Harvest Moon (Virgin River #15)(64)

It was over for her. Luca was a friend and mentor. She adored him, admired him. And didn’t want him as her partner, lover or even fantasy anymore.

Finally he let her go. He smiled into her eyes and said, “Nevertheless, I will support you in your success.”

And she smiled back. “Thank you, Luca.”

“Call if you need me. If you need anything, at any time. If you ever decide to leave the mountains, just let me know. I will put you to work.”

She nodded. “And good luck with the family. And all that.”

“I believe we could have made a good couple, Bella.”

“Maybe,” she said. “It must not be meant to be.”

He gave her a melancholy smile, a brief salute, and was off down the drive.

The first thing Kelly did after breakfast, after she assumed Courtney was off to school, was drive to Lief’s house. She was a little surprised he hadn’t come knocking at her door, but then he knew Luca was staying over.

When he opened the door and saw her, he was smiling broadly. “You read my mind,” he said.

“I have so much to explain to you,” she said. And over coffee at his kitchen table, she told him the whole story as Luca had told her—stolen phones, fake messages, lies.

At the end of the long and complex story, Lief enfolded her in his arms and said, “Ah, God bless Olivia Brazzi!”

Thirteen

Frequently heard around the Holbrook household these days was, “Courtney! If you take Spike out of the kennel, you have to watch him!” Spike was absolutely the cutest chubby little blond puppy that ever lived. He had a round soft belly, floppy little ears, black eyes and a precious little yip for a bark. And he was a pooping, peeing, chewing machine.

As long as she was constantly reminded, Courtney was coming along as a trainer. The second eight-week-old Spike came out of the kennel, he had to be taken outside. Immediately after eating and drinking—outside. During a pause in romping and playing—outside!

The one really dedicated to the training part was Lief, which surprised him not at all. Courtney was more dedicated to the snuggling part. Since it had been a very long time since there had been any snuggling between Lief and Courtney, he was glad he’d gone along with this idea.

One thing Courtney was beginning to understand—when she went to Amber’s house and took Spike with her, he was locked in a pen with the other few remaining puppies in the barn. Their dogs were not house dogs, and they weren’t really sentimental about them. Spike’s mother had special privileges for birthing and nursing, then was put out again. That being the case, Courtney didn’t take Spike with her. She didn’t like him trapped outside in the barn in the cold night.

For Lief and Kelly, this all meant making love on the sly, during school hours, at Lief’s house, often to the background music of a wailing puppy who didn’t feel like being in his kennel.

“I much prefer your screaming and wailing to his,” Lief told Kelly.

One thing he had to admit—just having the puppy, though sometimes a giant pain, had a positive impact on Courtney’s attitude. She was definitely nicer to him. And her appearance and grades continued to improve. She was building some body mass from the riding, and her appetite had improved as well, probably because of the exercise. Amber came to their house for homework more often than Courtney went to Amber’s, largely because of the puppy.

That creepy Goth girl was becoming a mere memory.

Courtney was lobbying to go to Idaho for the Christmas holidays. Lief wasn’t sure the whole puppy thing was a good idea. “You have to remember, I come from a farm very much like Amber’s farm. Gram and Gramp might want to lock him outside or put him in the barn.”

“But you can just tell them that he’s a house dog, not a farm dog, and they’ll be okay.”

And the other thing was he’d been hoping to spend some time with Kelly over Christmas. Not the whole time, but at least some.

Without a hint or provocation, Courtney said, “Do you just want to stay here so you can be with Kelly? Because I’d rather be with family!”

Sometimes she was so hard to anticipate. Before her mother’s death, she’d liked going to the farm. Afterward, she’d not only hated it, she wouldn’t talk to anyone when they were there and she seemed to take great pleasure in acting and looking as weird as possible. Now they were back to family taking priority.

“Just let me think about it, maybe talk to Gram about it. Or maybe we can get a dog sitter or something…”

Lief, being a smart man with pretty decent instincts, seldom did things for which he had regrets. That’s why he couldn’t believe his own stupidity when he sent Courtney’s dad, Stu Lord, Courtney’s freshman school picture. It was completely unnecessary; they hadn’t heard a word from Stu in forever. Not since Stu gave up even his weekend visitation last spring, if he remembered correctly. He had let Stu know they were moving and Stu had not responded to that either.

Truthfully, he’d sent the picture because he was proud. A proud dad. She’d been lovely in the picture and looked happy. And Lief remembered that the last time Stu had seen her she was pretty scary looking. He wanted Stu to see that his biological daughter was as pretty as her mother had been, was smart, was healthy. He wrote a brief note:

Straight As, horseback riding twice a week, feeling much better about life these days and has made a very nice adjustment to living in the mountains. Hope all is well at your end. Lief.