He followed. “I’ll be glad to replace them. I had a little trouble sleeping. Did you have trouble sleeping?”

“Sleeping seems to be one of my gifts lately,” she said. “I slept like a dead person. Would you like an egg or something before you leave?”

“Coffee would be nice,” he said.

When she turned away from him to grab a cup, he eyed her backside. She was wearing some thin summer knit sweatpants that fit loosely around her h*ps and a short shirt, leaving her midriff exposed. He remembered her as tiny, but today she was looking thin. When she turned toward him with a cup of coffee he asked, “Have you lost weight, Katie?”

“I told you, I had a little bug. I’m not completely over it, but almost…”

“Katie,” he asked, stepping closer. “Did I do that to you?”

“Probably,” she said. “Egg?”

“Let me take you out to a big breakfast,” he said.

“Boy, guilt really works on you, doesn’t it? I’m going to have a little cereal, not feeling like a big breakfast.”

“You’ve gotten too thin,” he said. “Makes me want to feed you. And hold you.”

“Wow, that’s real talent,” she said. “You know how to make a woman feel unattractive and desired in the same sentence. Do you want an egg or are you on the way out?”

He tilted his head. “Have you always been this cranky? Could you be a little nicer, please? Your brother beat me up and I’m concerned about you.”

“I’m really just fine,” she said in a calmer voice. “Meet me on the porch.” She grabbed her glass of juice and headed out the door. She sat in one of the chairs and when he sat down beside her, she winced again just looking at him. “What are the chances Conner looks as bad as you?”

“I think he won,” Dylan said.

“Lord. Men.” She cleared her throat. “Listen, Dylan, I apologize if I’ve been less than friendly. But just how many times do you think I want to go through withdrawal? Because seriously, I am not interested in a close casual friendship with benefits. It’s not who I am. I’m not comfortable with that kind of relationship.”

“Did Charlie ask you to marry him after the first week?”

“No,” she said. “After the first week he said he couldn’t live without me. It was after the second week he begged me to marry him. But that has nothing to do with us, with now. Now I’m a mother first and I’m feeling a little protective. I’m not a good mother if I’m worrying about how some man feels about me.”

He felt a smile come to his lips. “That’s very reasonable.”

“Thank you. No regrets, but I’m not getting involved with you. Again.”

“I understand. But you don’t hate me?”

“I don’t hate you. I’ll never hate you. After all, I loved you for three years when I was a girl. And that was before I even slept with you.”

He smiled wider. “What if I wanted to be friends? Without benefits?”

“Big talk,” she said. “We have history. We’d probably end up in the sack and I’d just get hurt again.”

He took a thoughtful sip of his coffee. “Katie, I’d never deliberately do anything to hurt you.”

“You know what? I believe you. But I’d end up hurt just the same and you’d be fine—off meeting up with old movie star girlfriends, et cetera, while I sit here alone in the woods wondering what happened. And the boys…”

“What about the boys?” he asked.

“Well, brace yourself,” she said. “They like you. They were so excited to see you sleeping on the couch, it was almost impossible to keep them from waking you up. It’s probably not so good for you to come in and out of their lives.”

“Kind of sounds like I really screwed this up.”

“This?” she asked. She shook her head. “We were attracted to each other, but there’s nothing we can do about the fact that we’re not headed in the same direction, except maybe make a clean break so we can move on. You have to go!” She touched his hand. “It’s okay, Dylan. Let’s just part friends. No hard feelings.”

“I don’t necessarily want to—”

There was a bit of rustling and a small bear cub rolled out of the bushes, followed by a second. Katie jumped to her feet. “Dylan, in the house, hurry up.” She was ahead of him, heading for the kitchen. She went to the small cupboard above the microwave and grabbed the air horn and the bear repellant, a fancy hair-spray-size can of mace. “She is seriously getting on my nerves....” And then she was out on the porch again. “Hey!” she yelled. “Get outta here!” And she blasted the horn a few times, some short annoying pops.

Dylan stepped out on the porch, wide-eyed. “Holy shit, Katie! Get inside!”

Mama stepped into the clearing and puffed up, making her groaning, almost growling noises. That could’ve meant You’ll be my breakfast soon or Come with me, kids.

Katie aimed the mace and the horn just in case, but she blew the horn again. The bear stood on her hind legs and her cubs ran behind her. She dropped back to all fours and disappeared into the shrubs, and a moment later Katie saw the four of them hightailing it up the path and into the forest. And Katie yelled, “I’ve got cubs, too! Bitch!”

He grabbed her arm. “Katie, good Christ, you shouldn’t antagonize her like that. Just get out of the way.”

“She’s really got some attitude, that one. A guy I met at Jack’s, some guy with an orchard, said she’s been bothering them and he was going to call someone—like the game warden or something.” Then she turned her big blue eyes up to his. “But I think maybe I’ll find something a little more urban. Know what I mean?”

He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. The boys peeked out the door to see if there were bears. “Go inside, please,” Dylan said. “Get ready for school.” When they were gone he turned to Katie. “All right, listen to me. I’m not leaving right away. I’m going to take the boys to school and drop them off. Then I’m going to run a few errands, make a couple of phone calls and come back here. You—stay in the house and do not confront that bear again!”

“I don’t want you hanging around here,” she said. “I’m not going to sleep with you!”

“Oh, absolutely not,” he said. “But we are going to examine the potential for a relationship, you and me. It might not be easy, but—”

“But Hollywood waits,” she said.

“Yeah, well, I probably won’t be able to work and hang out here all the time, but I also probably won’t be out of town any more often than a soldier. Right now I think you need me. So I’ll take the boys to town and I’ll be back.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you understand ‘no’?”

