Page 10 of One Unexpected Gift

Never feeling the exhilarating rush of completing the 4,000 vertical foot course topping eighty-five miles per hour again wasn’t something he liked to think about. Brushing the negative to the back of his messed up head, he leaned on his rake and grinned at Skylar, an easy task to do.

“You’ve asked about me?”

“No.” She stopped raking and mirrored his pose. “This is a small town. You’re a business owner and a friend of Owen’s.”

“And you like me.”

“I don’t even know you.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head, her auburn hair with the stunning red highlights flopping side to side in the confines of her bun.

Someday soon he’d like to see her thick, long hair splayed across his pillow. “But you’re interested.”

“Like I said the other night, my time here is limited, and I’m pretty busy.”

“It didn’t stop us before.” Damn. He wished his mouth didn’t move faster than his brain. That’s not what he wanted, a quickie behind a tree. Not that he wasn’t imagining it, but he’d like to get to know Skylar.

Her shoulders stiffened. “I’m not—”

“I’m sorry.” He cut her off. “That was rude. That’s not what I meant. My interest in you is real. I’d like to take you out.”

She relaxed her posture and went back to raking. “I live in Virginia, Nick.”

In other words, she wasn’t interested in a brief affair while she was in Maine. He got it and respected her for it.

“Can we be friends? Get to know each other? And I don’t mean friends with benefits. Well, we’ve already benefited so now we can work on the friend’s part?” He cringed again. He really wasn’t good at this. Granted, he’d never done anything like this before.

One-night flings? Sure. But wanting to be friends afterward? Not so much.

“It would make things easier since we have mutual friends.”

Ouch. Way to punch him in the gut with her blatant rejection. Still, he’d take a forced friendship over the cold shoulder.

“So, friend. You know I’m originally from Austin, are you a native of Angel Springs?”

“No.”

“Where are you from?”

“I grew up in the Bangor area.”

“Is your family still there?”

“No.”

Her answers were as quick and curt as her questions.

“Where are they now?”

“My parents and brother are dead.”

“Skylar.” He dropped his rake and moved closer to her, touching her shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

She looked down at his hand but didn’t shrug him off. “I was six, so I don’t remember much. They died in a house fire twenty-seven years ago.”

“Wow.” He placed his free hand on top of his head searching for the right words to say, the right thing to do. Even though it happened a lifetime ago, the pain had to still be there.

“So you grew up with your grandparents? Other family?”

She shook her head. “My grandparents are in Ireland. I’d only met them once, at the funeral. They weren’t comfortable taking me in, nor was my uncle. He was only twenty-five at the time so I can’t blame him.”

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