When He Found Me (Road to Refuge Book 1)

by Victoria Bylin

  “About what?”

  “There’s a problem.”

  Cody interrupted in a loud voice. “Mommy, why is that man here?”

  She gripped his shoulder in an effort to steer him to the play area. “I’ll tell you later. It’s time to play with the train.”

  The boy glared at her. “I don’t want to.” After three days of travel, he was on the verge of a meltdown.

  Irritation flickered in Kim’s eyes. “So what’s the problem?”

  Cody pulled away from her. “I want to know now. Mommy, who is he?”

  MJ gripped both of her son’s shoulders and lowered her chin. “Cody, you need to play with the toys while I take care of business.”

  “No!”

  “Hey, Cody.” The voice belonged to Shane Riley. “Where’s that train?”

  His mouth agape, the boy stared at Shane. MJ had seen that expression before—in grocery stores when they saw families together, in church when a dad carried a child on his shoulders. Cody’s hunger for a father was like a baby’s desire for milk. No way could MJ let her son get close to Shane Riley. Cody would surely get his heart broken. Until she knew where she stood with a hysterectomy, she and Cody needed to keep their distance from men, especially men who were good-looking and kind.

  Cody wiggled out of her grasp and pointed to the play area. “The train’s over there. Want to see it?”

  Shane grinned. “Sure. Trains are cool.”

  Cody led the way to the toys with Shane following. Grateful, MJ turned to Kim. “I’ve changed my mind about using the apartment.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s personal.” No way would she confide in Kim.

  “But it’s a good plan.”

  “Not anymore.”

  Kim’s mouth hardened into a line. MJ’s refusal to go along with the strategy made the real estate agent look bad, and Kim didn’t like it.

  Shane came back to the women without Cody, took in Kim’s frown, then focused on MJ. Her cheeks caught fire under his gaze. Bravely, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

  Shane broke the silence. “So what’s the mix-up?”

  Kim put on a rueful smile. “I feel terrible about it. Maybe we should sit down.” She led them to a sitting area with a sofa and two armchairs. “Would either of you like a soft drink? Water?”

  “Water,” Shane answered.

  “A Coke,” MJ replied.

  Kim’s high heels tapped down the hall. MJ took the couch, and Shane sat in one of the chairs. “You know S is for Shane. What does MJ stand for?”

  “Melissa June, but no one calls me Melissa.” Except my mother. “My last name is Townsend. My mother is the high school principal.”

  “My boss.”

  MJ merely nodded.

  “Well, MJ,” he said, pausing on her name, “what’s this problem we have?”

  “One of Kim’s coworkers rented out my house by mistake. I have to sell it, so I can’t honor a six-month lease. I’m really sorry, but you’ll have to find another place to live.”

  He made a humming sound, relaxed back in the chair, and lightly drummed his fingers. Kim arrived with the Coke and the water. She handed out the beverages, then sat on the corner of the couch between MJ and Shane. “It looks like MJ started explaining. I feel just awful.”

  Shane shrugged. “Mistakes happen.”

  MJ’s shoulders relaxed. “Thanks for understanding.”

  “Yes,” Kim agreed. “I know how much you liked the house. It’s too bad the garage apartment didn’t work out.”

  “What about the apartment?” His brows lifted with interest.

  “Never mind,” Kim said hurriedly. “It’s off the table.”

  Shane turned to MJ. It seemed wrong to leave him dangling. “Kim thought Cody and I could live in the apartment above the garage in exchange for a reduction in your rent, but it would never work.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “I want to sell fast,” she explained. “You’d have to keep the house neat so Kim could show it. Strangers will be walking through. I’m sure you don’t want the inconvenience.”

  Oh yes, he did. Shane liked everything about MJ Townsend. She’d been gracious about the shoes, a gift that could have been awkward, and she was firm with Kim, who struck him as pushy. The redhead had Hollywood good looks, but MJ had a natural prettiness that combined poise, determination, and genuine caring. She intrigued him in every way.

