Maisey Yates - Tough Luck Hero

Common ground with Colton. That was almost as weird as being married to him. Almost.

“I guess we just blew all that to hell.”

“No. We didn’t,” she said. “Because true love.”

He took his focus off the road for a moment, the electric blue of his eyes sending a shock straight down through her system. “True love?”

“That’s how we’re going to spin it.”

“Definitely better than the truth.”

They were silent for the rest of the drive. She was too exhausted to think of anything logical to say. She had a feeling that if she tried to continue making conversation with him they would only fight. She didn’t have the energy for that, either. So she kept her focus pinned on the scenery. The trees that grew thicker and taller as they drove farther out from the city. The mountains shrouded them on either side, making it feel darker here. As though they were shielded from the sun, a canopy of lush greens protecting them from the harshest rays.

Unlike most of the locals in her age group, she was not originally from Copper Ridge. She had moved there from Seattle eight years ago.

Most people left for a while, came back later to settle down. Or, if they were first-time residents of Copper Ridge, they were usually retirees. She was the odd one out. But she loved her adopted home more than anything. Expanding the tourism there was a passion of hers, and had been from the moment she had arrived. Strengthening the economy, making it more viable for people to stay. For people to raise families and thrive doing something other than working hard in the mills, or deep-sea fishing. She had carved out a place for herself there. The place she had never had anywhere else. She couldn’t face the idea of losing it now.

“Do you know where I live?” she asked, as they entered town finally.

She looked at all the beautiful brick buildings, their facade like something out of an old Western, made completely and wholly unique by the nautical details that clung to the exteriors like ornate barnacles. And again by the ocean beyond them, gray with whitecaps rising and falling with the tide. That was Copper Ridge.

In case you needed to escape some sort of high-pressure situation you could scurry into the mountains or float away in the sea. It was one of the things she liked about it. Multiple escape routes. Not that she was paranoid, she was just a planner.

“No,” he said. He said it almost like he was pleased.

“I’m here in town,” she said. “Just past where the buildings end. On Hyacinth.”

She loved her sweet little home by the ocean. She had spent a good amount of time cultivating a nice garden, making sure every bit of it was cozy and comfortable, and absolutely for her.

“You won’t be able to stay at your house,” he said. “You know that, right?”

“What?”

“You’re going to have to move in with me,” he said, his voice steady as the road they were driving on.

“I...” Oh, well, she hadn’t thought of that.

“We can’t live separately. That negates the whole thing.”

“But we...we don’t even... We can’t even have a conversation without swinging wildly between stilted and hostile. How are we supposed to live together?”

“We just will,” he said, his tone shot through with steel. “I don’t run from my mistakes, Lydia. I own them. I fix them.”

“If by own you mean obscure with a more convenient version of the truth.”

“My mother can’t know this isn’t real,” he said.

“Your mother...”

“Is still reeling from finding out about my dad. She was very close to Natalie. She poured everything into this wedding. It’s been her therapy. So yeah, I’m with you. For now, this has to look as real as possible. That means you’re moving in with me.”

She hated him and his infallible logic. “Why do we have to do that? Why can’t you move in with me?”

Just as she said that, they pulled up to the front of her house. That at least was exactly as it should be. Pristine and well kept, the lawn green and freshly mown, the white fence newly painted, flowers matching the name of the street growing through the slats.

Her front porch was cheery, a wreath made of sunflowers hanging on the door, a bright red ribbon wound through the blossoms. There was a chair and table in a matching red that was just her style. She liked to sit out there in the evenings, with a blanket over her lap, listening to the sound of the waves on the rocks. This was her place. The most important place in the entire world to her.

“Because it’s tiny,” he said, effectively dismissing the most important thing in her world with incredible ease.

“But it’s my home,” she said.

“I have a ranch,” he said. “Not a huge operation, but I have livestock. And yes, I do have men to come work on the property, but I can’t leave it abandoned. My property is big, my house is big. It will accommodate both of us better.”

She looked longingly back at her little two-bedroom. She couldn’t really deny the wisdom of what he was saying.

Mostly because when she thought of Colton West’s large, muscular frame filling up the tiny rooms of her house she got hot all over. She didn’t need that. Didn’t need memories of cohabiting with him there. That was one of the beautiful things about her house. It was a clean slate. It was all hers. She had never lived in it with anyone else, had never had to make any concessions to another human being within those walls. And she didn’t intend to start.

So, on this, she had to reluctantly concede he was right.

“I can’t... Not tonight,” she said.

He nodded once. “I have to figure out what to do about Natalie’s things, anyway. My house has a few bedrooms, and she was using one of them. Tomorrow’s soon enough.”

“Oh,” she said, slightly puzzled by what he was saying. But she imagined that when Natalie had moved out of whichever home she’d been living in before, she’d had to put some of her extra furniture somewhere. “I guess you have to get a hold of her.”

“Or, I just throw her shit out on the lawn,” he said, sounding cheerier than he had all day. The coarse language on his lips was odd, slightly jarring. He was usually much more...appropriate. Even when she’d first met him at Ace’s he hadn’t talked like a lot of the men in the group who used profanity like a comma. It just wasn’t him.

“I don’t think you should do that. Especially since you’re trying to look like you’re in control of the situation.”

“It might be worth it.”

“You won’t think so later.” She had no idea. She had never felt passionately enough about someone to consider throwing their things outside and leaving them to rot.

For a while, she had had some feelings for Eli Garrett, Copper Ridge’s sheriff. Those had been pretty strong. So she thought. But when Sadie had come into the picture she had fully realized just how little he liked her, by watching him interact with the other woman.

There had been no reason to keep after him at that point. She had her pride. And she had never seen the point of making yourself a crazy person over attraction.

It was funny, because on the surface Colton seemed a lot like Eli. Tall, broad, dark-haired and responsible. But whenever she had been around Eli a sense of serene calm had come over her. Whenever she was around Colton she wanted to punch him in the face.

“I’ll... I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, still feeling dazed when she got out of the car and stumbled up to the front walk. Her hands shook as she shoved the key in the lock, and they didn’t stop shaking, even when she went inside and closed the door behind her.

She leaned against it, her heart pounding heavily. It was strange. Everything here was undisturbed. Everything here seemed the same. But in reality, everything had changed. And in that moment, she sort of resented her house for maintaining its calm, cozy order when everything inside of her was thrown completely out of whack.