Page 4 of Once Upon a Beast

“What am I going to tell you to do when I give the signal, B?” she called to Brooklyn as she left the truck to collect the tow strap from Isaac.

“Um…put it in neutral?”

“That’s my girl.” Del gave him a nod. “See? We’ll have her out of there in no time.”

“Great.”

After all, the sooner they were gone, the sooner he could relax. Then it could get back to being just him and his rescue dog Louie up at the house, hiding away from the world. For how much longer, he didn’t know.

Lightning flashed in the distance, followed by a rumble of thunder louder than the last one. Round two of tonight’s storm seemed to be rolling in. Hopefully, they’d be done with all of this before it arrived.

As Del attached the tow strap to her truck and double-checked the work, Isaac rubbed his palm, wishing it would stop tingling after taking her hand. Had it been a spark of attraction, or was it because he hadn’t had physical contact with another person in months? Whatever the reason, it wasn’t enough to shake him off his goals. Neither were those long legs, perfect butt—yes, he’d watched as she’d climbed in and out of that behemoth truck—and ocean-blue eyes. He was here to lie low while the dumpster fire out east ran out of fuel, nothing more.

“Ready, Brooklyn?”

“Um…ready?”

Isaac grinned at the contrast between Del’s confident voice and her niece’s nervous one. For the briefest of moments, it brought back fond memories of childhood and time spent with his favorite uncle. He glanced toward the house. Frank would have loved this place. That project junkie would have called it a gem in the rough and volunteered to help make it shine again, even if it was just a rental.

His gaze shifted once more to the yard, grimacing again at the long stretch of ruts that ran from Brooklyn’s car to the road. They were fixable enough, but the huge tree/bush thing that had half swallowed the sedan looked done for, which meant calling someone out to cut it down before it fell and blocked his drive. Or worse, fell on him or someone else.

Maybe he should call Will in the morning and see what he wanted done with the yard. It was his rental, after all. Though, Isaac would need to skim over the part about interacting with Delaney and her niece. No sense in making Will all paranoid again. He’d flipped out enough after learning of Isaac’s weekly late-night grocery runs in the next town over—something he refused to give up.

Del’s truck inched forward, and the tow strap slowly went taut. It felt weird, being a bystander to it all, but the look of concentration in Del’s reflection told him she’d done this before. Her engine revved steadily louder until the little Pontiac was tugged free from the evergreen mess, limbs creaking and snapping around it as the car slowly made its escape. Relief shone on Brooklyn’s face after the truck pulled her car off his lawn and back onto the road. Brooklyn’s cheeks reddened as he approached to make sure she was truly all right.

“I amsosorry about your yard. And the big bush thing.” She got out of her car to get a better look. “Maybe we can straighten it with some stakes in the ground or something?”

“And then what?” Del called, untethering their vehicles. “Wait for the next storm to blow it over?”

She approached and pulled her niece into a tight hug, silencing any retort from the teen. Brooklyn hugged her back, the two clearly very close. Now that he could see her better, aside from the longer hair and abundance of freckles, and her being far drier than the rest of them, the family resemblance between Brooklyn and her aunt was striking.

A bright bolt of lightning forked in the not-so-far distance, its booming thunderclap reminding them the night’s storms weren’t quite done.

“Sorry, kiddo, but stakes aren’t going to fix this. That arborvitae needs to come down before it falls on anyone. Plus, you’ve got some major ruts to fill in for Mr. Manning.”

Funny, he didn’t remember telling her his name. “Please, just call me Isaac. And don’t worry about the ruts. I’ll take care of all this.”

Well, hopefully his insurance company would be taking care of it all. He’d find out soon enough. Del, however, frowned.

“Absolutely not. Brooklyn made a mess of this place, and Brooklyn’s gonna help—”

Guitar strumming interrupted her, and Del pulled a cell phone from her back pocket.

“Sorry, Faye, I’m running a bit late. I’ll—what?” She grimaced. “Okay, we’ll be right there.”

Del disconnected and met his gaze. “I’m afraid we’re going to need to work out the details another time. Our bookstore’s roof just sprang a leak.”

Had she just said their…bookstore?

Brooklyn’s eyes widened. “It didn’t.”

“It did.” She hitched a thumb to their vehicles. “The ducklings will have to wait. You’re coming with me.”

Isaac felt a swell of relief. They were leaving. “That’s fine, you two go handle the roof thing and I’ll just call my insurance company tomor—”

“No!” the girls cried in unison.

Del stepped closer, a pleading look in her bright-blue eyes. “Please don’t call this in. If insurance gets involved, things might get messy for Brooklyn. And expensive.” She ran a hand over her wet hair. “Look, I can cut the arborvitae down on my lunch hour tomorrow. Okay?”

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