Page 4 of Now You See Him
A woman stood behind the register with a net over her cap of graying brown hair. She had deep grooves around her mouth but kind eyes. She was speaking to a man whose back was facing Tina. When the woman spotted Tina at the door, she smiled. The creases around her mouth intensified with the easy greeting.
“Hi honey, what can I get ya?”
“Oh,” Tina said. “Um, do you actually have any recommendations? I’m new in town.”
“The Spicy Italian,” the man said. His voice was gravel deep, and Tina’s lower back tingled at the sound. It was the sound that she’d expected to accompany her wet dreams since her first night in Pennsylvania.
He turned, and Tina had to press her lips together to stop from gasping.
Good lord, she didn’t know that Pennsylvania made mountain men out of raw sex appeal. He looked like he belonged in her fantasies. He wore flannel, because of course he did. The sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and he had a tattoo snaking down one forearm.
A familiar tattoo. She just couldn’t place where she’d seen it before.
His hair was thick, black, and disheveled. The color was nearly the shade of his eyes. He had a chiseled jaw covered in scruff. It was nothing like the clean-shaven angular features that Logan possessed.
“T-the Spicy Italian,” Tina stuttered. “That sounds great.” She turned to the woman behind the register. “I’ll have a regular-size Spicy Italian, and then a Turkey and Swiss on rye.”
“You got it, honey,” the woman said with a smile. “Give us a minute and I’ll ring you up when it’s ready.”
She turned away from the register with a slip of paper and walked towards the back.
“Welcome to town,” the man said. “I’m Derrick.” He held out a hand for her to shake. Tina took it, and nearly melted at the feel of his calluses against her palm.
There was a tickle of guilt in the pit of her stomach at the thought of finding herself drawn to someone other than her fiancé. Meanwhile, she hadn’t felt anything for Logan in so long. She’d have to think about her response to this stranger at a later point in time.
“Tina,” she finally responded. “And thank you for the welcome.”
“Are you staying in town?”
Tina was about to tell him that it was none of his business, but then she remembered where she was. This type of lifestyle was different from New York, right? People were going to ask questions. She couldn’t snap at everyone who was curious. “I bought a place up Mountainview Drive.”
There was the sound of metal and glass crashing against the tile floor. Tina whirled to see that the woman who’d stood behind the counter had dropped a large bottle of water that she’d been removing from one of the beverage fridges against the wall.
“Oh my god, are you alright?” Tina asked.
“Fine, fine,” she said, then her panicked look darted to Derrick before she spun on her feet. “I’ll be right back. Gotta get this cleaned up.”
“Was it…something I said?” Tina asked. Her laugh sounded forced, awkward in the moment. Especially since Derrick’s mouth had set into a grim line.
“Mountainview Drive,” he said. “The one that’s off Garden Court?”
“Ah, why do you ask?”
“That used to be my brother’s home,” Derrick said quietly. “I’m the one who sold it to you. Tina Dubey, right?”
Tina’s eyebrows shot up nearly to her hairline. “Oh.” Her mind raced as she tried to piece together the details from the home sale. “Derrick…Sutter? Your brother’s home. That’s right. I’m so sorry about your loss…”
Derrick shook his head. “It’s quite alright. It’s been about a year. The house has been gutted and renovated since then. I did most of the work myself.”
“Well, the finishes are beautiful. And I’ll make sure I treat it with the respect it deserves.”
Derrick stared at her for a moment, the dark hues of his eyes deepening. “If there is anything you need, anything that comes up, I’m happy to swing by.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a card. Tina didn’t even realize people still had them anymore, but she took the cream-colored card from his fingertips and looked at the block print words on the front.
derrick sutter. sutter construction, renovation and repair.His phone number and an email followed on the second line.
“I appreciate it,” Tina said carefully. “I mean, everything looks brand new. The only problem we’ve had is with the old hinges on the basement door that keeps opening?—”
“Old hinges?” Derrick asked. “No, I replaced all the door hinges and the doors.”
