by K. C. Crowne
“Mr. Anderson?” A kid’s voice.
I wrapped the towel around my waist and hurried out of the bathroom, striding toward the door, eager to find out what was going on. In the middle of another series of knocks, I opened the door…and stared open-mouthed at Mandy and Parker
“What are you doing here?” I asked, sounding grumpy.
“Good morning,” she said with a smile pasted on her face.
“Good morning, Mr. Anderson!” Parker said, also grinning.
Mandy’s eyes widened as she noticed I was nearly naked, her gaze making outlines of my physique. “Oh, sorry,” she stammered. “Is this a bad time?”
“Can’t think of a good one.”
Parker’s expression fell, as if he’d realized that he might’ve made a mistake by coming to visit. As much as I didn’t give a damn what anyone thought – kid or adult – there was some part of me that wanted to reach out to him.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, turning my attention to Parker. I dropped into a squat, bringing myself to eye level with him. “How’s the knee, big man?”
He seemed relieved I wasn’t mad that he’d shown up. “Good,” he said. “Doesn’t hurt at all.”
“That’s because you’re tough as heck,” I replied. “I can tell just by looking at you. You’re just the kind of dude your mom’s going to need out here in the woods.”
The kid’s face lit up as bright as the sun as if he’d never been encouraged in that way before. I had no doubt his mother was good to him, but moms never knew exactly what little boys want to hear, that they were invincible superheroes.
I mussed his hair and rose, glancing down at Mandy and seeing the foil-covered plate in her hands. And God, did she look good. Even in her simple outfit of jeans and a cable-knit sweater, she was like something out of a dream.
Hell, after last night she was something out of a dream.
Her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, putting her stunning face on full display. I didn’t say anything, waiting for her to explain why she was there.
She raised the plate after I raised a questioning eyebrow. “I, um, we made you something – for what you did for Parker yesterday.” She peeled back the foil, revealing a plate stacked full of cookies. “Chocolate chip and walnut,” she said with a nervous smile. “Hope you’re not lactose intolerant. Or nut intolerant, I guess.”
“I’m not. But I don’t need those. Keep ‘em for him.” I nodded at Parker.
“I already had a bunch,” Parker said. “They’re really good.”
“And he helped,” Mandy said pointedly, giving me a look that worked as a hint. “And was looking forward to bringing them over.”
Well, shit. Part of me wanted to tell Mandy to take her cookies and get moving, to let her know loud and clear there was no friendship to be built. But Parker… Seeing that kid fucking beaming up at me made me realize I’d break his damn heart if I were to turn them down.
“Much appreciated,” I said, taking the plate out of Mandy’s hands. My skin brushed against hers as I took it, the sensation more intense than I was expecting.
“Try them!” Parker encouraged. “They’re awesome.”
Mandy smiled and shrugged as if to say you heard the man. I took one of the cookies and bit into it. They were damn delicious – moist and chewy.
“Not bad, kid,” I said. “Good enough to eat.”
“Mr. Anderson,” Parker said. “Can we—”
My phone rang. “I have to get that,” I said, cutting him off. I grabbed my phone and saw it was Hugh. “Thanks,” I said, lifting the plate slightly. “But I got a day ahead of me.”
Mandy nodded. “And thanks again to you. Glad to know that there’s someone around here I can count on.”
My phone kept on buzzing in my hand. I didn’t know what to say to that. “Sure,” was the word that finally came out. “And take care, big man.”
Parker beamed again and waved goodbye.
I shut the door and leaned back against it, the plate of cookies in one hand, the buzzing phone in the other. The encounter had been…depleting – no other word to describe it.
“Did you see how big he was?” I heard Parker ask. “I bet he could knock down a tree just by punching it!”
“I, um, saw,” Mandy said, their voices fading as they left the property.
“Do you think he can come over sometime?” Parker said. “And play PlayStation?”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t seem like…”
And that was all I could make out before their voices faded into the distance. The phone stopped buzzing in my hand, only to start again a few moments later.
“What’s up?” I asked, bringing it to my ear.
“Just checking in,” Hugh said. “How’re things on your end?”
I tore my thoughts away from Mandy and Parker and focused on the call, snatching clothes that I’d wear for the day. “Fine. And you don’t need to check in, Hugh. I’m not some kid on vacation away from home for the first time.”
“You know what I mean, smartass. Just want to make sure you’re not up in that cabin working through bottle after bottle of whiskey until you pass out hard enough for the wolves to start looking at you like a snack.”
I stepped into a pair of rugged jeans, then pulled a black T-shirt on over my head as we chatted. “Not planning on drinking myself to death up here.”
“Then what are you planning on doing? You got a job yet?”
“Working at the auto shop. Got my first shift in a couple of hours.”
“Good. That’s really good,” Hugh mused. “Work there for a while, become a known face to the town, and you’ll be fine.”
“Hugh, this isn’t some way of tricking me into making friends or some shit, is it?”
He laughed. “Nah, bud. You want to be a damn hermit, go for it. Not what I think is best, but that’s your call. I know what you’ve been through – I can understand.”
