Page 9 of The Friendly Fall

“Here we go,” Nick instructs. “One, two …three.” In oneveryswift motion, he pulls me straight up and out of the hole.

I let out the most obnoxious sigh of relief.

“See. All good.” Nick beams, giving me a bright, toothy grin that makes my heart skip a beat. Well, not really. It’s probably just anxiety and pure humiliation. This guy is beingbeyondkind.

He’s got to be making fun of me in his head.

I mean, I would be.

“Thank you so much.” Granny takes a step toward him, but then retreats when the ramp creaks loud enough to make Frank back away. “Maybe it’s time to replace this thing. Or maybe I should just use the stairs,” she says.

Nick shakes his head. “You ought to just have this ramp fixed, Ms. Marilyn. It’s in pretty dire condition. Eliza here can take this kind of fall, but you don’t need to be risking it.”

The way he addresses my granny reminds me of a perfect gentleman, and I raise my eyebrows. He’s either straight from heaven, or the devil in disguise…

And my guess is the latter.

“How’s the leg?” Nick kneels down to my level again.

“Fine,” I lie, not bothering to mention that the feeling hasn’t completely returned. The last thing I need is a trip to the hospital or something.

“It’ll probably be sore, but if it’s not causing you a lot of pain right now, it’s probably not broken,” he continues, his eyes slipping down my legging clad body.

I maintain my eyes on his chin. It’s clearly much hotter in West Falls than what I initially thought because I amsweating.

“I’ll make sure to keep an eye on her,” Granny says.

Suddenly, Nick’s radio on his hip goes off—someone’s saying something about a cow stuck in the mud. I nearly laugh at the call but stifle it; I don’t want any more attention in my direction.

“Well, duty calls.” Nick chuckles before looking over to me. “It was really nice to meet you, Eliza.” His gaze lingers in a way that I try to ignore.

“Yeah, likewise,” I grunt, meeting his gaze for asplitsecond before looking away as my cheeks grow hot again. I keep my eyes there as I hear him walk away, both Frank and Granny bidding him goodbye.

“He is such a nice young man,” Granny muses as the truck pulls away. “Sure is great to have someone like that around town.”

Yeah, and I’m so embarrassed right now, I hope Ineverhave to see him again.

Chapter Four

Nick

“So, you met Marilyn’s granddaughter?” Mom looks at me with curiosity in her blue eyes as she leans on the counter.

“Yeah, I did,” I say carefully, already knowing where this conversation is going, and thinking back to the way my breath got caught in my throat when I saw those freckles across the bridge of her nose.

It doesn’t mean anything.

Every time a new woman between the ages of twenty-five and about forty shows up in town, my mom is on the case, trying to determine if it might be a potentialmatch…

It never is.

Granted, there’s somethingverycharming about Eliza Willis.

Perhaps it’s the fact that she’s remarkably cute when she’s fallen through a decrepit ramp, or maybe it’s her bright green eyes and the way she blushed when I met her gaze … I don’t know. But either way, she’s something.

And I’veneverfelt an instant spark toward someone like I did her…

I must be going crazy.

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