Page 142 of Rough and Rugged

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Married to the Mountain Man

CA MICONI

Tropes

MF, second chance, small town, forced proximity, curvy heroine

Blurb

Mac and Marissa are the perfect couple, until an unexpected tragedy rips them apart. A chance encounter forces them to deal with emotions bottled up for ten years. Will theconfrontation wedge them even further apart, or will it help them heal?

Dear Reader:

Welcome to my world of small town steamy romance. If the mention of pregnancy loss is upsetting for you, feel free to skip this story. Otherwise, I hope you’ll enjoy this introduction to my writing, and Mac and Marissa’s journey back to each other. I look forward to meeting many of you in Milwaukee!

Fondly, CA Miconi

MARRIED TO THE MOUNTAIN MAN

© 2024 CA Miconi

All Rights Reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission, except for the use of brief quotations in a review. This work is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights.

Chapter One

Mac

Malachai“Mac”Mackenziecrossedthe wooden plank creek bridge in his vintage pickup as he headed down the mountain and into Green Springs for his weekly shopping trip and excursion into civilization. Ever since his wife had left him, he’d lived a mostly solitary and celibate lifestyle in a remote cabin on Black Mountain. He hadn’t always been a loner, but he’d needed some time to sober up and evaluate what he wanted in life after everything had gone to hell, so had retreated to the old family cabin. Now, almost ten years later, he was still there. Most of the people in town thought he was a crazy recluse, and he supposed with his shaggy beard and long dark hair, he looked the part; but in reality, he’d become a successful artist and owned his own business. Only a select few knew, as he preferred to stay out of the spotlight, letting his agent and accountant handle his business career. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he thought about the irony of his situation. Thanks to the ever increasing popularity of wood carving and chain saw art, he now had more money than he’d ever dreamed of, but no one to spend it on or with. He could barely keep up with the demand for his pieces from the Chicago gallery, and his business advisors were constantly pitching the idea of opening another store in the south.

He’d always been a private person, so another well-kept secret was the incident that had precipitated the break-up of his marriage. He and Marissa had lost their baby due to a miscarriage early on in the pregnancy.

Marissa. He couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been a part of his previous life. Childhood playmates, high school sweethearts, college-age lovers, and married best friends.Until they weren’t. He still wasn’t quite sure how the split had happened. They’d both been reeling over the loss, and instead of getting through it together, or talking about it, they became strangers living under the same roof. They drifted apart, neither able to comfort the other. He’d found solace in a bottle, but she’d found none, drifting aimlessly. She’d seemed so unhappy. And lost. He hadn’t been able to stay sober enough to figure out what to do to make it better. It would have been easier if she’d been angry, he could have dealt with that. But the silence? It was deafening. And then she was gone.

A few days ago, his cousin, Jacob Mackenzie, had messaged him for a meetup. It was his chance to catch up on all of the family gossip, as well as making sure that his parents werereallyokay, since he knew his mother never wanted to give him any unpleasant news whenever they spoke. The only exception to that was her occasionally lamenting about the evil Marissa who had broken her son’s heart. Their breakup had also ended the long-time friendship between both sets of parents. If only they’d known the reason, perhaps they’d have all bonded further in their grief, rather than pointing fingers regarding their children.

After collecting his mail at the post office and picking up some supplies at the hardware store, he headed over to the Blackened Skillet to meet his cousin. He entered the diner and scanned the interior, spotting him in a corner booth. With Jacob’s lean frame and height, as well as his signature Irish ginger color hair, he wasn’t difficult to find. Mac, who’d inherited his mother’s darker hair, slid into the worn, slick vinyl bench seat across from his cousin.

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