“No,” he said.

Fourteen

Right after leaving Katie’s house and dropping off the boys, Dylan parked on the side of a hill that offered a spectator’s view of a lush valley, but his interest was not the view. He had cell reception here. He called Lang. “How’s everything going?”

“Going,” Lang said. “I flew a couple of charters. They didn’t pay enough, but they paid and it was work. We could use more. I was out of town most of last week, but it’s money and I’m encouraged by the business.”

“How’s Mrs. Lang getting along?”

“She’s doing all right, but then Sue Ann always gets along better without me than I do without her.”

“Listen to you,” Dylan said. “She’s stuck at home with five kids, trying to help run an airport, manage the house and everything and you’re whining about doing something you love to do—fly.”

“I know,” he admitted. “She could’ve done better. Boy, am I lucky she didn’t.”

“I remember when you met her,” Dylan said. “It was like you saw her and glazed over…”

“Nah, I didn’t really go into a trance until I talked to her. But I was in big trouble once I slept with her. Shew.” Lang took a breath. “Thank God I’m home for a few days!”

“Eleven years later, still the horn dog for your wife.”

“Hard to get bored with perfection,” he said with a sigh.

Dylan just chuckled to himself. Sue Ann was pretty, but she wasn’t a knockout. She was kind of soft and wholesome-looking, but she had a sharp tongue on her, like someone else Dylan knew. She didn’t suffer fools gladly. She certainly didn’t put up with any of Lang’s shit. “I’m still trying to figure out how that works,” Dylan said. “One look and not only did you know how you felt then, you knew how you were going to feel in twenty years.”

“You see what you want to see, D,” Lang said. “Like we’re the perfect married couple? Hell, we’ve had some knockdowns. I’ve spent my share of nights on the couch. In fact, it’s making up that really gets us into trouble—that’s usually when we slip up and get pregnant.”

“Didn’t you promise her a vasectomy?”

“Yeah, when little D is two, and guess what? He had a birthday just after I got back from our ride. As soon as I can put together some days off, I’m going to get that done. We can’t afford another one. And there are so many kids, I never get any time alone with my wife.”

“Man,” Dylan said. “No one’s ever cutting on me…”

Lang laughed heartily at that. “We’ll talk after you have five kids.”

“Like that’ll ever happen…”

“It’s a pretty simple formula, Dylan. Once I found a woman I loved, I stopped worrying about whether I’d ever find a woman I loved. I ask Sue Ann what I want and she’s only too happy to tell me. And then, my friend, she rewards me. It’s a beautiful thing.”

The reward he was talking about flashed in Dylan’s mind, but the players certainly were not Lang and Mrs. Lang. It was Dylan and Katie, of course. The first image happened to be on the floor. His mouth watered. Then the bed, then the shower, then the bed… He cleared his throat. “Sounds like you know what you’re doing. Even I think you have the perfect life. And everyone knows I’m impossible to please.”

“I don’t think that,” Lang said. “I’ve told you what I think a hundred times, but you don’t listen.”

“Tell me one more time.”

Lang drew an impatient breath. “When I found my woman, I focused on her. You’ll never find your woman, because you’re focused on your silly demons. Demons you barely remember from your childhood anyway. Demons that have nearly died of old age, by the way. Speaking of those demons, how’s the movie business these days? And the family?”

Dylan was speechless. Had Lang said that before? Was he always living inside his own head, worrying about how certain things would make him feel, not thinking about how other people might feel? But no, that wasn’t right, because he felt very bad about the way he made Katie feel and came back to apologize…came back to apologize because he hadn’t been sleeping and he wanted a clear conscience. And while he’d been gone, Katie had grown thin.

Oh, God, he thought. I was trying not to, but I found her. I can’t stand it, it’s so scary. But I found her. My woman.

“Dylan?” Lang said. “How’s the sick and twisted family?”

“They’re everywhere you look in Hollywood, all angling for a break, an endorsement, a part in a movie. I exchanged a few unpleasant words with my mother and a couple of sibs, but otherwise I haven’t talked to the rest of them. I’m sure that makes me the bad guy.”

“Nah,” Lang said. “You’re the all done guy. Very reasonable behavior. It is perfectly all right to stay away from vampires.”

“Silly demons?” Dylan heard himself ask.

“I’ve known you for over fifteen years,” Lang said. “Those characteristics you’ve complained about your family having—that narcissism, envy, cruelty, lack of accountability. If you showed those traits, we wouldn’t be friends.” Then he laughed and added, “Sue Ann wouldn’t let me.”

Dylan laughed with him. “One question,” he said. “What makes you think I’m obsessed with my demons? Why don’t you assume I avoid attachments to save women the bad luck of getting hooked up with me and my demons?”

“You ever ask anyone if they’re willing to take a chance on you? Because I asked Sue Ann. I told her I wasn’t good enough for her, that I probably wouldn’t amount to much, but I had a good temperament and was trainable. She thought about it and decided I was worth the risk.”

“Would you have gone away quietly if she’d said she thought it in her best interests to keep looking?” Dylan asked.

“Nah, I probably would’ve asked at least three times. I let her domesticate me. Now she’s stuck with me.”

Again Dylan laughed. And air hung in the line—dead air.

“Dylan,” Lang finally said, suspicion dripping from the name. “Where are you?”

He didn’t answer at once. “Virgin River.”

“Ah.”

“I wanted to apologize for being such an ass, for leaving suddenly, for making her feel dumped, for hurting her feelings like that.”

“Ah. How’s that working out for you?”