Just Right

by Jessie Gussman

“Yeah. Last I heard, he’d gotten a job in West Virginia in the coal mines, where they expect people to be blowing things up.”

  They all looked at each other and nodded silently. Sounded like that man had finally found his niche.

  Avery cleared her throat. “When is the tree trimming contest scheduled?”

  “Two o’clock,” the mayor answered.

  “I can do it.” Avery tugged on her sweater sleeves.

  “That would be fine,” the mayor said. “Except, it takes two people.”

  “I can’t help,” Jillian said. “I’m at the booth all day.”

  “I’ll do it.” Gator wanted to take his lips off and examine them. Where did those words come from? He was already doing the Lumberjack competition. Plus, it would put him in contact with Avery.

  The mayor nodded. “Well then. That’s fine.” He scribbled on his clipboard. “Do you want to decorate as a couple, or under the farm banner?”

  “No!” Avery almost shouted.

  Gator crossed his arms over his chest. What was that about?

  Jillian gave her an odd look too.

  “No?” The mayor’s pen hovered over his clipboard. “You’ve changed your mind?”

  “Uh, no.” Avery’s eyes slid to Gator’s, then skittered away. “Under the farm. We’ll do it for the farm.”

  He didn’t have much use for women. Except his mother. After what his ex had done to him, he had no interest in relationships or any kind of acquaintance with a woman where she might be able to try to fleece him, or show him how his money, or lack of it, was more important than any promises they made or vows they spoke. But he had to admit, Avery’s quick and adamant denial—like she wanted to make sure that no one thought they were in any kind of relationship—shocked him. If he were honest, he was a little offended. Not hurt. Just offended.

  “Okay then.” The mayor scribbled the last letter with a flourish, then looked up with his lips pinched together. “Thank you all so kindly for your help. I’ll see you Saturday.” The bells jingled as he walked out.

  There were a few beats of silence after the door closed. Gator still couldn’t quite believe he’d volunteered to decorate a Christmas tree with Avery. He’d never even bothered to watch the contest before. Did people plan this? Did they bring their own decorations? He had no idea. After Avery’s quick and strong denial of any kind of relationship, he didn’t even want to discuss it with her. But he’d never catered to his wants before.

  He cleared his throat. “So, how do we do the Christmas tree decorating contest?”

  “I don’t know. I just moved here this summer.”

  “Me too,” Jillian chimed in as the bell rang and a customer Gator didn’t recognize entered.

  He nodded to the man, woman, and the two small children. They greeted him back, and after making sure he wasn’t in line, walked to the counter and started talking about wrapping a tree with Jillian.

  Gator caught Avery’s eye. “I’m going back to the barn.” He didn’t have time to stand around and wonder about a tree trimming contest.

  Her eyes got big. Almost like she was panicking, and he remembered she didn’t want him tearing the precious barn down because she wanted to have some kind of fluffy little party.

  Women. Seriously.

  She didn’t say anything as she walked past him as he held the door.

  He closed it carefully behind them, wondering if she would turn and start yelling at him about how he couldn’t destroy the barn. Either that, or freeze him out until she got her way. Or maybe yell at him first, then lapse into the silent treatment. Yeah. That last one was the most likely.

  Avery walked beside him, taking two steps to his every one. Her head was bent like she needed to watch her step carefully. Her brown leather boots looked expensive to him and hardened his resolve.

  She was likely giving him the silent treatment and was only walking beside him so he knew it. Well, he wasn’t going to say anything and give her the chance to snub him.

  “I’ll call Ellie later tonight after things have calmed down for her and ask her about the contest,” Avery said.

  Gator stumbled. So, he wasn’t getting the silent treatment. “Great. I’ll talk to mom. Maybe she has some ideas.”

  “She probably has pictures of the winning trees from years past. She has pictures of everything else.”

  He shouldn’t be surprised that Avery knew that about his mom. “She probably does.”

  Avery shoved her hands on the back of her hips, her head still down. “I’ll get my stuff out of the barn. How soon do you think you’re going to start demolition?”

