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CHASE ROLLINS WATCHED through the small window as the rising sun cast a pink glow over the jagged Rocky Mountain peaks below the commuter plane, some still covered with a fair amount of snow. Many wouldn’t shed their white mantles until June faded into July and that was fine by him. The mountains always had more dimension and interest with some snow on them.
Chase loved each of the seasons for different reasons. Spring, for all the bright, light-green newness it brought with the end of winter’s reign. Fall, for the last showy color of the mountainsides—the banner-gold of the Tamaracks, the deep, royal red of the vine maples, the orange-gold of the aspens—all on parade amongst the evergreens. Winter, for her quiet and stark solitude, the soul’s rest. But summer’s bright clarity...well, summer had forever been associated with fun, happy memories and the hope of new adventures. For a long while, it had meant he’d see Adi again. But that hadn’t happened in years.
He glanced down at her, awkwardly asleep against his shoulder, like she’d been on a hundred different occasions as a kid. It had always been like this for them. Once, anyway. They’d spent the year apart, and every summer, fell back into their easy friendship. Later on, there’d been a budding romance. He’d come close to kissing her ten times or more, that last summer. But never did. He’d always been afraid to ruin what they had.
This. This easy, constant trust. Even after six years apart, here she was. A girl who’d been through heartbreak not once, but twice. A girl who’d been stalked by photographers and now this creep...He took a deep breath and shifted slowly, easing her cheek to a different place on his numb shoulder and gazed down at her with tender feelings making his eyes embarrassingly damp. With him, with him, she was at ease. As he’d always been with her.
Even if she might be awkwardly snoring a little, making the bald man in front of them glance back at her in bemusement. Chase raised a brow and quirked his lips in a silent, Sorry, man. What am I to do about it?
And truth be told, he wouldn’t do a thing. How long had it been since his friend had had a decent night’s sleep? She’d accepted all that he’d done—dealing with the cops, booking their red-eye flight to Kalispell, helping her pack a bag—with all the response of a mannequin trained to respond with monosyllabic words.
But when the plane hit an air pocket and jolted, she did too, sitting up straight and glancing around with alarm.
“It’s all right, Adi,” he said, covering her long, thin fingers with his palm and giving them a squeeze. “We’re almost home.” He gestured toward the window, deciding distraction was better than commenting on her palpable panic just beneath the surface. As she tentatively leaned closer for a better look, he caught the scent of her floral shampoo, felt the long ends of her deep-sable hair tickle his arm, but he didn’t move his eyes from the window. “Pretty, isn’t it? With the morning light?”
“So pretty,” she sighed, hungrily scanning the peaks as if silently naming each one. There was the vast Bob Marshall Wilderness, where they’d spent a week camping and fishing with his brother, Logan, and her friend, Julie, the summer after her freshman year of college...the last summer she’d returned to the park. The plane banked and they found themselves along the jagged peaks of the Mission Range, then followed along the length of the Flathead Range toward Glacier International Airport. The wide, silvery expanse of the lake glittered beneath them. The peaks of the park were visible in the distance, and perhaps glimpsing them, Adi seemed to remember herself and leaned back into her seat. Contemplating what? Her grandfather? The job she left behind? Connor?
Was it really his business? He and Adi had once been friends, but now? He leaned forward to grab a stick of spearmint gum from his backpack and offered one to Adalyn.
She took the gum, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Spearmint. Even after all this time, you’re the only one I know who chooses spearmint over peppermint.” She popped it in her mouth and shot him a brief grin.
“I can’t be the only one out there who knows what’s good,” he said, leaning back and folding his arms. “Otherwise the gum companies wouldn’t keep making it.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But they must live in pockets of civilization I don’t venture into.”
“Like the Flathead,” he said, gesturing with his chin to the window.
“I suppose,” she said. “Chase,” she began, her delicate, brown brows knitting together a bit. How often had he frozen the TV screen to study her expressions like that during episodes of The One? It had driven him crazy, watching her go through such stress and trauma. Sure, he knew some of it was made-up, produced to bring the audience the greatest amount of emotion possible. But he knew Adi. At least, he had once known her. And what he once knew of her told him that she had given her heart twice, and twice been torn in two.
