Her Mountain Sanctuary

by Jeannie Watt

  She went out for the evening feeding, taking a largish cardboard box with her. One of her coworkers had responded to the Free Kittens ad she’d stuck on the bulletin board, taking all four to help with mouse control in her newly constructed barn.

  “Your babies are going to a good home,” Faith assured Mama Cat, who twined around her legs. “I know you’ll be lonely for a little while, but trust me, this is a good thing.”

  With the babies loaded in the box, Faith closed the lid and carried them to the car. Five minutes later she’d changed out of her barn coat for her corduroy blazer, her rubber shoes for flats and she was out the door, ready to take the kitties to their new home.

  Faith made a mental note to ask her coworker about open oil containers, which in turn made her think about Drew.

  He wanted to have Sunday morning coffee.

  Go figure.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  DREW WAS WAITING for Faith near the coffee shop entrance when she drove into the small parking lot a few minutes early on Sunday morning. He opened the door for her, let her precede him to the counter where she ordered a brewed coffee with cream and he ordered the same, only black. The place was busy, with Sunday morning walkers and family groups meeting for coffee next to the lake. Drew found a table near the edge of the patio, under a tree, where Faith could keep her back to the wall and they could watch the people come and go.

  Not that she was interested in anyone except the man on the other side of the table from her.

  “When I was in high school, the lake was on the edge of town,” Drew said as they sat. “The town has almost doubled in size since the time I left for the service.”

  The small body of water was now essentially in the center of Eagle Valley, with houses surrounding it on all sides. “This still feels like a small town to me,” Faith said. “Maybe it’s the lack of big-box stores.” Missoula was close enough that Eagle Valley probably couldn’t support big stores—which didn’t hurt Faith’s feelings. She liked the small-town vibe.

  “Thank goodness,” Drew said. “But the housing...that’s something else.” He shook his head, then pointed to the side of the lake where big houses on small lots were hugged up against one another. “That hill, Snob Nob...no one wanted to live there because of the problem with washouts. Look at it now. A quarter acre costs a year’s salary or more.”

  She picked up her mug with both hands, holding it as she looked across the lake at the town proper. “It’s still a nice place to live. I’m glad I landed here.” For many reasons.

  He glanced down at his cup. “I’m thinking of buying Maddie a horse.”

  Ah. The reason for coffee. She didn’t know if that made her feel better or worse. Frankly, she’d had no idea what to expect from the meet-up. Yesterday they’d had a good lesson and had done a decent job of hiding their reactions to one another. Maddie had gone home smiling.

  “That’s a big commitment,” she said.

  “And Maddie won’t be at home for all that much longer. She keeps reminding me that in five years she’ll be heading off to college.”

  Faith’s eyebrows lifted. “Somewhere close, I hope.”

  “I hope so, too.” He pulled a paper out of his shirt pocket and unfolded it. Faith craned her neck to see it when he smoothed it out on the table.

  “A horse sale?”

  “Isn’t that where people buy horses?”

  “If they know what they’re doing. It’s easy to get burned.”

  “Oh.” He pulled the paper back, refolded it.

  “I’ll keep my eye out. You want something reliable and those can be hard to come by. How much are you willing to spend?”

  “Whatever it takes.” Faith slowly lifted her eyebrows and he explained, “The beauty of living frugally.”

  “All right, then.” She glanced down, not sure what to say next.

  “Not to dampen the mood, but have you heard from your ex?”

  Her gaze came back up. A horse. Her ex. “I mailed him the bill of sale for the saddle.”

  Drew’s lips tightened.

  “It’s the best way to handle things,” she assured him. “He disappears and I never have to deal with him again.”

  “Are you sure about the disappear part?”

  She gave a small shrug. “He has no reason not to.”

  “Maddie said you’re going to three more rodeos this summer?”

  “They’re smaller ones. I doubt he’ll be there. He doesn’t enter anymore, so he’s probably just there to support his girlfriend.” For as long as it’s convenient for him.

  “Do you want me to go with you? If I behave myself,” he added grimly.

  “I’m going to try to go alone.” She needed to see if she could do it alone after her last trauma. Worst-case scenario, she would have a meltdown. But she didn’t think that was going to happen—if she didn’t put herself in a situation where she could be trapped. “It has nothing to do with what went on with Jared. I just...think it’s time.”

  “You’re sure.”

  “I’m taking Sully. I can put him in the horse trailer if it’s hot, because it’s not fully enclosed.” He hated it, which was why she rarely brought him to rodeos with her before the attack, but it was the only option she could think of. “I have pepper spray.” A possibly illegal taser.

  It was obvious from Drew’s expression that he didn’t like the thought of her going alone, and equally obvious that he wasn’t in a position to insist otherwise.

  “I found homes for the other four kittens,” Faith said. It seemed a good way to divert the conversation into more comfortable channels. “They stayed together, so the cat story has a happy ending.”

  “How did the mother cat take the loss of her litter?”

  “She disappeared,” Faith said. So not a totally happy story—at least not on her end.

