Montana Darling (Big Sky Mavericks Book 3) by Debra Salonen Read Free Book Online Page B

business in the same town for so long. Remember your dad’s retirement party?”
    “Sorta.” She’d flown in at the last minute to join Ed and the kids who’d driven to Marietta a few days earlier. “You held it at the Fairgrounds and everyone in town came…or so it seemed.”
    Mom backed out of the driveway slowly. “Pretty much. Bailey wasn’t here for that, but Paul showed her the video. She told him, ‘Yeah. Very nice. So not happening.’”
    They both chuckled. Mia didn’t know her future sister-in-law well, but she admired a woman who set boundaries and kept them. “I have to admit, Mom, I’ve never seen Paul so happy. He’s really on top of the world right now, isn’t he?”
    Mom sighed in a heartily satisfied way. “He is. So’s Austen. Both my boys in love at the same time. It’s hard to believe.”
    “And both your daughters are under-achievers in that area.”
    Mom made a clucking noise. “You sound like Emilee when you put yourself down. Cut yourself some slack. Dad and I both know how hard you tried to make your marriage work.”
    Wrong. Mia gave up long before Ed strayed. She could even point to the exact moment she stopped trying. She’d just won an eight-week jury trial that could have gone either way. She called Edward to arrange a celebration and he said, “Can I take a rain check? I’m up to my nose hairs in notes for a big client who needs all her paperwork filed before she leaves for Spain. Once this deal closes, we’ll plan something big.”
    Something big. The best table at the most expensive restaurant in town. Champagne and caviar flown in that morning from Paris or Kiev. That was Ed. And Mia had grown tired of pretending she enjoyed the pretense.
    “Did I hear you talking to your sister last night?”
    “Yeah. She invited Emilee for a visit. They’re going to shop for something to wear to the wedding.”
    “Good. Maybe you should go along and talk some sense into her. You heard about her plans for her sabbatical, right?”
    Mia shrugged, which made her seatbelt rub against her faux boobs. She hated everything about them and could barely bring herself to look in the mirror after showering. “Mom, Meg’s nearly forty years old. If she wants to spend the winter in her cabin writing another book on wolves, who am I to criticize? Like my life is so perfect.”
    “Paul said she’s had the cabin winterized and has enough provisions for the zombie apocalypse, but if we get a lot of snow, she could be stuck there until spring.” A point, Mia was certain, every member of her family made to her older sister…more than once. “And, for your information, she isn’t writing another treatise on wolves. She wants to try her hand at fiction. Young-adult fiction.”
    “Oh, now, I get it. Meg wants to spend time with Emilee to pick her brain.”
    Mom made a sound of disapproval. “Meg is Emilee’s aunt. She knows Em has been having a rough time with the move. Maybe your sister wants to do something nice for her.”
    Mia bit back the cynical answer that jumped to her lips. When had she lost the ability to take anything or anyone at face value? Like Ryker Bensen, for instance. She’d known immediately he wasn’t a bum, drug addict or hippie. He wasn’t a tree-hugger or back-to-nature fanatic, either. His tent and bike were top of the line. He ground his own beans. Who did that? Why did that make her feel a tiny bit sorry about kicking him off her land?
    “You’re right, Mom,” Mia said, trying to stay focused on her family issues. “It was nice of Meg to ask, and Em is thrilled to get away. I’m sure we’ll hear all about Meg’s new project at the wedding.”
    Mia loved her sister, but they’d never been as close as Mia and Austen were. Older sister versus twins? Plus, Meg’s single-minded passion for wolves took a little of the fun out of playing with her.
    Mia would never forget the day Austen informed his sisters they were going to be part of the Big Sky Mavericks—a