  This time Gator stumbled and almost fell. Avery stopped and turned immediately. “Are you okay?”

  “Uh. Yeah.” Surprised at how much he wanted to come back with an offer to hold off demo until she had her party, he slowly straightened. Surely, there wouldn’t be any harm in waiting another three weeks. Except the money. He really needed the money. Not for himself, but for his mother.

  Avery closed the short distance between them. “Did you sprain your ankle? It seems like you’re in pain.” She took a breath like she was going to say more, but then snapped her mouth shut. He almost wished she’d talk a little longer. It would give him time to gather his thoughts.

  “No. My ankle is fine.” His phone buzzed in its belt holder. He unlatched his device and glanced at the screen.

  From Bret Shuff, his best friend from high school.

  Still looking for a short job over the holidays?

  The heavy weight that seemed to push on his chest lifted. It might be nothing, but he was going to go with his gut.

  “When were you planning your party?”

  Her eyes widened as she jerked her head up, like she was wondering if she had heard him right.

  “Between Christmas and New Year’s.”

  He typed on his phone. Yes.

  “Could you do it the week before Christmas?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation.

  “Then I’ll hold off on demolition until then.”

  His phone buzzed again.

  I’ve got a rush job. Needs finished by next Saturday. Pays good.

  “That’s perfect.” Avery’s face fell. “Except, I originally wanted it before Christmas, but the guy who was coming to patch the barn floor couldn’t do it until the 23rd.”

  “See if he can change it.” He looked down at his phone and typed. I’m in.

  She shook her head, her lips flat. “He can’t. I already tried.”

  “Gator.”

  Avery and he turned together, although he knew just by the sound of the voice who it was. The familiar tension bubbled in his stomach. It had been two years since he signed her papers. He thought he’d forgotten that feeling.

  He hesitated, wishing Avery would walk away. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to have to introduce them, but Avery didn’t move.

  Kristen hadn’t changed at all. Still thin and tall. Athletic. Dark hair and tanned. He bit the bullet. “Avery, this is Kristen. Kristen, Avery.” He gave a small gesture between the two women. Maybe it would be enough.

  “I’m Gator’s wife.”

  He should have known it wouldn’t be. “Ex,” he ground out. Then he waited. If there was one thing he had learned, it was that she would talk when she wanted.

  “So nice to meet you, Avery.” Kristen held out a slender, but well-muscled hand.

  “I didn’t realize Gator was divorced.” Avery shook Kristen’s hand. Kristen made Avery seem extra small and curvy.

  Kristen ignored Avery, turning instead to him. “I’m only in town for a couple of days, Gator. I was hoping to talk to you.”

  “Maybe later. I’m busy right now.”

  Kristen gave Avery a thoughtful glance. Gator knew she wasn’t seeing what she thought she should. In her long boho-type skirt and thick corded sweater, Avery was obviously not an outdoorsy type. Her cheeks were pink, but her skin was white and delicate. Her loopy earrings and
long pink fingernails would look out of place holding a rifle or scaling a fish. Things Kristen and he had done all the time. He had thought their shared interests made them perfect for each other.

  He’d been wrong.

  “Gator.” Kristen didn’t pout, and she absolutely didn’t bat her lases. His name was a firm word from the lips of a woman who was used to fighting for what she wanted.

  “Not now.” Taking a huge gamble, Gator grabbed Avery’s hand. Maybe if he were honest with himself, he’d admit he’d been looking for an excuse to hold it again. It seemed to fit so perfectly in his. Still did. That frisson of feeling traveled up his arm again, hitting him straight in the heart. He told himself it was because they were so different. After all, the few times Kristen had allowed him to hold her hand, there had been no heat.

  He tugged. Avery came with no resistance, making him doubly glad he’d offered to wait to start on the barn.

  “I’ll catch you at your mom’s later,” Kristen called to their backs.

  As much as he wanted to completely ignore her, he made himself wave his hand in acknowledgement. He didn’t turn around.

