadn’t needed a math tutor to get him through Algebra II in his senior year.
He shook his head. Him and Amy? That was an old, sad song and they wouldn’t be playing it ever again. He needed to get his mind off the past. There was zero to be gained by a trip down memory lane.
Shoving back his chair, he picked up his plate and carried it to the counter. Outside the window over the sink, the sunset turned the bellies of the clouds to bright orange and deep purple.
Maybe he’d head on into town, see if he could scare up a poker game at the Ace.
Then again, he’d had a long day today, moving cattle, putting out mineral barrels. Tomorrow, he needed to be up early. He felt antsy and ornery. If he went to the Ace, it would be too easy to drink too much and do or say something he would end up regretting.
He turned in early and had a restless night.
But it could have been worse. At least he didn’t have a hangover at eight on Friday morning when he parked his pickup in front of the old warehouse at Sawmill and North Broomtail Road.
Four years ago, he’d joined Collin Traub in his one-man saddlery business. At first, they’d worked in the basement of Collin’s house up on Falls Mountain. But then CT Saddles had moved to the warehouse. The larger space allowed them to buy more equipment and take on more projects. They were still a small shop, but the Traub name was a trusted one and their business kept growing.
Derek thought about Amy constantly that day. Really, it was way past time he gave her a call. But the hours ticked by and he never did.
His failure to get back to her was moving beyond jerkish, heading into jackass territory. But he still failed to pick up the phone.
At five, Collin went on up the mountain to his wife, Willa, and their little boy, Robbie. Ned Faraday, who was sixteen and helping out at the saddlery for the summer, headed home for dinner.
Derek washed up in the saddlery restroom and thought again about how he needed to call Amy. He even took out his phone and looked at it for a good minute or two before shaking his head and sticking it back in his pocket.
At five thirty, he walked down the street to the Ace to meet Luke and his brothers for a drink. It was the five of them—Luke, Jamie, Daniel, Bailey and Derek. They took over a big table not far from the bar and ordered some pitchers.
Jamie and Daniel Stockton were both happily married. Jamie had triplets, Henry, Jared and Kate. They were two and a half years old now. Jamie got everyone laughing with stories of the mischief the three little ones got up to. Danny spoke fondly of his wife and their daughter, Janie.
And Luke? He mostly just sat there, slowly sipping his beer with a contented smile on his face. Everyone in town knew that Luke Stockton was long-gone in love with Eva Rose Armstrong and couldn’t wait to make her his wife.
Bailey was the lone unattached Stockton brother. He’d been married and divorced. Like Luke and Daniel, he’d returned to town in the past year after more than a decade away. Now he lived at Sunshine Farm. He and Luke worked the ranch together, building a new herd, bringing the family homestead back from years of neglect.
That evening, Bailey didn’t say much at first. But after a beer or two, he started making his feelings about matrimony painfully clear.
“It’s a losin’ game is what it is.” He raised his glass to Derek, who’d taken the chair across from him. “And you, my man, are the only one at this table with the sense the good Lord gave a goat. You got the ladies all over you, but no woman ever tied you down and slapped on a brand.”
Ignoring the sudden sweet image of Amy that popped into his head unbidden, Derek forced a wry laugh. “Put a sock in it, Bailey. Your brothers look pretty damn happy to me.”
Bailey groaned. “They all start out happy, now don’t they?”
“You’re getting obnoxious,” warned Luke. “Quit while you’re ahead.”
But Bailey wasn’t about to take his brother’s good advice. “What I’m ‘getting’ is honest. It’s too late for Danny and Jamie here. They’ll just have to learn the hard way that marriage is a game for fools.” He leaned close to Luke and stage-whispered in his ear, “Get away. Get away while you still can.”
“Knock it off.” Luke elbowed him hard in the ribs.
“Ow!” Bailey rubbed his side. “Big brother, you got an elbow on you.”
“And you have a big mouth. One you need to practice shutting.”
Bailey put on a hangdog expression. “It’s hopeless, I tell you. You’re doomed, brother. Doomed.” He tipped his head back and asked the ceiling, “Oh, why won’t anyone listen to a man who knows?”
“Get real, Bailey,” said Luke. “You love Eva.”
“’Course I love Eva. She’s a fine woman. So is Annie, for that matter.” That was Daniel’s wife. “Fallon, too.” Fallon O’Reilly had married Jamie the year before. “It’s not the women I object to, it’s the institution itself. Marriage. It’s what ruins people’s lives.” Bailey wrapped his hands around his own throat and pretended to choke himself. “Slow strangulation, you hear what I’m sayin’?”
Derek decided to step in before Bailey got too far on the wrong side of his own brothers. “Come on, Bailey. Nine-ball. Two out of three.” He nodded toward the pool table.
“Go.” Daniel made a shooing motion. “Give the rest of us a break.”
Bailey scowled. “I’m trying to help you.”
“We don’t need your help,” said Jamie.
Bailey hung his head. “Why does no one appreciate the wisdom I’m offering?”
Derek got up. “Nine-ball. What do you say?”
“Why not?” Bailey rose, grumbling, “I’m not makin’ any progress here, and that’s for sure.”
At the pool tables, Bailey continued to trash-talk marriage as Derek proceeded to win the game. Twice.
“Not
