“Mom? Come help me?”
At her son’s request, Rory’s hand fell. Only now aware of how she’d reached to be sure Erik was all right, and of how they must look standing there checking each other out, her glance darted to where Tyler stood by a stack of pine on the porch.
He wanted help with the wreath.
Taking a step back, she called that she’d be right there.
Erik met her lingering disquiet.
“Stop worrying. You’re quick. You’ll get the hang of this,” he insisted. “We’ll give it another try later. In the meantime, you did fine. Really.”
“Except for the part where I nearly disabled you,” she muttered, half under her breath.
“I had you covered, Rory. You were a long way from anything like that.”
A split second was hardly a long way. She’d have pointed that out had his assessment of her capabilities not just registered. It was like last night, she thought, when he’d talked her through the doubts and turmoil of the past year. It seemed he didn’t want her doubting her abilities, or herself, about anything.
He clearly expected her to challenge his last claim. The quick part, probably. She couldn’t. Last night he had called her beautiful, smart and stubborn. The stubbornness she would concede. That he thought her beautiful and smart still left her a little stunned. But what mattered to her most was that for him to feel so certain about her meant he might actually believe in her himself.
Until that moment, she hadn’t realized how badly she wanted that sort of faith—that trust—from him.
“I’m going to go help Tyler now.”
His eyes narrowed on hers. “You’re good, then?”
He wanted to know if she believed what he’d said.
I had you covered, Rory.
“I’m good,” she said, and with him already turning to his task, she headed for the porch to rescue the boughs and her rosy-cheeked child.
He had her back. He wasn’t going to let anything bad happen as long as he was there.
He couldn’t begin to know how much that assurance mattered to her.
Erik had told her not to worry.
Rory wasn’t sure she knew how to do that. The unwelcomed trait had become second nature. Yet what concerned her far more than her lack of skill with gas-fueled equipment was how she found herself wishing Erik’s solid presence could be part of the community that encouraged her with its potential.
Ed Shumway, the neighbor who’d loaned Erik the saw, was married to Edie, the loquacious neighbor who’d first welcomed her to the neighborhood. He had come to repay Erik for his assist moving a limb from his garage that morning. Having heard on the news that it would be at least two days before crews could get in to restore power, he’d brought his bigger saw to help him clear the uprooted oak from the road that was their main access to town.
Even for her neighbors who didn’t have access to TV news, word traveled fast by cell phone. Crystal Murphy, her laugh infectious and her carrot-red hair clashing wildly with her purple earmuffs, brought her four-year-old son to play with Tyler while her husband, Tony the roofer, joined the men. Her mom was at their house a quarter of a mile away with their two-year-old. They didn’t have power but that seemed just fine with them. They had a woodstove and kerosene lamps and Crystal confessed to liking the throwback lifestyle. She turned out to be the candle maker Edie had told Rory about.
Jeremy Ott came for the same reason as Tony and Ed. Talia, his wife, who taught riding lessons at the stables a mile farther up, had braved the cold with her five-year-old twins because Edie had mentioned that Rory had a son their age.
Edie herself showed up with her two children, twelve and six, and a half gallon of milk. With all the children, hot cocoa went fast.
Even with all the activity, Rory found her attention straying to the man who stood just a little taller than the rest.
It was nearing four o’clock when the women stepped out onto the porch to see how much longer the men would be. The kids were warming up in front of the TV, under Edie’s preteen’s supervision, and it would be dark soon. There were suppers to prepare.
Rory doubted that Erik had taken a real break since lunch. All she’d noticed him stop for was to stretch his back or absently rub his neck before tossing aside another log or attacking another limb on the downed oak.
She was standing by the railing between Crystal and Edie when he made a V of his arm and hitched his shoulder before putting his back into hefting another chunk of tree. He and Tony were hauling cut sections of limbs to the side of the road while the other two men continued decreasing the size of what had blocked it.
Seeing who had Rory’s attention, Edie flipped her braid over her shoulder and tipped her dark blond head toward her. A navy Seattle Seahawks headband warmed her ears.
“He’s an attractive man, isn’t he?”
“Who?” asked Talia, leaning past Crystal.
“Erik,” the older woman replied.
Rory gave a noncommittal shrug. “I suppose.” If you like the tall, dark, unattainable type, she thought. Suspecting her neighbor was fishing, she glanced to Edie’s nearly empty mug. “More coffee?”
“I’m good. Thanks.” The loquacious woman with the too-keen radar kept her focus on the men methodically dismantling the tree.
“He and his business partner have done quite well for themselves, you know.”
“I’d say they’ve done extremely well,” Crystal emphasized. “Pax—his business partner,” she explained helpfully to Rory, “is from here, too. I’ve heard they’re both millionaires.”
“I’ve met Pax. Nice guy,” Rory admitted. What she didn’t mention was that she already knew that Erik had means—that he even had friends among the very rich and famous.
She had been surrounded by the well-to-do, and those intent on joining their ranks, from the moment she’d married until she’d moved mere weeks ago. The understated way Erik used his wealth and the way he didn’t balk at getting his own hands dirty just made her forget that at times.
Edie gave her a curious glance. “Would you mind a personal question? I didn’t want to ask when I first met you,” she explained. “I mean, I did, but it didn’t seem appropriate at the time.”
Rory smiled, a little surprised by the request for permission. “Ask what?”
“How long you’ve been widowed.”
“A year and two months.”
“That’s too bad.”
“It really is,” Crystal agreed. “I’m sorry, Rory.”
“That has to be so hard.” Talia placed her gloved hand over her heart. “I don’t know what I’d do without Jeremy.”
Edie shook her head. “I meant it’s too bad it hasn’t been longer. I was just thinking how nice it would be if you two hit it off. I’m sorry for your loss, too,” she sincerely assured Rory. “But I imagine you need a little more time before