Montana Rescue (The Wildes of Birch Bay Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

The scene outside included their orchard, as well as Flathead Lake, and Nick pulled in a deep breath as he took it in. It was a million-dollar view, and one he’d often forgotten to appreciate.
    “My only issue is the silence,” he admitted. “I’m not used to being so alone.”
    “It is a solitary job.”
    “Kind of like yours?” Months at sea couldn’t be easy.
    “I’m not the only man on the boat.”
    “Not a lot of women with you, though, huh?”
    They’d had this conversation before. It wasn’t as if Nate had any trouble getting a woman, but his schedule often made that difficult. Which probably suited his brother fine. Nate was in no more of a hurry to look for more than the occasional hookup than Nick. In fact, Nick wasn’t sure either of them would ever be ready for more. Their mother had done a number on all of them, and then their oldest brother had gone and married someone just like her. It was enough to scare the idea of commitment right out of a person.
    Again, Nick thought about Harper. She’d been married for several years, and he found himself wondering if it had been a happy marriage. Had she discovered so-called love? He hoped so. She was a good person, and she deserved happiness. And yes, though he didn’t seek love out, he did believe in it. Sort of. But that had only begun recently, and only because he’d watched his sister fall hard herself.
    Thankfully, her husband, Ben, was a good guy, and nothing like their mom. Otherwise, Nick and every one of his brothers would have run the man out of town the minute he’d looked Dani’s way.
    “So what’s going on other than your miserable loneliness?” Nate asked.
    “Pretty much nothing. I’m here without my truck—it broke down over the weekend. I can’t even get into town to go to the gym.”
    “Use Dad’s truck. He and Gloria got a ride to the airport, didn’t they?”
    “Dani and Ben took them.”
    “So his truck is there. Use it.”
    “But I want my truck.” Actually, he wanted to know for certain that Harper truly did plan to take him back to get it. He wanted to be up in the air with her again.
    “Then sit there and be bored to death,” Nate muttered.
    Nick grunted. “Why are you calling, exactly?”
    “Can I not just want to talk?”
    “Sure you can, but didn’t we just talk a couple of days ago? What’s up?” he asked again. “Going off the grid again, or heading out on a salmon boat?”
    “Actually”—Nate paused—“I’m thinking of getting out of here for a while.”
    “Getting out to where?” Nick couldn’t help but wonder if his brother’s sudden urge to mix up his norm was similar to what was going on in Nick’s head.
    Last summer the entire family had finally cleared the air about their mother. She’d been manipulative, she’d tried to turn family members against one another, and she’d royally screwed with everyone’s heads. Even their dad’s. And they’d not talked about it as a family for fourteen long years. That had been another by-product of the way they’d been raised. Show the world they were perfect. Don’t talk about issues. No need to face reality.
    So they’d not faced reality. And as such, they’d allowed their sister to effectively repaint their earlier years into something they’d all wanted to believe it had been.
    Their head-in-the-sand mentality had done more harm than good, though, and reality had finally blown up in their faces as Dani made plans to move to New York City—with Gabe also declaring his intentions to move away. No one wanted to be here , and that had become painfully obvious. So they’d talked— argued —and everyone had finally begun to move forward. Then Dani had up and done a one-eighty. Her lifelong dream—having a big-time career in New York—turned out to not be her dream after all. After only three months away, she’d broken her lease and come home.
    Her actions had affected Nick personally, causing him to take a hard look at his own life.