“Give me a ride to the gate,” he said. “I’ll open it for you.”

“I can manage… .”

“Let me,” he said. “I don’t want you to leave the kids in a running car to let yourself out and close up. I want to walk back—it’s a beautiful night.”

She looked up at the black sky and took a deep breath. “When I got here, I thought I’d been thrown into hell without a rope. Look at that sky, smell the fall air. I had no way of knowing this was the luckiest break of my life. I’m sure you know how lucky you are.”

“Let’s go,” he said, getting in the passenger side and folding up his long legs to fit. “Nice little car, Nora,” he said.

“Isn’t it? I’m still quite cautious of Jed, but I think it’s going to be okay. I think he’s a good guy. And if so, I couldn’t ask for more.”

I could ask for so much more, Tom thought. One woman instead of two, for starters. One woman with all the right traits, he thought.

They were at the gate in seconds and he jumped out. “Drive carefully,” he said before closing the door. He was grateful he’d made the suggestion of letting her out—he needed a little time alone to think before Maxie started asking questions about how much he’d enjoyed the evening, so his walk back to the house was slow. Then he sat on the back steps for a minute, the same steps he’d shared with Berry earlier.

Tom liked a lot about Darla. He liked that she was pretty and smart and very sophisticated. He didn’t mind that she made him look like a boring old farmer—he could use a little class. She had a stable and loving upbringing. She apparently had no weird, dark skeletons like an ex in jail for dealing drugs. She didn’t have children yet, so no baggage. Well, there was baggage…including about a billion-dollar wardrobe, but that wasn’t his problem. A wardrobe that would go to waste in a small town. So what if he’d rather vacation by camping or fishing while she was headed to the beach in the Caribbean? Lots of couples celebrated their differences rather than chafed at them and only expanded their experiences. Except he wasn’t crazy about wrestling two big suitcases for every day of travel, either.

He sighed deeply.

But the things he liked about Nora were her natural, unaffected beauty, her grit and determination, her kindness, her gratitude, her humor. He even liked her kids. He hadn’t wanted to take on someone else’s kids, but he liked them. A lot.

Chapter Eleven

Maxie sat in the living room, feet propped up in her recliner, TV on. She knew what Tom was doing—either sitting on the porch or pacing outside, wondering what the hell he was going to do. Even though he’d been gone for the past several years, she knew the boy inside and out. He was a plotter. A planner. And sometimes he got a little over the moon in his plans.

Tom didn’t seem to really lament his absence of a mom and dad. That sort of thing didn’t stand out that much in a place like Virgin River where extended families abounded. In a place with large family businesses like farms, vineyards, ranches and orchards, it was fairly common for the grandparents, aunts and uncles to be included in the day-to-day equation, all often present at the same dinner table. And it was also typical for small-town boys to lust after a bigger, more exciting world.

“When I grow up, I’m going to see every country in the world,” Tom used to say when he was young. “I’m not going to spend my whole life on one small piece of land. I want to see things, do exciting things.” Thus college and the Marine Corps, Maxie assumed. Escape to a larger world. Excitement—in spades.

She never tried to convince him of the virtues of the land. But after trying a few different majors in college, Tom had finally gotten his degree in agriculture. After the Marines, he came back to the orchard. She hadn’t asked him to, but she had said that if he had no interest in the apple business, she’d sell it in a few years—she wasn’t going to keep picking apples into her eighties, but she’d be more than thrilled to live in her house, on her land.

Maxie knew that deep down Tom found comfort in the beauty of simplicity, nature, wholesome living. She also knew the fastest way to scare him off the orchard was to try to sell it to him. Better he should carry lots of expensive luggage up the stairs to the guest room and give a baby a bottle. That would do more to shape him.

He’d come around. She hoped.

The screen door slammed and he walked into the living room. She patted herself on the back for her restraint. She so wanted to ask him wasn’t it nice to have a dinner guest who ate and appreciated the food? Instead she said, “Pie?”

“No, thanks. I’m going to bed.”

“It’s seven forty-five!”

“Long day,” he said. “I’ll put Duke out one more time and close up for you. Come on, buddy,” he said to the dog. Duke took his time getting up, as though his joints might hurt. “Any day now,” Tom prodded.

It took quite a while. Since Duke hadn’t been asking to go out, he wasn’t in any hurry. Another ten minutes passed before the old dog ambled in and Tom trudged up the stairs.

Poor guy, Maxie thought with some humor. It was obvious he liked Nora and wanted to like Darla more. She hoped he’d be able to get some sleep. For herself, she was going to enjoy TV.

* * *

Fall was on the land and Coop was grateful that he’d lucked into one of the best setups he could imagine. Since Luke and Shelby invited him to dinner just about every night and gave him his space and trailer hookup for free, he earned his keep by helping out around the compound. He drove to the dump now and then, cleaned the occasional cabin, picked up groceries from the larger stores on the coast and did his share of grilling and cooking for them. It took a little pressure off the Riordans.

