Page 13 of Caleb's Salvation
“Your girl with the baby?”
I grimaced. “She’s not my girl. Truth is she’s got a little crush on me and well, I just don’t feel the same way.”
“Oh. But she’s cute as heck. I saw her at Gert’s one day when I was picking up supplies.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not into redheads.” I hadn’t been into any woman since Sarah. Those were my rules and I sure as hell wasn’t changing them for a young woman with a baby.
Didn’t matter if she was cute as heck or not. Didn’t matter that, after knowing her story, I thought she was pretty damn brave, too.
“Anyway,” I continued. “She plans on staying up here but she’s not real familiar with how hard winter is. I need someone to watch over her. Make sure she’s stocked up with wood, that she knows when to clean out the potbelly stove. I need someone who I can trust won’t take advantage of the situation.”
“Take advantage?” Ty asked, his voice creeping up an octave. “You mean of a lady? Uh, my mom taught me better than that, sir.”
Perfect. “You’re from Anchorage?”
“Born and bred, sir.”
“You know the drill up here when it gets dark?”
“Yes, sir. I can make sure she has everything she needs to get through it.”
He would do it. I could trust him. “She’s been through a hard time. I want to make sure things go as easy as they can for her, but I don’t want the other guys thinking they can pester her. You know what I mean? I might not want to date her, but that doesn’t mean she needs to deal with every single guy in camp hitting on her. You understand me?”
“Right. Keep the guys away.”
“Maybe they see you two together, they’ll just assume she’s off limits.”
The kid laughed at that. “You give me a lot of credit, sir. I only got a peek at her, but I’m pretty sure she’s out of my league.”
“All that stuff is horseshit. You can be in any woman’s league if you’re man enough. Trust me, when I was going after Sarah, she thought she was way too good for me at first…”
I could see it in the kid’s face. The awkwardness or maybe surprise of me actually mentioning Sarah’s name. Couldn’t remember the last time I’d said it out loud. Well, I did it. I said her name. She was gone, but it didn’t mean I had to pretend she’d never existed.
“Anyway, you’ll do this for me?” I asked him.
“Sure, sir. No problem. That it?”
I nodded and watched him walk to the door. I didn’t want to do it, but in the end, I couldn’t stop myself.
“And Rodgers, you’ll keep me appraised of how she’s doing. I feel…responsible. She came up here with expectations and I…well, I didn’t fulfill them.”
“Sure, Cal. No worries.”
With that, he left, and I sat on the bed thinking I’d done the right thing. I got it. Vivienne was another lost soul who needed a place to settle for a while. Get her bearings. It was sort of ironic in a way. Eli had started this contest for some fun and games.
What he got instead were a bunch of women running away from their life for one reason another. Shelby, Kate, Jenny. Now Vivienne. Which only made sense. Why else would a woman choose to come to Hope’s Point unless they were escaping something worse?
Well, it was over. No more women. No more surprises. Rodgers would make sure Vivienne had what she needed. And I was absolved of any guilt I felt for not being some kind of damn hero.
Someone who would take care of her and her child. Someone who would make sure they were always safe and secure.
I was the last person on earth who should ever have that responsibility. Because I’d had it once, and I’d failed them.
Never again. Never again.
4
Bud’s
