Redwood Bend (Virgin River #18)(11)

That clearly surprised him. “I guess you need to be near your brother…” he speculated.

“Well, the boys do,” she said. “Despite Conner’s insistence to the contrary, I’m pretty self-sufficient. But you know big brothers…”

“Hmm,” he said, as if he did. His big brother was in prison; his big sister was following in their mother’s footsteps with lots of scandal and unsuccessful relationships.

And then Jack was there. Jack seemed to be everywhere. “How’s that cabin working out for you, Katie?”

She lit up. Her eyes got so big, so bright. “Jack, it’s wonderful! Conner told me some of the history—your wife lived there? Your son was born there?”

“It was provided to Mel for the first year of her service to the town as the midwife. We lived in the cabin while I was building our house and David showed up—kind of fast, during a thunderstorm. We bought the place, just to have a little extra space around here for…well, for things like this,” he finished, with a smile.

“So, just how bad is the bear situation?” she wanted to know.

“Not significant, but they’re there.”

“If you say they’re more afraid of me than I am of them…”

Jack laughed. “As long as you don’t get between a mother and her cub, it’s a true statement.”

“So, you Virgin River people have sissy bears?”

“Scavenger sissy bears,” Jack said. “Keep the garbage inside and drive it to the Dumpster in town. If you’re scared…”

She scoffed. “I’m not scared. I love the cabin. It’s perfect. I’m going to have to run into one of the bigger towns to buy a TV, however. My boys have an Xbox. But I love the loft—a perfect place for it. It’s fantastic to put them up there with their noise.”

“They won’t make it without TV?” Dylan asked. And he was remembering when Adele refused to have a TV in the house, but of course her reasons were different. Dylan had been addicted to TV, to the news, celebrity gossip, sitcoms and series he’d been competing with. She was trying to get him off all his drugs.

“They might,” she said with a laugh, “but will I? I need a whip and a chair for those two.”

He glanced at the boys, already staking out a table, sitting on opposite sides and throwing packets of sugar at each other. “Gee. They look so well behaved…”

She just laughed and said, “Nice running into you, Dylan.”

“Wait a sec,” he said, catching the sleeve of her blouse to detain her. “So are you buried in the woods?”

“Sort of,” she answered. “But I’m only about ten minutes out of town in this picture-perfect little clearing surrounded by flowers and blackberry bushes in a cute little cottage… It was way more than I hoped for. Excuse me, I’d better pick up the sugar packets…”

And she was gone across the room.

And wow, he thought. With her hair down and dry, she was such a fox. While he sat and watched, her brother introduced her to person after person. A woman came into the bar and sat with Katie and the boys; Jack took the newcomer a glass of wine without asking for her order. Dylan supposed it was like that around here, Jack knowing what everyone wanted. Then he spoke to Katie and fetched her one, as well.

Once their mother was sitting with them there was very little funny business from the twins because they didn’t get away with anything—she seemed to have eight arms. She grabbed the packets, confiscated the ketchup bottle, removed the straws, pulled one back into his chair while she caught another by the wrist before he spilled his water. What she did even more easily was laugh with her friend. Sister-in-law? While Conner was BSing at the bar with men who came in and one by one introducing them to his sister, the girls were laughing and keeping the sugar packets in the container on the table.

“Where’s Preacher? Get him out here!” Walt said. “This is unbelievable—this trout is amazing! The man is a genius!”

Dylan looked at his plate and saw that he’d been eating, but it hadn’t even registered. “Excellent,” he finally said. He took another bite. “Really excellent.”

While the little boys had child-size hamburgers, Katie and her friend had the trout and made a very big deal about it with a lot of eyeball rolling, fanning their faces and letting their eyes fall closed as they hummed in ecstasy. Katie tried to coax a little fish into her son’s mouth, but he shook his head and resisted, which made the women laugh.

She positively sparkled. But he wasn’t interested in sparkle right now—he had too much on his mind. His business, his company, was in trouble and the only thing that mattered right now was coming up with a solution to their financial crisis. Besides, even though he was a world-class flirt, he was not attracted to young mothers. He was never tempted to get involved with a woman who had kids. He’d grown up around that—yours, mine and ours—and it might’ve worked in the movies, but it didn’t work in real life.

But when Jack brought him a cup of coffee he asked, “How long are you renting that little cabin for?”

Jack gave a small smile. “At least a couple of weeks, but probably the whole summer. There’s no waiting list. Why? You interested?”

“Maybe,” Dylan said. “Like sometime in the future…if I get back down this way…”