  “No kidding?”

  “Yes. She was gone when I got back from delivering the kittens and she didn’t show up this morning when I usually feed her. I guess my barn served its purpose. She raised her family and now she’s gone. Too bad because she was a nice cat.”

  A group of women came onto the patio then, talking and laughing, and Faith instantly recognized them as faculty from the college. The Sunday brunch. Of course. The brunch that the associates, such as herself, were not invited to. Drew let out a low groan when he spotted his sister.

  “Do you want to go?” Faith asked, pushing her empty cup aside. But it was too late. Debra caught sight of her brother, then her chin came up as she recognized Faith.

  “Great,” Drew muttered as his sister excused herself from her friends and headed over to greet them.

  “Drew! Faith! What a surprise.” She leaned down to air kiss her brother, who took the gesture with good grace, then straightened up to beam at Faith, who was thankfully out of range. “Do you come here often?” Debra asked Faith.

  “No.” She smiled after the monosyllabic answer.

  “I live just up there. On the hill,” Debra pointed toward the hill as if it were a badge of honor. “I come here quite a lot.” She gestured at Drew. “But this is the very first time I’ve seen my brother here.”

  “What a lovely area to live,” Faith lied to draw the heat away from Drew. She actually hated the boxy, ostentatious pseudo-mansions.

  “Well, you two enjoy your morning.” Debra bounced a look between them, as if she could get one of them to confess their relationship by putting them under sharp scrutiny.

  “I should have known,” Drew said as Debra headed back to the faculty group.

  “How?” Faith asked as she scooted her chair back. Drew did the same and a few seconds later they were heading out the door.

  He waited until they were out of earshot before saying, “It’s pretentious. It’s close to her house. It’s her day off, too.” He opened the heavy door for Fait
h. “I’m afraid of how Deb is going to spin seeing us together.”

  “She’ll probably ask me to spy again.”

  “And what will you do?”

  Faith smiled. “File a harassment claim.” Drew gave her an appreciative smile and she went on. “I like my job, and I need the steady paycheck after a year of living on too little money. However, I am not kissing ass like I did when she first asked me to meet with you.”

  “You didn’t want to help me?”

  “I don’t like to be manipulated into helping, and that was what Debra was doing.”

  “Imagine that. My sister manipulating.”

  “She’s good with the public.”

  “Fake people often are.”

  When they reached Faith’s truck, he stood back as she opened the door. She turned back toward him instead of getting inside. “What was the purpose of this coffee date, Drew? Because you don’t seem like a coffee date kind of guy.”

  “Well...there’s the horse.”

  “Yeah.” She took hold of the open door with one hand.

  “And I like coffee.”

  “There’s that,” Faith said.

  “I wanted to meet in a neutral place to discuss friendship.”

  Her chin tipped up as she felt a little spark inside at the mention of friendship.

  “And...healing.”

  “Healing.” Sparks flickered to flame. He couldn’t mean...? What else could he mean?

  He shifted his weight and then shot a look toward the patio, visible beyond the flowering bushes that lined the parking area. “My sister is watching us.”

  “In that case, let’s not kiss goodbye.”

  “Yeah,” he said in a low voice that kind of did something to her. “Let’s save that for later. After we talk.”

  And the flame became an inferno.

  “Well, I for one, cannot wait to have this conversation.”

  * * *

  DREW STOPPED BY Pete’s shop on his way home from the café, still chewing on what had transpired with Faith. Had he agreed to have sex or to just pursue the possibility?

  The latter. Yeah.

  Maddie was inside, helping her uncle change out the broken headlight on the Jeep. She pushed her glasses up on her nose as he came in through the bay door. “It’s almost done, Dad. Just waiting for that one quarter panel that got lost in transit.”

  “Good to know.” He was looking forward to having his old friend back. He’d been driving the Jeep since high school and missed jumping into it and beating around the mountains.

  “I’m ready. Why are you so late?” Maddie cocked her head and Drew instantly felt shifty.

  “Didn’t Aunt Cara explain about my meeting?”

  “Who has meetings on Sunday?” she asked. Pete met his gaze over the hood of the Jeep, obviously having the same question.

  “I do.”

  “Anyone I know?” Maddie asked as she started for the bay door.

  “Hey,” Pete said as he came around the Jeep. “Before you go, I need for you to check out these paint chips for the Jeep. I booked the paint booth and need to order the paint.”

  Drew gestured to his daughter, thankful for Pete’s save. “Come and look, Mads.”

  Maddie reversed course and came to study the chips glued to the cardstock. “That one,” she said, stabbing her finger on denim blue.

  “What about this?” Drew asked, pointing at the cherry red. His Jeep had been cherry red since high school.

  “Blue.”

  Drew looked at Pete. Pete shrugged. “She’s probably going to be driving it soon. You may as well go with the blue.”

  “Blue,” Drew said, shaking his head. “Fine.”

  “It’ll look great, Dad. Wait and see. Who did you have a meeting with?”