  They were almost to the barn, and Gator was enjoying the walk and the feel of the woman beside him. The occasional brush of her arm against his. Funny, since he wasn’t sure he even liked Avery. But, with the tingles that still buzzed up his arm and sizzled in his heart, there could be no question about the attraction he felt. If there was a woman more different than him in the entire world, he had yet to meet her. Why was it this one that made his blood warm and his heart thump?

  “Kristen looks like the kind of woman who could give you a run for the money in the lumberjack competition.”

  “Yeah. She will. She shoots better than I do, too.” He hesitated. “I’m faster. She has better aim.”

  “She fishes and hunts and cooks over an open fire…”

  “Yeah. It’s that obvious?” He had no idea women could read each other so easily.

  Avery snorted. “I was actually being a little sarcastic.”

  “Oh. Well, it was all true.”

  “Seems like you’re perfect for each other.”

  “I’d thought that too.”

  Avery took a breath and let it out. Then she took another. “What happened?” Her voice sounded hesitant.

  “She found another guy just like me, only he had money.” Gator pulled his hand away to open the barn door. He missed the warmth of hers, especially with the depressing subject matter. Avery didn’t seem to judge, though it still rankled him that he hadn’t been enough, had enough, to keep his wife. “She wanted to buy a big game preserve, and that’s what we were working toward and saving for. Jace had the money, and if she went with him, she didn’t have to wait.”

  “In my experience, it’s the man who leaves,” Avery said softly. She shook her head, and her blond hair twisted in the light. Gator fisted his hand, too tempted to touch her to trust himself.

  She cleared her throat. “I think I’ll run over and see if your mother is up. Maybe she can give us some pointers on what we need or can do for the tree trimming competition. After all, he said the tree farm has won every year except one. I feel pressure.”

  “That’s fine. She can probably help you with your other booth, too.”

  Avery laughed. Maybe Christmas had gone to his head, because her laugh sounded like tinkling bells to him. A sweet sound he wouldn’t mind hearing again.

  “I don’t even know what that booth is, to tell the truth. If the mayor said, I didn’t hear.”

  “Me either.” He looked down at this cheerful, funny woman. It seemed that everything she did was exactly what he wanted to see, which was odd, since they were so very different.

  “I’ll get Miss Prissypants and her carrier and head over to see your mom.”

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “I won’t start demo, but I still need to get some measurements and make some estimates.”

  She smiled at him and he found himself wanting to step closer.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and backed out of the barn.

  Chapter Seven

  Gator wasn’t married.

  Avery stepped into the cool, dim barn interior. She closed the door and leaned against it. Her hand, still tingling, rested on her chest where her heart threatened to escape.

  She had to get a grip on her emotions. Men leave. It was a fact. She knew it. Actually, Gator made no bones about the fact that he was, indeed, leaving. Going back out west to his ranger job. What exactly he did, she wasn’t sure, but she was sure it happened in the “great outdoors.”

  As her eyes adjusted to the dim interior, she looked on the old hay bale where she’d left Miss Prissypants. The cat wasn’t there.

  This farm interlude had been fun for her, but her plan had always been to go back to the city. Whatever city had an orchestra where she could earn her chair in the brass section. She wasn’t an outdoorsy person and never would be.

  She’d forgotten that for a while between the shop and here. Forgotten that men always leave, and that Gator wasn’t a man who would work for her anyway. All she had to do was look at his ex—tanned and toned and looking like she could wrestle a grizzly. Or at least stand and shoot it, with her hiking boots and confident stride. Her fearless gaze made Avery feel like something soft and weak and helpless.

  Kneeling to look behind the hay bale, she called her cat. Nothing.

  Seeing that woman, who was the perfect match to Gator’s athletic outdoorsmanship, had been depressing. Until Gator had grabbed her hand. Then all sane thoughts had fled.

  Avery straightened up. It was perfectly normal to be attracted to a man. Just because it wasn’t something that happened to her every day, well, ever…

  And now she knew Gator wasn’t married, which she was sure made her subconsciously more susceptible to her feelings.

