Her Older Mountain Man - Page 8

The bedroom door creaks open just as I hang up the phone, and Owen comes padding out, wearing only low-slung flannel pajama pants. His hair is mussed from sleep, and he gives me a drowsy grin as he scratches his beard and makes a beeline for me.

“Morning, angel,” he says as he pulls me close, folding his arms around me. “An early riser, huh?” He leans in to drop a soft kiss on my lips. I reach up and pet his beard, trying to drink in these last few stolen moments with him before I have to go.

He wipes the tear away with his thumb, brows furrowing with concern. “What’s this? What’s wrong?”

I shake my head and push gently at his chest, but he doesn’t move. “I’m sorry, Owen. I have to go.”

Those thick, muscled arms tighten around me as his eyes narrow. “What’s going on, angel? You know you don’t have to leave.”

“I really do,” I say, and duck out of his embrace. I scrub furiously at my teary eyes, willing myself not to break down in sobs. “This has been…really special, but it can’t go anywhere. I have to get back to Fairview and get my life worked out.”

Owen looks shocked, like I’ve slapped him, but he quickly composes himself and follows me as I pace toward the door. “We can figure this out together, Colette. This isreal.”

I turn back and look into his bright green eyes. “You can’t fix this for me, Owen. This baby is my priority, and everything else has to come second.” My hand curls around my lower belly, cradling the tiny life inside as I picture the little boy from my dream.

He reaches out toward me, and I take another step back toward the door.

“Goodbye, Owen,” I say softly as I twist the knob. I slip out the door quickly–certain that if he says a single word, I’ll crack and shatter.

Or maybe I already have, I think as the door clicks shut behind me. I feel like I’m leaving broken pieces of myself behind as I stumble down the hill, wiping away tears and holding back my shuddering sobs. I get back to my cabin, throw my meager belongings back into my suitcase and heft it into the car.

This lonely cabin brought me so tantalizingly close to something huge and all-consuming. But it’s not my time–not right now.

With one hand to my tummy and the other on the wheel, I roar out of the gravel drive and down the winding mountain lane.

I force myself to not look back.

Chapter 6

Owen

I want to follow Colette back down to her cabin and talk her out of leaving, but she clearly needs a little space, and I need to make a plan.

Whatever Colette thinks right now, it’s not goodbye. I want her and I want the baby in her belly. Luke Barnes is shit on the bottom of my shoe, as far as I’m concerned. What kind of man abandons a pregnant woman in the middle of nowhere? What thefuckis wrong with him?

It doesn’t matter, I decide. By tonight, Colette is going to be back here, in my house. In my bed. Forever.

I have to move fast. I get dressed and cleaned up, and then stomp into my office to check my messages. As I’m scrolling through, a note from Jake lands in my inbox.

“Jackpot,” I mutter as I scan the contents of the attachment.

I walk out the door and find Sonny, Cher, Sam, Diane, Clive and Queen Elizabeth all hanging around the porch, gazing at me quizzically.

“I know, guys,” I say as I cross the porch toward the steps and to my waiting truck. “I’m getting her back.”

Queen Elizabeth gives me an encouraging little chirp, and I turn to salute before I climb into the truck. “Your majesty.”

I slide behind the wheel of my truck and clip my phone to the dashboard mount. While Colette slept, I programmed our information into each others’ phones, and thank fuck for that. In my navigation app, I see her car, a little blue dot, traveling along the main road back toward Fairview. I make a quick decision and roar down the road, turning on a shortcut down some winding back roads. If I’m lucky, I can catch up to her by the time she gets to the highway, and meet her at her destination.

This is the first time I’ve been down to Fairview in months, I realize. I’m not big on crowds of people, but this is true love. I’ll park my ass outside her apartment and hold up a boombox to get her attention if I have to.

I follow a couple of miles behind her, all the way into Fairview and to the downtown district. Her car is parked right in front of a big historic building with a tall facade. KOFFEE KARMA decorates the window in big painted letters. I slide my truck into a nearby space and pause for a second, taking deep breaths as I gather my thoughts and scroll through my phone to double-check the message that Jake sent me.

Time to do this. I take a deep breath and climb out of the truck to make my way into the coffee shop. A bell jingles on the door as I push it open, and I spy Colette at a little table in the corner, across from a tall guy–that fucker Luke Barnes, I assume. There’s a full coffee cup in front of her, along with an untouched sandwich. She looks miserable, and my heart lurches in my chest as I see her beautiful face, eyes swollen from crying. She’s staring at the tabletop and frowning as he talks. Every so often, she nods.

She doesn’t see me, and I wait until I’m a few feet away before I try to get her attention.

“Colette. Angel,” I say. Loud enough that they both hear me and turn to look.