How pathetic. Really, a little male kindness and she’s suddenly desperate enough, lonely enough, to melt all over the lawn. Where’s your pride?

She picked out a star and with a hand that slightly trembled, drew a line.

“Nope,” Lucca said. “The line goes to one star here”—he moved her hand—“then it branches. Here and here and that’s it. The Great Bear, Ursa Major.”

He released her hand and moved back onto his own lounger. “So, can you find it now?”

Hope stared up into the heavens. She found the Big Dipper, then retraced the paths he’d pointed out moments before, and a slow smile spread over her face. “I can. I see it.”

And really, now that she thought about it, wasn’t this gift better than something as fleeting as a kiss? “You explained it very well. You are a good teacher. Thank you, Lucca.”

He didn’t respond, and Hope wondered if she’d inadvertently wandered back into the same no-man’s-land that she had landed in when she’d called him “Coach.” The moment stretched, and the silence grew awkward and uncomfortable. She was still searching for something to say to interrupt the quiet when he finally spoke.

“You know, I liked it. Teaching, I mean. I never taught academic subjects, but I always believed that sports offer students valuable lessons that they’ll use the rest of their lives. It’s so much more than winning and losing.”

“I agree with that. Knowing how to work as part of a team is invaluable.”

“True. Sports teach the value of discipline, of sacrifice. They teach the value of goal setting and how to deal with failure. Sure, the so-called money sports have that entertainment factor as part of the package, but really, what’s wrong with that? Some people like to be entertained by reading a novel. Others prefer to watch professional baseball. To each his own, I say.”

Hope’s mouth gaped slightly. Why, who knew Lucca Romano had that many words in him? Positive words at that?

“I’ve never believed that sports figures should be considered heroes—that term should be reserved for people like my brother Zach, who has put his life on the line for others more than once—but then I don’t think that about Hollywood stars or politicians or other people our society decides are celebrities, either. But these star athletes, they started out just like everybody else in Pee Wee football or on school teams. People aren’t born knowing how to throw a ninety-two-mile-an-hour fastball or hit a twenty-foot jumper. They learn it through hard work and practice and paying attention to what coaches are trying to teach them. That’s something a kid at home who watches and dreams can pick up on and learn from.”

This had the tone of being an old argument. Hope wondered where his defensiveness came from. “I agree with that, too,” she told him, honestly. “I think sports teach a lot of good life lessons.”

Her comment seemed to stop him. After another long moment of silence, he said quietly, “And, some not-so-good life lessons, too.”

With that, he swung his legs off the lounge chair and stood. “I need to go. Sorry about the soapbox.”

It happened so fast that he was halfway to his house before Hope found her voice. “Lucca? Thanks for teaching me the stars.”

“No problem.”

She heard his footsteps on his back porch and the creak of the screen door. Then, out of the darkness, he said, “The easy A factor wasn’t the only reason why I took that college astronomy class. Back in middle school, I had a teacher who taught a unit on Native American folklore, and many of the stories she taught were based on the constellations. I never forgot them. The tale about Ursa Major is about hunters who chased the Great Bear into the sky and wounded him. In the autumn, the bear’s blood spills from the stars onto the earth, turning the trees red.”

“Well, that’s a gruesome picture.”

“Lots of those tales were violent. I loved them. The point I want to make is … well … teachers can be heroes, too.”

“I’m a teacher.”

“I know that. Good night, Ms. Montgomery.”

The shadows were so deep that she couldn’t see his expression. Why, then, did she picture a smile on his face? The screen door banged shut. Inside her house, Roxie let out a yip yip yip.

Hope looked up at the starry sky and smiled.

FIVE

“Lasagna,” Lucca said, accepting the pan from his sister and pasting a smile on his face while his stomach sank with dread. Gabi had to be the world’s worst cook. “My favorite.”

“I hope you like it. I know Mom’s recipe is hard to beat, but I thought I’d try something a little different.”

Oh, joy. In the two weeks since he’d arrived in Eternity Springs, he’d endured a number of his sister’s culinary experiments. Why was it that such a smart woman couldn’t manage to follow a recipe? “Great. Do you want to come in?”

