by Rye Hart
“You done?” he asked.
“You going to tell me your name?”
“Will it get you to stay still so I can patch you up properly?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Brian.”
“Do you have a last name?”
“No,” he said.
“Murphy,” the little girl said.
My eyes peeked over his shoulder to the small girl standing across the room as his head whipped around.
“Hush, Lanie,” Brian said. “What have I told you about talking to strangers?”
“Don’t do it until you’re here,” she said.
“Sounds like she’s got ya there,” I said, grinning.
Panning his gaze back to me, he propped my foot against his chest. The wet warmth of his skin sent goosebumps up my skin as I sighed. I clenched my body, trying not to shudder as I curled my toes into his muscles. My body wanted to feel any part of him he would allow me as my tits stood at attention behind the material of my bra. What the hell was wrong with me?
I watched as Brian took out some antiseptic and a pair of tweezers. I knew exactly what he was gunning for first, and I tried to pry my leg away. His eyes flew up to mine as his hand came down onto my foot, steadying his hold on me as my eyes began to water.
“I’ll make it quick,” he said.
One by one, he plucked every splinter out from beneath my skin. Some I couldn’t feel at all, while others hurt like hell, but not once did his hand let up from my foot. His touch was strong. Commanding and domineering. But it wasn’t forceful, like my ex’s. He wasn’t trying to control my movements, he was only trying to steady them.
Tossing the tweezers into the sink, he took out some alcohol wipes. With every swipe he took, my leg jumped. Pain shot up my thigh and I hissed and bit back curses, trying not to startle the little girl in the corner. I saw the nanny trying to hurry her out of the room as a tear rolled down my cheek, but the little girl was pitching a fit every time she was moved.
“Leave her be, Tanya. The crying’s distracting.”
My leg jumped as Brian rolled over a deep gash and his hardened gaze flickered up to mine.
“And so is that,” he said.
“Sorry, it hurts.”
“Then don’t go walking on wood that looks unstable.”
“I had no idea it was unstable,” I said.
“Shining a simple light on it would’ve told you everything you needed to know.”
“Oh? And how’s that?” I asked.
“If it’s splintering from the floor, it’s not to be walked on,” he said.
Fuck. Like the splinters on the front porch I had seen as I walked up.
He tossed the bloodied alcohol wipes into the sink as well then grabbed gauze and an ace bandage. He layered some sort of goopy solution on my shin, causing me to wince as I tried not to jump.
He wrapped up my leg and then offered me some Tylenol and a glass of water.
“You good?” he asked as he took the glass from me.
“I think so, yes.”
“Good. Can you walk?”
I jumped down from the kitchen counter as his arms reached out to catch me. I collapsed against him, hissing as pain shot up through my knee. I’d really done a number on my shin , which meant I wasn’t going to be able to clean the house like I’d planned.
And how the hell was I going to afford to repair that damn staircase?
“Yep. I can walk,” I said.
“Doesn’t look like it,” Brian argued.
“Would you put on a damn shirt, please?” I asked.
His eyes locked hard onto mine before he turned his head toward the little girl in the corner. I sighed before I mumbled an apology, then began limping over to the doorway.
I needed to get back to the cabin and figure out what the hell my next move was going to be. I’d had enough in savings to last me three months, but now that the cabin would need extensive repairs, I had no idea how I was going to make it livable on what I had.
I was feeling overwhelmed, and I was ready to leave.
“I’m Lanie,” said a little voice.
“Lanie, back up,” Brian said.
My watery gaze drifted over to the child in the corner as she came up to me.
“Hello, Lanie. I’m Amanda,” I said.
“I hear with my ears,” she said.
“That’s good. What do you do with your eyes?” I asked.
I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as a smile broke out across Lanie’s chubby little cheeks.
“See!” she said.
“Good girl.”
I turned toward the door, but I was halted in my tracks by a small little tug at my jeans.
“Lanie, let her go,” Brian said, sternly.
“Food?” Lanie asked.
My eyes looked over to her nanny who was now scurrying to her side.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” she said.
“No. Amanda food,” Lanie said.
“Are you asking me if I’m hungry?” I asked.
“I think she is,” the nanny said.
“Tanya, right?” I asked, recalling the name Brian had used when he’d spoken to her.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“No ‘ma’am’ necessary,” I said, smiling. “I have food back at my place,” I lied. It was clear Brian didn’t want me here, and though he was nice to look at, he was kind of a cocky asshole.
“Food with us?” Lanie asked.
“No.”
Brian’s voice was stern and caused me to jump. It was a tone of voice I’d heard many times when I was with Daryl. That tone of voice that spoke of controlling intent and disapproval. Hearing that tone drip from Brian’s lips only fueled the anger that bubbled in my gut whenever I thought of that pathetic bastard.
“How about this?” I asked as I looked at Lanie. “When I get my cabin repaired, you can come over anytime you want, and I’ll cook us something.”
“Pancakes?” Lanie asked.
“That’s enough, sweetheart,” Tanya said.
“If that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get,” I said.
“Pinky?”
