Roots and Wings (City Limits #1)(47)

That was the truth, I couldn’t hide from it, and he’d probably hear about it before the day was over anyway.

He smiled and rocked back on his heels, sticking his hand in the pockets of his bib overalls.

“I might like you after all.” Then he looked behind me again and cocked his head to the side. “Anything else I can help you find? You know I’ve been coming here since they opened. I know where everything is.” His tone was teasing, but still a tad warning.

“I don’t think so, just the cream.”

“Good. Good. Did you know they sell bullets here? Do you have a gun, Astro?”

He was my height, but he was bigger than me. I didn’t want to be on his bad side. I was picking up where the conversation was headed and thought it wise to steer it somewhere else.

“I don’t. I hope you’re feeling okay this morning. Hannah was worried about you last night.” I knew it wasn’t my business, but then again, maybe it kind of was.

He stepped back a little, losing the momentum he was trying to gain with the shit he was giving me.

“I’m feeling pretty good. Pretty good. That’s right, you were on your date.”

“Yes, sir.”

“She told me. Are you headed out to the cabin?”

“I am. She asked me to go fishing with her.”

That made him genuinely smile and I liked it, feeling more at ease.

She didn’t have a lot of family, pretty much just him, and Dean—if he counted. I wanted to get to know her more and that meant I’d probably be spending some time with Mr. O’Fallon in the future. It would be nice if he liked me.

Also, I didn’t have much family and I liked being around them. They always seemed to have a good time with each other.

“You know she doesn’t date a whole lot. Never has.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I nodded and looked at the box in my hand.

“You treat her good and she’ll treat you good. But she likes her space, too. One thing I know about women, as much as they like having you around, if you corner ‘em, they’ll fly away.”

His bloodshot eyes showed a flash of something that looked awfully painful.

“Yes, sir.”

“All right, I’ll leave you alone so you can get some rubbers.”

My mouth hung open. He punched me in the shoulder.

“I’m just kidding. You get that cream on those feet. Mutt will tease the piss out of you if you get to smellin’ like high noon in hell. She can be unmerciful.”

He walked off chuckling.

I left the store with foot cream.

Then remembered I had an Amazon app on my phone, which would allow me to buy whatever the hell I wanted. Privately.

Problem solved.

Well, problem solved … Monday when they’d arrive.




I pulled into the lot at Johnston’s Chute and took the gravel road on the far side of it, just like I had before. It looked different in the day and my Escalade was a much smoother ride than the van had been.

The road was muddy from the small storm the night before, but it wasn’t too bad. When I pulled up at her cabin, she already had the boat in the water and was carrying a cooler down the small dock.

“Can you grab that bag by the stairs and my tackle box?” she shouted to me as I hopped out of my vehicle.

Hannah was eager to get out on the water, and I was just pleased she wanted me there.

Even more than that, I was excited to have a whole day of looking at her in those shorts. That tank top. She had a ball cap on too and her hair was threaded through the back in a ponytail that swung behind her as she walked around the boat.

I did as I was asked and picked up the bags by the stairs and headed down the newer-looking dock. It swayed gently under my feet, and I did my best not to look off kilter.

“Do you know how to swim?” she asked with an accusing grin off to one side.

“Yes. I can swim. Thanks for the confidence.”

“I was just checking. I have life jackets here, but we’ll be along the banks mostly. If you should happen to fall out—or get pushed in—you’ll probably be able to touch.”

Was she planning on pushing me out of the boat? Or was that just a warning…

“Permission to come aboard?”

She rolled her eyes and said, “Get on here.” I didn’t miss the way she looked at my lips before she threw her shades on, like she was seeing me in a new light and didn’t know how to react.

Hannah took the bags, shaking her head at me. I thought that was what you were supposed to say before you got on someone’s boat.

The small vessel had two seats that were more like bar stools, tall and swiveling, and the boat was shallow and wide. There was a bigger motor in the back and a smaller one lying on the floorboard at the front.

“Why does your boat have two motors?” I asked as she untied the ropes tethering us to the dock.

“Ah, good question, Doctor. The one in the back is an outboard; it’s the main motor. The one up there lets me putter around in shallower water. It’s quieter when I’m fishing and it allows me to move around while I’m doing my thing.”

She took this seriously. Two motors. Shit.

If I was going to learn how to fish, I was glad to be learning from a professional.

“Interesting.”