Page 32 of Rocky Mountain Desire
“She called, by the way.”
“Helen called? You?”
“Hope’s apartment. I answered the goddamn phone.”
“Jesus, you don’t do anything the easy way, do you?” Matt shook his head. The fire crackled with a loud explosive pop before Daniel spoke again. “Helen wasn’t the woman for you.”
“Nailed that in one.”
“But Matt, you spent years thinking you two would be together. You worked at that relationship with crazy dedication.”
“Crazy is right—considering she never really wanted what I wanted.”
“No. She didn’t.” Daniel pulled himself upright. “But she’s gone. And now there’s this other woman you’re feeling interested in, and I’m wondering why you aren’t going after her with the same enthusiasm you put into everything else you do.”
Bloody hell. “You’re not listening. This is Hope who I’m…”
“You’re what? Attracted to? Great. Then ask her out.”
Fuck a duck. “That easy?”
“That easy.” Daniel sighed. “One of the biggest blessings of our family—the whole crazy horde of us—is that there’s always someone around, right? Someone to talk to, someone to tease. When we were growing up and needed to let off some steam, there was always someone to fight.”
Matt chuckled. “Usually more than one.”
“The downside? There was always someone around that we got compared to. Poor twins—by the time they hit high school the teachers didn’t give them a chance to muck around. They were already tagged and branded Six Pack Colemans, and all the sins of Blake down to Travis were sitting right there waiting to be dumped on their heads.”
“They still got away with murder.”
Daniel grinned. “Yeah, they did, but you know why? Because they’re damn charismatic. Butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. They charmed their way out of more bad situations than you or I ever could have.”
“Charmed their way into more girls’ pants than us too.” Matt shook his head. “Fine. So the twins, in spite of being Six Pack boys did things their own way.”
“And…” Daniel threw a cushion at him. “And…connect the damn dots and don’t make me say it for you, numb nuts.”
Matt sighed. “And Hope is not Helen.”
“Right.”
The room grew quiet again. “I thought you’d be more ‘what the fuck are you thinking’ with me coming in here and telling you that Hope’s got my attention. I thought I’d be getting warnings left and right about how I should stay away from her and get my head out of my ass.”
“Hell, no. For a couple reasons. One, I know you, Matt. The harder anyone pushes, the more you resist when you’ve got your mind made up. Part of the reason none of us said much to you the entire time you were seeing Helen.”
Matt started. “You really didn’t like her that much?”
“None of us despised her—just didn’t see the same things you saw. It was as if your version and ours didn’t line up. She wasn’t an evil witch we wanted to protect you from, but she didn’t seem to exactly fit either. She hated family gatherings with a passion—if anything made her stick out like a sore thumb, it was that.”
“I knew she hated the small town, but I never noticed that—the family side of it.”
“Course not. And since I wasn’t sure what made you care about her so much, I could never come right out and tell you she was wrong for you. Not until it was too late.”
Regret hit hard. “I spent a lot of years trying to be what she needed.”
“Like Beth with her first husband.” Daniel stared down the hall, tenderness on his face as he turned back to Matt. “Now, I’m not saying Helen is anything like the bastard. But both Beth and you made the same mistake in dealing with people who were supposed to be special to you.”
Matt waited.
Daniel shrugged. “If they don’t care about you the way you are, then changing for them isn’t going to make them care more.”
