AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I didn’t rescue her.” Galen sounded irritated, as if he liked to be accurate instead of overblown. She could appreciate that. “I gave her a ride.”
“Well, that was very kind of you, and not as simple as you might think. She has very strong instincts about people. She wouldn’t get into a vehicle with just anyone. So the fact that she allowed you to drive her actually means a lot.”
“Allowed?” Galen cocked his head. “Demanded, more like.” Behind his beard, a smile quirked at his lips. She found herself extremely curious about the shape of his lips. It was hard to tell, but they seemed to be full and generous.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. My grandmother usually gets what she wants. Honestly, sometimes I can’t wait to be her age so I can get away with all the things she does.”
He was watching her curiously. “Like what sort of things?”
“Like what?” She shrugged. “Like demanding a ride from a handsome stranger.”
She saw him react to that, and realized that she’d effectively called him handsome. Well, it wasn’t totally untrue. His eyes were magnetic, so gentle and bright. His body would make any woman take note. And he smelled so nice, very woodsy and outdoorsy. When the wind blew a certain direction, that same lovely balsam fragrance wafted through her French doors.
Was she inhaling his scent? Oops. She covered quickly with a cough.
“What do you write?”
The abrupt question caught her by surprise. “Excuse me?”
“Your grandmother said you write books.”
Embarrassment flooded through her. Granny was going to pay for that one. So few people knew about her secret hobby. Why on earth had Granny shared it with this man? “Oh no, I’m not a writer, I’m a teacher at the elementary school.”
“I know. I, uh, saw you there a couple times. Picking up my nephew. Once when I was dropping him off.”
She frowned, sorting through all the students she knew. “Zack Cooper.”
“That’s him. One of my brother Billy’s kids. He’s gone a lot so I help Jenna out with rides and so forth. I’m a good chauffeur, seems like.” He grinned in sudden delight. The sight sent a surprise rush of pleasure through her. His smile was something else—like a dose of spring sunshine on a rainy day.
“Sure, I know both Zack and Jenna. There’s another little boy, too.”
“Bean. That’s what he likes to be called, Bean. And now I have another nephew. All boys. It runs in my family. There’s three of us brothers, now I have three nephews.” He seemed so wistful about it that she wanted to make him feel better, bring that smile back.
“Maybe you’ll be the one to break the curse.”
Instead, his smile vanished. “I don’t think so.” His tone was almost gloomy. “But Thomas and Carly will probably have more kids. I hope they do. They’re having fun now that Teddy knows what nighttime is. It was rough for a couple of months. The only thing that would get him to sleep was riding in a trail backpack. I took him on a hike one night and he didn’t fall asleep until mile six. After that I was afraid to stop and I hiked six more miles.”
Fascinated, she realized that he’d just uttered the most words she’d heard from him at one time. Amazing—the mountain man liked talking about kids. “You don’t have any kids yourself?”
“I have a goldfish. An ex-girlfriend gave it to me. Actually that goldfish is long gone. Every time one dies, I think that’s it, no more damn goldfish. Stupidest pet ever. But every time, I trek into Braddock and buy myself a new one. They keep telling me I need to get a goldfish subscription.”
She laughed. Galen was funny. She liked his gruff but gentle manner, the surprise flashes of humor. Whatever she’d thought of him at first sight—wild, rough, strange—she had a different vision of him now.
He’d make a great character in her book, she realized. She could model the demented serial killer after him, or, better yet, make him the red herring bad guy, the one who’s actually a good guy.
“I write mysteries,” she said, answering the question from earlier. “But no one knows, so please don’t tell anyone.”
“Who would I tell?” He looked genuinely confused. “But your grandmother told me, so you might want to warn her off.”
“She knows. I guess she just decided you needed to know my personal business.” She chewed on the inside of her mouth for a moment. For so long, she’d wondered what it would feel like to tell someone new about her absurd dream. The only other person who knew was her childhood friend Maura, and that loss was too painful to think about. After Maura had died, she’d told her mother about her secret writing in a rash moment of approval-seeking. Her reaction had been an astonished frown, followed by a nervous laugh, then a cautionary tale about a neighbor who wrote erotic stories and had been banned from the country club.
Now Galen knew, and he’d given neither a frown nor a laugh, but simply a curious steady gaze.
“They’re actually more like crime thrillers. They get kind of gory.”
He looked even more fascinated. “Bloody murder?”
“Very bloody.”
