Rocky Retreat Page 9

  He shook his head as he aimed the truck toward the back route around the outer edge of Rocky Mountain House. “There will be far too much food and drink, but if it makes you feel better, I’m bringing enough for both of us. If you want to help set things up, I’m sure Anna will be there to direct you.”

  His sister had already talked to her about getting things organized for the potluck, but Rachel felt uneasy. “It feels strange to be heading out with empty hands.”

  It wasn’t the first time since they’d started dating that she’d been invited along, but in some ways it felt strange. She was closer to Lee’s older brother’s age than to Anna. The nearly ten years between her and Lee seemed a wide chasm at times, and then at others—as if it wasn’t there at all.

  He was still talking, his fingers linked with hers resting on his thigh.

  She scrambled to recover. “Sorry, I was daydreaming.”

  Lee lifted her hand to press a kiss to the back of her knuckles. “You won’t have empty hands,” he teased. “I expect you to take good care of me.”

  “Ha. Oh yes, lord and master. I can see that one,” she answered back with a lilt. “I keep forgetting. Do I need to walk five or ten paces behind you at all times?”

  “Why would you walk behind me?” Lee pulled into the parking space outside his house, grinning as he turned off the truck. “If you’re that far back, I can’t grab some sugar anytime I want.”

  Before she could move he cupped the back of her head, holding her in place for a long, thorough kiss that sent her extremities tingling and her senses spinning.

  Things were getting interesting when the door behind him jerked open. “Move it to a room, or I’ll post this on YouTube as family outings gone bad.”

  Lee’s cousin Jesse stood in the doorway, leering at them.

  Lee didn’t say a word, just stepped out, bumping Jesse hard enough to send the other man staggering backward in the snow. Lee’s full attention remained on Rachel as he held his hand to her. “Want to come in while I grab my things?”

  “Sure. I can help,” she offered.

  Jesse followed them inside. “When you come to the party tonight, make sure you bring—”

  Lee cut him off. “Stop it. I told you I wasn’t going.”

  His cousin made a face before he glanced at Rachel and rolled his eyes. “Oh, right. Sure, no problem.”

  Jesse stomped off to the back of the house, leaving Rachel feeling as if she’d missed a vital part of the conversation. “Was there somewhere else you’re supposed to be tonight?” she asked.

  The fridge was open, and Lee was setting things on the counter, including a tray covered with tinfoil that released the most amazing barbeque scent into the room. “There’s nowhere I’m supposed to be tonight except with you, but Jesse got this idea and he refuses to let it drop. That’s his problem, not ours.”

  Rachel glanced toward the doorway as Jesse paced past, the flash of annoyance in his eyes clearly directed at her. “Yeah, he does seem to have a few issues,” she snapped, hoping he’d overheard. “Sounds as if he’s not quite sure how to do the behave in public thing yet.”

  Lee laughed.

  The front door slammed, and Rachel sighed. “I didn’t mean to come between you and your family,” she apologized.

  She expected him to say something like never mind or it doesn’t matter, but instead, Lee put down the box he’d already lifted and turned to give her his full attention. “You’re not coming between me and my family. Jesse’s had a stick up his ass for a while, but it’s not my job to make him happy, and it’s not your job either. I told him I wasn’t going to the party, and he can’t blackmail me into going just so he’ll be in a better mood.”

  She leaned into the hand he’d cupped her cheek with. “You’re pretty smart.”

  Amusement flashed in his eyes. “Pretty smart for a young guy, right?”

  She shook her head. “Actually, that wasn’t my train of thought at all. I was more thinking the ‘pretty smart for a guy’ part of it.”

  His lips twitched. “High praise.”

  “From where I stand, it’s about the highest.” She meant it. “If I haven’t said it yet, you’re a good man, Lee Coleman. I’m glad I’m going out with you.”

  His face lit up. “I’m glad too.”

  If they hadn’t had food to deliver to the party, she was fairly certain they would have headed to bed for the rest of the day. As it was, he dropped her off at the main house before carrying his contribution to where a large tent had been set up, oversized barrel-shaped barbecues manned by men in heavy woolen coats.

