Page 2 of Made for You
Definitely no.
“I didn’t tell him to take off his shirt. Plus, he doesn’t always. I think the sun’s hitting just right…” She faded off as she rose on her toes to peek out the window again.
“Gram. Seriously. You have to stop. What if he looks up and sees you?” The horror of the thought made me swallow hard, and I shuddered against the deep discomfort even imagining such a scenario caused.
“Oh, he waves sometimes. I always give him a little lift with my coffee or wine or… you know, whatever beverage I’m drinking.”
I coughed out a laugh. “He knows?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure he knows I made it a point to notice when I hear that ax hitting the stump, but he has witnessed me standing here watching. I will say he doesn’t always end up completely shirtless,” she said, then if I heard right, mumbled, “unfortunately.”
So many thoughts. So many, many things we needed to sort through. “Wait, this is Bruce? The Bruce whose daughter you watch sometimes? The Bruce you’ve called a ‘dear’ more than once?”
She held up a finger. “Sister, not daughter. And yes. Heisa dear. He’s downright adorable.”
I sputtered. “Um.Yeah.I know sometimes we have differences of opinion, but that man? Not someone I’d ever calladorable.”
The word was so deeply misused in reference to the stunning specimen out there—a literal ax-wielding, topless Superman look-alike. Adorable was sleeping kittens and babies napping and a freshman passed out from studying all night for their first applied and computational mathematics exam… other small things in repose.
That man?
Dangerous.
Lethal.
Potentially hazardous.
“Don’t be fooled by the physique, Nikki. You’ll meet him soon and you’ll see.” She took one more sip of coffee, then tipped her wrist and dumped it before setting her mug in the sink.
Ignoring the way Gram sayingphysiquemade me want to squirm, I acquiesced to the point. “Guess I will if I’m going to be here a while.”
And thanks to the pep talk I’d given myself the entire time I’d driven from California to Utah, I didn’t let the statement send me into a doom spiral. Sure, the prick of unease registered yet again at my neck and between my shoulder blades, triggering the clench in my stomach at the vast, gaping maw that was the incalculable ahead, but no. I would not panic. I would not cry any more tears.
My hand found its way into my pocket to feel the small stone there, seeking its reassurance, the tether it provided. Funny how it’d gotten so smooth. Last time I’d been here, when I’d taken it, it’d been sharp and brittle.
Gram had welcomed me with literal open arms and hugged me tight when I’d rolled in around six yesterday evening. My fifteen-year-old Corolla hadn’t faltered—well, not too terribly—I’d made it up the winding canyon climb to Silverton okay.
It felt like one part home, one part foreign country, all topped with a little sprinkle of shame. Even though I’d given myself one heck of a pep talk, it still coated my insides—the shame. All my plans and years of work, the life I thought I’d have… gone.
Laid off from my job of over eight years, broken up with a boyfriend I’d thought I loved until he left and I felt more relief than heartache, and generally feeling like I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing now that everything I’d done to stay on track had faltered.
But I had this soft place to land. Gram was more than willing to let me stay with her while I found my way, and she’d insisted she needed help with day-to-day life more and more, though so far, she’d shown no signs of being worn out like she’d mentioned. In fact, the only reason I was here came down to her nearly begging me to come help her, and it’d been just the excuse I needed—a way to make a decision that meant something to me. Take care of Gram—of course.
Was part of me doing it since I knew my parents never would’ve, never had? Even though my great aunt Rosie had functioned as my mom’s surrogate mother for a few months after my grandparents passed when she was a teen, my mom had never seemed loyal to her. I’d only known Rosie existed because my parents had complained she was stingy and didn’t like anyone who wasn’t exactly like her.
The reality I’d discovered years after their deaths was so much more complex, but the heart of it was that Rosie hadn’t been willing to let them destroy themselves with her money. She was generous and open and loving, but she’d learned to have limits, and she’d had to develop them because of my parents.
Their perspective on the whole mess meant that they felt she owed them. They never would’ve shown up to help her unless they thought they could get something out of it.
Or maybe I was selling them short. Who really knew? Not me, since I didn’t like to think about that.
I’d always loved these mountains, and the pull to return had been instant once the option opened up. Ties cut and most of my worldly goods sold off in California, the move here had been obvious, even if the “now what?” in my mind loomed large. In what had to be the worst betrayal of my life, there was no mathematical proof to solve and find x for what came next.
For now, I’d work on helping Gram and see about finding a job—the numbers in my bank account were quite clear on my priorities. Maybe I’d add focusing on making some friends. And just maybe… enjoying the view. It wouldn’t hurt. And men like him? They existed in a realm even quantum physics couldn’t penetrate, let alone mere mortals. So enjoying the view is all it’d ever be.
With a secret laugh as Gram bustled out of the room, I snuck one more glance out the picture window—to my own peril. My stomach dropped at the sight again. Good glorious grief,what a physique.
CHAPTERTWO
