Hawks Mountain - Mobi (14 page)

The hopelessness she often saw in his eyes, the pain that she intuitively knew he carried inside him, the way he guarded who he was, all told Becky that a simple kiss and a nice dinner wouldn’t come close to freeing him from his self-imposed prison.

One thing she did know. She would do whatever it took to see him through this because she was very much afraid she was falling in love with him.

Even though he’d spent
most of the night before thinking about his date with Becky and that kiss, Nick continued to mull it over the following day on his way into town for groceries. He hadn’t meant for it to happen. Of course, he’d thought about it. Truth be known, he hadn’t stopped thinking about it since the day she’d come to the cabin to bring the bread.

He’d thought he had enough self-control to keep his desires under wraps.
Apparently not.
When he’d looked into her moonlight-washed eyes and saw that same desire burning there, all self-control and common sense had flown out the window . . . or, in this case, into the lake.

A man would have had to be made of stone to resist.

However, rationalizing why it had happened didn’t help him devise a way to keep it from happening again. As special as Becky had become to him, he couldn’t ask her to get involved with a man who is so messed up that he can’t treat an injured dog without having flashbacks to a time others had lived through with no adverse effects.

Only one solution came to
mind .
 . . he’d have to stop seeing her. Just the thought seemed to wrench his heart open and sent pain knifing through it. He hadn’t felt anything to compare to that kind of agony since he’d watched helplessly as a small child died in
Iraq
.

By the time Nick reached town
and parked his truck in front of Keeler’s Market, the lump of anguish produced by his decision to not see Becky any more hadn’t lessened. The last thing he wanted to do right now was enter this store, but since the cabin’s cupboards were about as bare as they’d ever been, he had two choices: go grocery shopping or starve. He found neither choice appealing.

He’d purposely timed his visit to town to coincide with the hours just after the store would be its busiest. The aisles of the market, while not totally deserted, were sparsely occupied by late afternoon shoppers. Mothers who had picked their kids up from school roamed the aisles looking for an easy meal to feed their families, trailed by kids hoping for an after-school treat of candy. One harried looking man passed him clutching a list, no doubt given him by his spouse, and looking totally lost.

Some of them, people he recognized from the church social, looked in Nick’s direction, nodded a succinct greeting and moved on, making no attempt to engage him in conversation. Why should they? He’d never given any indication that he would be open to it. Still, for some reason, today their easy dismissal of him left him feeling oddly disappointed.

What in blazes was happening to him?

He selected a couple of thick steaks from the meat counter, salad fixings from the produce department, and then finished up with eggs, butter and milk. He checked everything out and headed for the door, his purchases loaded into one of the shopping carts. As he approached the automatic doors, a voice stopped him.

“Hey, Mr. Nick.”

He turned to find Davy on tiptoe, peering at the slips of paper that had been tacked to the community bulletin board. They contained everything from announcements of houses and apartments for rent to services ranging from auto repair to roofing. Davy seemed particularly interested in one secured to the top of the board. Nick snatched it off, read the request for someone to split wood for old Mrs. Mullins and then handled it to the boy.

“You plan on applying for the job?”

Davy grinned and nodded.

“You
gonna
start a business, now that you have new wheels?”

Davy shook his head.
“Nah.
I just need to make some money. My mom got laid off her job yesterday. Since I’m just a little kid, I can’t get a regular job. But I figure I can split wood good enough.”

Nick frowned. “That’s a pretty tough job.” Although it was obvious Davy had plenty of ambition, and Nick really respected the kid for wanting to help out his mother, he was a very slender kid. Nick knew just how much strength and stamina it took to split wood, and he sincerely doubted if Davy’s abilities would cover that. “Are you sure you can handle it?”

Davy straightened. “I can do it. I got really big muscles.” He curled his forearm up to back his claim. “Mom says I’m big for my age.”

Nick still had his doubts, but left it at that. He pointed at the card clutched in the boy’s hand. “Where does this lady live?”

“Up on Hominy Ridge near the Crow’s Nest.
I can ride my bike most of the way, then cut through the woods to get to her place.”

“Davy, let’s go.” The stern voice emanated from behind Nick, but he had no need to see him to know it was the town’s illustrious mayor, George Collins, Davy’s dad.

Nick turned.
“Mayor.”

For a moment, Collins stared at him, and then the light of recognition came. “You’re the guy who ran that race with Davy the other day at the social.”

“Guilty,” was all Nick said.

“I’m surprised to see you down off the mountain so much.” A sneer curled Collins’ lower lip, as if he just tasted something rotten. “Folks around here say you’re hiding out up there.”

“Folks tend to say a lot of things.”

“Mr. Nick was talking with me about getting this job.” Davy offered, waving the paper with the job offer on it at his father.