  Pete put the back of his hand up to his mouth, pretending to rub his lips as he smiled.

  “I’ll tell you about it in the truck.”

  Drew waited until they were at the end of the driveway before he said, “I met with Faith.” Before Maddie could ask why, he said, “I think I’m going to keep taking you to lessons, but I’m not going to take them anymore.”

  He honestly had decided that he’d gone as far as he wanted to go horse-wise. He was no longer intimidated by the animals. He could walk, trot and canter. Stop with one rein, back up and turn in a tight circle—not all at the same time, of course. He was in a decent position to buy his daughter a horse and understand something about them, and, of course, Maddie could continue the lessons and go much further than he ever could.

  “But you’ve only had a few lessons,” Maddie protested.

  “I like horses now. Wasn’t that one of the objectives?”

  “And for us to do something together.”

  “I’ll still come to lessons. I’ll bring you, watch you, cheer your accomplishments.”

  “I don’t know,” Maddie said. She shot him a sharp look. “This isn’t because you and Faith—”

  “We’re friends,” he interrupted smoothly. But he no longer wanted to be her student. “It’s just that I’ve reached my limit.” Maddie gave a sniff and he said, “Remember when you decided you didn’t want to do soccer anymore and Mom didn’t make you sign up again?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Kind of the same thing. You feel a passion for horses that I don’t.”

  Maddie frowned at him. The soccer analogy seemed to be working. Maddie had been an adequate soccer player, but she hadn’t liked playing the game enough to enjoy the practices or the competitions. She just liked being with her friends. That was the way he felt about riding lessons—he wanted to be with his daughter.

  * * *

  AT EXACTLY SEVEN o’clock that night, headlights flashed over Faith’s front windows. Sully let out a baritone bark and Faith’s heart jumped.

  Drew was here and it was very possible that her life was about to change. She was going to find out just how damaged she still was from the attack, and Drew might well find out the same.

  He’d texted about an hour ago, asking if he could stop by. She’d said yes, and then, for the next fifty-nine minutes, she’d paced from room to room wondering what she should do and what she was going to do. The only answer she could come up with was to talk.

  She’d dropped the gauntlet and Drew was picking it up.

  That’d teach her.

  When she answered the door, he didn’t step inside immediately, almost as if he knew that once they were in this house, together, alone, with the door closed, things were going to change irreversibly.

  “I found your cat.”

  “You’re kidding.” Not the opening she’d expected, but welcome all the same.

  “I opened the cabin door and she shot inside. It took her about two seconds to locate her babies and when Maddie and I left them, she was curled up with them in their bed.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “I guess that’s maternal instinct.”

  “I don’t suppose you’d want to—”

  “Keep her?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t have an issue with that. I’m just hoping she understands the concept of a litter box, since I left her inside.”

  “Well,” Faith moistened her dry lips, “it isn’t like Maddie would appreciate the family moving back here to the barn.”

  “No. I wouldn’t like it much either.”

  “Really?”

  “They’re growing on me. What can I say?”

  An uncomfortable silence followed. Faith was rusty in the personal relationship sphere of life. No doubt about it. And Drew, by his own admission, was out of practice, too.

  He shifted his weight, hooking a thumb in his front pocket. “I...uh...came to discuss our friendship. Figure out a few things before we...go forth.”

 
Maybe she wasn’t rusty—maybe she just felt awkward because she’d never negotiated sex before. Did that make it less than it could be? Like...more clinical?

  Faith let her gaze travel over Drew’s body, his broad shoulders, hard thighs, flat abs, then brought it back to his face. And what she read there made her realize there was nothing clinical about this. They were trying to discover what they were capable of, she and this beautiful man. And that involved communication that she’d never needed before, but that they both needed now.

  “What do we need to figure out?” she asked softly, tossing the ball back into his court.

  “Do we want to go forth?”

  The thought of not going forth made her feel a little desperate. How many more nights of frustration could she take? How many nights of not knowing whether she was capable of doing what she was fantasizing about?

  “I’m just going to come out and say that it seems a shame to waste all this sexual energy.” There. She’d just cut through a lot of bull.

  “Is that a come-on?”

  Her lips twitched. “Do I need to be more direct?”

  He shook his head and he reached out to slide his hands up her arms to her shoulders. But he didn’t pull her any closer. “If I were to expend said energy, I wouldn’t be able to spend the night.”

  The nightmares.

  “I’m not asking you to stay.”

  “What do you want, Faith?”

  “I want to find out if I can be touched.” She glanced down, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “If I happened to find out that I can’t or suddenly panic...well...you understand my situation.”

  “And I’d stop.” His fingers tightened ever so slightly as he exhaled. “Why me, Faith? Is it just because we’ve both been through a lot of shit?”

  “That’s part of it.” She drew in a short breath, then let go of the rest. “You’re the first guy who’s made me think about sex since that night.”

  “I’m honored.” His throat moved. “So, we understand each other? What’s possible, what’s not?”

  “You’ll stop if I need you to. You’ll leave afterward because you can’t stay.”