Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(16)

Reese pounced on her last sentence right away, making her wish she hadn’t included that information. But Gavin was cool—even a little exotic from her perspective. Given the homogenous sector of people she’d circulated among in Utah for so long, he stood out. Not only were the people of Nephi mostly white, they were mostly the same religion and political persuasion, which was different from the diversity she’d known growing up in California. She’d never lived in Silver Springs before, and yet she felt a strong sense of having come home. “Yeah.”

“How old is your neighbor?”

“Didn’t ask, but I would guess he’s about my age.”

“I take it he’s single...”

“I got that impression.” She hoped Gavin wasn’t the kind of douchebag who would say what he did if he had a girlfriend...

Her brother took a few seconds to consider her answer before responding. “Is he attractive?”

She wished she’d never mentioned him. She hadn’t meant to send her brother into full alert. “In his own way. I mean...he’s not the athletic type—like you and Gordon. Not what I go for. He’s more...the rock star type.”

“That’s interesting.”

She felt her face heat as if she’d given something away, which was a ridiculous reaction. What was there to give away? Gavin had told her he found her attractive—really attractive (she couldn’t help recalling the emphasis he’d placed on that word), but she hadn’t encouraged him. She was just embarrassed because the conversation she’d had with Gavin at the creek hadn’t been a normal conversation for two people who were nearly strangers.

“Not as interesting as you seem to think,” she said in an attempt to back away from the subject. “I’m grateful he’s been so nice. That’s all. If he hadn’t helped me get over the creek, I could still be at the motel where I had to stay last night. That’s the other person I met. The motel manager. He was middle-aged and balding.” Not nearly as appealing as Gavin, but then she’d never met another man who’d interested her quite so quickly.

“You had to cross a creek?” Reese said.

“Not a very big one, but you can’t drive a moving van through it. The bridge was gone, washed out in the last big rain.”

“That must not have come as a pleasant surprise.”

“Could’ve been worse.” She shuddered to think how the night would’ve ended had Gavin not scraped himself up in order to save her from getting stuck.

“What about the house? Will you be able to stay there?”

She shifted so that she could get off her knees and sit cross-legged as she surveyed the kitchen. She’d been trying not to let the condition of the place get her down. It didn’t matter what it looked like now, she’d put everything in order, make it comfortable. But since her father had sent those pictures, several of the windows had been broken, the back door had been kicked in, someone had shot a rifle or some other kind of gun at several of the lighting fixtures, which had also put holes in the walls, and the stove and dishwasher had been stolen. Replacing those items on top of renovating the house would eat up even more of her budget. As far as appliances went, she’d brought only her washer and dryer from Nephi, since her refrigerator had needed to be replaced, anyway. Thank goodness Gavin had had a dolly with which to unload them. The entire drive, she’d been stressed about how she was going to get the heavier items into the house. She’d only been able to get them on the truck in the first place because she’d recruited help from her neighbor in Nephi. “I have my work cut out for me. No way to sugarcoat that. And you should see the mess that’s been left behind. There’re cigarette butts and beer cans everywhere, not to mention evidence of animals.”

“That won’t take too long to clean up. Do you have heat?”

“No.”

“You didn’t call ahead and get the utilities turned on?”

“I did. There’s something wrong with the heater. Fortunately, it’s warm enough this time of year—in this area—that we’ll be okay during the day, and when it chills off at night—” like it was now “—I can pile blankets on the kids.”

“You need to get that fixed.”

“I’ll have someone take a look at it.” She hoped it was only a blown fuse. Replacing the whole unit would be expensive.

“Is the town big enough to have the goods and services you’ll need?”

“They’ll have some things. For others, I’ll have to go to Santa Barbara or LA. Anyway, getting the heater checked is way down my list. First, I have to buy a refrigerator and a stove, so I can cook.”

“You don’t have a stove?”

“Someone stole it.”

“What about a microwave?”

“There was one, but that’s gone, too.”

“Damn it, Savanna. You should’ve waited until I could come with you.”

“I had to leave right away,” she said. “I was getting so defensive in Nephi I couldn’t function.”

He sighed into the phone. “I know, but now you’re even farther from me than you were before—”

“No, it’s almost the exact same distance. I checked.” She’d been nervous about putting more miles between them.