Page 12 of Mountain Target

Shit.

The girl’s tears.

The strain on the woman’s face.

It all made a lot more sense to him now.

Marie’s gaze turned suspicious, as if she suddenly realized she’d said too much. “Why are you interested in Val? You should leave her alone. I know you don’t do relationships, and she doesn’t need … whatever it is you call what you do with women,” she finished, crinkling her nose.

Beau tried not to take offense. What he did with women were simple, consensual one-night-stands.

“Relax, Marie. I could be her father, just about.”

Marie’s gaze relaxed. “Um, I don’t think so. What are you, thirty-five, thirty-six?”

“Thirty-eight.”

And don’t ask me how old I feel.

“That’s like saying I could be your mother, because I’m forty-five. You should practice a bit of kindness on yourself, Beau.”

“Will kindness fix my knee?” he asked, looking to lighten the mood.

“Maybe staying off your knee for a few days, instead of going back to work, would help. So would giving up off-piste skiing, climbing, running …”

Stopping everything that gives me life.

He was saved from having to respond by a younger nurse, who popped her head inside quickly. “Marie? I need your help, please.”

Marie nodded quickly.

“Stay here fifteen more minutes, Beau. Then you can get dressed and leave.” She turned around once more when she was at the door. “And stay away from Val. I mean it. She doesn’t need more problems.”

Neither do I.

6

Valentina

Val parked the car and turned the engine off, but didn’t move to open the door.

It’d been a long day at the hospital. All she wanted was to pour herself a glass of wine and park herself on the couch to watch some mindless show on TV.

You can’t do that anymore.

She had to make dinner and act like an adult. And just the fact that she was sitting out here in her car, feeling sorry for herself, when she needed to be at home, providing some semblance of normal to Ren when she arrived from school, made her the worst kind of human.

How did you do this, Camille?

Camille had always been a single mother. She’d managed to work—albeit in a job with a more certain schedule than Val’s job—and she’d also been a great mother.

Val shook her head. The stress was getting to her. Her boss and colleagues had been accommodating, but at some point she was going to have to pick up the slack.

Not yet.

Even though Ren had her own key, and Val knew that Camille had left her alone in their apartment in Paris for short periods of time, Val couldn’t do that now, not until she was sure Ren was okay.

If she’s ever okay.