“Chase?” she said again, looking him over quizzically.
He started, realizing that he had been staring at her and not paying attention to what she was saying. “Sorry.” He rubbed his face. “It’s been a long night. Come again?”
“I was asking what I should expect from Gramps. You said he was in the hospital, but is home again?”
“Back at the cabins, yes, despite doctor’s orders. He’s bound and determined to open on time.”
She shook her head and it was her turn to sigh. “He’s never missed a season in forty-some years. I bet he’s hell-bent on not missing this one either.”
“Even if it costs him his life,” Chase said earnestly. He waited until her chocolate-brown eyes met his. “That’s what the doc said, Adi. He’s risking his life, continuing to work. The old man said he’d rather meet death working than sitting around on his you-know-what.”
“Sounds like Gramps,” she said. “Never mind. With me here, he can at least be off most of the day. I’ll make sure he behaves and rests. But you know him, Chase. He’s not like my mom...bent on traveling the world. Being anywhere but Lake McDonald. He’s all about the lake, the cabins. Always has been. Always will. To him, the work, the place is life.” She sat back, seemingly lost in thought.
“For me too,” she might’ve muttered after a moment. But he couldn’t be certain.
Nearing the park, the plane banked again and began to descend over the fields just beginning to really gain some momentum, over the winding Stillwater River, over the suburban neighborhoods that were slowly overtaking what had once been only miles of farmland. The Big Sky secret was out, and while once a lack of commerce had kept the upwardly mobile from moving in, the upwardly mobile—and Internet-connected—had found a way to do so. It was good for the Valley, really, he admitted. The way of progress. But Chase missed the old days. The lack of traffic on Highway 2, the ease of finding a booth at Moose’s Saloon...
On the other hand, he was glad they were here. The newbies were passionate about the Flathead, the gateway to Glacier National Park. Keeping Glacier “green.” Protecting her waning glaciers. Her animal-life. Much like Chase himself was. It comforted him, the knowledge that he wasn’t the only one worried they only had two hundred-and-eighty grizzlies in the park this year, as compared to last year’s three hundred. That there were only twenty-five glaciers left in Glacier Park, where once there had been a hundred and fifty.
“It’s grown a lot,” Adi said, leaning over him to see again.
“It has,” he said. “By about ten thousand, probably, since last you were here.”
She glanced at him in surprise. “Ten thousand?”
“In the greater area,” he said. “Not just in Kalispell. Don’t worry, though. Lake McDonald is pretty much like you left it. Just with more people coming through.”
“Which is good for Gramps and the concession,” she said.
“And my brother and sister-in-law,” he said. For the last five years, Gene—Adi’s grandfather—had been worried about losing his cabin concession. If he didn’t keep the cabins up to par and get good responses from visitors, the park had the right to revoke it when it came up for review, come this October. The review spooked every concessionaire in the park, including his brother Logan, who now held the family boat concession next to Gramps’s cabins. Logan and his wife, Bea, had made a life on the lake from May to September, resting in October and November, then working as ski instructors at Whitefish Mountain Resort through the winter.
After working in Denali as a wildlife biologist park ranger, Chase felt like he’d won the lottery, winning a coveted position tracking wildlife—and poachers—in Glacier last year. He spent part of each week on the east side of the park, but when he was on the west side, he stayed in his family’s historic boathouse-turned-cabin. He knew that he’d be in the park for many years to come. But Adi’s grandfather? Well, that was up to God and the people who held the reins of every lodge, motel, restaurant, store, and boat concession in the park. He thought Logan and Bea would be fine. But Gene’s cabins...well, they’d been falling into disrepair over the last few years. Logan and he’d tried to help when they could, but it was way more than a Saturday afternoon’s work could cover.
