Page 3 of Praised By the Mountain Man

I lead Tessa by the hand to my box truck I use for deliveries. Not the ideal vehicle to grab her sister in, but it will get the job done. I open her door and guide her up the steep step to the passenger seat, waiting to see that she’s buckled in before rounding the front of the monstrous white truck to my side.

As soon as I hop in, she begins rambling.

“You really don’t have to do this, I can call a cab or see if her friend’s mom can drop her off at the house, I really don’t want to inconvenience you. We just met and it was kind of weird and—”

I cut her off again, which I hate to do because I really love the sweet, melodic sound of her voice. But I can tell she’s spiraling, so I want to nip this in the bud.

“Tessa. It’s okay. In fact, I’ve been looking for a chance to spend more time with you and this seems like the perfect opportunity. I don’t mind helping you, especially when you really need it.”

She blushes at that and worry I may have set my intentions too bluntly, but I can’t bring myself to care.

“Oh. Okay. I… I would like to spend more time with you, too,” she says, still blushing as her emerald eyes meet mine.She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. Like a movie star and she doesn’t even know it.

“Good,” I say simply. “Now, tell me where we’re going.”

She rattles off the address and I know exactly where we’re headed—one of the perks of driving so much in this town is you getreallygood at knowing where everything is.

“You’re a teacher, right?” I ask as we pull onto the main road before taking a left to head towards the more residential side of town.

She looks surprised that I already know this about her. I think she would be shocked if she knew how much I had been watching her over these last few months, but I’m not scared to show her my interest.

“I am,” she says after a moment. “I teach English to juniors at the high school.”

“Is that something you always wanted to do?” I ask.

“Yes. Not here necessarily, but things changed and I’m glad I was able to get the job here. I love the school and my students, and the other teachers have been great.”

“Good. It’s good to have a job you enjoy,” I say simply, taking another turn.

“You do the deliveries for the brewery, right?” she asks, looking shyly at me, like she should be embarrassed for knowing that. Itonly fills me with hope. Hope that she may have been watching me like I’ve been watching her.

“Yep. For the last few years. I needed something to do, but still wanted my independence. I was in the Marines before moving here,” I say, sneaking a peak at her to see if she’s surprised by that information.

She doesn’t seem to be. “Ah. That explains the USMC hat,” she says simply, and I laugh at how easy this conversation feels, how it feels like I’ve known her forever, even though it’s only been a few minutes.

“Did you meet Scott and Ethan at the veteran’s group?”

“I did. That’s how I got this gig,” I say gesturing around the truck. “They’re great guys.”

“They are,” she says.

I debate on whether or not to bring up her parents, Ava and Luna told me she lost them a few years ago, and that’s how she wound up raising Ruby. Ultimately, I decide that if I want this thing with her to be real, we should be open and honest with each other from the beginning.

“I’m sorry about your parents,” I say simply.

She looks at me with a mix of surprise and something I can’t quite place, acceptance, maybe. “Thank you,” she says, “it’s been hard.”

“I’m sure it has. No one should have to go through that.”

She gives me a stoic smile at that, and I can’t help but feel I’ve killed the mood. We sit in silence for the next few minutes. When we pull up to her sister’s friend’s house, she promptly jumps out of the truck and rushes to the door. It’s a few minutes past when she was supposed to be here, but it shouldn’t be a big deal.

A moment later, Tessa and a little girl who looks like she could be here miniature twin come up to the passenger-side window, which I roll down.

“Thanks for bringing me here, Luke. We can just walk home,” Tessa says, still averting full eye contact.

“None of that,” I say, knowing it will take her at least twenty minutes to walk home and it’s already starting to get dark. I don’t want her walking home like that, and even more, I’m not ready for our time together to end. “Hop in, I’ll drive you home.”

“Are you sure? You’ve already been so generous.”

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