Miracle Road

“She’s a sweetheart. I was just thinking that maybe I could get a dog. Every year I do more and more work from home. I don’t travel nearly as much as I used to. I might be able to make it work, but I’d hate to get a dog and then find out I couldn’t.”

“You could foster for a rescue group and see how it goes until the dog is adopted. If you’re gone too much, you’ll know without making the commitment to having a pet of your own.”

“There’s an idea.”

“What kind of dog do you think you’d like?”

“Nothing girly like Roxy here. I’d want a big dog. A man’s dog.” He hesitated a moment before adding, “Justin had a dog. A boxer. He named her Soupy Lou.”

Hope’s heart twisted. He’d never mentioned a dog before. “Soupy Lou?”

Daniel’s lips lifted ever so slightly. “I don’t know. Gail said she thought Justin heard it on a cartoon.”

“What happened to Soupy Lou?”

Daniel exhaled a long sigh. “I’m not sure. I came home a couple of months after Justin was killed and the dog was gone. Gail wouldn’t say where. I looked for her, but …”

He shrugged, and Hope crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug.

Half an hour later, they left her house, driving out to Storm Mountain Ranch in his rental. Daniel was quiet on this, the anniversary of the most horrible day of his life. Hope offered him her silent support, holding his hand for much of the twenty-minute drive to ranch. She directed him to the stables where Wade had instructed them to meet.

Wade came out to meet them, and Hope thought the smiling young man appeared even more at home in this setting than he did on a basketball court. Dressed in jeans, boots, a cowboy hat, and a sheepskin coat, he was the quintessential mountain rancher. Give him five years and women would be swooning all over him. Not that the teens at school weren’t doing it already.

At that point, Hope got an unwelcome surprise. Instead of three horses saddled for riding, there were four. Wade wasn’t the only person waiting at the stables.

Lucca Romano leaned against the stable door, his arms folded casually, a faintly satisfied grin on his face. Wade said, “Welcome to Storm Mountain, Ms. Montgomery.”

“Thank you, Wade.” She introduced the boy and Daniel, and while Daniel asked the young man a few questions about riding, she turned to Lucca. “Well, this is … unexpected.”

“I was at the gym working with Wade when you called. He invited me to tag along.”

After you made it impossible for him not to do so, I’m sure.

“I told him you wouldn’t care.”

Keeping her voice lowered, she said, “You were wrong. You should have asked me, Lucca.”

“When? The guy hasn’t left your side since he arrived two nights ago. Emphasis on the word ‘nights.’”

She folded her arms. “Tell me you don’t think I’m sleeping with him.”

He opened his mouth, then obviously changed his mind about what he was going to say. “No, I don’t. But dammit, Hope, you are sleeping with me. I think the least you could do is tell me why another man is spending the night at your house.”

Hope was not in the mood for male ego and jealousy, so she snapped. “Because today is the eighth anniversary of his four-year-old son’s abduction and murder, and I am his friend.”

It stunned him, as she had known it would. The jealous light in his eyes faded to shame, and he glanced over to where Daniel stood talking to Wade about the horses. “I’m so sorry.”

“You should be.” He’d made a huge assumption and leap of action, and it totally annoyed her. “He has enough to deal with today without you goading him over something that doesn’t even exist.”

“You’re right. I had no idea.” He took a step away from her and added, “I’ll leave.”

“No,” Daniel said.

Hope looked around to see that her friend had approached and obviously overheard at least some of her exchange with Lucca. A grin played at his mouth and amusement shone in his eyes. It was such a relief to see something other than bleakness in his gaze that she didn’t mind its being at her expense.

“I think it will be nice to have someone else along on our ride,” Daniel continued, extending his hand to shake Lucca’s. “That way when I fall off the horse and break my leg, Wade will have help hauling my butt down the mountain.”

“Would you stop with the broken leg business?” Hope asked, rolling her eyes.

Daniel spoke to Lucca. “Are you an experienced rider?”

“Actually, I am. I did some coaching stints in Texas and the West and learned then.”

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a Mule—the four-wheeled kind as opposed to the four- legged variety. Wade introduced his father to Hope and the two men. David Mitchell was an older version of his son, tall and broad-shouldered with a weathered face that reflected a lifetime of hard, physical work.

“Welcome to Storm Mountain,” he said. “Looks like y’all are going to have a nice day for a ride.”

The group exchanged pleasantries for a moment, then David turned to Lucca. “Could we speak privately for a moment, Mr. Romano?”

“Of course.”

As the two men walked away, Wade’s worried gaze followed them. Family, Hope thought. Sometimes it can be such a burden. Then her gaze fell upon Daniel, who was the closest thing to family that she had. Her brother, in so many ways. The brother whose eyes once again had gone bleak. She crossed to him and gave him a hug. Sometimes, family is all that helps you survive. “If you fall and break your leg, Daniel, I’ll make sure the doctor gives you a pretty pink cast.”

“You are all heart, Hope.”

Then, because Wade looked so miserable and she was, after all, his teacher, she made an effort to take care of him, too, by providing a distraction. “Wade, why don’t you tell Daniel the Ute legend about the Storm Mountain hot springs?”

Wade did as she asked, though his gaze continued to dart to his father and his coach. The conversation did look serious, and Hope was as curious as Wade. When the two men finally shook hands and turned to walk back toward them, Lucca caught Wade’s gaze and gave him a reassuring wink. Hope relaxed and after a moment, Wade did, too. They climbed onto their horses and started off.

It was a lovely ride. The horses Wade had chosen for them were accustomed to inexperienced riders, having been used for tourist rides the preceding summer. Sunshine and temperatures in the forties cleared the evidence of the previous day’s snowfall but for the shaded spots where patches of white would last until spring.

They mostly remained silent while they rode, though Daniel and Lucca did discuss cars and trucks for a time, and the easy way they conversed made Hope glad that Lucca had tagged along.

The man had been jealous. Over her. The tall, dark, and handsome GQ model pro athlete had been green-eyed enough to arrange to be here today. Call her shallow, but nothing had done her ego quite so much good in a very long time.

Wade guided them to a spot that offered a breathtaking view of snow-topped mountains to the west. Someone had fashioned log benches situated perfectly for enjoying the scenery. “Can we stay here for a little while?” Daniel asked.

“Sure. It’s a good place to stretch,” Wade replied.

Hope sat beside Daniel on the bench while Wade and Lucca took care of the horses. Hope heard the boy ask Lucca about the conversation with his father, but she dismissed her curiosity about that and turned her attention to her friend.

“This was a good idea, Hope,” he said. “Though I will admit I was ready to get down from that horse.”

“I thought you’d enjoy it.”

“A dose of ‘peaks’ on a day of ‘valleys.’ You’re pretty smart, Hope Montgomery.”

She laced her fingers through his. “Do you want to talk about Justin?”

He gave a long pause before saying, “The rage is mostly gone now, which is a good thing. But I walk around with this big, black empty space inside me that I had hoped would go away. Now, I don’t think that will ever happen. It’s so heavy and dark and cold. Some days it’s bigger than others. Some days it’s so big that it takes up my whole sky.”