Bring Me Home for Christmas (Virgin River #16)(4)

But he heard someone say Dream on inside his head. And the voice was hers.

“That went well,” Becca said as soon as Denny stepped through the swinging door into the kitchen with Preacher. Jack quickly served Rich a beer and Becca a glass of wine before following Denny and Preacher.

Becca took a breath and said to Troy and Dirk, “In case you missed the weird, shocked look on Denny’s face, we used to date.”

“They know, Becca,” Rich said. “We were all in Iraq together, remember?”

Troy was still leaning on his hand, elbow on the bar, gazing at her. “Believe me, I wasn’t looking at Denny,” he said.

“I’m probably the last person he expected to show up….”

“No,” Rich said, irritably. “Luke Skywalker was the last person. You were second to last.” He hefted his beer and took a long drink.

“We didn’t part on the best of terms,” she explained. “But that was a while ago and we both told Rich there were no hard feelings.”

“Because that’s what people say, Becca,” Rich explained impatiently. “I told you we should’ve called him first.”

“Well, gee, it was last minute. Rich had been talking about this for weeks, I didn’t have anything to do.” She grinned. “I thought maybe some cold drizzle and the acrid smell of gunpowder might shake things up a little, be a nice change.”

“Just so you know,” Dirk said. “We have a pretty strong rule about another guy’s girl. As in, no touching. Unless we’re given a pass by the guy. You know?”

“Are you kidding me? Permission?” she asked. “Because that borders on icky.”

Dirk just shrugged. “That’s how it is with friends.”

“Well, it’s not an issue. He broke up with me. Over three years ago.” Actually, she could easily figure out the number of days….

“That’s probably a pass,” Troy said. “Wouldn’t you say, Dirk?”

“God,” Rich said. “I’m going to need another beer! This is my sister! Even if she is a pain in my—”

Luke coughed. Colin laughed. “You starting to feel old?” Luke asked his brother.

“Elderly,” Colin answered. “Much as I’d love to stay and watch this, I think I’d better hit the road. Happy hunting.” He winked.

“Cabin number four, boys,” Luke said. “It’s unlocked. Jack or Denny will give you directions.”

“Oh, are you Mr. Riordan?” Becca asked. To his nod, she asked, “Any chance there’s another cabin out at your place that I could rent? Otherwise I have to stay with Rich, and God knows…” She shook her head and shuddered as if in revulsion.

“You bet,” Luke said. “Try number two—also unlocked.”

“Cool,” she said.

“Very cool,” Dirk said. “Thanks, man. See you around.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Troy said. “Nice meeting you guys. See you later.”

And then Denny was back. The expression on his face wasn’t much improved. It was starting to irritate her that he couldn’t at least fake being happy to see her. Maybe being finally finished with him would be easier than she’d thought.

He walked around the bar and stood right in front of Becca. “I need to talk to you for a minute, Becca. All right?”

That made her a little nervous; it sounded like he might be getting ready to tell her when her bus was leaving for San Diego. She hoped her emotions didn’t show. She tilted her head to one side, smiled into his brown eyes and said, “Sure. Shoot.”

“Privately.” He stepped back. “Come outside with me. It’ll just take a second.”

He turned and she followed. It wasn’t even five-thirty, yet it was almost completely dark outside. Though she could see there were space heaters on the porch, they weren’t lit. She faced him, waited, shivering in the cold.

“I apologize,” he said. “If I’d known you were coming, if I’d had time to get used to the idea, I would’ve been a lot more…”

“Civil?” she added for him, lifting both tawny eyebrows.

“Becca, this is a hunting trip!”

“I know that, Denny. Rich hasn’t stopped talking about it for weeks.”

“What are you doing here?”

She took a breath. “It was very last minute. I packed last night. When I showed up at his condo at three this morning to go with, Rich pitched a fit. I told him I needed a change, a break. He said it was a bad idea, because it was all guys, and I said I’d skip the getting drunk and smoking cigars part, that I’d get my own place to stay and, you know… I just wanted to get out of town. Too early to ski, too cold to surf without a wet suit.”

“What about work?”

“Well…I got laid off. The private school where I’ve been teaching shut down. We’d seen it coming but it was still a shock. I’m going to substitute until I can land something permanent. But for right now, it’s a holiday week, my parents are going out of town and I wanted something fun to do, to kind of offset being so bummed about losing my job.”

He looked into her eyes for a long moment, then slowly reached for her left hand, pulling it out of her jacket pocket. “I don’t see a ring,” he said. “What about the boyfriend? He can’t like the idea of you going on a guys’ hunting trip?”