Touring the area with Colin in the little Rhino, which was like a baby Jeep or little quad, had become a favorite pastime. He’d seen much of the country by now and it was beautiful everywhere he looked. Coop was taken with Jilly’s farm, the big house, the harvested garden and huge pumpkin patch, but he was mostly impressed by Colin’s paintings. It was impossible to grasp that this guy wasn’t a professionally trained artist, he was so gifted. “I need to have one of these paintings,” Coop told Colin. “But I have no wall to hang it on and could never decide which one!”

“You’ll have a wall again,” Colin said with a laugh. “Once you decide what you’re doing next.”

Coop just shook his head. “I’m not going back to foreign wars, not going back to the oil companies and I can’t paint. In fact, I don’t think I can do anything but fly helicopters. Luke got lucky with the cabins—that’s a decent life, I think. In a decent little town.”

“You’ve been all over the mountains and valleys but I don’t think you’ve seen that much of the town itself. How about a beer at Jack’s?” Colin suggested. “About time you meet Jack. Luke treats himself about once a week when his chores are done and Shelby’s home. Let’s go get him.”

Colin followed Coop back to the Riordan cabins to leave off the Rhino and grab Luke for a beer. A few minutes later, they were pulling up to Jack’s bar and walked in the door.

The man behind the bar looked like he’d seen a ghost. So did Coop. And at exactly the same time they said, “You!”

There was nothing but silence to follow that, for at least a few stretched out seconds. Finally it was Luke who said, “What the hell…?”

Coop turned to him, his eyes ablaze. “That’s him! The jarhead who had me arrested!”

“I didn’t have you arrested, ass**le! The woman you beat up had you arrested! I just happened to be there when she said, ‘It was him!’”

“No, you called the MP’s and told them it was me!” Coop said, advancing on the bar. “I wasn’t even there!”

Instinctively, Colin and Luke each held one of Coop’s arms. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Colin said. “What’s this?”

“This didn’t really happen,” Luke said, holding Coop back.

“Something happened,” Jack said. “She had a funky jaw and a black eye and a bunch of other bruises and—”

“And called you? How’d she have your number? Ever ask yourself that?”

“She said she was in a bad situation and I told her if she ever needed help…”

Coop laughed cruelly. “And where were you after I got arrested, huh? Because I didn’t stay arrested!”

“What?”

“You heard me! She was lying, did you know that? She was going to get me arrested. She was going to replace me with a jarhead!”

“I shipped out with my squad,” Jack said. “I was only at Benning to get them through Airborne. She knew I was leaving—she didn’t want me!”

“No, pal. She didn’t want me,” Coop said. “And she was going to have me locked up for something I never did.”

“She was beat up,” Jack said emphatically.

“She got it behind the bar. There were people who knew what happened, knew it wasn’t me. She blew off some guy who wanted a date, he followed her to her car and when she didn’t have a change of heart, he slapped her around. She went home and called you. And even though you didn’t see a goddamn thing happen, you had me arrested! Did you ever think about checking this out, since you didn’t see it happen, either?” Coop shook off Luke and Colin and straightened. “Hey. I’m outta here. Ever hear that old saying, this town isn’t big enough for both of us? It’s today, man.”

And with that, Coop turned and walked out.

Luke shook his head. “He didn’t do it, Jack,” he said. “We’re going to have to get this straightened out. I’m not ready for Coop to drive out of here. He just got here.” And then he left to join Coop and Colin in the truck.

* * *

Three men and Shelby had a beer together on Luke’s front porch.

“I never would’ve believed it was Jack,” Luke said, dropping his head, looking down. “In a way it makes sense, but that’s even more reason to get this worked out.”

“In what way does it make sense?” Coop demanded. “And why would I want to work it out?”

“Jack’s a good guy,” Colin said. “On the upside, he’s got a reputation for defending the underdog. On the downside, he obviously didn’t get all the facts. Or thought he had the facts when he didn’t.”

“The fact is, I had orders for Ft. Rucker and I wasn’t taking Imogene. It would’ve been a disaster—she didn’t really want to settle down. We hadn’t been together very long, definitely not long enough to be a couple… I think she just wanted a way to a new town. And so we fought, broke up what little there was to break up, I went out with some of my boys and got hammered. Not over grief at leaving Imogene—if you want the truth, I was happy to be leaving Imogene. And I’m sorry if she got hurt, but I don’t know why she had to pin it on… But I do know why. She was pissed off and would rather see me sit in jail for refusing to take her to Alabama than see the guy who smacked her around punished.”

“Who did beat her up?” Luke asked.

“Some sergeant who was permanent at Benning. I think she might’ve dated him once. I spent a few days in the brig until my boys tracked him down. And that damn Imogene wouldn’t finger him! He admitted he might’ve slapped her.” He laughed bitterly. “Might’ve slapped her. To hear the boys tell it, he punched the crap out of her. He bragged about it at the bar but wouldn’t confess to the MP’s. And why she wouldn’t want him behind bars—I have no idea. I never saw Imogene again.”

“I think we should explain, since Jack got half the story,” Luke said. “The wrong half.”