Page 14 of A Very Mountain Man Wooing

“This looks great. I’m starving.”

“Are you working today?” I ask as we both dig in.

“No, I have today off. I need to get caught up on errands. Do some laundry and go grocery shopping. What about you?”

“Just hanging out around here.”

I open my mouth to ask if she wants to hang out, but is that coming off too strong? I don’t want to scare her off, but it feels like things are going well between us. Maybe she’s finally coming around.

“Want to hang out today? We could grab lunch, or, er dinner,” I say when I see that it’s already close to eleven.

“So, we’re just going to hang out?” She asks, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Yeah, it will be a date.”

I watch her closely, looking for how she’ll react to that word and to my surprise, she doesn’t freak out. In fact, she looks almost excited at the idea of going out on a date with me.

“Okay,” she says almost shyly as she takes another drink of her coffee.

“Okay.”

“I need to go home and change first.”

“I’ll drive you. Your car is still back at Snips,” I say, and she nods, sliding off the kitchen stool.

I hurry back to the bedroom to get dressed and then meet Anise by the front door. We head out to my truck in silence. Anise is busy typing on her phone and she gasps.

“Shit!”

“What?” I ask and I’m at her side in an instant.

“I forgot that I’m supposed to be painting my bedroom with Grier and Mabel today! I have to go straight home. She’s probably already waiting on me.”

“Let’s go,” I say as I help her into the truck and jog around to the other side.

We take off down the road and I try to make conversation. I want to know everything about this girl.

“I can help you paint too. What color are you doing?”

“It’s just a beige. There was water damage, and they replaced the drywall. I’m painting, and the landlord is taking off a bit of my rent next month.”

“Ah, do you like painting?”

“I’ve never done it before.”

“Really?”

“No, that was considered construction and was men’s work.”

“What?” I ask with a frown.

“My parents were very… conservative. Their views are pretty outdated.”

“I can see that.”

I turn onto her street and scan the parking lot for Grier or Hunter’s truck. I don’t see it there, and I start to relax. I have more time with my girl.

I pull into a spot and hop out with her.

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