The First Time I Saw You

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “So you’re looking for a place to rent, just you?” he asked as he strode up the steps, still barefoot, then stopped before her and looked down. He saw her jaw firm as she glanced over to the kid beside her. When he took her in again, he didn’t miss the raised brow. She had caught his meaning.

  “This is Shaunty, my daughter. The room is for us—just us,” she added. “But it’s more important that it’s clean and reasonable and quiet.” She spoke matter of factly, and she looked him square in the eye, not lingering on his chest at all. Her gaze told him she wasn’t buying anything. He didn’t know why he found it amusing.

  “Right, well, come in. I’ll show you around.” He pulled open the door and gestured, so she went in first and said something to the little girl, who took off her shoes. Elizabeth then slipped off her sandals and stepped into the house, which opened into the living room. It had wood floors, bold gray walls, a flat-screen TV, and a sofa opposite. That was it. “Sorry,” he said. “I just finished renovating and haven’t had a chance to buy furniture yet.”

  The truth was that he didn’t have a dime to spare to buy anything else.

  “This is nice,” she said as she walked in, and he watched her taking in the open-concept kitchen before glancing over to the empty dining room with double doors that went out back to a deck. She was walking into the kitchen, running her hand over the countertop, and taking in the appliances, the double-wide fridge, the dishwasher, the gas range. He couldn’t help noticing the way she moved, and her daughter stayed right beside her, so well behaved.

  “Uh, we’d share the fridge,” he said. “I’d clear you some shelves to keep your food.”

  What was he doing? He didn’t know a thing about her, and then there was her kid.

  She didn’t seem surprised, as she inclined her head. “So who else lives here?” At least she was asking the right questions.

  “Just me.”

  She nodded. “Can I see where the bedroom is, the bathroom?”

  He lifted his hand, the hand that had been crossed over his chest. “Of course, this way.” He led her across the living room and down a short hall to the first room on the right. The door was open, and he flicked on the light, taking in the small room with its cream walls and white trim.

  “This is the room,” he said. “There’s a small closet with shelves, so you’d be sharing. There’s another bedroom next door, but it’s stuffed with all my junk, so I won’t be renting it out.”

  He looked down at her, seeing the top of her dark hair. It was deep and rich. The color shimmered, and her hair fell in soft waves to midback. She was so tiny, maybe five two, three tops. Then he took in the little girl, who watched him in a way that made him positive she knew he was checking out her mom before she stated, “Me and Mom sleep together,” as if that was everything.

  He was surprised she was still watching him. Shaunty…an unusual name. Elizabeth ruffled the little girl’s hair and tossed her an easy smile before taking her hand in a protective motherly grip. When she looked up at him, the smile disappeared. “So it doesn’t come furnished?” she asked, and for a minute he thought he saw something hopeful in her face.

  “No, sorry. As I said on the phone, it doesn’t. That’s not a problem, is it?”

  She just firmed her lips, pink full lips, and then shook her head. “Of course not,” she replied, and she said nothing else as she stood in the bedroom, holding her little girl’s hand, waiting for him to do what?

  He stepped out of the bedroom. “Bathroom is across the hall, which would be yours. I have my own in the master suite.” His own, he thought, with a soaker tub and a steam shower, another feature he hadn’t been about to cut back on. He opened the door and flicked on the light. “Bath and shower combo, storage under the sink.”

  “Oh, Mom, look, two sinks!” Shaunty said. “And two mirrors!”

  “I just need to pick up a shower curtain, but this would be yours,” Gabriel said.

  “Very nice, thank you,” Elizabeth said. “And there’s laundry?”

  He wondered what accent he was picking up in her voice. It was soft, just a hint of something that said she was from a little further south, maybe.

  “At the back door, other side of the kitchen.” He started down the hall, and she fell in beside him. The little girl, he noticed, was curious about him, from the glances she kept tossing his way.

  “So are you from around here?” he said. “Tell me about yourself.” He gestured toward her as they walked through the kitchen to the laundry area at the back door, where the laundry basket was on top of the front-loading dryer. He spotted an unfolded clean white shirt and reached for it, finally pulling it on.