  Rachel made her way toward the kitchen with the one bag Lee had given her. It felt strange to walk straight into the house, but it was obvious people were coming and going as they pleased, the entranceway crowded with boots of all sizes. Conversation and laughter carried on the air, fighting with Christmas music.

  She thought back to less than twenty-four hours earlier and the small Christmas-day celebration she’d shared with her family. It hadn’t been as wonderful as she’d hoped. That was partly her fault, she guessed. Signing the divorce papers earlier in the week meant she was officially single again instead of bringing Gary to meet the entire family as they’d planned.

  Her sister’s family had traveled from California, and the entire day there was this tension Rachel hadn’t expected. She’d offered to help pay for their flights, but Linda had turned her down.

  They’d visited. Made a meal. Had a short, but disastrous discussion about her love life…

  “It’s too bad things didn’t work out between you and Gary,” her sister said. “Maybe you should have given it more time.”

  He’d cheated on her after they’d been married for a month. What on earth did Linda think he would have done with more time? But it wasn’t worth fighting over. “Some relationships just aren’t meant to be,” she offered.

  “You rushed into things far too quickly.” Her mom clicked her tongue. “Next time, before you get involved with someone, you need to know them much better. Maybe join a church, or the bowling league.”

  Rachel bit her lip to stop from laughing. Those two things were not quite the same. “We did move too fast,” she admitted.

  “There’s someone out there for you,” Linda insisted. “Someone solid and upstanding, with a good job, and who’s well-respected in the community.

  That sounded like a listing of Lee Coleman’s qualifications, and Rachel smiled.

  “If you can stay around for a couple days, I was planning on having a small dinner party.” Her mom worked on the mashed potatoes, but there was something she wasn’t saying. Maybe hoping to set her up.

  “I can’t,” Rachel said. “I promised Lee I’d join his family tomorrow for Boxing Day.”

  Utter silence for five seconds.

  “Lee?” her sister asked.

  Oh boy. “Lee Coleman. The Coleman family is like the who’s who of Rocky Mountain House.” God, listen to her. She sounded stupid, and what’s more, she sounded as if she were defending her decisions, which she’d had more than enough of in the past months.

  “Do you know him from work?” her mom asked.

  Linda was examining her strangely. “You just signed the divorce papers this week. How long have you been seeing this Lee?”

  Oh, hell no. “For about a month. But Gary and I have been separated since the start of October.”

  “Awfully fast to be getting involved with someone else.” Linda folded her arms over her chest.

  “Interestingly, Lee said the same thing. He’s aware of what happened, and we’re going slowly, just enjoying each other’s company.”

  “And he owns his own business?” Her mom again.

  Getting the third degree at her age was beyond annoying. “His family does. They ranch in the area. He works with his parents and two older brothers.”

  This time her mom paused. “He’s the youngest, then. About your age?”

  “A bit younger.” What the he
ll. “He’s twenty-four.”

  “Oh, Rachel.” Her mom shook her head and vanished from the kitchen, leaving her blinking in surprise.

  Linda just stared, disapproval written all over her expression. “One bad decision after another. Well done.”

  And that was it. Nothing more was said about Lee, or dinner parties, or Rachel’s failed marriage. But now, twenty-four hours later she stood at the side of the room and watched the mass of people ebb and flow through the Coleman living room, contrasting it with the terse event, and found much wanting.

  “Are you planning on holding up that wall all day?” Allison Coleman asked, adjusting the swaddled baby in her arms. “Not that I think that’s a bad thing, but I just wanted to know if I should bring you food and drink.”

  Rachel returned her smile. “Congratulations. I haven’t seen you since Micah was born. How are you doing?”

  The other woman beamed. “If you’d asked me a couple days after he was born, the answer would have been different, but now I’m fine. Or as fine as you can get on five hours of interrupted sleep a night.”

  The baby squirmed, and Allison soothed him before glancing over. “Do you want to hold him? I can take your things to the kitchen.”

