sting. I’ll be glad to get away and only do drywall.”
“Thanks, Nate.”
They ate more GORP, and Emily was so hungry from the hike, she thought she’d never get enough food again. She fed some nuts to Scout, who’d long ago mastered the look of quiet desperation. Then she told Nate she’d revealed the search for her dad to Brooke and Monica.
“I’ve been procrastinating,” she admitted. “I keep wondering if I’m passing my dad on the street. I never had my mom’s attention, and my husband, well, you can see what he thought of me. Part of me is worried that if my biological father rejects me, too, I don’t know if I can handle it. Maybe I’m just a coward.”
Nate put his hand on her knee. “No. If you were, you’d be huddled in an apartment in San Francisco, or maybe you’d still be married to that jerk.”
“No, he left me, not the other way around.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
She nodded but didn’t elaborate. She couldn’t share with anyone the terrible hurt Greg had inflicted on her.
“I don’t care about him,” Nate said. “You’re not a coward. You’re trying to find a new way to support yourself, and you eventually want to adopt. You can’t tell me that’s not a brave thing for a single woman to do. How can your biological father not be happy about the way you turned out?”
“Thanks,” she said, turning to smile at him.
They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, and then she leaned in to kiss him, letting her hand cup the roughness of his cheek. Suddenly hungry for more, she opened her mouth to him and let every other awareness fade away.
Until they heard the hiker going by them back up the trail.
She broke away and felt her face get hot. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m sure he’s jealous as hell of me.”
Laughing, she leaned her head against his shoulder. “This has been a great day. You were right—it’s done me good to get away from work.”
“Then we need to plan to get you out again. The mountain biking is fantastic around here. I usually bike these trails we just hiked.”
She gaped at him. “These dangerous, narrow trails? I feel queasy just imagining doing them at high speed.”
He grinned, flashing his dimples. “It’s fun.”
“No, thank you. I have a better idea. I haven’t seen Aspen yet.”
“Then it’s a date. Everyone should see Aspen.”
“Well, that was easy. There must be some daredevil part of the town you’re hiding from me.”
“Nope. I have time to make you try something riskier eventually. And I will.”
He looked deeply into her eyes, and she thought of all the risky, athletic things she could do with him—in bed. But she was getting ahead of herself, she thought, eating another handful of GORP. Nate chuckled softly, as if he knew what she was thinking.
Admitting to Nate that she felt like a coward where her biological father was concerned spurred Emily to action. The next day, she stopped by St. John’s to see Cathy Fletcher, her mother’s high-school friend. Once again, she didn’t reveal her mother’s pregnancy, but with careful questioning, she got Cathy to reveal the names of two boys who occasionally hung out at the Riley family store when Delilah worked after school.
They were no longer boys, of course. Steve Keppel was now the building and grounds supervisor at the Royal Theater, according to Cathy.
She’d already met the other man—Hal Abrams, the owner of the hardware store. She didn’t want to make Cathy suspicious, so she didn’t ask any detailed questions, but her mind was buzzing. She tried to remember everything about Hal, but he’d been quiet compared to the coffee-drinking ranchers. He had sandy-colored hair, and hers was strawberry blond. That wasn’t too different.
Cathy didn’t think Delilah had actually dated either of the boys, but obviously she’d been with someone. Unless her mom had been forced—no, Emily wasn’t going there. Her mom freely got involved with men throughout her life, and she’d started in Valentine Valley. She’d never had any hang-ups where men were concerned. There wasn’t one particular type, either. She’d dated construction workers and lawyers, even a professional baseball player once. Men had been captivated by her easy charm and her pointed interest in them.
There was one other person Emily could turn to with her questions before approaching her possible dads directly—Doug Thalberg. He’d known her mother well enough to lend her money. Surely he might be able to hazard a guess about the identity of