  “Not much to say about me,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve been here in Columbia Falls for close to ten years. Other than that, I’m hardworking. It’s just me and Shaunty. I work part time now at the Moto Auto parts shop, at the front counter. My hours were just cut, though, from full time to half time, leaving me with just four three-hour shifts a week. I’m looking for a different job with more hours, but there’s not a lot available right now, which is why I need the room only. It’s all I can afford. Just so we’re being up front here, I’m single. Was in a relationship, and it didn’t end well, and I’m not looking to get into anything anytime soon. Shaunty is four, goes to preschool during the day and daycare when I’m working. We’re quiet and expect the same.”

  She crossed her arms, and he couldn’t help noticing her amazing figure again. She still hadn’t smiled. Man, she appeared so serious, and he didn’t miss her demand.

  “Of course, it goes both ways, mutual respect and compatibility,” he said. Now, why would he add that? “I mean, not compatible in the relationship kind of way, but yeah, it kind of is, like living together, sharing a roof…” He took in the little girl looking up at him. Maybe she was waiting for him to pull out the foot he’d jammed in his mouth.

  “What else do you need to know?” she asked. “Because I’d like to take it. It’s clean, nice, reasonable.” She lifted her fingers and glanced down to her daughter as if they both agreed, and they both nodded. “And close to the bus stop.”

  “And don’t forget the park, Mom,” Shaunty said. She was so cute, the way she talked.

  “Right, how could I forget? The park is up the street.” She actually winked at her daughter.

  Gabriel knew he needed to ask her more questions, more anything, but when he opened his mouth, all that came out was, “Well, great. So when do you want to move in?”

  Chapter 3

  “Don’t look at him, don’t smile. Whatever you do, just get those thoughts out of your head,” Elizabeth said under her breath as she stood with a big apple box just outside the gate of her new home.

  Damn, she was still rattled after meeting Gabriel Friessen, with his unmistakable sexy eyes that made her breath catch in her lungs, and that had prompted the pep talk and reminder that nothing good ever came from tall, dark, and handsome. So she juggled the box and reached around to unlatch the gate.

  “Oh, let me get that for you, sugar,” her mother said, unlatching the gate for Elizabeth. Chloe had brown hair and a short cut that resembled a football. Her ginormous earrings, a mix of brass and silver, dangled to her shoulders.

  “Mom, you know dressing up for moving day kind of defeats the purpose of helping me move,” Elizabeth said.

  Her mom had a blue handbag that matched her ridiculous outfit looped over her arm. She wore a long, flowing loose sundress of mixed blues that stopped at mid-calf, with three-inch wedge heels and the same plastered-on makeup she wore every day. Elizabeth had seen her mom without makeup only once, and it had taken her a minute to get her brain to realize that the woman was in fact her mother.

  “Nonsense,” Chloe said. “You should always put your best foot forward and look your very best every time you step out the door. I’m even opening the gate for you, since you can’t do that yourself because your hands are full… Frank, are you bringing those bags up? Come on, hurr
y up now,” her mom called out over her shoulder to her dad.

  Frank was a big man, tall, with deep eyes, and he always shopped in the extra-large section. He lifted his hand and, she was pretty sure, grunted. At the same time, her mom was still talking, or nagging, about something as she walked away. Elizabeth, like her dad, had stopped listening after the first few words. Chloe seemed to go on and on forever.

  She hoofed it up the five wide stairs to the gorgeous three-bedroom house, which had a sweet homey feel the likes of which she’d never experienced, and to boot, it was first class, the kind of home she’d dreamed of having. She still couldn’t believe she’d told Gabriel the unfurnished room wasn’t a problem, though. Well, she’d been through worse, so having to camp out on a blowup mattress and use boxes to store their clothes would be a small inconvenience, considering she now had a place for her and Shaunty.

  She pulled the keys to the front door from the pocket of her faded blue jeans, the keys Gabriel had given her yesterday, but the front door opened before she could use them. There stood mister tall, dark, and handsome himself, this time appearing somewhat decent, wearing a faded pair of jeans, a red T-shirt, and a smile that only had her frowning.

