Twice Shy

Chapter 1-2

He was pulling up in front of the Robinsons’ wood-sided ranch house before he knew it. His daughter waited for him on the wrap-around porch, sipping what looked like lemonade with her grandmother and namesake. Jim was likely out working somewhere on the ranch.

“Daddy!” Jessie squealed and raced out to greet him.

He picked her up and hugged her tightly before carrying her back to the porch. “Hi, pumpkin.”

“How was work, honey?” his mother-in-law asked. “And before you answer, I already know by the frown on your face that it wasn’t so good. So you just go ahead and get it out.”

“Jerry Mackey will be paroled a week from Friday.”

She took a moment to digest the information and then, with all the grace and strength her life on the ranch had given her, nodded once and pushed it aside. “Don’t you worry about telling Jim. I’ll do that.”

He let out a sigh of relief. With his free arm, he hugged her. “Thanks, Jessie.”

“You know I’d love for you to stay and chat, but Tracie called a few minutes ago to say she needs you and Nick to get that front door fixed on the rental cabin. Evie’s friend from Washington will be here soon if she isn’t here already.”

“All right. I’ll see you at the wedding if not before.”

* * *

“Maybe, if you were more s****l, I wouldn’t have to go elsewhere for pleasure.”

The memory blindsided Skye as she crested the last hill before the turn to Northstar and forced her to pull over at the turnout. She stared out the windshield at the wall of mountains but couldn’t make out much detail through the wavering sheen of tears and wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or throw up as the memory unfolded.

She had stopped by her house for only a moment on a break between on-site photo shoots to grab the tripod she’d taken out to Olympic National Park the previous weekend. Hearing strange noises coming from her bedroom, she had padded down the hallway with adrenaline pumping through her veins and a dozen scenarios running through her head. Anyone else might have jumped to the conclusion that it was an intruder, but she hadn’t. Well, not an intruder of the criminal kind. Instead, she’d discovered a marital intruder in her bed with long, artificially tanned legs wrapped around her husband’s waist and cherry-red nails digging into his back.

Shock had rooted her in the doorway, and she’d listening as their moans escalated into cries of ecstasy. The woman—Leslie—had at least had the decency to scream in startlement when she’d at last spotted Skye. Darren had only flopped onto his back, regarded his wife with unveiled satisfaction, tucked his hands beneath his head, and proceeded to blame his cheating on Skye.

She’d filed for divorce the next day, but that wasn’t enough, a fact that had been proven beyond a doubt only a few days ago. Though it wasn’t technically required, she foolishly wanted him to sign the divorce papers to bring closure to their relationship. She wanted him to admit that their marriage was over. When she’d asked him to sign again a few days ago, he’d adamantly refused. Again.

“I’m not going to sign the damned papers because I still love you and I’m giving you the chance come back,” he’d said, then finished with a thinly veiled, stinging insult. “I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life alone.” As if he truly believed she’d never find anyone else to love her.

That alone should have made her walk away and never look back, but instead, she’d taken the bait like always and asked, “And what about the cheating, Darren? Am I supposed to just ignore that?”

“Well, it’s not like you enjoy s*x, so if I get it elsewhere, you’re off the hook. What’s the big deal?”

Even now, his response still made her jaw drop, and it was that disbelief that had snapped the spell—with a start, she’d realized that she was seriously considering going back to him. Abruptly, she’d stalked away. Then she’d made plans to extend her stay in Northstar, knowing she needed to be very far away from Darren for a while. She could not and would not go back to him… even if that meant being alone.

Skye frantically wiped the tears away as they spilled over. Anger, grief, and self-loathing quivered through her, and she cursed her philandering soon-to-be ex-husband and his too-apologetic, voluptuous, blonde mistress. She studied the landscape and let the wild, semi-arid beauty of it—so different from the perpetually damp, thickly forested hills of Western Washington—distract her. Finally, she was calm enough to get back on the road, and she drove the rest of the way to the cabin she’d rented steadfastly refusing to think about Darren or Leslie or her divorce or anything other than her best friend’s wedding and all the pictures she planned to take during her stay.

When she pulled up in front of the two-story log cabin, her best friend was standing on the front deck, beaming.

“Skye!” Evie squealed, racing down the steps and throwing her arms around her friend’s neck as soon as Skye stepped out of her SUV. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Likewise. I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

“Not at all. I got the keys for you from the Hammonds. Tracie wanted to be here to show you around, but there was some kind of emergency on the ranch. She said she’d try to stop by a bit later to introduce herself, and Nick and Aaron will be here in a couple hours to fix the door.”

Evie handed her the keys. As soon as she stepped through the damaged door, Skye inhaled sharply in appreciation. With an open layout and a vaulted ceiling over the living and dining rooms, it was beautiful. Big, south-facing front windows wonderfully let in a lot of light, illuminating the golden tones of the hand-peeled logs. The cabin was furnished with log furniture, and the hunter green accents nicely complimented the natural wood tones. This was exactly what she needed.