“Some neighbor stopped by, this woman and her kid.”
“That right?”
“That’s right. Guess it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for one of the neighbors to at least know who I am.”
“Right,” he said. “Because if you’re a total unknown entity they’re all going to start suspecting you the moment anything in goes wrong in that town.”
“I get it.” I grabbed my watch from the top of one of the boxes and checked the time. “Got to get moving, first shift.”
“Got it. I’ll probably swing into town this weekend. We can grab a bite on Sunday.”
“Sounds good.” I hung up and tucked my phone into my jeans pocket.
And immediately started thinking of her again.
Alone. It was all I’d wanted to be, but like everything else in life, it was easier said than done.
Especially with a woman like her close by.
Mandy
Parker had a new favorite person. Lucky for me, I wasn’t the jealous type.
It was Monday, and I was driving the kiddo to school. And like he’d done all weekend, Parker was going on and on about the amazing Mr. Anderson.
“I wonder how he gets his food?” he asked as I drove through town. He didn’t wait for me to answer the question. “I bet he goes out into the woods and kills it himself.”
“Like, with a gun?”
“Yeah, like a hunter,” he said, his enthusiasm plain. “You find a deer and then bang! It’s dead.”
“Well, that’s not a nice thought,” I muttered.
“Do you think he’d show me how to hunt?”
“Well,” I said, taking a turn onto the road leading to school, a semi-truck carrying six or so giant, freshly-chopped tree trunks passing us by. “I don’t know for sure if he’s up there skinning animals. And even if he were…I don’t know if he wants us bothering him.”
“Why not? He liked the cookies, right?”
Parker, not being an adult, wasn’t exactly keyed-in to the finer points of communication. But there’d
been no mistaking it – when we’d visited Hunter, he hadn’t wanted visitors. Which explained why he’d answered the door in nothing but a towel.
Not that I had any complaint about that.
“And what do you think that scar was?” Parker asked, jumping from one topic to another. “How do you think he got that?”
A question I had as well. The scar was strange – the skin was twisted, gnarled, almost. Like it was a wound that hadn’t healed right.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But it’s impolite to ask people about stuff like that.”
“Why?” Parker asked. “It was cool looking.”
We pulled up to the school, the usual commotion going on out front. I turned in the seat so I could look into his eyes. “Here’s the deal, kiddo,” I said. “If I find out that you’ve been getting up to trouble again, I’m going to tell Mr. Anderson. And I bet he won’t be happy to hear it.”
Parker’s eyes widened, as if we were playing poker and I’d just dropped a royal flush. “Okay,” he agreed quickly. “I’ll be good.”
“That’s right, you will. See you in a bit, okay?”
“Okay!” He waved before hopping out and joining the rest of the students.
That was freaking weird, I thought. Did I really just use Hunter to scare Parker into behaving?
But Parker wasn’t alone in being unable to stop thinking about Hunter. The man and his incredible body wouldn’t leave my mind. I didn’t mind the scar one bit. In fact, just like Parker thought it was kind of cool, I thought it was kind of hot.
He stayed in my head as I pulled away from the school, a tightness forming between my legs. I wondered what would happen if I were to go back to his cabin, knock on his door, and find him once more in nothing but a towel. I imagined pulling it off, slipping my fingers over those sexy hip notches and giving a tug, the towel falling to the ground.
The man was huge, and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that what he had down below was huge, too.
It’d been so long since I’d even thought of being with a man. Not to mention, so long since I’d actually been with one. But the more this line of thinking played out in my mind, the worse I felt. I hadn’t fantasized about a man since I’d lost Michael, and doing so felt like a betrayal that was severe enough to make me sick to my stomach. It had been three years, but I still couldn’t allow myself to feel like it was okay to move on.
I turned my attention back to the road, shaking my head and trying to focus on the day ahead. Lizzie was taking the morning and afternoon off to run some errands for the store, which meant I would be working the register until it was time to pick Parker up. After stopping for our usual breakfast of donuts and coffee, I parked at the shop and got out.
It was another chilly day, with a few cracks of blue in the otherwise gray sky above. But I was actually starting to like the weather. San Diego was warm and sunny, but Silver Pines was…different, more interesting in its own way.
I stepped into the shop and heard the usual Motown playing from the speakers – a Four Tops song, I was pretty sure. A handful of customers were in the shop, and I said my hellos and passed out donuts as I made my way to the counter.
“Uh oh,” Lizzie said, her eyes on my donuts. “Forgot to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” I asked, setting down the box on the counter and opening it, plucking out a glazed and taking a bite.
“That I’m going to be eating a little lighter, I think.”
“Why?”
She glanced down at my body. “Because not all of us can wear curves as well as you can, babe. I swear, I put on five pounds and it all goes right to my face.” To make her point, she placed her open palms on the sides of her cheeks and puffed them out.
“But why are you even worried about your weight to begin with? You look great, and you’d look great no matter how much you put on.”
“It’s just…” she looked away, as if trying to figure out where to begin. “I…kind of met someone.”