  “Oh, hi, I didn’t think you’d be here,” she stated. Actually, for a minute, she wondered if she’d snarled it. It was what she had hoped, even though the opposite was true, if she was being honest.

  “It’s Saturday, my day off. Thought I told you I’d be around.” He stepped out the door, leaving it open, angling his head to the side and looking around her as he took in her parents. She could still hear her mom talking. Well, words were coming out of her mouth, but she wasn’t listening to any of it.

  “My parents.” She gestured toward them, juggling the box, and almost dropped it.

  “Let me.” His hand covered hers, and he took the box from her before she could say anything. She pulled her hand back from the touch, which shot fire through her. There was no way in hell she was going to let herself feel that, so she fisted her hand and forced a smile to her face.

  “You know what? I can carry my own boxes.” She forced the words out and took in the moment he registered what she’d said. He actually handed her back the box and stepped away, lifting his hands in the air. Of course, now she felt like a first-class bitch, but boundaries were imperative, and the last thing she ever planned on happening was getting sucked into another pair of dreamy eyes, a killer smile, and a rugged body she could stare at all day. No way. Been there, done that.

  “After you…” he started just as the voices behind them grew louder. Her mom was walking up the sidewalk carrying nothing other than her handbag, whereas her dad was carrying two big suitcases. Her mom went on and on about something she didn’t have a clue about.

  “Mom, Dad, this is Gabriel,” she called out as she stepped into the house and glanced at the clean floors and her shoes. “Is it okay if we leave our shoes on?” she said as her dad nodded and her mom shook Gabriel’s hand.

  “Oh, so nice to meet you,” Chloe said. “Gabriel, is it? Tell me, what is your family name? Who are your people, and where are you from?”

  Elizabeth took in what she could only assume was a thrown expression on Gabriel’s face. Yup, that was exactly what her mom was famous for.

  He darted a glance back to her and shrugged. “Ah…don’t worry about your shoes.”

  She kept walking, hearing him say something to her mom, who she knew would be dogging him with questions, a lot of questions. Then she’d report back to Elizabeth and everyone else exactly what she’d learned.

  She stepped into her bedroom, her and Shaunty’s, and instantly had to take a breath, a deep breath, as she felt a huge chunk of the tension she’d been carrying fall away. She rested the box of her photos and personal junk on the floor in the corner and took in the closed blinds. The room was stuffy and warm. She pulled the blinds up and took in the window, the latch, but when she flicked it open and pulled, nothing happened. She flicked the latch the other way, and again nothing budged.

  “What are you doing, Lizzy?” her dad asked. She could hear him huffing as if he’d run up the street, but she knew it was all that fried food, bags of chips and everything else, that he was always eating.

  “Trying to open this window, but it’s stuck or something…” She pulled again, yanked with both hands.

  “Ah, let me open it. You see, you just need to put muscle into it, is all.” Her dad put down the big orange suitcases she’d had forever. The empty room had something of an echo.

  She stepped away and lifted her hand. “Fine, you see if you can open it, and I’ll go get the rest of my things.” Elizabeth stepped out of the bedroom and started to the front door, hearing her dad grunting as he yanked and yanked, then started cursing at the window, something else he did with anything that wasn’t working for him.

  “So you have how many brothers and sisters, and where do they live?” Her mom had Gabriel in the kitchen, where she was opening up the fridge and still peppering him with questions. For the most part, Gabriel seemed to be holding up okay.

  “Hey, great, you got a second, Elizabeth?” He turned his head so fast from her mom, and his expression said everything.

  “Sure.” She started over to the kitchen.

  “Lizzy, have you seen in here, this fridge? There’s no food in here. He has no real food. Where are the pickles, ketchup, sour cream, Cheez Whiz? It’s just greens, and what’s this here…” Her mom was actually pulling things out of the fridge and setting them on the counter as she held up a jar. “Kim…chi? What is this stuff? Oh, look, there’s even tofu and MCT oil.” Her mom was really going to town.

