Temptation Ridge (Virgin River #6)(96)

“Why you look like someone shot your dog. Shelby, I assume.”

“Nah,” Luke said, taking a drink. “That’s not serious.”

“I guess that has nothing to do with your sleeplessness or your mood then. Trouble with the cabins? The town? Your tenant/helper?”

“Aiden, there’s nothing bothering me, except maybe that I’ve been working my ass off for three months getting a house and six cabins rebuilt and furnished.”

Aiden took a sip of his drink. “Twenty-five, so Sean and Mom say. And gorgeous.”

“Sean’s an idiot who can’t mind his own business. She’s just a girl.”

“She’s just a girl who has you looking a little uptight.”

“Thanks,” he said, standing. “You don’t look that great yourself—I’m going to bed.” He threw back the rest of his drink.

“Nah, don’t,” Aiden said. “Fix another one. Give me ten minutes, huh? I can just ask a couple of questions, right? I’m not like Sean, I’m not going to get up your ass about this. But you haven’t talked about it much and I’m a little curious.”

Luke thought about that for a second and against his better judgment, he went into the kitchen and poured himself a short shot. He went back and sat down, leaning his elbows on his knees. “What?” he asked abruptly.

Aiden chuckled. “Okay. Relax. Just a girl? Not serious?”

“That’s right. A town girl, sort of. She’s visiting her family and she’ll be leaving pretty soon.”

“Ah—I didn’t know that. I guess I thought she lived there.”

“Long visit,” Luke said. “Her mother died last spring. She’s spending a few months with her uncle until she gets on with things—like where she wants to live. College and travel and stuff. This is temporary, that’s all.”

“But—if you felt serious, there isn’t any reason you wouldn’t let it…you know…evolve…?”

“I don’t feel serious,” he said, his mouth in a firm line.

“Okay, I get that. Does she? Feel serious?”

“She has plans. I didn’t trap her, Aiden. I made sure she knew—I’m not interested in being a family man. I told her she could do better, I’m just not built that way. But when I’m with a woman, I know how to treat her right. If she needed something permanent, she was in the wrong place. That’s how it is.”

“Never?”

“What do you mean, never? No one in this family is interested in that.”

“Bullshit. I am. Sean says he’s having too much fun, but the truth is he has the attention span of a cabbage. But me? I’d like a wife, a family.”

“Didn’t you already try that once?” Luke asked, sitting back in his chair, relaxing a little bit since the attention had shifted to Aiden’s life.

“Oh, yeah—I tried hard. Next time I try, I’m going to see if I can find a woman who’s not certifiable and off her meds.” He grinned. “Really, that’s what happens when you ignore all the symptoms because she’s such a friggin’ miracle in bed, it causes brain damage.” He shrugged. “I’m on the lookout for that.”

Luke grinned. “She was hot.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“She was worse than nuts.”

“Nightmare nuts,” Aiden agreed. “But this gorgeous twenty-five-year-old—she’s real sweet, I hear.”

“Fucking Sean…” Luke said, shaking his head.

“Not Sean. Mom.”

“Almost as bad,” Luke said. “You know Mom—she’s been on this marriage-and-grandchildren campaign for a long time.”

“So, she’s not sweet?” Aiden asked.

“Sweeter than honey,” he admitted. “But there are other things about her—complications. Her mother had ALS and Shelby was her nurse for years till she died—the girl’s had no life. She dropped out of school and hardly left the house. Her idea of a big night was reading to her mother or watching a DVD with her. She’s had her freedom for about six months and it was a hard freedom—that’s why she’s with her uncle, recovering. Making a transition. To hear her tell it, it’s not easy to go from being needed twenty-four hours a day to having no one to take care of but yourself. She’s a young twenty-five, as in, not a lot of life experience. She’s a little bit like a prisoner on parole.”

Aiden’s mouth was open slightly. “Jesus.” He took a breath. “Mom knows this?”

“Sure she does. They talked a lot, which wasn’t a great idea. Mom loves her. She’d like nothing better than to reel her in.” He shook his head. “Bad idea.”

“Whoa, sounds like she had a rough time. How’s she doing? With the transition?”

He shrugged. “Good, I think. You’d never know it—that she’s been through all that.”

“What was the problem? Not enough money to put the mother in long-term care?”

Luke was shaking his head. “Plenty of money—her uncle wanted to put the mother in a nursing home. But Shelby wouldn’t have it. She was committed. She says her mother was her best friend.”

Aiden was quiet for a long moment. Finally he said, “This sounds like an incredible young woman.”