He’d let Adi discover that on her own. She was a smart girl, as smart as she was pretty. Prettier than he’d remembered her. When he’d stepped off that elevator, he knew she’d been distracted by the roses, and sure, he had been too. It made his heart pound a little harder that some creep would try and get to her that way. But God in heaven knew how seeing her—seeing her in the flesh after nothing closer than two seasons of The One on TV—had almost made his knees tremble. Tremble! That’d never happened before.
He had no idea how Adam and then Connor had been willing to turn away from her. Clearly, they had not seen her as Chase saw her. In watching the show, he’d remembered how he had crushed on her that last summer, always in a quiet rivalry with his brother for her attentions. But in watching her—how she had matured, how she was so classy, so careful with her words, so cautious with her heart until she was sure—even managing to resist the last “Temptation Nights” alone with the three bachelors, insisting on nothing but talk and cuddling—he fell even harder for her.
And when the guys dumped her? He’d wanted to both bash their heads in for hurting her and cheer them on for not taking what he thought—God help him—he fantasized might someday be his.
Adalyn’s heart.
What are you doing, Rollins? he asked himself for the hundredth time since bundling her up and escorting her to the airport. You’re no better than her stalker, falling in love with her from afar. From a show, for Pete’s sake. A show!
But I’ve always been in love with her, another voice in his head rallied. I know the true Adalyn Stalling. Or at least I once knew her...better than any of those guys hoped to.
Not that she recognized that, of course.
Not that he could tell her.
Because clearly, Adalyn Stalling was one of the walking wounded. And the farthest thing in her mind was love, let alone an old friend’s pursuit. So that’s what he would be to her, Chase decided. Nothing but a dear friend. Loyal. Constant. Well, as constant as his ranger schedule would allow. He’d watch over her. Tend to her as he might an ailing mother bear...keeping tabs, but not hovering. Giving her room to breathe and rest and heal, in God’s good timing.
The plane touched down, braked and taxied to the modest six-gate terminal that only gained its lofty “International” airport moniker because it was but a half-hour flight to the Canadian border. Inside they went down the stairs and into the baggage claim area where Logan awaited them.
“Well, well, well,” he said, tipping back his Bobcats baseball hat and grinning down at Adi. “Good to see you again, stranger.” He lifted her up in a huge hug.
“Good to see you too,” she said with a laugh as he set her down.
Bea hooked a hand through the crook of his arm, not at all jealous. She knew all about Adalyn and “the boys”—as his sister-in-law referred to Chase and him—and their long-standing summer crush on her. But she also was a hundred-percent sure that as soon as Logan met her, his heart had been hers alone. He’d never made it a secret.
“You must be Beatrice,” Adi said, stretching out a hand to shake.
“Come here, girl,” Bea said, lifting her arms to the taller woman. “I’m a hugger, not a shaker. And anyone who is family to my boys is family to me.”
Adi hesitated a second and then gave in. But her resistance surprised Chase. Part of her big-city reserve now? Or residual damage from the heartbreak of the show? As a kid, she’d been all about hugs too.
When they parted, Logan hooked an arm around Bea’s shoulders.
“I-I’m sorry I couldn’t come to your wedding last summer,” Adi said. “I wanted to,” she rushed on. “I really did. But I, uh...”
They all knew she’d been on-set filming. Gene had talked on and on about it. Half-worried, half-proud.
“No worries, girl,” Bea put in. “I have three picture albums full of photos that I can bore you to death with. My sister and I are hardcore photographers. Not really talented. But for what we lack in talent, we make up with volume.”
That made Adi smile. “I can deal with volume.”
“We’ll get along just fine, then,” Bea said with a grin.
“But, uhh, maybe we can wait on the wedding album?” she asked, squinting her eyes and cocking her head. “That’s kind of a sore spot for me at the moment. Not your wedding, of course,” she rushed on. “Because...you know.”
“Oh, I know,” Bea said. “We all hung out with Gene and saw what an idiot that Adam was. And then Connor?” She let out a snort. “That guy better never come to Montana. Anyone who knows you would like to feed him to the wolves. After your grampa fills him with buckshot. At least that’s what he promised.”
