Hidden Summit (Virgin River #17)(11)

Dan grinned. “You’ll like Jack. But never let him know it. In fact, the best way to get on his good side is to give him a little shit. Accuse him of something. Say he’s overcharging you.” Then Dan chuckled and got back to work.

“Jack who owns the little bar in town?” Conner asked.

“The same,” Dan said. Later, when they were done for the day, Dan said, “Hey, my fiancée’s out for the evening, and I’ll be having dinner at Jack’s. I’ll stand you a beer if you’re not busy.”

He used to be busy all the time, so busy there was no time for that occasional beer with friends unless he grabbed one out of Katie’s fridge while he visited with her. Back when he had a wife, he’d struggled to get out of the store and home to her, but that seemed so long ago. And he’d often returned to the store for a few hours after dinner, a thing that plagued him now. Had he not given enough in that relationship? Left his wife wanting, left her believing she was some kind of addict? And after Samantha was gone, there was work and Katie and the boys. He couldn’t remember when he’d last had pals.

“I could spare some time,” he said to Dan. “I was planning to get dinner there myself.”

“Good, then. I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

Back in that little bar there were now at least twenty people, all of whom seemed to know each other. Conner was a little uncomfortable about that.

Jack lifted his hand and yelled, “Hey,” as Dan and Conner entered and took seats at the bar. Jack lost no time in making introductions. Whenever someone came to the bar to order a beer, he said, “This here is Conner, new to these mountains, working for Paul now.” Conner met the cook and his wife, a young man named Denny who helped out behind the bar, Denny’s girl, Becca, who would soon be the elementary-school teacher, “Once there is an elementary school,” Jack said. “We’re working on that part.” He met Jack’s wife, Mel, the local minister and the local doctor. Pretty soon Paul Haggerty wandered in. He was grinning when he asked Dan, “How’d this guy work out for you?”

“He did great,” Dan said. “Tough loss for Colorado Springs.”

“Colorado Springs?” Jack’s wife piped up. It felt like she shouted it across the bar. She left her children sitting at a table with their dinner and walked toward Conner. “My sister lives there! What part of Colorado Springs?”

He struggled for a second, then made something up. “Are you familiar with Breckenridge Park?”

“No,” she said. “My sister is on the northeast side of the city.”

“Breckenridge is southwest,” he said. “Kind of lonely out there… Not a lot of development…”

“But it’s so beautiful there. I almost moved there,” she said.

“But she married me,” Jack put in from behind the bar.

“But I married him,” Mel said with a smile. “And not only is Jack one of the best things that ever happened to me, so is this town. I hope you like it here.”

“Don’t push him, Mel,” Jack said. “He’s only been here a couple of days and it’s been kinda muddy.”

“I came here in March myself,” Mel said. “I wasn’t impressed. I slid off a road and had to be towed out, then the porch collapsed on the cabin where I was staying, I was soaked to the bone and this lughead kept saying, ‘Be patient—it’s so beautiful here.’” Her blue eyes twinkled. She put a hand on Conner’s arm. “Really, it is. Maybe not today, but we do have amazing days…and nights....”

“The thing that got to Mel,” Jack said to Conner, “she’d been in L.A. for ten years and when she came here, she’d never seen so many stars. Just look up on a clear night. We get used to it, even take it for granted, but it’s spectacular. But then…I bet Colorado Springs and the surrounding area gives you some wonderful views and skies.”

It brought to Conner’s mind the area east of Sacramento, in the Sierras, where the air was clean and the vistas breathtaking. He’d managed to get his nephews up on skis already. “Sure,” he said, fighting homesickness. He wanted his family back, his store, all the customers who had become friends. “It’s a good place, Colorado Springs,” he said. “I wouldn’t have left if there’d been work....”

Paul Haggerty hung out for a while, and he was as bad as Jack, introducing Conner to everyone who happened along. It wasn’t long before Mike Valenzuela stopped by and introduced himself, expressing his pleasure in meeting one of Brie’s old friends from college.

“Old friend from college?” Jack said in a booming voice. “You didn’t mention you knew my sister!”

“I had one whole semester of college,” Conner said. “We had two classes together, that’s it. When the company I worked for folded, I got in touch with everyone I knew, though Brie was a real long shot. She said she thought there was work here for someone like me. But it’s not like we’ve been in touch the last seventeen years....”

“Not even Christmas cards,” a female voice said from behind him. He turned to see Brie with a toddler on her hip. She let her down, and the little girl instantly ran to the table where Mel’s kids were having dinner. “But I’ll never forget Conner. He asked me out three times.”