Mom’s phone buzzed. She glanced at it and smiled.
“Daniel?”
“No, your father. Another hiking meme.” She failed to bite back her smile.
I always suspected Mom had never gotten over Dad. He hadn’t been her first infatuation, he’d been her firstlove. One-sided love. Part of me had hoped he’d put her out of her misery once he hit forty and ask her out, but it’d been a year since then and he was still happily single in Helena, playing tennis and making money. At least they had stayed amicable, which was a challenge with someone like my dad.
I hadn’t gotten any sophistication from him. I was more like Mom had been in high school before she’d discovered the excitement of the outdoors. She’d been quiet and studious, according to her. At least I’d learned from her example. No studlete like my dad had seduced me and used me when he’d been in town for a football camp. I’d waited until college beforemycrappy dates.
I had a studlete now. I could enjoy him for an entire month. “I’ve started seeing someone.” A tiny thread of guilt wound around my conscience. I didn’t want Mom to worry. She’d hated on Brock when he’d broken up with me. I couldn’t let her know that he’d made me feel so bad I had made up a boyfriend.
Who’d turned out to be real. Sort of.
She turned from stirring the noodles. “You are?” Her curiosity was tinged with concern.
“He’s from Bourbon Canyon.”
She pulled a face. “Oh. That place.”
It didn’t matter that Dad hadn’t lived in Bourbon Canyon since he’d graduated, Mom would never like that town. “I know, but he’s a nice guy.”
“What’s his name?”
“Tenor. He’s, uh, one of the Baileys.”
A brown brow ticked up. “Like the Copper Summit Baileys? Your boss?”
“One of them.”
She put the spoon down and folded her arms. “Oh?”
“It’s not like that, and it’s nothing serious.”
She snorted. “It rarely is for men. He gets to play, and you get to repair your heart when he’s no longer interested.”
“All I care about is bringing him to Cara Simonson’s wedding.”
Her lips pulled back in disgust. Mom carried more of a grudge against Cara than I did. She’d had to wipe too many tears. “Why would you want to go toherwedding?”
“Because she invited me when she came into Copper Summit for a drink. With her fiancé... Brock.”
Mom’s jaw dropped open. “BrockBrock?” When I nodded, she sucked in a scandalized gasp. “That’s just— I can’t believe—” She snapped her mouth shut. “You know what? They fit each other.”
“A perfect pair.” They could make the exciting life together they both seemed to crave. “So I need it to be serious enough for Tenor to go to the wedding with me.”
“I can accept that. But keep your eyes open, baby girl.”
“If he wears Patagonia and asks me to take a hike with him, I’ll run the other direction.”
Mom tried to glare at me, but she laughed. “He can’t leave you if you leave him first.” She didn’t know the wedding would be our last date. She turned to stir the spaghetti. “Just, you know, maybe don’t mention your dad. He was kind of a hellion in Bourbon Canyon. His grandma said he wasn’t well liked, and small towns can have long memories. I’d hate for you to get a hard time because of how he acted.”
I couldn’t imagine how unhinged a teen Dad must have been. He was rough around the edges as an adult. “I haven’t. Robert Morgan is never a topic of conversation.”
“It’s better that way.”
When I first got the job, Mom had warned me that Dad had been a wild, unrefined kid. Selfish and self-absorbed. Loud,with typical alpha male behavior. Dad had been sent to live with his grandparents in the Bourbon Canyon area when he was in elementary school. She said he had more tact as an adult, but he was still opinionated and blunt. To me, and to his clients. Somehow, he still made a good living in sales.
His grandparents were gone now, and he’d moved to Helena as soon as he’d graduated, but that didn’t mean no one remembered him. Since I hadn’t wanted to risk my position, I had kept quiet. It wasn’t exactly a conversation starter, talking about my dad who knocked up my mom in high school and didn’t stick around to parent much more than a weekend a month.