“I just have a few minutes,” she said, stepping into the house and following him back toward his kitchen. “Zach hired a replacement for me and he starts the job tonight. I’ll be working the evening shift with him, showing him the ropes. I had just enough time to run this by and, well, I wanted to ask you a question.”

Lucca set the pan of lasagna on the counter and tried to recall if he’d done something worth getting an ass-chewing over since he’d last seen his sister. He didn’t think so. Warily, he asked, “About what?”

“Mom. You’ve been working at the house for over a week now. How do you like it?”

The house? Lucca knew his sister well enough to understand that she wasn’t truly asking about his experience. “Are you having second thoughts about leaving your job?”

“No. Not really. I know leaving is the right decision. It’s the ‘where I go next’ that’s making me insecure.”

Lucca didn’t like the uncertain look on his sister’s face, so he snorted. “Oh, come on, Gabi. You are the most confident woman I’ve ever known. You don’t have an insecure atom in your body. What is this really about?”

She offered him a tender smile. “You can be a sweetheart when you want, Lucca Romano. Now, give me the scoop. What is it like at Aspenglow Place?”

Lucca opened the oven door and slid the pan of lasagna inside. He set the temperature at two hundred degrees. “I have the siding scraped and sanded and ready to prime.”

“I mean being with Mom all day.”

“I’m not with her all day, Gabs. I’m working outside and she’s usually indoors. But having her boss me around isn’t really anything different than what’s she’s been doing all my life.”

Glumly, Gabi asked, “So she still treats you like you’re ten years old? And I’m thinking about working with her full-time? Great. Just great.”

“Honey.” Lucca folded his arms. “If you’re having this much doubt and you haven’t even spent a day with Mom, I think you should take a long, hard look at what you are doing.”

“You are supposed to make me feel better.”

“Darlin’, that is not my job.”

“Sure it is. You’ve been doing that all our lives. You’ve always been my go-to brother when I needed to feel better.”

“Well, babycakes, times have changed. I have my hands full on that front as it is.”

Gabi cocked her head and studied him. “How is that going? Is Eternity Springs working its magic on you?”

Lucca aimed a deliberate look toward the wall clock. “Don’t you need to get to work?”

“Seriously, Lucca. How are you doing?”

“I hear your boss is a hard-ass. You’d better get going.”

“It’s one little question. Answer it.” He didn’t respond, and after a moment, Gabi said, “Well, I think it’s a good sign that you haven’t ended up in the sheriff’s office drunk tank again.”

“Eternity Springs has a drunk tank?”

“Not really, no. But people do gossip. I wish you’d talk to me, brother.”

He scowled at her. “Nice weather we’re having.”

“I see you obviously haven’t been here long enough.”

“Good-bye, Gabriella.”

She flashed a grin, then walked over to press a kiss to his cheek. “Good-bye, Lucca. I love you, Lucca. Enjoy your lasagna, Lucca.”

He reflected on her question as he sat at his kitchen table a few minutes later and cautiously speared a bite of her lasagna with his fork. Was he glad he’d come to Colorado?

His thoughts drifted back to the previous evening and the time spent with the sexy schoolteacher. He had enjoyed her company. Hell, he’d come close to enjoying it too much. A couple of times there he’d been a breath away from kissing her.

Something about her stoked him. It wasn’t only her looks, though that glorious hair and curvy ass absolutely did do it for him. But she had this, well, glow about her that drew him. She was light and bright and that appealed to him. He was tired of being dark.

Kissing her, however, would have been a colossal mistake. He had a tough enough job as it was keeping a healthy balance of family involvement in his everyday life; no way did he want them involved in his love life.

“Not that I have a love life,” he grumbled and stuck the bite of pasta into his mouth. The moment the food hit his taste buds, he grimaced. Way too much salt. How could she screw up lasagna so badly? If she does end up working at the B&B, Mom better keep her far, far away from the kitchen.

With a silent apology to his sister, he dumped the lasagna in the garbage and made a ham sandwich. He sat down in front of the television to watch the Rockies game, but by the fourth inning, the walls were closing in. He could head over to Murphy’s Pub, order a beer, and sit out on the patio for a while. He would limit himself to one beer, maybe two. He wouldn’t stay until closing time. Just long enough so that he could come back and fall asleep without feeling claustrophobic.