Page 15 of Grumpy on the Mountain

"Riley," I supply, the name coming laced with one too many emotions.

"Yeah." Her fingers twist around the mug handle. "God, I can't believe I didn't recognize you."

"I didn't recognize you either," I lie again, because the truth is that I'd know her anywhere, in any crowd, at any distance.

And that's not something I'm willing to admit.

Not to her. Not to anyone.

Maisie tugs at my sleeve. "Is Riley your brother? Is he nice like you?"

The innocent question lands like a grenade in the middle of the room. Molly's face pales slightly. Sienna shoots me a warning look.

"Um, well… My brother and I are very different people," I say carefully. "And I'm not nice."

"You ARE!" Maisie insists, giggling like I just made the best joke ever. "You picked me up when I fell at the playground! And you're gonna build my treehouse!"

I shift uncomfortably under Molly's curious gaze.

"I know I did, kid. But sometimes grown-ups need to be alone in the woods... with their thoughts... and axes..."

Sienna snorts into her hot chocolate. "Wow. So eloquent, Beau."

"Mom says you live all alone in a cabin on the mountain," Maisie continues, oblivious to my discomfort. "Don't you getscared? I would get scared up there. Dad says I can't walk up there by myself because there are bears in caves."

"Maisie, honey, not everyone—" Molly starts.

"I don't get scared," I interrupt, meeting Maisie's wide-eyed stare. "And sometimes being alone is safer. For everyone."

"That sounds sad," Maisie says with the brutal honesty only children possess.

I take another sip of hot chocolate to avoid responding, and when I glance up, Molly's watching me. Not with pity, but with something worse. Understanding.

"So, Molly," Sienna says, clearly changing the subject, "you still haven't told me what brought you here. Not that I'm not thrilled to see you. It's just… unexpected."

Molly's fingers tighten around her mug. "It's a long story."

"It usually is when you leave everything behind," I mutter, thinking of my own escape to Stone River Mountain.

After my early discharge from the service, I spent weeks just driving.

No destination. No purpose.

Mountains blurring into plains into cities I never bothered to name. I'd never felt so goddamn lost before. Not even when we were pinned down in that valley in the scorching hot Middle Eastern desert for three fucking days straight.

At least then I had orders. A mission.

But civilian life? Nothing but empty road and the haunting ghosts of my fallen comrades riding shotgun beside me.

I watch as Molly explains to Sienna about leaving Riley, about the car breaking down, about throwing her phone out the window in a fit of liberation. I catch myself staring at her lips as she speaks, at the way her hands move expressively, at the small scar on her temple that wasn't there before.

What the fuck did he do to you?

"—and then Beau found me at the café," she's saying, and the sound of my name in her mouth does something strange to my insides.

"Well, thank God for that," Sienna says, smiling at me with genuine warmth. "You've always had perfect timing, Beau."

I grunt in response, reaching for anything to change the subject. My fingers brush against Molly's as we both reach for the plate of cookies Sienna has set out. The brief contact sends an electric jolt up my arm, and I jerk back like I've been burned.