Truly Madly Montana Read online

  Praise for Fiona Lowe’s Medicine River Series

  MONTANA ACTUALLY

  “In the first Medicine River contemporary, the charismatic little town of Bear Paw, Montana, hosts delightful characters whose interactions feel deep and real . . . The witty conversations, family drama and accurate (but never maudlin) descriptions of loss and grief will have the reader laughing out loud, wiping away tears and eagerly awaiting future books.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “This is a funny, sexy and heartwarming novel that I feel is a must-read and a keeper. It made me laugh. I loved each character, and wish I could visit Bear Paw.”

  —Catherine Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of Silver Thaw

  “Lowe’s latest is a humorous story full of likable, distinct characters set in the small town of Bear Paw, Montana. Josh is charming and sexy, and his chemistry with Katrina ignites the pages. Lowe’s beautiful storytelling sets up a heartwarming romance between two relationship-challenged people who are reluctant to give their hearts. This is a delightfully modern read.”

  —RT Book Reviews ()

  “Fiona Lowe has a gift for creating small towns that have both a certain quirkiness and a dimensional realism. That gift is at its polished best in Montana Actually, the first book in her Medicine River series. This is a book filled with humor, poignancy, sizzle and heart.”

  —The Romance Dish

  “This is a well-rounded contemporary that hit all the points I look for in a romance, including a good combination of humor and emotional content.”

  —Smexy Books

  Berkley Sensation titles by Fiona Lowe

  MONTANA ACTUALLY

  TRULY MADLY MONTANA

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  TRULY MADLY MONTANA

  A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author

  Copyright © 2015 by Fiona Lowe.

  Excerpt from Montana Actually by Fiona Lowe copyright © 2015 by Fiona Lowe.

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  BERKLEY SENSATION® and the “B” design are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  For more information, visit penguin.com.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-17599-0

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Berkley Sensation mass-market edition / July 2015

  Cover art by Aleta Raftan.

  Cover design by George Long.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  To Kari Lynn, who puts Montana for real in the Medicine River series. Thank you so very much! I couldn’t have done it without you.

  Acknowledgments

  When I write a book, my characters often take me to places I never expected to go, and I find myself reaching out to people who are experts in a variety of fields. Truly Madly Montana could not have been written without a lot of help from many people, so please let me count the ways. Huge thanks go to Kari Lynn (karilynndell.com) for her photographs, information about the Blackfeet Reservation and for putting me in contact with Deb. Thank you to Deb for all her information about small-town policing in Montana, from the type of gun officers carry to the county fuel credit card. Your e-mails were invaluable. The Cut Bank Area Chamber of Commerce was also very generous with information. I still think those bear paws on the sidewalk would make a cool town tour!

  Thanks go to Preston, @Night_ER_Ninja on Twitter, for talking me through the administration of D50. Any mistakes in the telling are mine. A collective thanks to the medical community who like to play and share on Twitter. Your tweets are both hilarious and heartfelt and a great source of story ideas.

  Fortunately for me, the diabetes community is filled with keen bloggers and vloggers. Special thanks go to Reva (typeonederful.com) for her informative blog, her honest reflections on being a young woman with type 1 diabetes and for talking me through how insulin pumps and CGMs work. Thanks to Kerri (sixuntilme.com) for explaining CGM in the cloud, the smart watch, and how all the devices work together as well as giving me an insight into the constancy of being a diabetic. The character of Millie is a montage of the many different challenges diabetics face.

  Thank you to Steph and Lianne for their kickboxing information. I’ve learned enough about it to know I never want to do it! Once again, Lee came to my aid with information about rescue helicopters and how mind-bogglingly expensive they are to operate. To the AWESOM gals for lunches, laughs and understanding the highs and lows of the “biz,” thank you, and to my dear family, who put up with me and this crazy writer’s life, I love you all very much.

  I’m very appreciative of my beta reader, Doris, who continues to cope with me sending her large chunks of the book and only a short time to read it. Of course, this book wouldn’t exist without the support of my wonderful agent, Helen; my editor, Wendy; my cover designer, George (I adore this cover, thank you!); my go-to person, Katherine; and all the other Berkley staff who are involved in getting this book into a bookstore near you. And then there’s you. A big bouquet of thanks to all my wonderful readers. I know the choice of books available for you to buy is large and often your book budget is not so big. I appreciate very much your choice in purchasing this book with your precious and hard-earned book money. Happy reading!

  Contents

  Praise for Fiona Lowe’s Medicine River Series

  Berkley Sensation titles by Fiona Lowe

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  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

  Preview of Montana Actually

  Chapter 1

  As Millie Switkowski drove into Bear Paw for the first time in months, it seemed both ironic and fitting that her continuous glucose monitor, Dex, started beeping wildly. It was like a mocking welcome home message: You’re back where it all started, baby.

