One Hundred Ways: An Aspen Cove Romance Read online

  One Hundred Ways

  An Aspen Cove Romance

  Kelly Collins

  Copyright © 2019 by Kelly Collins

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by Victoria Cooper Art

  To every girl who felt she wasn’t enough. You are.

  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Thank you for reading.

  Sneak Peek into One Hundred Goodbyes

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  Chapter One

  Riley Black entered Aspen Cove on a wing and a prayer. She had four dollars and thirty-seven cents in her purse, and nothing in her bank account. Her old, beat-up Jeep limped into town on the fumes of her last fill-up a hundred miles ago. If she blinked once, she’d miss the entire town.

  Pulling into an open space several spots down from Maisey’s Diner, she thought twice about killing the engine. There was a good chance it would never start again if she did.

  Her hand gripped the key as she took a steadying breath. One turn, and the old SUV shook and shuddered before it sighed into silence. In reality, it didn’t matter if the engine never turned over again. She’d made it.

  Her step-mom, Kathy, had told her she was running from her past, but Riley knew she was running toward her future. A future no one supported but her Aunt Maisey and her cousin Dalton. A future where she could finally be who she wanted to be, not who everyone told her she should be.

  There were three things she knew for certain. First, she was an artist down to the scrap metal and welder’s flame that surely ran through her DNA. Second, she couldn’t live up to people’s expectations, so she was content to live without them. Third, Aspen Cove had promised her a new beginning, a life where she could choose everything.

  Her father’s death several months ago had rocked everyone’s existence. It was such a bizarre and unexpected accident. How did a man drown in a sink full of dishes?

  Riley knew how it could happen. After a liter of vodka, a person could drown in their own spit. She’d kept her father’s secret for years. He’d been running away too but only got as far as the bottles of booze he hid around the house could take him.

  She never told her stepmother. The woman wouldn’t have believed her if she’d tried. If Kathy Black hadn’t been aware of her husband’s drinking problem after close to three decades of marriage, there was no way to convince her now. Maybe she’d been aware all along and didn’t want to admit her perfect life wasn’t perfect after all. She had no problem pointing out others’ imperfections but never saw her own.

  Riley wanted more for herself but would never get it living near Kathy, who constantly told her she deserved less. If it weren’t for her father, she would have been gone years ago.

  She opened her door and stepped onto the asphalt. The cool fall air floated over her skin. It gathered in her broomstick skirt, sending the fabric rippling against her legs. The scent of pine and fresh mountain air wrapped around her, like a cozy blanket.

  She’d always felt one with nature. Maybe that was why her nickname Granola Girl in high school never bothered her. She was a clean-eating, animal-loving, hemp-wearing modern hippie and proud of it. Or at least she would be now because, at twenty-seven, she would finally be able to be herself.

  The car door screeched as she shut it. Probably nothing a can of WD-40 couldn’t take care of, but that was a luxury she couldn’t afford.

  She glanced at her supplies in the back seat and wondered if her priorities might be skewed. She’d buy sheet metal, tungsten, and rods before she bought anything else. How telling was it that the space in her car was taken over by scrap metal, gloves, masks, and two welders? Her personal items filled a single suitcase and a milk crate.

  She stretched her arms and rolled her neck, loosening the kinks from her long drive. Once her vertebrae had popped into place, she started toward the diner entrance. She couldn’t wait to get inside and give her aunt a hug.

  It was her Aunt Maisey who'd started her love of art. She’d bought her and her twin brother, Baxter, an erector set when they turned seven. The first sculpture Riley created was with that set. To make sure no one took it apart, Riley borrowed her father’s soldering iron and fused it together. She got the spanking of a lifetime that day. Twice as many swats as necessary because she’d not only destroyed something that was only half hers and used the soldering gun without permission, something she wasn’t allowed to touch, but she’d caught the kitchen on fire when she left it plugged in. It had burned a nice-sized crater in the table before Kathy’s loan paperwork caught fire. That spread to the nail polish and remover that sat in the center of the table like condiments. Riley still had that fused erector set. Brought it with her to remind her safety came first, and dreams could come true.

  The bell above the door rang when she entered. The smell of French fries filled her nose.

  Every head in the diner turned her way. All three of them anyway. An old man sat in the corner, reading his newspaper. A woman at the window ate cherry pie, and a man with eyes that could steal a soul sat in a side booth. Why his eyes caught her attention, she couldn’t say, but maybe it was because his irises were tinted with at least three different greens. She had an eye for color, the patina of his eyes moved from rich hunter green to moss green and finished at a laurel green.

  “Riley,” Aunt Maisey called from the pass-through kitchen window. “Is that you?” Her straw-yellow bouffant bobbed in every direction as she raced through the swinging doors and headed toward Riley like a runaway train.

