Page 101 of Rocky Mountain Devil

“You’re a pain in the butt,” she noted. “This is about Jeff, isn’t it?”

“Who?”

“Don’t tempt me, Coleman. I’ve got a sink full of soapy water only two inches away from you.”

He chuckled. “Just get your chores done so we can go spend time with my mom.”

It was only a few minutes later when Laurel took him by the hand to guide him out of the kitchen, choosing a side door that brought them into the hallway outside the banquet room. Private. Quiet.

Laurel stuck a finger in his face. “I don’t need you to defend me,” she scolded him, and then before he could protest, she caught him by the shirtfront and tugged him toward her, “but I appreciate that you care.”

She kissed him gently. Lips brushing his before she pulled away and offered him a brilliant smile. “Let’s go eat some pumpkin pie with your mom.”

Rafe didn’t even bother gloating when they walked past Jeff, hand in hand en route to the dessert table.

Well, maybe he gloated a little.

The Coleman Boxing Day gathering was held at the Whiskey Creek ranch. It was the section of Coleman land Laurel had spent the least amount of time, and she kept rubbernecking, trying to take in the new sights.

It was difficult with the sheer number of people in the area. Ashley hadn’t been joking when she mentioned the celebration would be chaos. There were only a couple dozen direct relatives, but everyone seemed to have brought along a friend or two, and their children, and extra parents, until the whole place was noise and laughter.

The oldest of the Whiskey Creek girls approached her, a pitcher in one hand and cups in the other. “Hey, Laurel. Want your cider with a kick?”

“Think I’ll stick to the plain stuff.”

Karen gestured toward the sidewall. “Over there. We’ve got enough visitors around today we decided to keep tabs on the alcohol. Don’t need the Six Pack nephews sneaking their friends into the spiked drinks.”

“Spoilsport,” Laurel teased.

She got a burst of laughter from the other woman in return. “Rafe said the same thing a few minutes ago.” Karen paused. “By the way, he’s headed outside with some of the kids. I think they mentioned the tobogganing hill.”

Laurel had insisted on coming on her own—her family didn’t do a big official Sitko gathering on Boxing Day, but she’d gone over to her mom and dad’s that morning and made them pancakes. Just a quiet meal with the three of them, easy and comfortable.

At least until the topic veered into dangerous territory.

“It was good to see Rafe join us at the church for dinner Christmas Eve,” her mom mentioned innocently between sips of her coffee.

“He and his mom, yes.”

“Dana Coleman’s a good woman,” her dad said. “One of the pillars of the community.”

“Is Rafe planning on coming to church this year?” Corinne adjusted the plate in front of her. “It would be nice to get to know him better.”

“He doesn’t have to come to church for that to happen,” Laurel pointed out.

“No, you’re right.” Her mom and dad exchanged glances, her father shaking his head slightly. Warning her mom off?

Maybe, and perhaps she should be grateful for that, but it bugged her that the only thing they seemed to hold against Rafe was the fact he didn’t belong to the church.

But she definitely didn’t want to get into that conversation today, so she ignored the issue like she’d done before, and concentrated on safe, generic topics, like the plans her parents were making for a short winter getaway.

She left them with hugs, that slightly uneasy sensation lingering as she drove away. They were her parents, and she loved them, but she wasn’t a little girl anymore. The world kept changing, and she still wasn’t sure how to fit the pieces together.

And now as she headed outside wrapped up against the cold, that strange sensation continued. She knew these people to some degree. All the generations of the Coleman clan, from Mike and Marion, to their son Blake and his wife Jaxi, and the growing family they were raising. And the Moonshine clan, and the rest of them, tangled up with familiar members of the community who’d been invited to the gathering.

Laurel knew them, and at the same time…she didn’t. They had faces, and they had names, but the real people inside?

Shewasn’t the same person she’d been when she left Rocky, and ever since she’d returned there’d been a wall around part of her. Secrets kept because they needed to be—