Taming His Montana Heart(21)

Hard as it had been snowing when he’d gone to bed, he’d expected to find the resort buried under white this morning. Fortunately, the storm had spent itself before it could cause any serious trouble, and the snowplow driver had worked all night. Winter enthusiasts wouldn’t let new snow stop them. Haley had known that, which was why she’d probably gotten here before dawn. The storage building’s roof needed to be cleared again, but there wasn’t as much snow on it as there’d been when Rey, Haley, and he’d worked on it yesterday.

“Which one is the fastest?”

Shaw couldn’t help but laugh at Daron’s question, which reminded him of when he was the same age and crazy about speed. “Ask Haley.”

“Right on. I’ve got my driver’s license you know.”

He did. In fact that had been one of the first things he’d asked Daron after getting in touch with him last night. When he told the inexperienced waiter he might have a job for him that would take him out of the restaurant, Daron hadn’t said anything for so long Shaw had thought the kid might have hung up. Daron still hadn’t given him much indication of how he felt about the possibility of full-time employment, but Shaw recalled those years when he was feeling his way in the adult world.

The years when he’d believed he could chart his future.

Stop it! Not going there.

Haley watched his vehicle approach. He hadn’t called to let her know he was heading her way or why. He owed her the courtesy of giving her a heads up about his at least temporary solution to her need for assistance, but as usual he was hard-pressed to accomplish everything he needed to today. In fact, he really didn’t have the time to bring Daron here this morning but he’d decided to make bailing Haley out a priority.

The heck he had. The truth was he wanted to see her.

“Dang, some of those machines are old,” Daron said.

“I can’t argue that.” He pulled into the parking lot, careful to leave room for the paying customers. “Plans are to replace the oldest ones.”

“About time.”

“So,” he said as he opened his door, “let’s see what she thinks of the help I’m bringing her.”

“She doesn’t know?”

“Yes and no. It’s complicated.”

The way Daron trailed a step behind him, Shaw surmised the boy lacked self-confidence, which was better than thinking he knew everything. Most everyone learned that. It just took some longer and sometimes it came too late. They wound up behind bars.

Haley stood with her hands on her hips and her attention still fixed on Shaw. She looked surprised but without any of the wariness he occasionally saw on other resort employees. Maybe the time they’d spent together yesterday had settled her mind about him.

“I think you remember Daron,” he said to Haley. Darn that loose hair of hers, it was begging to be touched. “He waited on us the other night.”

“Of course.” Smiling, she held out her hand. The boy looked surprised but shook. “It’s good to see you again.”

Shaw wished she’d tell him the same thing, wished he was holding her hand and their eyes had locked. Wished he understood why he felt this way and knew what to do about it.

“What I’m thinking,” he started, “is that Daron could be the help you need. Not only does he have a driver’s license and isn’t going to school, he isn’t afraid of heights.” He indicated the roof.

“Oh.”

Oh was noncommittal, a way of telling him she needed more information. This morning the sky was so blue that if it hadn’t been for the snow and freezing temperature, he’d think he’d been transported forward to summer. Was there a way to keep Haley at the resort once the snow melted?

“I’ll keep this short,” he said. “You’re probably expecting people to show up any minute.”

When she shook her head, the early morning light drew his attention to the reddish hints in her hair. “No one until nine, thank goodness. Probably the snow we got yesterday has everyone thinking going slow is a good idea. This gives me a little more time to get set up than I usually have.”

She shouldn’t have to do this all on her own, should have come to him earlier and made her case. Either she believed she had something to prove or she wanted to be left alone.

He knew what that felt like.

He indicated Daron, who was heading toward a yellow and black Skidoo. “After I talked to my uncle last night I thought about how to get you the assistance you need without leaving Rey’s crew shorthanded. I remembered a conversation I recently had with Daron’s mother. She’s a single parent with a couple of young boys plus Daron.”

“After the first storm, I hired the younger boys to shovel a path between my place and my vehicle. Mostly they tried to bury each other.”

That sounded like something his brother and he would have done at that age. “It isn’t easy for Daron’s mom.”

“No, it isn’t.” She’d been meeting his gaze. Now she turned her attention to Daron who’d climbed onto the Skidoo. “That’s why I tried to give her boys a job. I still paid them. I don’t know their mom much more than to say hello.”

“I ran into her one day. She was crying.”

“That had to be uncomfortable for both of you.”