Evangeline glanced in the direction he pointed and nodded. “Yes, it was taken at the ranch.”
She brushed her skirt as she walked past him and out the door. Her high heel caught in the carpet and she lost her balance for a moment. Denny reached out to catch her.
Her hair swung over her face as she regained her footing, releasing a whiff of her perfume.
She smelled like flowers, he thought. Delicate and feminine.
Then she pulled away.
Man, she was jumpy, he thought.
“Did you need to see the kitchen?” she asked as she walked past the couch, stopping on the other side of it, as if giving herself some distance from him. “It isn’t large, but it’s adequate. The stove is fiddly and the refrigerator tends to freeze vegetables if you’re not careful, but it worked for my dad.”
“I think I can figure it out,” Denny said, content with the setup. He’d been living in motels and sharing rooms with his workers the past couple of years. He missed having a home. “When can I move in?”
“Today if you want.”
“Sounds good. So my next question is when can I go out to the ranch to check it out?”
“We may as well get that out of the way. How about tomorrow morning?”
“Sunday?”
“Yeah. Is that a problem?”
“Well, I was hoping to find a church. To worship on Sunday morning.”
She gave him an odd look that he wasn’t sure how to interpret. Did she have a problem with him going to church?
“There’s one across from Canadian Tire. It’s a good church.”
“Do you go?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“I thought your dad said you did?” he blurted. Denny was surprised. Andy had often talked about Evangeline’s strong faith.
“Not the only thing my dad seems to have wrong,” she returned.
Better to leave that comment alone. “What time does church start?” he asked, changing the subject to a safer topic.
“Ten.”
“Okay, how about I meet you at the ranch after that, say one? Unless the preacher likes to go long.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“Okay.” He dragged in a long breath as one thing after another fell into place.
This was really happening. Sure, it wasn’t a commitment, but it was a step in the right direction. And if leasing the ranch worked out for him, who knew...
He caught himself.
Don’t plan ahead. One day at a time.
He’d learned that lesson the hard way.
“I’m guessing there’s another way out of the apartment that doesn’t take me through the bookstore. One that I could use to move my stuff in?”
“The hallway makes a turn and goes along the store and leads to the street,” Evangeline said. “And there’s another door that leads to the back parking lot. You can use that to move in.”
“That’s perfect. Just perfect.” He glanced her way, surprised to see her looking at him.
For a moment their gazes held and once again Denny caught a flicker of sadness. Something that he suspected had to do with Andy. He still felt bad that he had been the one to deliver a message that bothered her so much. He felt a need to make it right. “And I’m sorry about...your dad, I guess. That he’s not coming.”
He added a quick smile and then, to his dismay, saw her lip quiver.
Oops.
She held her hand up as if to keep him at arm’s length. “It’s fine. I should have known better.”
Known better about what?
But he didn’t have the chance to ask.
“If you don’t need anything else, I should get back to my store.” Evangeline gave him the key then strode out the door, her skirt swaying and her long hair bouncing with every movement.
And that was Evangeline.
He just hoped he wouldn’t have to do much business with her. She seemed emotional and complicated.
He had enough of that in his life.
Denny walked down the hallway, out the door and into the afternoon sunshine, stopping on the sidewalk to look at the mountains cradling the town.
For a moment he imagined what it would be like to live here. To have a home again. Build up a cow herd again.
Did he dare? Twice in his life he had lost everything. Could he risk it again?
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He was tempted to ignore it. Carlos, one of his drivers, was finishing up a haul in Prince George with one of Denny’s trucks and had been calling him all morning, wondering when to bring the truck down to Hartley Creek. Denny had left a message and sent him a text. Surely that should be enough?
But habit and the reality of running his own business made him look at the phone.
And his heart thudded heavily against his ribs.
It was a text message. From Deb, his ex-wife’s sister. Since his divorce from Lila two years ago, he’d never heard from her or any of Lila’s family. Now Deb was texting?
Need to C U, her message said. Important. U in P G?
Why did she want to know?
Not Prince George anymore, he sent back. Hartley Creek right now. Staying awhile.
He waited a moment, then his phone tinged again.
Where living in H C? was her immediate reply.
Behind Shelf Indulgence bookstore on Main Street, he typed, wondering why she wanted to know.
He paused before sending the message, but then shrugged. Maybe Lila had something she needed to pass on just the way Andy had needed to pass something on to Evangeline.
So he shrugged, hit Send then waited. The message was delivered, but a couple of minutes later she still hadn’t replied.
So what was that about?
He knew Deb had never liked him much when he and Lila were together.
Denny had been living a wild life when he’d met Lila. Every weekend, after taking care of cows and horses and family, he’d head to town to blow off steam. He’d partied too hard, met up with Lila and they’d hung out together.
One day Lila had given him the news that she was pregnant. So Denny had done the right thing and married her. Only, once that happened, Denny had found out there was no baby. Lila had figured she’d read the test wrong. She hadn’t been pregnant, after all.
Denny had tried to stay true to the promises he’d made. He’d cleaned up his act. Settled down. Hung on, determined to do right by Lila.
Then, five years after they were married, Lila had decided she didn’t want to hang on anymore. To satisfy the terms of the divorce, Denny had had to sell the family ranch where his sisters and foster brother still lived.
The family scattered after the ranch was sold. Denny had taken what little he’d had left after helping out his sisters and Nate, and started trucking. It was a good business. He’d taken some risks that had paid off well. Now he had a decent fleet of trucks. Of course that came with debt, but with his five-year plan he could pay that off and afford a down payment on a new place. A new life.
A place he would be by himself. Alone.