  He saw no reason to break the lease, and he had two good ones to keep it. For one thing, he wanted to live close to the best gym in Refuge. The other reason concerned his guilty conscience. If he helped MJ, he could imagine someone helping Daisy.

  All business, he sat forward in the chair. “Let’s negotiate.”

  Kim perked up. “Sounds good to me.”

  MJ glared at her. “There’s nothing to negotiate.”

  Laughter bubbled from Kim’s throat. “There’s always room to negotiate. Now”—she turned to Shane—“if you’re willing to put up with the lockbox, we can show the house by appointment only. Frankly, it needs work before I can list it, and we’re near the end of the selling season. I don’t expect much traffic.”

  MJ’s scowl deepened, a reaction Shane shared. Kim should have been representing her client’s interests, not her own. He decided to get Kim out of the way. “I’d like to know what else is available. Would you pull up some other rentals for me?”

  “Of course.”

  After Kim left, Shane focused on MJ. “Here’s what I’d like to do. I’ll take the apartment over the garage. You and Cody can have the house and deal with the lockbox and whatever you need to do to sell the house. I figure it’ll take some time, right?”

  “Yes. Both to prepare it and to sell.”

  “So it’ll be at least a few months before I need to find another place. If you provide meals, laundry, and housekeeping, I’ll pay the full rent.”

  She huffed. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Why?”

  “You’d be paying too much.”

  “Not if you factor in what I’d pay to eat out every night. I’ve done it. It gets old.”

  She hesitated, then frowned. “You’d still be paying too much.”

  He didn’t care about a few dollars in rent. His future depended on rehabilitating his knee. “Do you know why I picked your house?”

  “Why?”

  “It’s a block from the best gym in town. I tore up my knee in a car accident. I don’t need a big house, but I do need exercise equipment.”

  She grimaced in sympathy but still shook her head. “I’m sorry, but the rental agreement won’t work.”

  “Why not?”

  “It just won’t.” Another blush painted her cheeks pink, matching her T-shirt and the stripes on the shoes. He’d been right about pink being her color. If her stubbornness hadn’t already given away her awareness of him as a man, the blush would have. He decided to press. “Are you a good cook?”

  She arched her brows at him. “Cody thinks so, but he likes hot dogs.”

  “So do I.” Some of his best memories included hot dogs.

  She hesitated, then shrugged. “I’m a decent cook, but this doesn’t feel right. It’s not fair to you.”

  He knew her needs, but she didn’t know his. That omission turned her into a charity case, which she wasn’t. “I’m not doing this to be nice. Consider it a business arrangement between you, me, and a third party.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s a long story—one that involves my sister.”

  Her next breath was soft and tense, the sound a woman made after a kiss, in the moment when she didn’t know what would happen next, or what she wanted to happen.

  She looked past him through the window to the street, probably weighing her financial needs against her worries. He didn’t push. The decision was hers, but he hoped she’d say yes.

  “All right,” she said in a tentative voice. “But I don’t want Cody to bot
her you.”

  “He won’t.”

  “And we’ll need a schedule for meals.”

  “That’s fine.”

  “I’ll clean the apartment once a week. Would that be enough?”

  “Plenty.” He kept things neat, and if the bathroom got bad, he knew what to do with a can of Lysol.

  “That leaves laundry.”

  Shane grinned. “Be prepared, because there’s a lot of it with those trips to the gym.”

  Joking, she wrinkled her nose. “Maybe I should charge you more.”

  “Maybe you should.”

  He kept his voice light, but talking about household chores reminded him of Daisy. With their nomadic childhood, he knew the value of a washer and dryer. Having met MJ in a Laundromat, he suspected she did as well.

  She squared her shoulders. “I guess we have a deal.”

  They traded a look that lasted a moment too long, then she turned her attention to the hall where Kim was approaching with a handful of printouts. Shane stood as she neared the couch. “MJ and I worked it out. She’s taking the house and I’m living in the apartment.”

  “Excellent!” Kim tossed the printouts in the trash and sat. “I’m glad things worked out. It’s best for everyone.”