The little girl held out her pinky finger, and my eyes drifted up to Brian. There was a storm of emotion rolling over his face. Anger and apprehension and sadness. There was a wall coming up over his entire face that set it in stone. His brow was furrowed with a deeply-set frustration that made me curious about him.
What was a man with a child doing on a mountaintop that had nothing to enrich a child at all?
“Pinky promise,” I said.
I reached down to link the little girl’s finger, and she smiled broadly. She let go of my pants and allowed me to leave the house, her eyes following me as I left. I hobbled down the porch steps and began limping back toward the cabin.
My mind started running through all the things I could do to make it better before I had to get creative.
I looked back at Brian’s home and saw Lanie standing on the porch. Tanya was behind her, holding the little girl close to her side. Lanie was waving with a big smile on her face that warmed my heart.
But Brian was standing inside, watching me from his kitchen window. I could tell by the set of his broad, sculpted shoulders that my mere presence had made him uncomfortable. I couldn’t help but be intrigued as to what his story might be. I highly doubted I’d ever find out though, that man was as guarded as they came.
I nodded once in his direction and turned toward home, hobbling as I went.
I had to figure out what to do about the cabin. How I was going to get it fixed? It was rundown, and it needed a great deal of love and care. It would take going into town and pricing out some things to figure out how much money would need to be spent on my end, but I could no longer think straight with my stomach as empty as it was.
I grabbed my purse from the house, threw open some windows to let out the dust, then got into my car and went into town.
I needed food, q
uiet, and some time to think.
CHAPTER 4
Brian
I hated going into town. People around here were too friendly for their own good. If I could’ve found a way to have groceries delivered every two weeks, I’d never come into town. But food was necessary and between the things I ate and the things Lanie needed, I could only shove two weeks’ worth of stuff in my refrigerator.
“Grocery store!” Lanie said.
“Yes. Every two weeks,” I said.
“Ice cream?” she asked
“If you’re a good girl, we’ll get you some, yes.”
“And chips?”
“You can have ice cream or chips, but not both.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you’ll get a tummy ache.”
“But you rub tummies,” she said.
“Only yours, and only when it hurts. But you don’t want it to hurt, do you?”
“Will you rub my tummy anyway?”
“How about I scratch your back?” I asked. “Like I do whenever you go to sleep?”
“That’s sleepy scratch. I’m not sleepy.”
“You’re not, huh?” I asked, grinning. “Well, what about this. If you’re good at the grocery store, I’ll rub your belly while we’re standing in line waiting to check out.”
“But ice cream?” she asked.
“You just want everything, don’t you?”
“Yes!”
Chuckling, I placed her in the grocery cart. We needed to stock up on everything. Toilet paper, toothpaste, diapers and wipes. We needed fresh vegetables to go with the deer I’d shot last week, and I was out of all the spices I used for my chili. I walked up and down the aisles as I grabbed things, and Lanie giggled as she tossed random boxes of food into the cart. Crackers and dental floss. Cereal I knew she’d never eat and dried cranberries. She tossed them in and giggled profusely like she was getting away with something she knew she wasn’t supposed to be doing.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, huh?”
I plucked her from the cart and started blowing raspberries into her stomach. She squealed with delight and kicked her legs, begging me to stop as I tickled her underneath her arms. She was giggling and panting for breath, trying to wiggle out of my grasp as I planted my lips on her cheek.
“Beard,” she said breathlessly. “Beard tickles.”
I set her back into the cart and continued up and down the aisles. Loaves of bread and peanut butter made it in as well as gallons of milk and containers of juice. I grabbed fresh and frozen vegetables for quick lunches and dinners, then I threw in a few snacks I knew Lanie loved.
She clapped her hands in delight when she saw them being tossed into the cart.
“Now, what are we missing?” I asked.
“Ice cream!” Lanie said.
“That depends. Have you been a good girl?”
“Uh huh.”
“A really good girl?” I asked.
“Yes, Uncle Bwian!”
“A really, really, really good—”
“Chocolate, please?”
I laughed at her insistence before I pushed the cart down the ice cream aisle. I grabbed a pint of her favorite chocolate ice cream and tossed it into the cart, then I made my way to the cash register. Just like I’d promised, I rubbed Lanie’s stomach while we waited. Her eyes were already beginning to droop shut with exhaustion as her nap time approached, and I shook my head as she laid her forehead against my chest.
She looked so peaceful whenever she was sleeping. A far cry from the shrieking, crying child I’d inherited a year ago.
The ride back to the cabin was quiet. Tanya came running out to scoop up Lanie so she could tuck her in as I unloaded the groceries. I put everything away and stuffed the groceries into their places just as Tanya came into the kitchen, and I could feel the questions she wanted to bombard me with.
“Something on your mind?” I asked.
“I was just thinking about that nice new lady up the road,” Tanya said.
“What about her?”
“You think she’s doing okay?”
“Don’t know,” I said, shrugging.
“I didn’t know if you’d been checking in on her since she hurt herself.”
“Why would I do that?” I asked.
“Because she’s a pretty young woman who happened to inherit the cabin next to yours.”
“How did you know she inherited it?” I asked.