  Rachel hesitated before nodding. “I don’t have too much experience holding babies, though. Is it okay if I sit down first?”

  “Not a problem.” Allison led her through the chaos and into the far-quieter kitchen, gesturing to a seat by the table. “Sit, and you may hold His Majesty.”

  “Still passing that baby around?” Anna deadpanned from her position at the island. Lee’s older sister held a huge cleaver in her hand as she worked on vegetables.

  “Hush, you.” Another voice joined the conversation. Rachel recognized the woman as Melody, Steve’s girlfriend and one of the veterinarians in the area. “That baby’s so new he squeaks. Of course she’s handing him around. It’s a well-known fact brand-new babies give off addictive pheromones, and she’s trying to get all of us so gaga we succumb and start another baby boom.”

  “Huh. And here I thought she was looking for babysitters.”

  “Well, that too,” Allison admitted, giving Rachel a wink as she settled Micah in her arms. “Or maybe it’s because I get to hold him all the rest of the time, so it’s only fair I share the joy with you.”

  “I’m all for that,” Melody agreed. “As long as you’re aware the joy-sharing halts the minute he starts making faces, because I know he’s too young to be smiling.”

  Allison stuck out her tongue at her friend then excused herself to the washroom.

  Rachel was torn between enjoying the banter among the women who obviously cared for each other and focusing her attention on the small bundle of humanity lying in her arms.

  Maybe Melody was right. Maybe holding the kid was a dangerous idea.

  She examined the little face poking out of the warm flannel blankets. One small hand slipped up against his mouth, and his lips moved in a pucker against his fingers. Arrhythmic motions followed as his eyelids fluttered and he clung to sleep.

  He was gorgeous.

  Rachel sat quietly for a while, listening to the conversation in the room and the amusement that would burst out from the living room on the other side of the wall. The party wasn’t what she had expected. It was full of life, and laughter, both which went without saying. But over it all was a deep sense of… She wasn’t sure she could even define it.

  Contentment?

  Belonging?

  She hadn’t had a lot of that in the past, it seemed, and adding in the contrast with her family gathering the day before was harsh.

  Anna squatted in front of her, running a finger over Micah’s cheek. “You got pretty quiet all of a sudden. Something on your mind?”

  It seemed a safe place to share. “You all seem so happy. Like there’s no tension between any of you, and no judging and nothing ever goes wrong.”

  Melody cleared her throat, then cleared it again, and Rachel realized she was trying hard not to laugh.

  “Was I really that funny?” she asked.

  “Well, I am grateful you didn’t bring up the time I dumped beer on Steve’s head in public. Although that might be considered a moment of tension.”

  “Or the time Steve punched my husband in the face in the middle of Traders Pub.” Anna grinned over her shoulder. “Nope. Absolutely no tension or discord in this family.”

  “But those things happened a long time ago, although I’m sure they were tense at the time.” Rachel struggled to explain. “Being around you doesn’t seem as awkward as what I felt with my family yesterday.”

  Melody pulled out the chair next to her. “I’m sorry to hear your holiday wasn’t great. It’s never fun when families aren’t getting along.”

  “That’s the thing. I’m not even sure something was wrong.” Other than them being disappointed about Lee, or Gary, or both. “But it sure felt uncomfortable.” She shrugged before turning to the blonde veterinarian. “I do remember you dumping the beer on Steve…” she confessed.

  “Everybody remembers that,” Melody muttered hopelessly. “We’re going to spend the next fifty years of our lives hearing about it.”

  Rachel smiled in spite of the woman’s tone. “But I could tell you were upset. And everybody knew when Anna was mad at Mitch. But while it might have seemed obvious, they didn’t seem to be big issues. They happened and then they faded away and aren’t mentioned again. Well, other than the beer thing,” she said with a wink.

  “They fade away because they’re…” Melody leaned back on the chair, her expression turning thoughtful. “Ours? Something we need to grow through? I don’t know. It’s like people hear about our arguments, but rarely do we go out of our way to shout to the world ‘hey, look, we just made up’.”

