Tracy Madison - Haley's Mountain Man

Never in his life had Gavin seen such a smile. Warm and real and … well, sweet and saucy, too. How in heaven’s name had this woman seen anything in him to pique her interest?

Or, for that matter, sit in his living room with a smile?

Those thoughts swirled and spun. He opened his mouth, set to say something—anything.

Swallowing hard, he forced his body to move in Haley’s direction before she noticed his awkwardness. Or worse, commented on his awkwardness.

Lord, he was a mess.

Rattled. Confused. Unshaven. Yup, a mess, and in that second, what he needed the most was to know what motivated Haley Foster to behave in the way she did.

“Why’d you come over here tonight, Haley?”

TRACY MADISONlives in northwestern Ohio with her husband, four children, one bear-size dog, one loving-but-paranoid pooch and a couple of snobby cats. Her house is often hectic, noisy and filled to the brim with laugh-out-loud moments. Many of these incidents fire up her imagination to create the interesting, realistic and intrinsically funny characters that live in her stories. Tracy loves to hear from readers. You can reach her at tracy@tracymadison.com.

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For many reasons, this story is dedicated to

the friends who make up my extended family.

You know who you are, and you know why.

Thank you for your love, support and belief.

The lazy, hazy days of summer couldn’t get here soon enough. Well, the hazy days, anyway. No one who lived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, would describe summer as lazy. They would describe now as lazy. Relaxing. Maybe even rejuvenating.

Not Haley Foster. She was, in fact, bored out of her ever-living skull.

Admittedly, an odd state of being. With the hectic winter tourist season behind them and the summer season yet to arrive in full force, she should be enjoying the brief slowdown. She always had in the past. This year, though, she was … restless.

More than that, really. She had this itchy, uncomfortable sense of waiting for something— anything —to happen. What, exactly, she didn’t have a clue. Just … something.

And that was why she couldn’t wait for summer. The tourists would breeze in to spend their vacations white-water rafting, hiking, canoeing, or any one of the many other activities available in the area, and her sleepy town would wake again. She would be busy from sunup to sundown, and wouldn’t have the time to worry about why she felt so off.

Sighing, she leaned back in her chair at the Beanery, the local coffee joint, and tried to pay attention to her longtime friend Suzette Solomon. They’d met earlier for a Saturday morning Spinning class. Now, they were supposed to be savoring their reward of yummy hot beverages while catching up on each other’s lives.

Suzette was in the midst of sharing a funny story about one of her fourth-grade students, and while Haley managed to chuckle and insert a comment here and there, mostly she couldn’t pull herself out of her own head long enough to relax. Dammit! She’d really believed that an hour of hard exercise followed up by a solid dose of friend time would ease the edginess.

She’d been wrong.

Why was she so freaking restless? And for that matter, why did she feel as if life were passing her by? She wasn’t old, for crying out loud. At twenty-six, she had plenty of time to do anything she wanted to do. But lately, the days and the nights had seemed interminably long, and even when she was with her family or friends, she had the inexplicable sensation of … loneliness.

Maybe she needed to take up a new hobby. Or buy a pet. Or … When an epiphany failed to strike, she decided to place the full blame on being stuck between seasons. Had to be. Why search for a deeper meaning when the simplest answer was usually the culprit?

Suzette cleared her throat and watched Haley expectantly, apparently waiting for some type of a response. Oh, crap. Was this a laugh, be shocked or commiserate moment? She went with a soft chuckle, hoping that would cover all possible bases.

“Cute story, huh?” Suzette asked, ruffling her short black hair with her fingers.

“So cute,” Haley agreed enthusiastically.

“Yeah? What was your favorite part?”

“Um, honestly, I don’t think I can choose a favorite. The entire story was just adorable, and really, I bet cute and adorable stuff happens every single day in your classroom.”

“Really, Haley?” Suzette gave her a long, semi-amused look. “You’re seriously going to pretend that you didn’t zone out a good five or ten minutes ago?”

Sighing again, Haley offered a faint smile. “I’m sorry. Was I that obvious?”

“Obviously, or I wouldn’t have noticed.” Wrapping her hand around her coffee cup, Suzette said, “No worries, though. I know I can go on and on about my students.”

“I like hearing about your students!” And she did. Usually. “I was thinking about how slow the days are, and how I can’t wait for summer to get here so everything can pick up again. That’s all.” Close enough to the truth. As close as she wanted to get, anyway.

“Since when? For almost the entire winter, all I heard was how anxious you were for enough empty hours in the day to read a book, watch a movie, paint your apartment.” She arched a finely plucked eyebrow. “Go out on a few dates. Which, actually, I wanted to ask—”

“I’ve read the books and watched the movies I wanted to, and you helped me paint my apartment. So now, I’m ready for summer.”

“Hmm, yes. But you left one item off of that list. Tell me, how many dates have you racked up in the past few months?”

Wrinkling her nose, Haley sipped her chai tea. Suzette already knew the answer to that question. “My lack of a dating life has nothing to do with my boredom.” Her loneliness, maybe, but she didn’t feel like broaching that topic. “I’m just bored.”

“Uh-huh. Sure you are.”

“You know how it is in between seasons,” she argued, hoping beyond hope that she was right, and that once summer rolled in, these odd feelings would disappear. “Instead of twelve-hour workdays, I barely have enough on my agenda to stay busy for eight.”

Haley’s family owned two businesses in Steamboat Springs. All of the Fosters—Haley, her three older brothers, and their parents—were partners in the running of said businesses. During the winter and summer months, that meant keeping up with her normal duties as well as helping out in the restaurant and in the sporting goods store.

In the spring and fall, though, she was primarily in the office contending with the businesses’ basic accounting needs, updating their websites, and ordering supplies and inventory. Most of which she’d long since mastered, so typically, none of it took very long.