  Maisey’s white loafers squeaked to a halt in front of her before wrestler-strength arms pulled her in for a big hug.

  “Oh, my God.” Maisey walked around her like a buyer looking at a heifer at the 4H fair. “You’ve grown.”

  Riley laughed. “It’s been a long time.” Ten years was way too long to keep family apart.

  Maisey shook her head. “How’s Kathy holding up?”

  It struck her as odd that Maisey would inquire about her stepmother, given it was Kathy Black’s fault for their falling-out. When Grandma Black passed away and divided her meager estate between her two children, it had been Kathy who threw a fit heard across three counties. Grandma Mabel had been living in Butte, and most of the caretaking fell on Riley’s parents, or so Kathy led everyone to believe. The truth was, Riley and her brother Baxter were the ones who provided the care. Somehow in Kathy’s mind, that was as good as her doing
it herself. When it came time to divvy up the estate, Kathy demanded the lion’s share for her husband, given he was the one living in town.

  While Aunt Maisey didn’t give a care one way or the other, the will was ironclad, and the money was divided. How a measly five thousand dollars could destroy a family, Riley didn’t understand. How a man like Michael Black could allow his wife to have such control was another puzzle, but from that time forward, no one was allowed to talk to Maisey or Dalton. Riley went rogue and talked to her anyway. She’d stayed in touch with her aunt all these years. That was her secret, one her father kept for her.

  “She’s doing well.”

  Maisey walked her over to an empty booth and motioned for her to sit down. “It’s such a shame about my brother.” She lowered her head and shook it, sending a stray locks falling across her forehead. Maisey tucked it back into the nest. “I wanted to attend his funeral, but Kathy forbid it, so Dalton and I drove out a few weeks later and said our goodbyes.”

  “You left the daisies, didn’t you?”

  Maisey smiled. “He always called me Maisey Daisy.”

  “I knew it. I could feel your presence.”

  “Was it a nice funeral?” Maisey asked.

  What could she say? Her stepmother refused to spend a dime of his life insurance on a funeral, so she had him cremated and buried in the box his ashes came in? What good would that do?

  “It was a small affair.”

  Maisey lifted her chin and smiled. “You hungry? The blue-plate special is fish and chips today.”

  No doubt her nose curled. “No, I’m not hungry.” Of course, at that exact time, her stomach let out a grumble that could shake the red pleather seats of the booth.

  “Not hungry, huh?” She slid from the booth. “Let me tell Ben to whip you up a plate.”

  “No,” she called out, hoping to stop her aunt from ordering her something she couldn’t afford and wasn’t likely to eat. She hated to be a pain on her first day in town. Maybe because her stepmother had been such a taker, she’d learned not to ask for anything. “I’m a picky eater.”

  Aunt Maisey reached over for the menu and set it in front of her. “Choose what you want, sweetheart.” She touched Riley’s cheek. “You’re officially an employee, and all meals are free.” She gave her a smile that lit up her eyes.

  Riley scanned the offerings, looking for the cheapest item she could afford that didn’t contain meat. Her eyes fell on a side salad priced at $1.99. “I don’t want to take advantage.”

  “You can’t because you’re family.”

  “Okay, I’ll have the side salad, please.”

  Maisey chewed on the end of her pen. “And what else?”

  Riley bit the inside of her cheek. “Umm, I don’t…I don’t eat meat.”

  “Vegan or vegetarian?” Her aunt looked at her as if it was a normal question.

  Back home, Kathy would have slapped a chicken leg on a plate and told her to live with it.

  “Vegetarian.”

  “Grilled cheese and fries coming up.” She looked over her shoulder toward the old man in the corner. “I’m going to see if Doc’s order is ready, and I’ll be back in a minute.” She left Riley staring after her. How different would her life have been if she’d been born to Maisey Black?

  While she waited for her aunt to return, she glanced around the room. It was a true diner. Black-and-white checkerboard tiles decorated the floors. A counter with a dozen stools took up one side of the room. A lit glass case showed off the various pies no doubt made from scratch right here in the kitchen.

  Framed pictures of Elvis and James Dean covered the walls. Red leather-like booths surrounded the room. In the corner sat a silent jukebox with its lights flashing as if to say, “Look at me.”

  Riley pulled a quarter from her purse and walked over to the music machine. Like the diner, it was fifties all the way. She found a song that seemed to reflect her emotions. Dropping in the quarter, she picked B-27 and listened to the starting beat of “Ain’t That a Shame” because her family’s situation was exactly that. A mother who’d abandoned her twins. A dead father. A maternal role model who could make Cinderella’s stepmother look like a saint.

