Page 23 of My Mistake To Make

I feel him staring at me. In my peripheral vision, I see his mouth fall open a little in shock, but I keep looking straight ahead.

‘Roberta Reynolds was my grandmother. I never met her, but she left me the house anyway.’

‘Charlotte…’

‘You can’t have known her.’ I turn to look at him. ‘You’re too young.’

‘I didn’t, but small town…’ He blows out a breath.

I nod and turn away again. ‘Yep, Charlotte was my mum. And now I’m here trying to get a fresh start. Trying to be positive and optimistic while the house Roberta left me is falling down, and until I get a quote from awillingcontractor and then get to the bank on Monday, I don’t even know if I can afford to save it. Not to mention, all I want to do is make friends here, and you, the first person I actually saw in this town, seem to think I’m here bringing the plague or something.’

‘I am willing, Cara. I apologize for making you feel like that. I have my own shit to deal with. I tried to buy this place, you know.’

I widen my eyes in shock, and he nods, resting his elbows on his knees, and I turn my body to face him.

‘I drove out there to see Roberta and asked her to sell me the house so that I could save it. She said she had no interest in selling, and I was so pissed.’ He chuckles. A deep, rich sound thatvibrates through me. ‘I didn’t understand why she’d rather leave the house sitting empty than make some money and let me take it. Now I understand.’

‘Wow.’ I swallow hard and look away from him. ‘I didn’t know. I never met her. Never even had a conversation with her. Then I get a phone call to say she died and an email from her telling me the house is mine.’

‘You look tired.’ His words surprise me, and I turn to see concerned eyes trained on me.

‘I am. My mum grew up here. It’s a lot on top of jetlag. I am so…’

‘Knackered.’

I laugh at his accent wrapping around that word. ‘Yeah, I’m knackered.’

‘Come on then.’ He stands and holds out a hand to me as I gaze up at him. ‘I’ll take you back to your cabin.’

I take his hand, and he leads us over to his truck, not releasing me until I climb inside, and I do everything I can to ignore the flutters in my stomach and below. He’s my contractor, that’s all.

‘Cara,’ the soft voice wakes me, and I open my eyes to see Doug smiling at me.

‘Oh, my god, I fell asleep.’ I straighten as much as I can with a seatbelt on.

‘You did.’

He grins, and I can’t help but do the same. I unbuckle my belt and reach for the handle.

‘Thank you for the lift and for this afternoon.’

He nods and offers the smallest of smiles, and I start to open the door.

‘Cara,’ I turn back to look at him. ‘Sorry, I was a dick.’

I laugh loudly, surprised by the apology.

‘Doug the dick has a nice ring to it.’ I think that’s the first time I’ve ever said that word, and I did it with a smile.Go, Cara!

He narrows his gaze at me, and I like it.

‘You're going to be trouble, aren’t you?’ Oh, I liked that even more.

‘Maybe I am.’ I wink. Me…winking.

Doug grins and shakes his head. ‘Get out of my truck.’

So, I do and head into my cabin with more bounce in my step than I’ve ever had.

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