  “Okay, Dex,” she said to the machine with which she shared a love-hate relationship. “Simmer down. I’m pulling over.”

  She’d been late leaving Bozeman because last night instead of packing, she’d panicked and had done last-minute cramming for her microbiology final. As it turned out, the extra study hadn’t been necessary, and she would have been far better spending the time loading the car as per her original idea. For five years she’d worked at making her life a series of well-thought-out plans, and she knew she really needed to trust them more. If she’d had more faith in her study program, today’s road trip would have been divided up into ordered and necessary scheduled breaks rather than her rushing to get to Bear Paw by six and risking a
sugar crash.

  Parking next to the enormous twenty-seven-foot-high, ten-thousand-pound concrete penguin, which confidently declared that Bear Paw was the coldest spot in the nation, she smiled at the incongruity of it as she often did. She’d always wondered how the brain trust behind the black-and-white statue had both cheerfully disregarded Alaska and the fact that penguins weren’t found in the northern hemisphere. Geography was obviously not their strong suit. She pricked her finger and tested her blood sugar—predictably low—before rummaging through her enormous tote bag until she found a juice box and some fruit snacks.

  The last thing she needed was to arrive at Dr. Josh Stanton’s bachelor party with plummeting blood sugar. She didn’t need the drama of feeling like crap. She surely didn’t need the drama of people hovering or, worse still, some well-meaning person telling her parents she’d arrived back in town looking pale and shaky. No, she was striding into Leroy’s and the party like any normal twenty-six-year-old woman just back from grad school.

  Truth be told, most normal twenty-six-year-old women probably weren’t invited to their former boss’s bachelor party, but Josh, like everyone else in town, never seemed to notice she was a woman. She was just Millie. Practical, sensible, dependable Millie—one of the guys. Someone who could shoot pool and throw darts with the best of them.

  She checked her appearance in the rearview mirror. Pale face, crazy curls springing everywhere and some freckles on her cheeks left over from spring break in Mexico. Without the time or the inclination to spend an hour with a hair straightener, she knew her hair was beyond help. At least in a few minutes the sugar would hit and pink up her cheeks.

  She glanced down at her Montana State sweatshirt and gave thanks it didn’t have a ketchup stain on it from the hot dog she’d grabbed when she’d filled up on gas in Great Falls. She gave herself points for clean jeans, kinda clean boots and a clean, baggy T-shirt—the perfect attire for a boys’ night at Leroy’s.

  Millie, honey, there’s nothing wrong with wearing a dress from time to time.

  She quickly swiped on some lip gloss, as if that show of femininity was enough to silence the memory of her mom’s often sad and critical voice. Her mom had wanted a girlie-girl daughter to share her love of clothes. Instead, she’d gotten a son who loved fashion and football with equal fervor and a daughter who couldn’t tell the difference between a Gucci and a Gabbana. Millie was far more Old Navy, last season and on sale, and she felt way more at home in jeans, fleeces and T-shirts. Her brother, Evan, did his best to make up for Millie’s fashion shortcomings and took their mom shopping whenever she visited him in California. Of course, he also took their dad to the football game, so really, he was the perfect adult child. Millie, on the other hand, knew her overriding contribution to the family was a constant source of parental worry.

  She drained the juice box with a slurp and sent a text to her mom and dad, who were out of town.

  Got home safely. Tell Uncle Ken happy birthday from me. Millie x

  With the job of reassuring-the-parents done, she checked her blood sugar. Eighty-six and rising. Awesome. And real food was coming. As Josh’s best man, she’d ordered up big on the hors d’oeuvres—BBQ meatballs, layered Mexican dip, stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped Jalapeño poppers and buffalo wings. If they weren’t serving food when she arrived, she’d ask them to start.

  The good and the bad thing about Bear Paw was that most of the older residents and anyone she’d gone to high school with knew she was diabetic. They didn’t comment if she ate at a different time from them, although they often had an opinion about what she ate. As a result, in her life outside of Bear Paw as a medical student, she only shared her lack of a functioning pancreas with people on a strictly need-to-know basis. She made sure that need didn’t arise very often at all, because she had a PhD in horrified and pitying looks, or worse yet—over-intrusive interest from people who saw her as a training specimen. All she wanted was to be known as Millie—although she wasn’t exactly certain who that was, but tonight wasn’t the time to tackle that particular chestnut.

  Throwing the car into drive, she shoulder-checked, pulled out onto the road and drove the last mile to Leroy’s. The parking lot was almost full, and some smart-ass cowboy had fashioned a rope noose and hung it over the door next to a banner that said, Another good man all tied up. Ducking to miss it, she pushed open the door, and a wall of noise and the malty scent of beer wafted out to greet her.

  “Millie!”

  “Millie’s here!”

  A welcoming roar went up from the cowboys and assorted businessmen who were gathered around the bar. They turned and raised their drinks to her.

