Haley's Mountain Man

“Look, Haley, you don’t know me—”

“You’ve made that clear. Abundantly.” She almost said she wanted to get to know him. Almost asked him to please, please allow her the gift of getting to know him, but she didn’t.

“Even so, the fact remains that if I were a different type of a man, this could have ended badly,” he said in a slow, purposeful beat. “A lot of people in this world aren’t nice. And I hate the thought of anything bad—” Here, he broke off, as if the words he’d planned on saying got stuck in his throat. “You need to be more careful.”

“Message received.” Another staring competition ensued, and the moment also seemed familiar, almost intimate. When she couldn’t keep the words inside any longer, she said, “I like you, Gavin. I can’t explain why, so don’t ask. But I like you, okay? Sue me.”

His head reeled back, but he didn’t drop his focus. “You’re maddening. Absolutely maddening,” he said under his breath. “And while I can’t say for sure, it seems to me you might want to work on controlling your impulsive nature, before you find yourself in trouble.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a little trouble. The right type of trouble, anyway.”

Out of nowhere, the idle thought came to her that if Gavin had been the one proposing in Vegas, she might not have been able to resist. Something else to think about. Later.

“No such thing as the right sort of trouble,” he said.

“I beg to differ.” Determined to eke more light from the darkness, she winked and donned a bright smile. “But I admit you’ve made several valid points, and I’ll take your advice under consideration the next time I have the impulse to trail someone.”

“Uh-huh. Why don’t I believe you?”

“Now you sound like my brothers.” And God, did he ever. Not necessarily a bad thing. Her brothers were rocks, solid and dependable. Of course, she didn’t view Gavin in a brotherly way, but she felt no need to share that information with him.

“Your brothers sound wise,” Gavin said after a slight pause. “And like they love you.”

“They do, and I love them. But let’s keep that wise part between us, shall we?”

Something close to a grin appeared, and oh, how she yearned to see him with a real smile. With nothing but happiness in his eyes, instead of shadows. That also would be a gift.

“You’re something else, Haley Foster,” he said after a long, assessing moment. “What the something is, I haven’t quite decided, but … something.”

“You mentioned that. Earlier.” Then, she’d thought he meant it as a compliment. Now, she wasn’t so sure. “Ten minutes, Gavin. Can you give me that? Please?”

He sighed. “You aren’t going to leave otherwise, are you?”

“No.” She lifted her chin another stubborn inch. “Not until you hear me out. Ten minutes,” she wheedled. “Tops.”

“Does anyone ever say no to you?”

“Yes. Fairly often, in fact.” Usually, though, she found ways to sidestep those noes until they became yeses. Or simply pretended she hadn’t heard the no to begin with. “Feel free to say no. Really. Doesn’t mean I’ll hear it, though.”

“I figured as much,” he mumbled in resignation. “Go on, then. Say whatever it is you came here to say before I change my mind.”

Mentally, she pumped her fist in the air and did the victory dance. In reality, she reminded herself to take it slow. Careful. She started with, “I surprised you when I offered to help at the Beanery. Sometimes, I get ahead of myself, and I didn’t handle that all that well.”

“Agreed” was all he said. But the corners of his mouth curved upward the slightest amount, and that … Well, that was a start, and she’d take it. “Go on.”

“I would like to explain myself more fully, and then, once I have, I’m hoping you’ll reconsider. I am serious about this, and I already have a few ideas, and I think—”

“Nope,” he said instantly, quietly. “Don’t think I’ll be reconsidering, though I appreciate your … perseverance.”

“Really, Gavin? You won’t hear me out?”

“No reason to.” Another barely there shake of his head. “There isn’t anything you could say on this topic that would make a difference.”

“You don’t know that.” When he started to object, she rushed forward, saying, “You might think so, but you don’t. And while I can’t guarantee my family will agree to a … collaboration, I guess that’s the word, I think it’s a possibility worth looking into.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree.” Calm, collected. But the hint of a grin was gone.

“Okay, look,” she said hurriedly, before he ordered her to leave again. “Even if they don’t want to move forward, I can still help. With the flyers and other advertising, your website, and I can certainly help get the word out. I’m pretty good at that stuff.”

“Which again brings up the question—why?” Before she could reply, he held up a hand. “That question doesn’t require an answer, and I shouldn’t have asked it. I’ve heard enough. Some things are just the way they are. Some people do better on their own. Simple as that.”

“Nothing is that simple.”

“This is. Seriously, Haley, I think it’s … generous to be so giving, but relying on others isn’t my thing. Period. Never has been, never will be, and I don’t see that changing.”

“Ever?”

“Ever,” he confirmed, without doubt or hesitation.

Well, hell. His conviction was clear and absolute. She couldn’t deny it, even though she wished she could. There was nothing else to do or say, nothing at all that would change his mind, to even convince him to listen to her. And strangely, the realization hurt.

Strangely, she had the sense of almost achieving something of great worth, and the loss of that indefinable something weighed heavily inside, in the air, in every breath she took.

Yeah, it hurt. More than she understood.

“I feel sorry for you,” she said softly. “Because I’m a good person, and I believe you’re a good person, and yeah, I definitely have impulse-control issues. But, Gavin, here I am, offering to help. Offering you … friendship, and you’re too proud or stubborn or something else, something I can’t identify, to even try. And I think that’s sad.”

He didn’t respond. Didn’t look as if he were even breathing, as if he even cared that she’d put herself out there. Well, why would he? Why should he? As he’d said over and over and over, she didn’t know him. And, well, he didn’t know her. In his head, she was just some crazy chick who’d had the audacity to follow him home. Really, she couldn’t blame him.

It was her turn to walk away, and so she did. The sensation of that incredible loss stayed with her as she trekked back to her car. In this scenario, she knew she’d misfired. There were so many other ways she could have gone about this. Better ways. More logical ways.

Hindsight, she decided, was the devil.

She tried to tell herself that she was being silly and over-emotional. Maybe even believed both to a certain degree. But when she tried to convince herself that, perhaps, Gavin’s refusal was for the best, and she’d see the wisdom of his rejection down the road someday, she couldn’t buy into the mind-set. All of this just felt wrong.

Almost heartbreakingly so.

At her car, she stopped for a second to regain her balance. Birds were singing, tree branches swayed and the cool bite of the wind touched her cheeks. All of which served to settle her mind and ease her whipped-up emotions. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d tried. Which, really, was about all anyone could do. There wasn’t any reason to kick herself over it.

Not for very long, at any rate.

She’d stop at the store for a pint of ice cream, go home, find another movie to watch or a book to read. Settle in and relax. By nightfall, she’d have put her encounter with Gavin into the proper, noncrazy perspective and she would return to normal. Hopefully, the nonitchy, nonrestless state of normal. If not, she’d go back to waiting for summer and twelve-hour workdays.

A sensible plan, for sure. She reached for the car door, her intent to follow through, when a hand lightly gripped her shoulder. Her muscles froze and her heart picked up speed. Heat flared and wove its way through her limbs, raising goose bumps on her skin and warming her from the inside out, inch by delicious inch. He’d followed her? Wow … just wow.

“Why do you want to be my friend?” Gavin asked slowly, hesitantly, from behind her. “What—what propelled you to make such a decision when you have no idea who I am?”

She didn’t turn, didn’t move, didn’t even take in air. “I don’t know, not fully,” she said, going with honesty. “There’s something about you that calls to me, and I want to know what that something is. I want to get to know you, and I. Well, I think … that is, I believe, that you’re a person very much worth getting to know. If you’ll let me.”