  She strolled back to her booth, passing Mr. Green Eyes. He looked up and smiled. Her damn knees actually shook.

  She mentally chastised herself for that reaction. She hadn’t come to Aspen Cove to find a boyfriend. She’d come here to find herself.

  Chapter Two

  Luke Mosier spent most of his free time in the diner. There weren’t many entertainment options in Aspen Cove, but at least here he could fill his stomach at the same time as his mind. Nothing in town happened that didn’t get discussed in Maisey’s Diner.

  He picked up the sugar and let it pour like a waterfall into his cup. His dad used to laugh and tell him to add some coffee to his sugar, but back on M and M Ranch where he’d grown up, the coffee was like tar and a hefty dose of cream and sugar was needed to get it down.

  “Did you decide what you wanted, handsome?” Maisey leaned her hip against the table with her order pad in her hand.

  “Are you flirting with me again?” He loved to tease her and watch her blush. Maisey gave as good as she got. “What’s Ben gonna think?”

  She set down her pen and reached up to pinch his cheek. After a good squeeze, she dropped her hand. “Darlin’, he doesn’t care where I get my appetite as long as I bring it home.”

  “Fair enough.” He peeked around her at the blonde who had arrived a few minutes ago. Maisey had screeched the name Riley loud enough for anyone within a ten-mile radius to hear. “New resident or someone visiting?”

  Maisey glanced over her shoulder. “Pretty, isn’t she?” She watched him for some kind of reaction.

  He’d gotten a brief glimpse of her when she walked by to put a quarter in the jukebox. There was no way he’d tell Maisey that his heart had skipped a beat as the blood flowed to his groin. For all he knew, the girl was Dalton’s sister. She didn’t look much like him, but then again, Luke didn’t look anything like his brother Cade or his sister Trinity. God, he missed those two.

  “I didn’t notice,” he lied.

  “Sure you didn’t. Like she didn’t almost trip over her tongue walking past you.”

  Had she? He couldn’t say, but that was probably because he’d also been trying to get his tongue back into his mouth since she’d walked by. “You know her?” Stupid question. She knew her name, so of course she knew her, but it was a good segue into learning more about the stranger in town.

  “Since she was born.” Maisey’s expression turned all warm and soft. “She’s my niece. Just pulled into town.”

  “Hope she enjoys her visit.” He knew a beautiful girl like Riley wasn’t an Aspen Cove keeper. Not many young, pretty, single women wanted to live in a small town where the nearest manicure was an hour away and Starbucks’ monthly specialties were only something you read about and never tasted. Luke looked down at the menu, trying to cover up the smile on his face. It wasn’t often there was a new girl in town. With the recent growth and all the construction happening in Aspen Cove, the men outnumbered the women two to one. “I’ll have the double cheeseburger and fries, please.”

  “You want me to introduce you?”

  His head shook before the no could come out. “No, thanks. I’m good.” He didn’t do temporary. He’d had enough one-night stands in Denver to satisfy the busiest gigolo. Nope, at thirty-four, Luke was looking for forever, and she’d have to be something pretty damn special. As the fire chief of the Aspen Cove Fire Department, he had big responsibilities. His woman would have to be tough and confident. She needed to be the type of woman who would love the community like it was her family. As a public servant, he was married to everyone, so his wife would be, too.

  Maisey picked up her pen. “Double with fries coming up.” She turned but stopped. “Meg said when you came in to tell you hello.” Maisey shook her head. “That girl has it bad for you.”
<
br />   Luke rubbed his temples with one hand. Meg had been after him since the day he drove into town. “Thanks for passing on the message.”

  “Not your type, huh?”

  It wasn’t his style to dish about anyone. He wasn’t past listening to gossip, but he never spread it. Meg had it bad for him, but the way he heard it, she had it bad for anyone with an X and Y chromosome and a job.

  “I don’t have a type.”

  Maisey laughed. He loved the way her whole body shook when she did. It was the sign of a woman who went all in. He glanced at Riley, who seemed to be staring off into space. Did that trait run in her family?

  “Everyone has a type.”

  He cocked his head and shrugged. “My first prerequisite is that they're breathing.”

  She reached forward and tapped his head with her pen. “You set the bar pretty low.”

  “Not really. I’m not dating Meg.” Oops. That came out without thought. “I meant to say I’m picky about who I date.”

  “Mm-hmm.” She spun around on her white loafers, the rubber soles squeaking against the checkerboard tiles.

  While he waited, he shot off a text to his brother Cade.

  Checking in. How’s life in Wyoming?

  After his father left M and M Ranch, Luke had joined the fire department in Denver. His brother and father had moved to the McKinley Ranch in Wyoming, and Trinity had headed south to Texas, where she’d heard everything was bigger and better.