The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River #3)

“I’ll pass,” Emma said.

“You don’t like the outdoors?”

“I like the outdoors just fine. But I don’t like climbing rocks.”

“Me either!” Madeline said. “Luke is forever trying to get me to do that with him. I’d rather eat nails.”

“That’s my girl,” Luke said with a laugh.

“So what’d you think of the canyon, Cooper?” Sam asked.

“I thought it was fantastic. It’s perfect for the kind of work we do. We want to stage one of our extreme outings here late next spring if we can get the approvals we need.”

No, no, no . . . he was coming back? Emma couldn’t get rid of him now, in the dead of winter! How long would he stay as spring turned into summer, when this place was beautiful and there were so many things to do? She knew the kind of guy Cooper was—he’d bounce from one sport to the next and never leave.

Wait . . . was she going to be here next year?

“You’ll love it here in the spring and summer,” Sam said, further ruining Emma’s hope for peace. “There’s a lot to do.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Cooper said, and took a plate of lasagna Madeline handed him. “Thank you.”

“There’s really not much beyond climbing rocks, though,” Emma pointed out, suddenly desperate that he not come back, desperate that she have this place to herself if she needed it. “And Pine River is far from any real city. The closest one is Montrose. There’s only one decent restaurant in town, and it’s not really even decent by LA standards. And there’s one tiny grocery and Wal-Mart. No Trader Joe’s here. No women to speak of. You’d be happier closer to Denver.”

“Don’t extend the welcome mat too far, Emma,” Luke said wryly. “Sure wouldn’t want Cooper to trip on it.”

Cooper laughed. “I do appreciate your concern for me, Emma. But you don’t need restaurants or groceries or even women to zip over forest.” Luke and Sam laughed at that.

Emma shrugged. “I’m just saying,” she said, and picked up her fork, stabbing at the lasagna.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Madeline said, sounding like a matriarch. “Are you originally from LA, Cooper?”

“No. Texas,” Cooper said. “My partners and I grew up there.”

“Texas,” Libby said dreamily. “I always wanted to go there. It sounds so mythical. Cowboys and horses and big orange sunsets.”

“Maybe it used to be mythical. Now it’s like any state, just bigger and hotter.”

“Your family is there?” Madeline asked.

“What’s left of them,” Cooper said, and looked down at his plate. “My dad died a few years ago. My mother is still there.”

“No siblings?” Madeline asked.

Emma noticed the slight hesitation in Cooper’s devouring of the lasagna. “I have a brother,” he said.

“I feel your pain,” Libby said. “I have two. Twins, even.”

Cooper smiled.

“You never know what you’re going to get when it comes to siblings. Isn’t that right, girls?” Libby said, and laughed.

Madeline frowned. “Would you like to rephrase that?”

“Why should she? It’s true,” Emma said, and sipped her wine.

“That didn’t come out right,” Libby quickly clarified. “I mean that I consider myself to be very lucky.” She smiled, clearly pleased with herself. But Libby couldn’t possibly think she was lucky to have landed Emma as a sister. The idea struck Emma as so amusing, she couldn’t help a laugh.

“Don’t laugh at her,” Madeline chided Emma, and smiled at the men. “I think what Emma finds amusing is that our father didn’t clue us in as to each other’s existence when he was alive. So to discover we had siblings was a very big surprise for us. I guess you never know what you’re going to get in a father, either.”

“I’m sorry,” Libby said. “I made a very lame joke. The truth is that the three of us have a really complicated story.” She smiled at Cooper. “But if you’d known my dad, you would never have guessed he wasn’t Father of the Year. He was very personable.”

That was Libby for you, always trying to make Grant into some sort of misguided saint, and it made Emma furious. “He was a dick, Libby,” she blurted.

“Emma!” Libby cried.

“Well, he was. I don’t think it’s fair to me or Madeline to portray him as a good guy.”

Libby colored slightly. “Look, I know he had his issues, but we all do. He wasn’t malicious—”

“Are you kidding?” Emma said, suddenly sitting up, suddenly angrier than she’d been in a very long time, suddenly raging inside. “Do you really believe that? Let me tell you just how malicious he was, Libby. He slept with Laura!”