Page 2 of Mountain Dreams

“Did you name it yourself?”

“Yes.” Please don’t ask me why.

He pulled into the driveway and parked. Then he hopped out and came around to the passenger side to assist her, but she’d already stepped down. They went up the porch steps, and as he unlocked the door, he thought, I hope I didn’t leave my underwear lying around.

“Can I take your coat and purse?” he offered once they stepped inside.

“Sure. Thanks.”

As she removed her coat, he tried to act like this was a normal occurrence—having the woman of his dreams over without her fiancé.

Snap out of it!

“Have a seat,” he said as she handed him her coat and purse. Then he opened the closet and hung them next to his Carhartt. He liked the way her things looked next to his, but he shoved the thought aside and shut the door.

She sat in the middle of his brown leather couch, her hands clasped in her lap and a pained expression on her face. He considered himself an expert handler of women, but at that moment, he felt completely inept. Of course, most of the women he had contact with weren’t coming to him for emotional support. They’d be stripping him naked, or vice versa…

“Do you want something to drink? A water or something?” He hated how awkward he sounded, especially since he’d known her since high school.

“No thanks. Aren’t you going to sit down?”

He nodded and glanced from the couch to his worn-in recliner and back again.

“You can sit here,” she said, patting the space beside her.

Dammit. I should have sat in the recliner. He gave her a brief smile and sat on the couch, leaving a respectable distance between them.

The second he sat down, she said, “I probably shouldn’t have come here, but I wasn’t sure where else to go.”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” he suggested.

She took a deep breath, and he tried not to notice her chest rising and falling in the process. She was wearing a soft, V-necked pink sweater, which wasn’t remarkable; however, he’d always thought she was beautiful no matter what she wore.

“I think Wyatt is cheating on me,” she blurted out.

His eyes widened with surprise. Wyatt Jones had been one of his best friends in high school up until the time he and Madison had gotten engaged. Recently Cody could hardly bear to be around them, and his friendship with Wyatt had begun to wane.

“Are you sure?” He couldn’t believe Wyatt would mess up the great thing he had.

She looked down at her hands, and he noticed her engagement ring.

“I found something in his car…underneath the seat.”

“What was it?”

“A napkin with a woman’s name and phone number written on it.”

Cody had been there, done that, only he’d never been engaged, so he never had to answer for it. “Did you confront him about it?”

She nodded and blinked a few times as if she were fighting back tears. “He said it belonged to a friend of his, Mark. They went to the bar after work last Friday, and this woman supposedly gave him her number.”

Cody thought that sounded feasible, but he didn’t want her to think he was taking Wyatt’s side. “But you don’t believe him.”

She slowly shook her head. “He’s been acting funny lately, and he’s been going to the bar a lot more than he used to.”

Cody had no idea what to make of her accusation. He hadn’t been around Wyatt enough to know what he was thinking, let alone doing. All he knew was that his friend had seemed crazy about Madison in their senior year of high school and beyond. Cody had been forced to sit on the sidelines and watch as Wyatt rode off into the sunset with the girl of his and Cody’s dreams.

“Maybe he’s just getting nervous about the wedding,” he ventured.