Page 5 of Stranded with the Mountain Man

The knock, when it comes, is hesitant, easy to miss beneath the thunder.I wait. Another knock follows, more urgent this time, then a woman's voice calls out.

"Hello? Anyone home? I need help!"

A woman. Alone. On my mountain in a thunderstorm.This has trouble written all over it.

I don't move. Maybe she'll give up, go back wherever she came from.Seconds tick by, and I think it's worked until I see the shadowy outline of someone peering through my front window.

"Great," a voice mutters from the porch, followed by more knocking, harder now, almost desperate.

"Hello! Is anyone--"

I've had enough. In one fluid motion, I flip the locks and yank the door open, shotgun still at my side but visible.The sudden movement catches her off guard, and she stumbles backward.

Small. Soaked. Glasses. Wild curly hair plastered to her skull.Something familiar about her shape in the darkness triggers an old instinct.

I raise the shotgun to chest level."You have five seconds to explain why you're trying to break into my house before I make a decision I won't regret."

Her hands go up immediately. "It's me," she says through chattering teeth."Deena Wilson. Millie's niece from over on Lavender Hill.My house--her house--the ceiling collapsed, and--"

The name hits like a physical blow.Deena.

Fucking Deena Wilson.

I lower the shotgun a fraction."Deena?"

"Yes." She pushes dripping hair from her face, and now I can see it, the woman she became overlaid on the girl I once knew.Same stubborn chin. Same wide eyes behind those glasses."I know this is awkward, but I need shelter.Just until the storm passes."

I say nothing, trying to process the fact that the woman I once planned to propose to is standing on my porch, twelve years after walking out of my life without a backward glance.The woman who chose fancy college over me.Over us.

"Please," she adds, her voice smaller now."I have nowhere else to go."

Behind me, Bear whines, sensing my tension.Part of me wants to shut the door in her face.Let her feel a fraction of what I felt watching her taillights disappear down the mountain road all those years ago.

But even I'm not that much of an asshole.

"Get in before you catch your death," I say, stepping aside."And before I change my mind."

She hurries inside, bringing with her the scent of rain and something floral that triggers memories I've spent years burying.Bear approaches, sniffing curiously at her legs, but keeps his distance, unsure of this drenched stranger.

I close the door against the storm."That's Bear. He won't hurt you unless I tell him to."

Her eyes widen as she takes in the size of my Cane Corso, but she doesn't flinch."He's beautiful."

"He's a guard dog, not a pet," I correct, though I scratch behind his ears as I pass."Stay," I tell him, and he retreats to his bed, watching us both with intelligent eyes.

I set the shotgun back in its place and really look at Deena for the first time.She's shivering violently, clothes plastered to her body, showing curves that weren't there when she was twenty-one.Her face has lost its girlish softness, cheekbones more defined, but her eyes are the same deep brown and too perceptive by half.

"You're dripping on my floor."

She glances down at the puddle forming around her boots."Sorry. I didn't exactly have time to pack for a flood."

Something that might be a smile tugs at my lips before I can stop it.Same smart mouth too.

"Bathroom's down the hall," I say, gesturing."There are towels in the cabinet.I'll find you something dry to wear."

"Thank you." She shifts the backpack on her shoulder."I have the quilt from Millie's, but everything else is soaked."

The mention of Millie softens something in my chest.The old woman was good to me after I returned to Serenity Hollow, bringing casseroles and never asking questions about why I'd come back or what I'd left behind.

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