Page 10 of Trick or Treat with the Mountain Man
“Uh. The spotlight’s not usually on me. My story’s probably kind of boring for a man like you—someone who’s used to high-action drama like falling out of airplanes.”
He settled back on the couch, no longer ramrod straight, and put his feet up on the coffee table, wincing as he did it. Then he pulled out another cookie to munch on.
“Tell me anyway.”
Okay.Mr. Sexy wants to hearmystory? I’ll be happy to tell him.
“I’m Ava Appleton. And yes, my family’s been here for a very long time. And yes, we have apple orchards. Or I should saytheydo. Although there was a bad blight that came through back in the nineteen-twenties. After that, my family stopped producingthem for income. We switched tacks and now they farm a little bit of everything. But Red Oak Mountain’s not conducive to farming. Most of my relatives live down in the valley below, but my parents were the hippy types, and they moved up the mountain in the sixties and never left.”
He shook his head. “Ava Appleton. Now I’ve heard everything. They could have called you Eve. Imagine the jokes.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve heard plenty over the years. It’s a unique name. There aren’t too many Ava Appletons in the world, but if you do an internet search, you’ll find a few. Nothing istrulyunique. Everything’s been done before, even if you don’t know it. We still have a small Arkansas Black apple orchard. I could take you there someday if you want to see it. Oh, it’s a lot of walking, though. I forgot. Maybe once your hip is feeling better. Or I could bring you an Arkansas Black apple pie made from those apples.Award-winning.I swear. And it’s the right season for it, too.”
He licked his lips as if he were imagining it.
A thud shot through the house, the sound coming from the hallway. I whipped my head around as my heart sped up. “What the hell was that?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, this house makes a lot of noise.”
“And that doesn’t scare you?” I asked while I looked around with wide eyes.
Chapter 5
Tyler
Ava was as cute as a comic book character. One of those anime-style ones.
Her face was expressive, and every emotion she had ran across it while she talked.
Right now, her pretty face was saying that she felt spooked.
I shook my head. “It’s nothing, really. Go check if it makes you feel better. Maybe a raccoon in the attic? Maybe old boards settling. Maybe the wind knocked something into the side of the house. The first month I lived here, I investigated every last sound. Now I just ignore them.”
She knitted her brows together. “That was loud, though. Will you go check with me?”
I chuckled. This sweet woman was afraid of a little bump in the night.
I rose slowly to my feet, grabbed my cane and made my way back there, with Ava clutching my pajama bottoms like that was going to protect her somehow.
Opening the door to my bathroom, and then my bedroom, I said, “See? Nothing here.”
Another loud thud reverberated through the room. It was louder this time since we were in the bedroom.
Ava screamed and ran straight into my arms, hugging me tight around the waist. I almost dropped my cane. I was more surprised by her reaction than by the sound.
My arms reflexively wrapped around her, and I had to admit, she feltgoodthere. So good my cock started to harden again.
“It’s nothing, Ava. Just one of those sounds.”
She shook her head and peered up at me with terrified eyes. “I don’t think so. That was something… otherworldly.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that.
Ava pointed down at the floorboards. “The sound came from there.”
“Yup.”
I’d noted that in the past.