“So she did inherit it.”
I could hear Tanya’s grin as I turned around and studied the woman. She was older, with a head full of salt and peppered hair. It was the only thing that gave away her age because her skin sure as hell didn’t. It sagged and drooped a bit here and there, but there were no wrinkles in it. No bags underneath her eyes and no scars to weigh her skin down. She was plump with the many children she’d raised on her own, and the war-torn life she had led being married to a military man was reflected in the brown of her eyes.
I had a great deal of respect for her, but it still didn’t give her the right to meddle in my affairs.
“She did, yes,” I said.
“Did you have a nice conversation with her?” Tanya asked.
“What are you getting at?”
“What I’m getting at is maybe you should take her some food. She was hobbling around pretty badly, and her car has been coming and going. I think she’s living off fast food.”
“She better. Turning on a stove in that cabin might set it on fire,” I said.
“All the more reason for you to take her something.”
“Why the hell would I do that?” I asked again.
“Because there’s no one else around here to do it.”
“You could since you seem so keen on it.”
“Then who’s going to take care of Lanie?” she asked.
“Umm, me.”
“I think it would be better if you took it to her,” she said.
“What exactly are you trying to do here Tanya?” I asked, my voice laced with annoyance.
“You should take her your chili. That stuff is the best. I’ve already got some venison that has fully defrosted in the fridge.”
“I’m not taking chili to Amanda,” I said.
“Please?”
I whipped my head around at the sound of Lanie’s voice as she stood in the hallway holding her blanket.
“What are you doing up?” I asked.
“Go see Amana! Please?” she said, not quite able to pronounce Amanda’s name correctly.
“Sweetheart, Amanda isn’t feeling well,” I said.
“Food! Amana!”
“I think she’s onto something,” Tanya said.
I eyed her darkly before I sighed. Lanie was looking up at me with her puppy dog eyes and giving me that little pouty lip. Tears were welling in her tired eyes as she ran over and wrapped her arm around my leg. She nuzzled her nose into me, wiping away the snot from her fake tears as she snuggled into my jeans.
“Please?” she asked lightly.
I knew I couldn’t refuse a heartfelt plea like that. Hell, I couldn’t refuse Lanie much at all. Over the past year, I’d watched Lanie grow. I’d watched her blossom into a little social butterfly, and part of me hoped she would always stay that way. Just because I enjoyed being reclusive didn’t mean she had to be as well. But that meant I would have to support and even encourage her interacting with others.
I guess we’d have to start with my new neighbor.
“Okay,” I said as I looked down at her. “But you have to take a nap. No nap, we don’t go over.”
“Yay!”
Lanie went dashing back down the hallway as Tanya followed her quickly. I could hear the two girls giggling as she bedded Lanie back down, and I sighed as I listened to the sound. She looked like her father in every sense of the word, but when she laughed, she sounded like her mother.
Holy hell, how I missed my sister.
I started working on my chili as Tanya picked up
the cabin. She worked around me, her grin lurking in the corner of my eye. I had no idea what she was up to or why she was so hellbent on making this happen, but I knew there was a plan formulating in that brain of hers. It was what she did when she was bored. She could come up with the craziest of activities for her and Lanie to participate in.
And when she was stumped with Lanie, she always tried to meddle with me.
Usually, it was her coaxing me to take a night off. Go into town, get a drink, maybe meet someone and get a hotel room. She’d offer her services watching Lanie for free so I had no excuse, but I would always turn her down. She would try to get me to interact with people and get back out there, so to speak, but I would balk and tell her I wasn’t interested.
So, why hadn’t I done that now?
The chili was cooked, Lanie was awake, and Tanya was about to leave for the night. She offered to keep Lanie one last time before I sent her away, then I packed up the chili and held Lanie’s hand. We walked up to Amanda’s cabin, and I was shocked to see the lights on.
Electricity was running through the rundown cabin, and it hadn’t burst into flames yet.
We walked up the rickety porch, and I could see the splinters popping up from the wood. It was a shame that this cabin hadn’t been treated with better care. The types of wood this home had been built with were sturdy. By the looks of it, the porch could still be salvaged. It needed to be sanded out, treated, and sealed, but if there were no foundational issues, it could be saved.
I shook the thought from my head as Lanie knocked her little fist against the door.
Amanda opened the door, and I could see the shock roll over her face. Her bright green eyes sparkled in the colors of the sunset as the rays tossed colors against the skyline. She was dressed in jeans and a sweater that was falling off her shoulder, teasing my lips for a kiss.
Part of me wished I had taken Tanya up on her offer to watch Lanie now.
“We brought chili,” I said.
“For dinner,” Lanie added.
“How kind,” Amanda said, smiling. “Um—”
She looked back into her home, and it gave me a second to peer into it. Many of the surfaces looked recently cleaned, but there was still a lot of work that had to be done. I could see a cupboard door hanging off its hinges and a dishwasher that had been worked out of its cubby. There were chairs with wobbling legs that looked as if they were going to tip over any second. Just from the glimpse through the door, I could see why Amanda was hesitant to let us in.