  Including Kim, Shane thought.

  MJ turned to her. “We need to get the apartment ready.”

  “I knew we had a problem, so I sent a crew over yesterday. They’re painting now, and you’re not to worry about the cost. I made a big mistake, and it’s important to me to fix it. Tomorrow the crew will bring furniture from the house, and Shane can move in after four o’clock.”

  “Sounds good.” He hunkered forward, ready for anything. “Let’s sign the lease.”

  Kim opened a green folder and removed the rental agreement. As she wrote in changes, he and MJ initialed them. When the signing was over, they made plans to prepare the apartment for Shane to move in.

  On his way to the door, he stopped to say good-bye to Cody. “We’ll play catch sometime, okay?”

  “Okay.” The boy’s eyes lit up. They were blue, not brown like his mother’s, and Shane wondered about Cody’s father. Did the guy pay child support? Apparently not.

  As he pushed through the door, Kim followed. “I feel terrible about the mix-up. I’d like to make it up to you.”

  “There’s no need.”

  “But I want to.” When they reached his Tahoe, she tipped her face up to his. A sultry gleam shadowed her hazel eyes. “How about dinner? We can talk about decorating the apartment.” Laughing softly, she fluttered her hand. “If you leave it up to me, I’ll do it in animal prints. You know, something wild and free.”

  Shane was surprisingly annoyed. He wanted to chase, not be chased. As for being caught, he wanted to do the catching. To his embarrassment, he’d never been with a woman. That was part of the fallout from his Preacher Man days. He’d been a poster boy for sexual purity, a burden he was now eager to shed, but he wanted a relationship, not something casual, and Kim didn’t interest him.

  She needed to forget about tiger stripes, so he said, “I like brown.” He didn’t. He hated brown. He hoped she hated it, too.

  She laughed as if he’d told a joke. “Then brown it is. Maybe we can do dinner another time?”

  “Maybe.”

  He didn’t mean it, but a flat-out refusal would have been rude. As Kim went into the office, he looked through the window at MJ. She was seated at the play table with Cody, having a serious conversation. He hoped their agreement would alleviate some of the stress in her life, even give her a reason to smile. He liked her, plain and simple. If he had dinner with anyone, it would be MJ. He’d do the asking, and he planned to do it soon.

  Chapter 6

  Getting the apartment ready in twenty-four hours took all the energy MJ could muster. After the three-day drive, she wanted to collapse on her own soft bed. Instead she joined forces with Kim’s crew to turn a drab, dusty playroom into a home for Shane.

  The painters worked late into the night, turning the stale white walls to creamy ivory, and another team washed windows inside and out. In the morning, movers carried furniture from the house to the apartment, arranging it while she made the bed and hung bath towels. Last, she wrote out a menu and list of housekeeping questions about Shane’s preferences, everything from food choices to laundry soap. He was paying her well, and she wanted to do an excellent job.

  Cody was playing next door with his new friend Brandon, a fellow first grader. Brandon’s mother, Tracee Anderson, a longtime neighbor, had offered to watch Cody while MJ played landlord.

  Enjoying a moment of quiet, MJ watched through her own kitchen window for Shane’s arrival. At precisely four o’clock, he pulled into the driveway in a large SUV. Notes in hand, she stepped outside.

  He climbed out of the big vehicle and waved. “Hey, there.”

  “Hi.” She hugged her clipboard. “Kim’s crew worked fast. I hope you like what we’ve done.”

  “Let’s see it.”

  He motioned for MJ to lead the way up the outdoor stairs. She climbed them as easily as she walked, but Shane moved slowly. When he reached the landing, she stepped inside the apartment and swept her arm to indicate the entire room. “What do you think?”

  He walked in behind her, removed his sunglasses, and took in décor that mixed the Old West with modern conveniences.

  When he didn’t speak, she wondered if she’d misjudged his taste. “We can make changes if you don’t like it.”

  “I like it all.” His eyes were on the wooden divider that walled off the queen-sized bed. “Those panels look like old saloon doors.”

