Page 7 of I’ll Be There (Montana Fire #4)

Conner was starting his marriage with lies. And not just the Big One, but the Most Important One as well.

The Big One being her wedding gift, the project he’d been working on for eight months. But now wasn’t the time to rock her world, not with her so-called wedding catastrophes.

As for the Most Important One, well, it wasn’t really a lie—more of an omission.

“You need to tell her, dude.” Pete squatted down next to Conner at the stone circle that formed the Evergreen resort campfire pit and handed him the bundle of kindling. “Liza knows something is up.”

Liza had been acting strange all afternoon, checking her cell phone, even sending him up to the resort with the guys by himself to check in.

Since Pete knew both secrets, Conner took a stab at the most recent.

“Not with her current wedding trauma. Her dress is the wrong color, for one. The flowers aren’t here, and she said something about the reception—”

“Seriously? Were you not listening to the conversation she had with Grace? Apparently, you have too many wedding guests for your reception.” Reuben came up and dropped an armful of logs next to him. “You prom king, you.”

“Trust me. The sum of my friends is right here, and right now I’m considering crossing you all off the list.”

“And after I offered to take the top bunk. Now that’s friendship.” Pete got up to retrieve the long matches.

Frankly, Conner didn’t know why they couldn’t just have it here, in the backyard of the Christiansen family’s resort.

The twelve-cabin property sprawled along the northern shore of Evergreen Lake, tiny two- and three-room cabins nestled amidst white pine, poplar, and black spruce, recently replanted after the terrible fire that had decimated the resort.

The fire had only spared the main lodge.

Darek Christiansen, the oldest son, who now ran the place, had spent the past three years rebuilding.

Darek, who’d once worked alongside the Jude County Hotshots with Jed.

“Liza’s not going to be thrilled when we all disappear tomorrow,” Pete said.

Conner had constructed a teepee fire, shoving the kindling pack into the middle. “Light her up.” He stood, slapping the wood debris off his hands. “I was thinking about that—maybe I should go alone.”

“Not hardly,” Reuben said. “You don’t know what you’re walking into.”

“I’ll stick around here.” Jed walked down the path carrying a cooler. “Unless you think you need more backup.” He set the cooler on the spongy ground.

“It’s not a stake out—I’m simply meeting this woman. Getting some information—”

“About your dead brother,” Pete said. “That’s—”

“What’s this about a dead brother?” Darek Christiansen said.

He carried his toddler daughter on his shoulders, holding onto her feet.

Darek looked every inch the former hotshot—bulky shoulders, lean torso, his dark hair clipped short, a hint of a beard.

But he donned a lime green, Evergreen resorts T-shirt instead of the common black Jude County Hotshots shirt.

“So this is Joy,” Jed said, walking over to tug at the little girl’s feet. Blonde, curly hair, blue eyes, she had her mother’s smile. “Good thing she doesn’t look like you.” Jed reached up, took the little girl down from Darek’s perch. “C’mere, Goldilocks. I’ll tell you stories about your Daddy.”

“Jed—” Darek started, but Jed had already swooped her away, flying her around the campsite as she erupted into laughter. “I hope he has kids soon, so he can stop harassing mine. He gave Tiger a hard hat and a Pulaski and told him he expected him to sign up for his crew next summer.”

“How old is Tiger—ten?” Conner asked.

“Old enough to think he should be a smoke jumper, so please don’t encourage him,” Darek said.

Right. Conner had no doubt that Darek might be the one filling his son’s head with too many stories of bravado and adventure.

Pete, clearly, had the same thought. “If we find him out West, having hitchhiked from Minnesota, we’ll know who to blame. And it won’t be Jed.”

Darek laughed. “Nice fire, Young. So, you about ready for this? Marrying the most popular girl in town? You know that all of Deep Haven will be at your wedding. No pressure, but don’t screw up.”

Conner managed a feeble laugh. “Funny.”

“Ah, all he has to do is show up,” Reuben said. “Her posse of women seem to have everything under control. They just arrived with containers of food and who knows what else. Good thing we’re getting out of here tomorrow, or I think we’d be roped into decorating.”

Darek raised an eyebrow. “You’re leaving?

Um, because according to Grace, it’s all hands on deck tomorrow for yes, decorating.

Apparently, they have to move the reception to the ice arena, and Grace is calling an audible.

She even asked my wife to help.” Darek made a face.

“Don’t tell anyone, but in Ivy’s hands, a glue gun is a lethal weapon. She’ll have hot glue—”

“I heard that!”

Ivy came down the path, her auburn hair pulled back, wearing a sweatshirt and a pair of yoga pants.

