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He slowed his steps, forcing himself to focus more on the task at hand than on the woman who clearly couldn’t bother to be appreciative of what he’d given her. What kind of person refuses free lodging in a place like this? His fingers trailed through the leaves of a nearby bush. In just a few more months, the green would burst into bright red coloring. The shrubs weren’t native out here. They’d been planted by Evelyn when he’d dragged her to the hunting cabin occasionally. Besides his daughters, they were the last remaining memory he had of her—one more reason he preferred to be out here when things got tough under his own roof.
Evelyn would have made sure that Agatha was taken care of. That was just her nature. And if Agatha had insisted on leaving, she would have found a reason to make her stay. Well, he wasn’t his late wife. Zeke didn’t have the magic touch, and if Agatha wanted to leave, then who was he to tell her no?
His scowl returned as he gathered some fallen twigs. The woman needed a refresher course in manners, but he wasn’t going to be the one to do it. The sooner she took off, the sooner he’d have the hunting cabin to himself. At least he could have that.
With arms full of branches, he trudged back to the cabin. It was quiet. Not even the animals chattered in the trees. His heart immediately thrummed to life, and he nearly dropped the wood he’d gathered to go in search of the woman he felt responsible for—until he heard her voice.
“What do you mean you’re booked out for the next six weeks? The rodeo doesn’t start for two.”
Zeke came up short, pressing his back against the wood siding and straining his ears to hear her side of the conversation.
“But you do have openings for the next two weeks. What if I take one of those rooms and you let me know if there’s a cancelation.”
He shook his head with disgust. This place was like a private getaway. What would push her to upend her life more than it had already been? Even if she took a room now, she’d be booted when the rodeo came to town and then what? She’d have to find somewhere else to live.
Well, he wasn’t about to put a hold on his life while she bounced from place to place. He’d put his foot down. She either stayed or she left. There was no in-between.
“That’s ridiculous. I’ve never heard of a place not having cancelations. You must have a few rooms you use as backup.”
Zeke snorted. This woman didn’t know just how small Copper Creek was. She might as well head the few hours to the city and stay there.
Agatha hung up and let out a growl.
Pushing against the building, Zeke did his best to school his features. The last thing this little firecracker would want to see was the glee he had from knowing he had been right. He dropped the kindling on the wood pile, causing her to gasp as she spun to face him.
Her face was flushed and her eyes flashed with fury, though it didn’t appear to be directed at him. Dusting off his hands, he nodded to the phone. “You make all the calls you need to? Insurance? A contractor?”
He knew she’d probably figured he’d overheard her last conversation, a point that was made clearer by the way the coloring in her face deepened. She gritted her teeth as she glanced in the direction where her home would be. “Actually, I was calling the different hotels, motels, and B&Bs in the area.” She didn’t bother to look in his direction then. She probably knew that he wouldn’t be pleased with that information.
Zeke grunted, turning his back to her as he adjusted the wood pile. “It might have been smarter to call the insurance company first. I could have told you the rodeo was going to have all the spare rooms around here.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t,” she muttered.
“I’ve just about had enough of this talk.” He whirled around, his hard eyes taking in every inch of her. “I’ve offered you nothing but charity, and you’re choosing to spit in my face. What is so wrong with me that you can’t stand to stay even a few weeks on my property?”
Her eyes fluttered wide, then she looked away. “It’s not about that.”
“Isn’t it? You have a place to live. Granted, it’s not what you might be used to, but it’s good enough when what you have is nothing.”
“You’re right,” she spat back. “I have nothing. No clothes. No furniture. Not even a bed to call my own. But that’s not the worst part. All I have are the memories.”
“What memories? You haven’t been living in Copper Creek that long. You couldn’t have made too many memories in that house.”
Her face flushed even more than he thought possible. “I didn’t grow up in the digital age, Mr. Callahan. Everything from my past was in that home. And now it’s… gone.”
That brought him up short. She was talking about pictures. Mementos.
Zeke let a whispered curse slip between his lips. She was dealing with a lot more than he’d originally considered. And now he felt like the bad guy. He’d been pushing her to do something when she was already teetering at the brink of not being able to handle any of this.
When he glanced up at her, she swiped at her face with the back of her hand. He hadn’t caught any tears. As far as he knew, she hadn’t even shed one since the fire. But he wouldn’t have been surprised if that was what she’d been doing when he glanced over at her.
He was torn.
Torn between the instinct to pull her into his arms and tell her everything would be okay and keeping his distance because he was probably the last person she wanted to see right about now.
Zeke averted his eyes, returning to the gruff man as was his reputation. “You ready? We can check out your place and see what’s left of it. You can use my phone for pictures to send to your insurance adjuster.”
Agatha nodded, her composure regained. Neither one of them spoke on the ride, probably because there was nothing to be said. She was dealing with a loss that he didn’t understand. Losing his wife meant losing his partner in this world. But he still had those memories—the home videos and the photo albums.