  “They are.” She stepped to the middle section and pointed at a hole shaped like a nickel. “Do you see that? It’s allegedly from a shot fired by Butch Cassidy.”

  Shane grinned. “True or not, it makes a good story.”

  “Look around. When you’re done, we’ll discuss a cleaning schedule and the foods you like.”

  “Other than hot dogs?”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, but Cody would eat them every day if I let him.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Next door with a friend.”

  Shane’s gaze lingered on her face. “He’s a nice kid.”

  “Thank you.” She didn’t want to talk about Cody. She wanted to stick to her menus and schedules and the things that made Shane Riley a tenant. “So the place looks okay?”

  “It’s perfect.” His gaze lingered on her grandfather’s desk. A roll-top from the 1890s, it was designed for a human being instead of a computer. Furniture from her grandfather’s formal living room—a leather sofa, oak tables, hurricane lamps, and a flat-screen TV—filled the living area. She and Cody wouldn’t miss any of it, because they would be hanging out in the family room near the kitchen.

  “Check out the bathroom.” She gestured again like a tour guide and felt silly.

  He walked past her and peered into the bathroom with its utilitarian fixtures and faded yellow tile.

  “The shower’s clean but it’s old,” she said, raising her voice slightly. “I plan to hire someone to re-grout.”

  “I’ll do it,” he offered. “It’s an easy job.”

  “But you shouldn’t have to.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  She didn’t want him to do her any favors, but arguing made her seem defensive, even silly, so she swallowed a protest.

  Shane returned to the living area. “Did Kim do all this or did you?”

  “Me.”

  He scanned the room again, a faint smile on his face. “I’m glad. I told her I liked brown.”

  “Glad?” MJ was confused. She hadn’t used any brown. She liked bright colors and wanted the apartment to be cheerful. “If you don’t like the colors, I’ll change it.”

  “No,” he said quickly. “It’s perfect. I wasn’t serious about the brown.”

  She tipped her head to the side. “Then why—”

  “I w
as afraid of tiger stripes.”

  “Oh.” MJ recalled Kim joking about animal prints being sexy when they discussed decorating, then she had called Shane “eye candy” in a tone that made MJ uncomfortable. “No chance of that with me.” She had given Shane her grandfather’s hardwood bedroom set and selected a homey plaid comforter that brought out the luster of the mahogany stain.

  So why hadn’t Kim mentioned Shane’s color preference? No mystery there. Kim, practically drooling over Shane’s good looks, had asked twice about how they met. MJ explained they had crossed paths on the road, but that was all.

  Kim had seemed pleased. “So he’s not taken?”

  “Not by me.”

  MJ fought a fresh wave of envy. What would it be like to date and flirt without the threat of a hysterectomy, or the stigma of HPV? Would she ever know that freedom? Holding in a sigh, she sat on the couch and opened her folder.

  Shane dropped down next to her, and they went to work. As if she were meeting with a sales rep at SassyGirl, she quizzed him about his favorite foods. He wanted healthy and lean, whole grains, salads, and veggies. He disliked soggy bacon and rye bread.

  “I really do like hot dogs,” he added.

  “We’ll have them sometime.”

  He lazed back on the couch. “If you have a grill, I’ll barbecue them. That’s the best.”

  She couldn’t let that happen. A shared meal could lead to laughter, smiles, and the deep conversation she craved but couldn’t risk. “Sorry. No grill.”

  “Then I’ll buy one.”

  No! No! No! She prayed for ice to form around her heart. Then she wondered if he liked spicy mustard or regular. Scolding herself, she handed him the menu she’d written in a calendar format, seven days a week for the first month. “Does this look all right?”

  He studied it for a moment. “Let’s leave Friday and Saturday open. I’ll be on my own.”

  He’d be dating, of course. Maybe Kim. Pathetically jealous, she said, “All right.”

  He continued to read her notes, commenting as he went. “Don’t worry about lunches. I’ll eat at school.”

  “I went to that high school.” She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “I hope you like fish sticks.”