  “That’s kimchi. I eat a really clean diet,” he stated.

  “Well, I’ve never heard of such a thing. Can’t taste any good.” Of course, she was still going on about the food.

  “Mom, Mom…” Elizabeth actually stepped forward and tapped the counter with her hand to get her mom’s attention.

  “What, baby?” The way she said it as she turned around, holding a bag of bean sprouts, she sounded as if she was interrupting her.

  “Put the food back,” Elizabeth said and gestured with her finger, then flicked her hand again and again to the fridge. “Seriously, Mom, put it back and stop it already. That food belongs to Gabriel.”

  “I don’t know how you call this food. Where are the Hungry-Man TV dinners in your freezer, the Tater Tots…” Her mom was still talking as she turned around and put the lettuce, the greens, the jars back in the fridge.

  Gabriel was now walking around the island, his eyes glued to her. “Can I talk to you a second, outside?”

  “Of course,” she said. She didn’t realize he was barefooted until he walked to the open front door. She could hear her dad from the bedroom.

  “Come on, you motherfucker, open!” he said, followed by an oomph sound.

  Gabriel turned his sharp gaze her way and then back down the hall to where her dad was still cursing and yelling.

  She gestured helplessly. “Window’s stuck. Dad’s trying to open it.”

  His eyes widened. “Ah!” He hurried down the hall to her bedroom. “Hey, just hold up and don’t pull—”

  She heard what sounded like breaking glass. “Oh, shit, no!” she muttered and jogged to the room to find a hole where her window should be. The blinds were hanging to one side, and one of the panes of glass was shattered on the floor.

  Chapter 4

  It really was on him, Gabriel thought. He should have said something about the window. It had a defective latch that opened only when he slid the lock to the center. It was one of the few things he was planning on talking to Elizabeth about, but then her dad, a big lug of a guy, had taken care of the problem in another way. Now he was staring at broken glass, a hole he’d need to fix, and the back-and-forth arguing from Frank and Chloe, Elizabeth’s odd and eccentric nosy parents.

  “I am so sorry,” Elizabeth said, and he took in her hand pressed flat to her chest, t
he sweetheart neckline of her faded blue tank showing a hint of cleavage.

  “It’s fine,” he said, though it wasn’t, really. Now he’d have to put out for a new window, and windows weren’t cheap.

  “No, it’s not fine. I’ll pay for it, of course, and clean it up.” She was already kneeling down on the floor, about to pick up the glass.

  “No, Elizabeth, I’ll get a broom and sweep it up—”

  Chloe interrupted. “Just tell me where your broom is. Frank here will sweep it up,” she said, and he noted the hint of a southern accent as she stepped in and gestured to the mess.

  “It’s in the laundry room. Just let me grab the garbage can to dump all this in.”

  Gabriel stepped out of the room, taking in his bare feet, and he stopped at the open front door, hearing the voices of Elizabeth and her parents. He shoved his feet into his sneakers and went into the laundry room to grab the broom and dust pan before stopping again at the front door and spotting one of the empty plastic cans by the gate. He leaned the broom against the wall and went outside, grabbed the plastic can, and walked back in the house with it, then hoofed it down the hall and saw all three pair of eyes turn to him.

  “Oh, we’ll take that from you,” Chloe said. “Frank, you can clean this mess up…” The broom was taken from his hand, the garbage can too, and Elizabeth was rolling her eyes and walking his way.

  “You got a second?” she said as she stepped out of the room and into the hall. “Again, I am so sorry about the window. My dad tries to help, but…” She gestured helplessly.

  “No, it’s no biggie. I’ll get another window in.” And be a few hundred more bucks in the hole, he thought. “But we should square up a few other things. I haven’t seen your little girl, Shaunty?”

  She smiled as she stepped outside onto the front porch. She had an incredible smile. “She’s with my sister, Ruby. She said she’s taking her to the park, but that’s more a ruse to take her to the shopping mall, where she’s likely going to come home with a few too many useless toys, outfits she can’t wear, and things she doesn’t need.”