The mayor glared at his son, his face twisted in anger. “I already told you no son of mine is
gonna
be caught chopping wood for some crazy old lady. Now put that paper back on the board and let’s go. I told your mother I’d drop you off early so I can go see my lawyer.”

When Davy made no move to replace the paper, Collins ripped it from his son’s fingers, plastered it on the board and jammed a tack in it. Then he threw Nick a reproachful glare, grabbed Davy’s arm and hauled him from the store.

Nick stared after them. Why had the fates seen fit to take the life of Ahmed, an innocent child who loved life, and leave the likes of George Collins to roam the earth and make everyone he came in contact with miserable, most pointedly, his own son?

“Somebody needs to take that man out behind the woodshed and teach him a few basic lessons in how to relate to a child, and few more in civility wouldn’t hurt either.”

Nick’s heart skipped several beats. He swung around to find Becky standing behind him.

Now that she’d drawn his attention to her, Becky clutched the bag of groceries to her chest and stared into Nick’s eyes, not knowing what to say. Everything had changed since they’d shared that kiss last night.
At least for her.
But she wasn’t sure about him and therein laid the problem of finding something to say.

She immediately dismissed
Hi, how are you since
we
lip-locked last night?
And somehow
Fine day we’re having,
dontcha
think?
didn’t
seem to fit the moment either.

So what middle ground was there? Since Nick hadn’t said anything either, she assumed the same problem plagued him. What do you say to someone after you’ve shared an intimate moment and have no frame of reference as to where it left you in the relationship or where to go next?

“What brings you to town?”

Becky blinked. Not bad. Not too personal, but not too impersonal. “Granny sent me to get her some eggs for the cake she’s making for one of the neighbors.
You?”

He smiled. Lord, but she wished he wouldn’t do that. “It was either come to town for supplies or die of starvation on the mountain.”

She glanced at the bags he had stacked in the shopping cart.
“Any snails in there?”

He stiffened and for a moment, she couldn’t understand why. Then it came to her. The mention of snails evidently had given birth to memories of their idyllic evening. Could it be that he didn’t want to think about last night? Had he come to view their kiss as a mistake?

She felt as though someone had thrown an icy blanket over her.

“No, no snails.” He took a step toward the door. “Well, I better get this stuff home before it spoils. See ya.” And he hurried off toward the parking lot.

Becky stepped outside the market and watched him go. Spoils? The temps outside were hovering in the low seventies, which had made her decision not to take Granny’s car and instead walk into town a very pleasant way to spend the time. Nick had a short drive up the mountain.
Hardly time for anything to spoil.
It appeared as if they’d arrived back at square one with Nick taking refuge in his mountain cabin—with one slight difference. He hadn’t seemed particularly eager to get away from Davy and his dad. It would seem that the only person Nick Hart was trying to avoid now was Becky Hawks.

“Well, hello there, Becky.
So nice to see you.”

Becky swung toward the voice. She recognized the woman right away.
Laureene
Talbot taught ninth grade at the high school and was the biggest gossip in
Carson
. Tall, gaunt, sharp features and wearing her signature flowered dress with lace ruffles around the neck, she was the epitome of the old maid school teacher. Granny swore the woman had one dress pattern and just kept making it over and over.

Had she seen Nick and Becky talking? If she had, it would be embellished on and then passed all over town.

“Hello,
Laureene
.
Nice to see you, too.”

Not really.

“When did you get back in town, dear?”

None of your business.

“A few weeks ago.”

“I’ll bet your grandmother was real happy to see you.”

“Yes, she was.”

Becky was well aware of how
Laureene
operated, as was everyone else in
Carson
. She started slow with unimportant chit chat, then, when she thought she had you off guard, she honed in on her primary target. And Becky didn’t have to wait long for the arrow to hit the bull’s-eye.

“You and that Hart fella are getting to be
fast .
 . . friends, I see.” Her squinty little blue eyes glowed with expectation of some little tidbit she could carry door to door like the mailman delivering Keeler’s Thursday morning sales flyers. “Surprising, seeing as how he never mixed with us town folk before you came along.”

Becky didn’t answer. She took a few steps away, but
Laureene
followed.

“Course I guess everyone in town realized there was something percolating between you two when you kissed him at the church’s dinner on the ground the other day.” She smiled as though to say,
I know it all so there’s no sense hiding it from me
. “And then Bessie Wright over at the used book store said she saw you two being real cozy out at the lodge last night.”

Good grief!
The second biggest gossip in town.
Just how much had Bessie seen?
Again Becky steeped away. Now she was balanced on the edge of the market’s front curb. And again
Laureene
followed like a mountain cat stalking its prey.

While Becky searched frantically for a way to extract herself from
Laureene’s
verbal clutches, she noticed Nick’s truck coming toward them. Without thinking, she stepped into the path and waved her arm at him.

“Here I am!” Then she turned to
Laureene
. “Sorry, my ride is here. I have to go.”