Adi grinned shyly. “Is it bad of me to kinda want to see that?” she asked. “Not to see Gramps shoot him, of course. Just, you know, his face when he found himself at the wrong end of a shotgun?”
“No way, girlie,” Bea said. “Not a one of us would mind seeing him pee his pants. That’s the least punishment he deserves, treating you like that. But never mind him,” she said with a hmmph. “This summer will be just what you need to forget his sorry, no-good self.”
And just like that, it was all out in the open. Adalyn’s heartbreak, as well as their combined, staunch support of her. That was Beatrice’s talent, Chase thought. Making everyone she met feel like they were her best friend. Known from the start. And it was a part of making their boat concession so popular last year. Judging from their already-packed calendar, many who had come for a sunrise or sunset cruise—or just to rent canoes or kayaks for the day—planned on returning.
“Half to see my Bea,” Logan often said with pride, looking at his petite little wife like he couldn’t get enough of her.
“The other half to see my hunky husband,” she’d return, her dark eyes glinting.
Their love was sometimes a little much, Chase thought. It was so intense, so mutually passionate, that it made him feel like he was a voyeur in a way. It was like they didn’t care who saw they were totally into each other. Kind of like being back in high school, when the kids made out in the hallway. Not that they did that...but they weren’t above patting each other on the butt as they passed or reaching in for a quick kiss, regardless of who was in the room.
Adalyn’s bag came through on the serpentine track and Chase eased the other strap up on his backpack—his only luggage—and reached for her suitcase.
“I can get it,” Adi said, striding up next to him.
There was something in her tone that made him pause, even though every gentlemanly manner his father drilled into him screamed to object. “Sure, Adi,” he said, his voice oddly mangled. “Sure,” he repeated, clearer that time. As in, Of course you want to do that, Adalyn. You’re a contemporary woman. Strong. Capable. Not needing any man. Got it.
She lifted the heavy bag from the track and Chase scratched his ear, itching to help. But then she got it to the ground, pulled out the long handle and rolled it back to them. “Shall we?”
“We certainly shall,” Bea said, leaping on to Logan’s back. “Just as long as this tall drink of water carries me.”
He groaned, grunted and then laughed, putting his hands beneath her thighs and confidence her a bit more securely on his back. “Too far to the parking lot for you to walk, m’lady?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Far too far,” she said dramatically.
Chase rolled his eyes at Adi, whose own brows lifted in surprise. “You’ll have to excuse them. Bea was an actress at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse for several summers. She was going to head to New York.”
“Until this hunk o’ man convinced me to spend my years living a different dream,” Bea said, nuzzling Logan’s neck.
He laughed and ducked his head. “Not that I mind being Romeo to my Juliet.”
Chase shook his head. “Excuse them. They can’t seem to help themselves. Your gramps assures me that they’ll settle down after a few years. He says they’re just ‘randy.’”
Adi grinned. “Randy? I haven’t heard that word in a while.” Then she glanced back at Logan, who had set Bea down and was trying to tickle her. “But I think it’s probably apropos.” Her brown eyes followed them for a second longer and then she forced her gaze to the mountains. She took a long, deep breath. “That air,” she sighed appreciatively. “That smell.”
“Bad? Good?” Chase asked. He took a long breath of his own.
“Good. Really, really good,” Adi said.
“What does it smell like?” he asked, reaching for Logan’s truck door handle and opening it for her, thinking belatedly that maybe she would’ve wanted to do that herself.
But she didn’t seem to notice. She closed her eyes and breathed in again. “It smells like sun and stone and wheat and earth and....water,” she whispered.
She opened her eyes then and with some embarrassment, Chase realized that she’d caught him staring, slightly slack-jawed. His teeth clicked together, so loudly that he wondered if she heard it too.
“You got all that with just one whiff?” he said, adding a little chide to his tone to resume a proper distance.
“Well, maybe two whiffs. What does it smell like to you?” She nudged him playfully as Bea and Logan finally caught up.
Her nudge heartened him. Chase took a deep breath, hands to his chest, and then reached out his arms, looked around at the mountain-ringed valley, then back to her. “Well that, to me, smells like home.”