Courage (Heroes of Big Sky 1)

“I can’t,” I reply and turn to Tash. “I’m on call starting at five in the morning. I have to be home, just in case.”

“We’ll be fine,” Tash says, waving it off. “We’re Montana kids, and we brought Sam’s big, beefy truck. It’ll be okay.”

“But I want pie before we go,” I say and turn back in time to see Aspen and Tash share a look. “What was that about?”

“What?” Tash asks, feigning innocence.

“That look.”

“There wasn’t a look,” Aspen says, scoffing. “What kind of pie do you want? Alice is serving it up.”

“I want cherry,” I reply but make a mental note to ask Natasha what that was all about when we get home.

“Aww, you want the one I made,” Tash says and leans over to kiss my cheek. “How sweet.”

“Of course, I do. You worked damn hard on this pie.”

“We heard what happened,” Nina, Sebastian’s wife, says with a grimace. “What a mess.”

“It looked a bit like roadkill, to be honest.” I take a bite of the cherry and sigh in happiness. “You did great, babe.”

“Yeah?” Tash’s face lights up. “Thanks. I’m going to have to go on a three-day fast after today. Alice’s cooking is always so good, and now I’m completely stuffed.”

“There are plenty of leftovers for you to take some away,” Alice offers, but Natasha is already shaking her head.

“That’s not necessary.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll make a big batch of turkey pot pie with extra biscuits on Saturday, and everyone is welcome to come help us eat it.”

“That, we can do,” I reply with a wink. “I’ll never turn down your cooking, Alice. Why don’t you dump that loser of a husband of yours and run off to marry me?”

“That’s a charming offer,” Alice says with a laugh, “but I’m rather attached to the man.”

“What a relief, as I’ve grown used to having you around, as well,” David says as he walks in from outside and kisses his wife’s cheek. “This storm is a bugger.”

“We should get down the mountain,” Tash says to me, and David looks up with a scowl.

“You’re leaving? In this?”

“I have to work early in the morning,” I say as Tash gathers the kids. “I’ll be okay. I’ll take it easy.”

When we have the kids bundled up, we say our goodbyes and pile into the truck.

“It’s really coming down,” Tash says as she buckles her seatbelt. “I know I sounded confident back there, but this is as bad as I’ve seen it in a long time, Sam.”

“I know.” I start the truck and make my way down the driveway, which is heated and, therefore, clear. But it’s a different story altogether when I make it to the road that leads down to town. “Okay, listen up, everyone. This road is icy, and it’s windy. We’re going to have some shelter from the wind in the trees here, but it’s going to be rocky, so please stay quiet and no roughhousing with each other on this trip, okay?”

I look around, and everyone nods with wide eyes.

This is going to suck ass.

I can’t see the pavement through the snow covering it, and the plows haven’t been out to clear it away yet. But I know this road like the back of my hand, so I set off down the mountain.

“It’s pure ice under the snow,” I mutter in amazement. “It froze fast. I didn’t see this storm in the forecast.”

“It was supposed to hit north of us,” Tash says.

I gear the truck way down so I have no choice but to inch along. As we round a corner, I see a car off the road with its hazards on.

“They hit a tree,” Tash says.

“That’s the only thing that kept them from going down the side of the mountain,” I reply grimly and ease the truck to a stop on the other side of the road so I’m sure it won’t follow the car and slide down the embankment. “I’m going to make sure no one is in that car.”

“Be careful,” Tash says before I climb out of the truck and fight my way against the fierce wind and snowfall to the driver’s side of the car.

I knock on the window. When the driver rolls it down, I’m shocked to see Beth, the bakery owner, looking up at me with terrified eyes.

“Oh, Sam.” She swallows hard. “Thank God. My phone is dead, and I can’t get the car out of this ditch.”

“It’s not a ditch. It’s the side of the fucking mountain, Beth. Are you hurt?”

“No, just scared.”

“Okay, roll this up and grab your bag. You can ride down with us. We’ll call a tow for the car, but it’ll probably be stuck here until after the storm blows through.”

She nods and does as I say, and then we’re both fighting against the wind back to my truck.