  “Because then we’d gloat over the amazing make-up sex we’d had as well,” Anne offered. “And that would be mean.”

  “True.” Melody winked before sharing more seriously. “Here’s an example. Everyone knows Steve and I are a couple again, and for most of them, that’s it. They don’t really consider how much he’s changed over the past eighteen months. And they don’t see how much I’ve come to appreciate him, or what things I do on a daily basis to let him know that I love him. Because most of that is private, and it’s richer because it’s ours. Like a warm flame in the middle of a cold room, and it’s there between us. No one else could share it anyway.”

  Rachel didn’t have time to ponder their wisdom because the baby had begun to stir, moving from peaceful sleep to full-out wailing in ten seconds flat. She wasn’t certain what to do, and she was grateful when Melody scooped the child up.

  “I’ll go find Allison. That’s his ‘feed me now’ bellow.”

  “Watch it,” Anna warned. “You’re getting too good at that baby-identification stuff. You might be vulnerable.”

  “Drat. You’re right,” Melody moaned dramatically as she and Anna exchanged smiles. “But if I’m done for, then so are you. I bet you’re pregnant before me.”

  “Bite your tongue,” Anna snapped after her as Melody left the kitchen, laughing evilly. But she turned back to Rachel and it was all in good humour. “And I agree with Melody. But sometimes when we compare one thing to another, like your family and this gathering, you don’t see the big picture and things can get mixed up. I’m sure your family wants nothing but the best for you. Still, focus on what’s most important for you. Focus on moving ahead and doing the next thing.”

  Anna’s calm statements were delivered without any fanfare. Precise and somewhat reminiscent of what Rachel had already heard. “Lee shared something like that once that your father said.”

  “Our dad is a wise man.”

  “You and Lee have a lot in common, don’t you?” Rachel felt comfortable around the other woman. Maybe because she knew Lee looked up to her so much.

  A slow smile spread over Anna’s face. “We do, since we’re both rather brilliant. We need to balance ou
t Trevor, because that boy? Nothing but a fool.”

  Rachel laughed. She and Lee had spent some time with Trevor over the past week, and she found it interesting that even though she was closer in age to Trevor, she wasn’t attracted to him—not like how being around Lee made her pulse race.

  Trevor had flirted mercilessly with her to tease Lee, to Rachel’s amusement. “He likes to live dangerously, that’s for sure.”

  “One foot on the edge of disaster at all times.”

  Lee called for her to join him outside. Rachel rose, turning back to share a smile with Anna. “Thanks. I enjoy talking with you.”

  “I hope we get to do more of it,” Anna replied, waving her off.

  Lee was waiting for her by the front door. “You done? I need you on my team for a snowball fight.”

  “Let me get my gear on.”

  Chaos reigned around them, but she stood in a calm center, held in place by the firm gaze of a pair of deep-blue eyes.

  Lee successfully ducked the snowball aimed at his head only to be hit squarely in the middle of his chest. A chuckle escaped Rachel that she attempted to hide behind her glove, but her laughing eyes gave her away.

  “Someone’s looking for trouble,” Lee said, stomping toward her in his big winter boots, snowballs flying through the air around him as children screamed in delight. “You were supposed to be on my team.”

  Rachel turned on her heel and fled with a squeal.

  These moments were why Lee loved having a big extended family. There was always someone to play with, or in this case, fight with. Another snowball slammed into the side of his head, shot from behind the nearest tractor, and his oldest brother, Steve, crowed with glee.

  “Don’t get distracted,” Trevor warned. “They’re going to wipe us out.”

  A bonfire burned next to the skating pond. Couples gathered there, or at the foot of the tobogganing hill where kids were scrambling up and down in endless loops. The dozen of them pulled aside for the snowball fight were either defending the fort or attacking. Or, in Lee’s case, ignoring the battle altogether so he could leap the barrier and make a full-out charge at Rachel. He swept her off her feet and tossed them both into the nearest snow bank, snow trickling down the back of his collar and melting against his neck. In spite of the chill, having her on top of him was more than enough to set his blood boiling.