Tough Luck Hero

She swallowed, her throat getting tight. She didn’t really like talking about her family, but she knew that avoidance was a lot more trouble than working out the most straightforward answer. Just enough information to answer without getting into the details was always better.

“I was raised in Seattle. Went to school there, was born there. My family is still there. It’s a beautiful city, but I like Copper Ridge because it’s small. It’s more personal. I guess I’m a little bit of an old lady trapped in a younger body. Most people that move to Copper Ridge do it to retire, I did it to work. To feel part of something. You don’t get that in bigger places.”

“But your family is there. Are you close to your parents?”

She gritted her teeth. “Not especially.”

“I seem to be close to mine. Even though it isn’t easy. My mom is...well, she’s a project. And the whole bastard child thing kind of put a damper on my relationship with my dad.”

Lydia’s heart twisted. For whatever reason, they seemed to be having a cease-fire right now, and she was going to go ahead and honor it. “I bet. Were you close before?”

“I’m the only son he has around. So yeah, I guess we were.” He shook his head. “I’m not the only son he has around. He has Jack Monaghan. He just spent thirty-five years ignoring him.”

“Family is terrible.”

“You think so?”

“I just told you I don’t see my parents who live one state over. Family is a terrible, complicated thing.”

“On that we can agree.” He lifted a hand. “But, we’re never going to agree about peaches.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“I’ll grab your things, and then you can start settling in.”

Colton headed outside, leaving Lydia alone with her thoughts. She turned a circle in the room, examining the fine details of the space. The rich fabrics on the couch and chair, the rustic coffee table that appeared to be made out of the same logs that had been used to form the bulk of the house, and a piece of sheet metal. Again, something that looked old, but probably cost more than her last paycheck.

She was going to have to live here with Colton, live here and not spend the next few months tripping over him. Not spend the next month clashing with him. She felt like she was being crushed down into a little ball, and that made it difficult to breathe.

She was imagining spending the next few months tiptoeing through this space, doing her best to make sure her footsteps didn’t sound on the hardwood floor.

It reminded her too much of other things. Too much of her childhood home.

Of being the least important person in a space. She swallowed hard, shaking her head, brushing her hair out of her eyes. No, she wasn’t going to do that. Because she didn’t do that anymore. She had driven into Copper Ridge at the age of twenty-two and started carving out niches for herself all over the place. Had made sure that she had effected change in the place, that she didn’t tiptoe, that she wasn’t quiet.

She wasn’t about to behave any other way. Not for anyone. And certainly not for Colton West.

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