God, I hoped she was right.
“Where are you going, anyway? I brought an overnight bag just in case.”
“I shouldn’t be that long. Less than an hour.”
She studied me carefully, not missing the fact that I hadn’t shared where I was headed. “Okay, but be careful. Text me or Cain if you need something.”
I pulled her into a quick hug. “You’re the best. You know that, right?”
“I am pretty awesome,” she joked.
“I’ll be back soon.” I grabbed my purse and keys from their hook by the door and headed outside. The cottage was at the back of the community center property and had a separate access road that gave me some additional privacy. It had taken me months to get used to the quiet after years of living in the hustle and bustle of Hope House. There was never true quiet there.
I beeped the locks on my hatchback, suddenly thankful I’d gone with this model instead of a sedan. I’d need the extra space if I had two kids in tow. My stomach cramped. Two children that I was responsible for keeping safe.
I slid my phone out of my pocket as I eased into my vehicle. Tapping on my contacts, I pulled up the one I needed and checked the address. It only took a couple of seconds to plug it into my GPS, and then I was off. I did a solid five miles per hour below the speed limit. The last thing I needed was to get into an accident because a deer or elk jumped in front of me.
I took one of the several roads that ran out of town. As pavement turned to gravel, my nerves kicked up a notch. I tightened my fingers around the wheel. I was doing the right thing. The only thing.
I turned off onto a smaller road that read:Private. God, I was really out in the middle of nowhere. If you had told my fifteen-year-old self that this was where I would end up, I would’ve said that you were crazy. I’d thought I would make my home in a city, getting lost in the swarm of people and endless energy.
But that was before. Now, I craved the peace of Sutter Lake. When I first smelled the air here, I’d felt clean for the first time in years. And, even now, when old demons threatened to take hold, I would take in a lungful of that air. It always helped me fight them back.
I slowed my hatchback as I muttered a curse. The gate in front of me was almost artistic, its rustic beauty melding with the landscape. But it was imposing, too. No one would get through it or over it without the owner of the property knowing.
I sank my teeth into my bottom lip as I rolled down my window. The little speaker box seemed to taunt me. I took a deep breath, hoping the air I loved would give me the strength I needed for the next step. I pressed the button.
I heard a whirring sound as the camera adjusted its direction, followed by a buzz. The gates slowly opened. I guessed that was my answer. I slowly took my foot off the brake and switched it to the accelerator.
Aspen trees with low lights at their bases lined the long drive. It created a glow. Just enough to guide someone’s path but not so much that it distracted from the stars overhead. I followed the curving drive until a house came into view.
Housewas the wrong word. Mansion? But that wasn’t right either. Because as large as the home was, it fit with the property in the same way the gate did. As if whoever had designed it wanted the structure to feel like it had simply sprung from the earth around it.
But when it had, it had created something massive. I didn’t even want to think about how many bedrooms the home contained. And I really didn’t want to think about how much the thing had cost. This was the kind of money that came from more than a cushy job. This waswealth.
I suddenly regretted my decision. Maybe I could just turn around and head home. Just as I was considering making a break for the gate, the front door opened. A tall figure with broad shoulders appeared, backlit from the glow inside.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment, trying to channel all of the strength inside me. I opened my eyes and turned off my vehicle. The walk up the front path and climbing the stairs to the house seemed to take both an eternity and a single breath. I came to a stop in front of Mason.
Concern lined the planes of his face. “Is everything okay?”
“No. It’s not.” Things were as far from okay as they could be.
“What can I do?”
It was that simple for Mason. I’d never trusted it before, the instinct he had to simply jump in and help. I never understood what was in it for him. But maybe, just maybe, that was who Mason Decker was. I tamped down that little glimmer of hope and focused on the man in front of me. Hopefully, he was the answer to my worst fears and nothing more. “If the offer still stands, I’d like to marry you.”
8
Mason
“Come inside.”They were the only words I could manage to get out. Something had changed in the past twelve hours, and it couldn’t be anything good.
“It’s okay if you changed your mind. I can think of something else.” Anna shivered. The thin, long-sleeved t-shirt she wore slipped off one shoulder and did nothing to fight off the chill in the air.
I stepped back, motioning her in. “That’s not what I meant. But there are a lot of details to discuss, don’t you think?”
Her fingers tightened around the strap of her purse, knuckles bleaching white. “Of course.”