  Time to get back to work. Ellie and Fink needed Jillian and her to step up while they were gone with their son.

  She sent a quick text to Ellie, saying that she hoped everything was okay and to not worry about anything, while she walked around the perimeter of the barn floor. Miss Prissypants never wandered off. Hardly ever.

  Gator and she would do an amazing job on the tree trimming and win the contest for the farm. With that thought, she remembered she didn’t have Gator’s phone number.

  She had heard him go up the ladder. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the hole in the wall. It was possible the dogs were still there, but at least now she was pretty sure Gator wasn’t going to let them maul her on purpose.

  Miss Prissypants often found a comfortable place to wait, so Avery kept an eye out for her, but she wanted to get Gator’s number before she forgot.

  Reaching the place in the wall where the board was missing, she stuck her head out. Her heart lurched. The two ferocious dogs lay in the same spot they had been in earlier. Miss Prissypants lay curled between them. Sleeping.

  Avery gripped the sides of the opening. She didn’t want to do anything to disturb the dogs. Maybe they hadn’t realized her cat had curled between them, and if she woke them up, they would eat her.

  “Yeah. I thought it was kinda cute, too.” Gator’s voice came from above her on the right.

  Cute? It wasn’t cute. Miss Prissypants’ life was in danger.

  Breathe.

  Avery sucked a breath in, blew it out. Trying not to hyperventilate. Another.

  “Will they hurt her?” she whispered.

  “What’d you say?” he asked in a loud voice that caused the brown dog to open its eyes and perk up its ears.

  Avery gripped the barn walls tighter. If that dog made one threatening move toward Miss Prissypants, she would force her body out the hole and rescue her cat. Or die trying.

  “Will they hurt her?” she said louder.

  Gator grunted. “They haven’t yet.”

  “I’m not reassured.”

  Gator leaned down and waited until she looked at him.

  She fo
rced herself to hold his gaze.

  “Gladys, the black dog, is thirteen years old. She’s supposed to be a hunting dog, but she’s never been any good at it. She’d rather sleep.” He glanced back toward the dogs. “Finch, the one that’s looking at us, is fifteen. She had one litter of pups. They all died except for Gladys. The only time she refuses to listen to me is when some little kid has her by the ear. Or tail. Or whatever. She is the happy servant of any person shorter than three feet tall and forgets that I even exist.”

  “Not to be smart,” Avery said in a low, calm tone. “But how was that supposed to make me believe they won’t eat my cat?” She paused. “Or me? I’m taller than three feet.”

  Gator studied her for a moment. Then he shook his head and backed down the ladder, went over to the dogs and picked up Miss Prissypants. He walked over to Avery, stroking the cat’s head, and handed her through the hole.

  Avery grasped her pet, ignoring her awareness of where Gator’s hand had touched her own. Her hand smoothed over the soft fur while relief cooled her chest. “Thank you.”

  “You are not faking that fear, are you?”

  Avery pressed her face into her cat’s warm fur. She rubbed her cheek against it, enjoying the soft, comforting sensation. “I was bitten when I was little.”

  Gator nodded. He reached a hand up and leaned against the outside wall. “You ever thought of facing that fear?” His tone was conversational, not probing too deep. Which was probably why Avery felt she could be honest.

  She studied the black thumbnail on his hand. “No. It’s easier to avoid dogs. Most people keep them on a leash, and I don’t exactly frequent areas where dogs might be.”

  “Well, I’m not a big fan of cats. Not because I was bitten, but because they seem snotty.” He dropped his hand. “But yours seems like a decent one.”

  She opened her mouth to say thank you.

  He grinned. “She’s got good taste. She likes my dogs. Maybe we’ll have her over for dinner and a movie sometime.”

  Avery stared at Gator, coming to grips with this new side she hadn’t seen. He was joking. Right?

  “You could come too, I guess. Be dessert.”

  Her mouth dropped.