“So, was I right or was I right?” Evie asked.

“You were right,” Skye replied. “It’s gorgeous.”

“If you think the cabin’s gorgeous, you should meet your landlords’ son Aaron. He’s the widower I told you about. I’m sure if you’re in the mood for a romp—or is it roll?—in the hay to help you get over Darren…. Well, I imagine he wouldn’t be too hard to convince.” She paused only long enough to giggle at the cringe-worthy pun. “Let me tell you, Skye, he’s a tried-and-true, blond-and-blue, genuine cowboy, and he has the most adorable little girl. He is the whole shebang, honey. Sexy as hell and a family man. Can’t go wrong with that rare combination.”

Skye waited patiently for her best friend to finish before she responded. “Darren is still refusing to sign the divorce papers.”

Evie’s mouth fell open, and she swiveled to face Skye. “What?!”

“You heard me.”

“Yes, I did, but jeez, Skye.” She gave a disgusted sneer. “As if walking in on him screwing some bimbo wasn’t bad enough. Why can’t he just make this easy?”

With a pinched and humorless smile, Skye carried her bags up the stairs to the loft and set them beside the dresser. She didn’t understand why Darren refused to let her go. It wasn’t like he truly cared about her. More likely, his refusal to amicably dissolve their marriage was just one more way to demean and t*****e her. It had taken years for her to see the truth about him, but at last she had, and now she couldn’t un-see it. In the moment when she had walked in on him rutting with Leslie—undeniable confirmation of what she’d long suspected—she had realized exactly what breed of asshole he was. She had also realized that she didn’t deserve any of those little stingers he constantly used against her, that how he made her feel wasn’t a reflection of who she was.

Of course, she wasn’t even sure who she was anymore. Surely, if she had known what she did now, she never would have married Darren. It was easy to blame youthful ignorance—after all, they’d married right out of high school—but the truth was she should have known. Her biggest clue should have been when he’d quit their high school football team and tried to talk her into quitting as manager and photographer for the team instead of supporting her decision to stay on.

Well, she had plenty of time now to figure out who she was. She only hoped she’d gotten out before it was too late to salvage herself.

Thank goodness for Evie’s invitation, she thought for the thousandth time since the elegant envelope postmarked from Northstar had been delivered to her mailbox.

She pressed the heels of her hands to her travel-weary eyes, dragged her hands over her face, and decided it was best to keep her thoughts on the matter to herself. With her wedding only days away, Evie didn’t need any more to worry about, but it was nice to know that her friend would be only a phone call and a short ride away for the next six weeks. Lindsay would be here, too, in a couple days to spend a week and a half in Northstar with them. It’d be like old times, the three of them together, and her two best friends would talk her out of going back to Darren if the impulse again crossed her mind.

“You’re still coming out to dinner with us at the Ramshorn in an hour, aren’t you?” Evie called from downstairs.

“Of course.”

Skye joined her in the living room, gazing out the front windows at the sweep of the narrow ranching valley. A wall of granite peaks rose steeply to her left, and another, lower wall of thickly forested mountains stood to her right. In a place like this, she might actually be able to put more than physical distance between her and Darren. She’d be too busy with her camera to have time to devote to thoughts of him, especially if the stand of aspen behind the cabin turned gold before she left.

“Remind me, when do the leaves change here?”

“Usually the last week of September. Do you want a hand with your camera gear?” Evie asked with a knowing grin.

“No, I can get it. I’m sure you have places to be and things to do.”

“I do, but I can stay a little while longer to help you get settled.”

“Go, Evie. I probably won’t be doing much settling just yet.”

“All right. After dinner, I’ll show you my dress. It’s gorgeous.”

“I can’t wait.”

After Evie left, Skye finished dragging her last three bags out of her compact SUV. A nap sounded absolutely marvelous, but the sight of her camera bag sitting atop her luggage changed her mind. The brilliant afternoon sunlight was not ideal, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t on an assignment; she was getting familiar with her temporary home. With her camera slung over her shoulder, she stepped out the kitchen door and strolled down the metal grate ramp.

The shade of the aspen grove drew her, and beneath its glowing green canopy, she discovered a lush, spring-watered carpet of grass. The soft breeze made the leaves shiver, and the dappling shifted in the most magical, entrancing way. She lifted her camera, chose what looked like a wild iris as a focal point for her shot, and pressed the shutter button. The familiar and intense concentration brushed away her resentment over Darren’s infidelity and wrapped her in a soothing embrace of creativity and fulfillment.

“Hello there!”

She straightened at the sound of the feminine voice and glanced over her shoulder to see a woman in her late fifties with silvering blonde hair striding toward her. For a moment, Skye worried she had left the cabin’s property and trespassed on someone else’s land, but then the woman smiled. She was slender and spry, Skye mused, and her knees were slightly bowed as if she’d spent a fair amount of her life in a saddle.