Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Not that I was going to admit my secret hopes to anyone, including myself yet.
I gave her my number. That’s it. If anything else was going to happen, it was going to happen on her time. She would have to get in touch with me. Granted, with her car in the condition it was in, struggling to get up the mountain, she might call on me just as a friendly neighbor.
I decided to be okay with that too. If all she wanted from me was a man who she could depend on to help her out once in a while, I was going to accept it. Of course, I was attracted to her. Who wouldn’t be? But I believed in being kind and generous and helpful when possible. Maybe my dad never taught me those lessons, but my wrestling coach and Scout leaders did. I would follow their leads.
Getting her off my mind wasn’t going to happen as I drove the half hour across Ashford to Carter and Lauren’s place. They lived on one of the east mountains, named Alphabet Mountain, that surrounded the valley where the main township sat. I had to go through it to get to them. As I passed by a diner, I very nearly dropped in. It was a cute little place called Dina’s. I vaguely remember something about Lauren working at a diner and wondered if that was the same one.
Ashford seemed like a nice place. There didn’t seem to be a lot of people, but the town was apparently pretty big in physical size, so it seemed that all the people who lived there were pretty spread out. That suited me just fine. Living in Baltimore, and before that in Boston, had gotten me pretty used to crowded cities. Being somewhere with space sounded amazing. Not being on top of my neighbors would be lovely.
Once I had my own place, that was. I was planning on getting my own place as soon as I had the money. I didn’t even mind buying a place I needed to fix up. I was good at that, always had been. Quite a lot of my early jobs as a teenager had been working under the table for my friend’s Dad’s construction company, putting up drywall, laying carpet, and repairing houses.
The GPS alerted me that I was close, and I turned off the main road in Ashford onto the mountain road leading to my cousin. It wasn’t all that far up before I got the notification to turn off. A little road led down a scenic drive, overlooking the mountains to the south and east, before arriving at a nice-looking cabin a half mile or so away from the road.
As I pulled in, the door of the cabin opened, and Carter stepped out onto the porch. He was beaming with a cup of coffee in one hand. Lauren stepped out beside him, a little boy on her hip that I figured was Carson. I had only seen them in pictures Carter sent and on Lauren’s rather sparse social media. Neither one of them had a big online presence. Carter was already coming down the porch steps as I got out of the car and walked over to him. Rather than having his hand out for a shake, his arms moved way out, offering a bear hug.
I took it.
“Aw, man, it is good to see you,” he said. “About damn time, right?”
“About damn time,” I agreed, struggling to fight the stinging sensation of tears in the corners of my eyes. I had looked forward to this moment for a long, long time.
“Nice to meet you in person,” Lauren said, appearing at his side. She opened one arm up, and I leaned in for a hug with her too.
“You must be Carson,” I said to the little boy, who dipped his head into his mother’s neck.
“He’s still a bit shy,” Lauren said. “He will warm up to you.”
“I’m sure,” I said. “It’s alright, little man. You do you. No pressure.”
“Come on in,” Carter said. “I have some coffee on. Beer if you’d like too. I didn’t figure you’d need to drive anywhere else today.”
“Beer sounds great,” I admitted.
“Then, by all means,” Carter said, laughing.
I followed them inside and dropped the single duffel bag I brought in with me at the door, along with my shoes. Lauren ushered me into the dining room, where I sat at the table while they bustled around. Lauren was cooking something delicious smelling, and I felt my stomach rumble. It had been a while since I’d eaten.
“How was the trip?” Carter asked.
“Not too bad,” I said. “Uneventful until I got into town.”
“Oh?” Lauren asked. “What happened when you got into town?”
“I met a girl who was broken down at a gas station right at the edge of town. She needed a jump and then someone to follow her up to her place in the mountain up there.”