I was so taken aback I nearly sprayed my coffee out in some cliché spit-take. “You what?”
“I met this guy,” she said, as if sheepish about the idea of having a man in her life.
“You met a guy. I mean, you meet lots of guys – no offense.”
“I know, I know,” she said. “But when I say I met a guy, I mean someone who I want to hang out with for longer than a night…and maybe the morning after, depending on how good he is.”
“You know I’m going to want more details.”
“And you’ll get them,” she promised. “In time. But for now, I want to avoid the sweet stuff so the next time I see him I don’t have a face like a beach ball.”
“You have to give me something,” I begged. “A name? A job? Where you met?”
She bit her lower lip, as if debating internally how much to tell me. “Ok,” she said, leaning in. “I was at the Red Kettle on Saturday, grabbing some lunch before coming in for my afternoon shift. And there was this guy there.” She said the word guy as if it didn’t even begin to describe him. “He was tall and handsome and well-dressed, but rugged at the same time – a little Seattle, a little Eastern Washington all in one.”
I smiled, eager to hear more. “Go on.”
“Anyway, he gets his food to eat there, and we get to talking. I find out he’s this business owner in Seattle here to visit a friend.”
“A friend? What kind of friend?”
“I asked, but he didn’t go into detail. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. It’s not a woman, that’s all I know. We had lunch together and totally hit it off. He’s charming and funny and flirty and, holy fuck, was he handsome.”
“Do I get a name?” I asked, hanging on her every word.
“You get a name if and when things get more serious.”
I raised my eyebrows in total surprise. “Wait, are you saying you think things are going to get serious between you and this guy? You, the woman who once told a guy she was having an IBS flare up so he’d leave her house in the morning is already thinking about getting serious? How did this happen?”
“I don’t know!” she squealed. “Believe me, I’m just as shocked about it as you are. But it’s not like we’re getting married or something. We just had lunch and let some serious, serious sexual tension happen. He didn’t even kiss me.”
As we spoke, a customer arrived with an antique lamp. Lizzie greeted her but continuing the conversation as she checked her out.
“He gave me his number and we’re going to do a long distance dating thing this Wednesday. Just to see how we hit it off, you know?” She thanked the customer before turning her attention back to me once she was gone.
“So, a chaste lunch date followed by a chaste long distance date. Then what?”
“Then I don’t know,” she said with a happy shrug. “But what I do know is that, for the first time in a long-ass time, I’m thinking about a guy as more than just a fling for one night.”
I loved to hear it. Lizzie and I spent some more time dishing about her new crush before it was time for her to head out for the day. The shift went well, with me selling a few big pieces. Liz came back just in time for me to head out to get Parker.
And when I picked him up, it was easy to see what he wanted to talk about. But he looked worried, like he’d gotten some news that he wasn’t sure if he understood it.
“What’s up, kiddo?” I asked as he climbed in the passenger’s seat.
That perplexed look stayed on his face. Finally, he spoke up. “Do you think Mr. Anderson is weird?”
I pulled out of my parking spot and started toward the grocery store, where I’d planned on picking up food for dinner. “Weird? Weird how?”
“People at school were talking about him.”
“Is that right? Students or teachers?”
“Both,” he said. “Some people in my class were talking about the scary new man who worked at a car place. Andrew said it’s because he killed someone and Reece said it’s because he was a spy.�
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“I seriously doubt it’s any of those things,” I said, watching the road ahead as a Rav 4 slowly merged in front of me.
“I bet he could kill someone super easy.”
“Well, just because someone at school says something doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact, I bet anything those other kids say are extra more likely to be wrong.”
Parker didn’t respond, instead turning around in his seat and whipping his head toward something on the side of the road.
“Can we get pizza tonight?”
I glanced over to see that he was looking at Imo’s, the local pizza joint. For a brief moment, the scent of pizza cooking in a brick oven filled the car.
“We’re not getting pizza tonight. I’m making chicken and rice, remember?”
“Oh.” However disappointed he was before, this was a new level.
“I’m doing that new recipe – it’ll be really good. I promise.”
“Sure.”
The disappointment didn’t last long. Parker quickly turned the conversation back to Hunter, speculating on his theories of what his history might be.
Sure, I’d been wondering the same thing. He hadn’t been in town for long – only a few days more than me – but he was already attracting tons of attention. Even at the store I heard a couple of local housewives discussing The Mysterious Hunter Anderson. And they weren’t only discussing his past, of course – they were discussing his other features.
As we reached home, I found myself, as I always did, looking through the woods as I passed his house. I wasn’t sure what, exactly, I was looking for – either his truck was there or it wasn’t. Maybe I just wanted to see him again.
Once we were home, I told Parker to get going on his homework while I tidied up the cabin and put away the groceries I’d bought. Around six I started on dinner. But I didn’t get far before all the lights went out, the TV blinking to a black screen.
“What happened?” Parker asked, his voice a little nervous.
It was a bad time for the power to go out. I’d been right in the middle of cooking dinner, and the electric stove wasn’t going to keep heat for much longer.