to see. “I’ll have to take you there sometime.”
“Me, too!” Alia chimed in.
“Of course. I’ll take you both.” She gestured to the right. “What’s the name of the mountains that surround us?” The valley was so narrow, barely four or five miles across.
“The Topatopa Mountains. They’re part of the Los Padres National Forest.”
“Does it snow here, Mommy?” Alia asked.
Savanna looked to Gavin. She hadn’t even thought to check.
“Not in town. The temperature’s pretty mild year-round, but you will see some white caps on the highest mountain peaks in winter.”
The buildings gave way to citrus orchards and small farms as they drove down the valley. After about ten minutes, he turned onto the narrow road leading to where she and her children would soon live—the road she’d had such difficulty finding in the dark last night without the GPS on her phone.
“Now I’ll get to lay eyes on this creek I’ve been hearing about,” she said.
Gavin had backed her moving van into a wide spot in the road near the turnoff so they’d be able to get past it. As soon as he parked, they all piled out. The kids began to run and play while she remained at Gavin’s side.
The creek, only about twenty feet from where she’d stopped last night, was much wider than Savanna had anticipated. “Wow. Lucky for me you were sitting outside when I arrived.”
“You didn’t seem to be slowing down,” he admitted.
“I would’ve barreled right into this.” The current wasn’t strong enough to carry off a truck. Nor was the water high enough that they would’ve risked drowning. But they would’ve gotten stuck in the mud. And she had no idea how she would’ve pulled the U-Haul out, especially late on a Friday evening, in the country. No doubt the right kind of tow—and any damage she caused the van—would’ve cost a small fortune.
“I guess you owe me,” he teased.
She froze in surprise. Owed him what? Was he flirting with her?
Her eyes flew to his face. She didn’t want to be unfair, didn’t want him to go to a lot of work thinking she might be willing to get involved with him. “I’ll pay you,” she said.
He gave her a funny look. “For saving you from driving into the creek?”
“For your time today.” She checked her kids to make sure they weren’t wandering too far. They were getting muddy, but they were having such a great time searching for tadpoles she didn’t call them back. They deserved some carefree fun after the upset of the past few months. “I don’t expect anyone to work for free.”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind helping out a neighbor.”
She tried to let the subject go but couldn’t stop herself from speaking up again. “Would you be helping me this much if I were a man?”
He responded without hesitation. “A man with two kids, who was recently divorced and moving in next door? Of course.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he hadn’t been flirting with her. Maybe he was what he seemed to be—a really nice neighbor. It’d been so long since she’d been single and in a situation where a man might hit on her, she could have misinterpreted his behavior. “Okay, but...I need to let you know that I’ve been through something extremely difficult, and...and I’m still not over it. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it. So don’t do anything for me because...because you might be...you know, looking for female companionship. I’m not an option.”
He looked surprised. “Whoa. Where did that come from?”
Branson and Alia had taken off their shoes and socks and were wading ankle-deep in the shallow, slow-moving creek. They weren’t paying attention to the conversation, but she lowered her voice all the same. “I’m sorry. I’d hate for you to think I’m being rude, but I’d feel worse if you were ever to believe that I tried to take advantage of your kindness. I’d rather be clear on where I stand from the beginning. You need to charge me—for the wood, which I’ll reimburse you for before you leave today, and the labor. I’ll pay you a fair price for everything, even the ride last night.”
He went to his truck and got a pair of leather gloves from under the seat. “I appreciate your honesty, but I’m not going to let you pay me for the ride, and I have a few hours I can contribute to helping so that you can move in today. You won’t owe me anything beyond what I spent this morning.”
“Are you sure?”
He looked slightly confused as he pulled on those gloves. “Will you answer one question for me?”
“What is it?”
“Does this immediate stiff-arm have anything to do with my boys ranch history? Because we’ve barely met, and yet you’re already telling me you don’t want to get involved. I admit I find you attractive. Really attractive—”
“I have two kids,” she broke in, as if that should’ve been a deal breaker.
“I’ve met them,” he said with a wink. “I like kids. They don’t have to be mine. But I feel like you might be lumping me into the same category as your ex-husband simply because we both ran into a spot of trouble in our teenage years.”
He was far more up front than anyone she’d ever encountered. Taken aback by his frank honesty, she struggled to find an appropriate response and wound up focusing on what concerned her most. That “spot of trouble” he’d mentioned might not be a small thing. Gordon’s behavioral difficulties from the same period—his truancy, lying, stealing and general belligerence—had revealed that something was wrong, and it was never fixed, or he would not have done what he’d done later in life. He’d merely learned how to hide his worst self so that he could meld into society.
Still, she didn’t know Gavin, didn’t know if his behavior had been worse or better than Gordon’s when they were young, and owed him the benefit of the doubt. Not every boy who attended a boys ranch turned out to be a violent criminal. “I appreciate the compliment. I do. After what I’ve been through, any kind word feels good. And I’m sorry about what I said regarding the boys ranch last night. Your past has nothing to do with anything.”
“Then you’re just not into me.”
He said that with a twinkle in his eye, as if he was man enough to take no, if that was her answer. This had to be the most emotionally brave individual she’d ever met. She couldn’t help admiring his self-confidence. Gordon would never have risked his ego that way. “It’s not you specifically. I’m done with men. All men. I wish I’d never gotten involved with the one I married.”
He peered at her closer. “Certainly you’ve had other males in your life, besides your ex, who haven’t been that bad.”
“If you count my father and brothers. But that’s about the limit of my experience. I never had a steady boyfriend before Gordon. I met him my first day of college and got pregnant eighteen months later, at which point we both dropped out of school to get married.”
“And the marriage lasted...”
“Until two months ago.” She hadn’t officially filed at that time, but that was when she’d first begun to doubt Gordon’s innocence, which was the point of the real rift.
“Which makes you...what? Twenty-nine?”
“In two weeks.” She assumed they were similar in age. From his appearance, he couldn’t be much older.
“That’s young to be so jaded.”
“I can’t help it.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For...”
“Whatever he did.”
Apparently