“And just who gave my son the ax?” She had her attorney voice, and Conner glanced at Jed, who seemed to be making a quick exit toward the long dock, Joy over his shoulder, arms outstretched like she might be a bird.

Darek cleared his throat. “It’s a Pulaski—”

He closed his mouth at the gimlet eye she gave him.

“I’m going to check on Liza,” Conner said and headed up to the house.

Conner closed the door behind him as he came into the lodge and spied Ingrid Christiansen, the matron of the clan, her blonde hair pulled back in a headband, wearing a pink blouse and jeans, piling hot dog buns onto a tray.

Next to her, Grace, practically her spitting image, dished chocolate chip cookies onto a plate.

A bowl of marshmallows suggested s’mores on the agenda for tonight’s campfire.

“Hey. Is Liza around?”

“She’s outside, on the phone,” Grace said.

“Right. She said something about the reception?”

“Don’t worry,” Grace said. “We’ve got it under control.”

“Hey there, groom. How goes the fire?” Ingrid said.

It somehow seemed to him that she could see into the soul of her children, their friends, and pull out the lies. Feed them truth. He’d met her the summer he’d met Liza, when he fought the fire in northern Minnesota.

He had to remind himself that the fire she referred to didn’t mean the destruction he might be starting by keeping his excursion a secret.

Now, she smiled at him. “Everybody gets antsy before a wedding. So much expectation—just breathe.” Ingrid handed him the tray of hot dog buns. “All that matters is that you’re here.”

Now that you’re here, it’s going to be okay.

Maybe more than okay if Blue actually had any leads on Justin’s death.

Conner found himself standing in the path, watching the guys down at the fire now flickering with yellow-orange flame.

The sun hung just above the tree line above the far shore, streams of gold limning the water.

The scent of spring, fresh buds, the stir of smoke in the air—it all conspired to rake to mind the years of preseason training with these guys.

Guys he’d give his life for.

I don’t know how to reconcile my fears with my love for you.

Liza’s words from this afternoon coiled through him, caught him up. What if I stayed here this summer while you jump fire...

No! But he couldn’t tell her why, not yet, and not with so much going on with the wedding. Mostly, he’d wanted to surprise her, bring her back to Montana and watch her reaction.

So, instead, he’d kissed her.

And frankly, that’s where he’d wanted to be anyway, lost in Liza’s embrace. Or rather found.

She centered him, knew him.

Believed in him, too, because she’d kissed him back, with a smile he didn’t deserve, stopped talking about their future and simply took his hand.

Bought him a donut.

He shouldn’t be going to Canada tomorrow.

Except, what choice did he have?

The last thing he wanted to do was pull the guys into possible danger. Sure, they knew how to handle themselves in a fire, but this might be different. He hadn’t a clue who Blue really was.

Are you sure Justin’s dead?

She had to ask that. Yes, sure. But answering her stirred it back up—the disbelief, the fury.

Maybe he should go alone.

Footsteps sounded behind him, and he turned just as Liza caught up to him. She wore her long, shiny sable hair down, a white flowing dress, sandals, and a floral sweater. The sunset’s gleam caught in her eyes. “Just standing here with the buns?”

“Waiting for you,” he said. “Everything okay?”

“Yep,” she and smiled, something that touched her eyes. She took the plate from his hands and headed to the fire pit.

“Liza, I have to tell you something.”

“I already know about the tuxes. Jed brought his in and asked us how to fix them.” She turned, the sun flaring behind her like a halo. “Don’t you know how to iron?”

“Not even a little. But that’s no—”

She turned back to the trail, and he caught up to her just at the edge of the campfire. Pete shoved a stick into the fire, watching it burn. Reuben was holding up his phone, looking for a signal. Conner touched her arm, the good one. “Babe, listen—I need to go to Canada tomorrow.”

That stopped her. “Huh?”

“It’s...” Oh no, what was he doing? Because the last thing she needed was to worry about him, to take her focus off the wedding—for him to add more tension to her life. If it turned out to be something important, then...

“It’s a...guy thing.”

“A guy thing?”

“Yeah, we’re going to, um, do...guy stuff.” This from Pete, his lame rescue attempt.

She raised an eyebrow. “Guy stuff?”

“At Fort William,” Conner said. “It’s a living history—”

“I know what it is. I’ve been there. Really? That’s your bachelor party excursion?” She glanced at Pete, back to Conner. “Okay, I’m definitely marrying the right guy. Because I thought, in Pete’s hands, you might end up skydiving or something.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! I should have thought—”