  She grinned and tipped her imaginary hat. She knew all of them, either having treated them at the clinic when she’d worked there as a nurse or having bested them here at pool and darts. “Hey, guys. It’s good to be back.”

  “Millie, welcome home.” Ethan Langworthy, the librarian, greeted her in his quiet and gentle way.

  “Hey, Millie.” Josh gave her a warm hug and a perfunctory kiss on the cheek. It was a sharp contrast to the buttoned-up city doctor who’d arrived in Bear Paw just over a year ago. “It’s great to see you.”

  She hugged him back. “And you. Getting nervous?”

  “About the wedding?” He shook his head. “Not at all. About my parents spending a week in Bear Paw, yes. Katrina’s dad offered to host them out at Coulee Creek ranch, which probably means I owe him our firstborn child.”

  She punched him lightly on the arm. “They can’t be worse than when you first arrived in town with your fancy coffee and stinky French cheeses.”

  He gave a good-natured smile. “Your parents always greet me with open arms when I place my monthly gourmet food order.”

  “I can’t argue that, then, especially as by default you’re likely contributing to my generous birthday and Christmas presents.” She raised her hand toward the bar and gave the bartender a wave. He’d started at Leroy’s not long before she’d left for medical school. “Sparkling water, please, Shane.”

  “It’s a bachelor party, Millie. Moose Drool is mandatory,” he said, filling a glass with the amber liquid. “You can worry about your weight tomorrow.”

  And you’re home. Her gut tightened. Half of her was grateful Shane didn’t know about her diabetes, while the other half of her hated that she’d just taken a hit about her weight. She wasn’t obese, but then again, she was hardly willow thin, either. She knew this sort of banter was how guys talked to one another, and she’d never expected them to treat her any differently before. Tonight wasn’t the night to go all girlie on them.

  “A beer and pass the buffalo wings, Shane,” she said brightly. As for the alcohol, she’d have to bolus insulin for the carbs and make that one beer last the entire night. Turning back to Josh, she asked, “How’s Katrina?”

  “She says to say hi and told me to tell you that you’re not to party too hard tonight because she wants you in good shape at her girls’ night tomorrow.”

  “Is that code for me to stay sober so I can keep an eye on you?”

  He grinned. “Maybe, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen you even a little bit buzzed.”

  And you won’t. She’d been there, done that, years before he’d come to town, and it just wasn’t worth the health risk. She still carried the guilt, and that weighed her down enough.

  Pushing the past back where it belonged, she slapped him on the back in typical guy-style. “As the best man, it’s my job to make sure you don’t get injured when you inevitably fall off the mechanical bull, to guarantee no cowboy takes you outside and sits you backward on a horse and, as the designated driver, to get you home in one piece by midnight.”

  He slung his arm around her shoulder, the touch easy and friendly. “And that’s why I chose you to be my best man.”

  “That and the fact you couldn’t ask Ty Garver no matter how much you want him standing next to you,” she said sadly, thinking about the cowboy who�
�d fallen in love with Katrina years ago.

  “Well, yeah, there is that.” Josh sighed with heartfelt understanding. “And Will Bartlett’s not available. He couldn’t get anyone to cover him at MontMedAir for the weekend.”

  And there is a God. Not that she didn’t like Will; she did. In fact, last year, she’d liked the Aussie MontMedAir doctor just a little too much. Heat burned her cheeks at the embarrassing recollections. Having a crush at sixteen was normal; crushing on a work colleague at twenty-five probably got a listing in the DSM-5. The memory of last spring and summer was still excruciatingly embarrassing, given he’d barely noticed her other than as one of many people he came into contact with through work.

  Will was laid-back, easygoing and charming, and he had a way of making people feel appreciated and part of a team. That had been her undoing—being appreciated was powerful stuff, and Floyd Coulson, Bear Paw’s hospital administrator, could learn a thing or two from him. Given all that, she’d read way too much into Will’s generous praise, especially as he often said, “You’re the best, Millie,” when she’d accompanied him on MontMedAir retrievals.

  Following him on Twitter and pretending it was because of his #FOAMed tweets—free open access meducation—was borderline stalker behavior, although totally educational. What the guy didn’t know about emergency airway management wasn’t worth knowing. At least she’d come to her senses before clicking on Add Friend on his Facebook account, and for that, she was both proud and grateful. Sadly, she’d undone that bit of clear thinking after a traumatic medical evacuation last August.

  It was the fifth time she’d been the accompanying nurse out of Bear Paw, and they were airlifting two badly injured tourists who’d been involved in a motor vehicle accident. They’d flown out between two storm fronts, and the pilot had given her the all clear to check the patients’ vitals. She was out of her seat when the plane hit an air pocket, and she’d been thrown sideways, landing face-first in Will’s lap. She still got a hot and cold flash whenever she thought about it.