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Kate
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Kate Handelmann watched the big man leave, feeling an unusual tingle in her core. And he was big. Six-three at least with broad shoulders and powerful-looking legs.
Strong, too. He’d lifted that bag of rock salt as if it were nothing. And he liked brownies.
She didn’t know his name but figured he had to be one of the Sanctuary guys who had been putting everyone into a tizzy. She was feeling in a bit of a tizzy herself but probably not for the same reasons.
“Who was that?” her younger sister asked, stopping in the doorway to stare slack-jawed at the handsome stranger, now getting into his V8 pickup.
While Kate loved her sister, she was glad she hadn’t been around when he came in. Kylie would have been all over the poor guy like white on rice. And him, well, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed Kate or the brownies. Kylie was that pretty.
“He didn’t say.”
“Did he pay with cash or card?”
Kylie’s eyes were calculating and held far too much interest for Kate’s liking.
She quietly slipped the credit card receipt in the drawer. Call her a good citizen. She was protecting the innocent. “Cash.”
“Damn. Do you think he’s that big everywhere?”
The thought might have crossed Kate’s mind. It was only natural. He was a good-looking guy and smacked together quite well, and in a small town like Sumneyville, he stood out. She doubted there was a woman who saw him and didn’t at least consider it.
Kate wasn’t about to admit that though. Not to her sister or anyone else.
Once his vehicle rumbled away from the curb, Kylie shook her head and joined her at the counter. “Honestly, Kate, it’s no wonder you’re still single if you let a guy like that walk away without even getting a name.”
Kate ignored the gibe. Things like flirting and asking for names and numbers weren’t her style. Besides, Kylie was just parroting their mother’s weekly lament. In a few months, Kate would be turning thirty, which apparently was dangerously close to spinster territory. Her mother wanted grandchildren. Badly. Since their older sister, Karyn, was living in LA with her same-sex spouse and Kylie had just started community college, their mother had foolishly hung her hopes on her.
What she didn’t know—what no one knew, except Kate and a specialist in Philadelphia—was that was probably never going to happen. However, thanks to an extremely limited pool of eligible local bachelors, she might never have to reveal that to her mother and break her grandbaby-wanting heart.
“Kate’s smart,” Luther said, coming out from the back office with a familiar leather satchel in his hand.
Kate had bought it for him years earlier when they foolishly tried taking their relationship beyond the family-friend zone.
That hadn’t ended well. Luther wasn’t a one-woman kind of guy, and Kate wasn’t into open relationships. Her parents still held out hope that they’d get back together someday, but, like Kate having kids, that was never going to happen.
“Those guys are bad news,” Luther continued. “Causing trouble. Luring away our local women.”
“Luring them away?” Kate laughed, shaking her head, her mind conjuring ridiculous images from too much late-night television.
She knew of both Sam Applehoff and Sandy Summers and didn’t think either of them were the type to be coerced or lured into anything they didn’t want to do. Plus, if the guys they’d hooked up with looked anything like the man who’d just left, she couldn’t blame them.
“Seriously, Luther, what do you think they are, vampires or something?”
He scowled and took a step toward her. Duke placed himself between them and gave a warning growl, stopping Luther in his tracks. Luther was one of the few people Duke did not like. They were one hundred percent in agreement on that because she didn’t care for Luther much these days either. She tolerated him only because their fathers had been best friends. Also, because Luther was the only accountant in town and Kate hated doing the books.
“That dog’s a menace. He needs to be put down.”
“Don’t you dare threaten Duke,” she warned. “He’s just protecting me.”
She reached down and stroked Duke’s head. The dog stopped growling and sat on her foot but never took his eyes off of Luther. “Did you get everything you needed?”
Luther nodded and patted the satchel. “I’ll get the fourth-quarter taxes done and then bring the forms with me on Sunday for your father to sign.”
Kate nodded. Despite the fact that she and Luther were no longer together, her parents still invited him to their house every weekend for dinner. “I’ll tell him.”
Luther leaned forward as if to kiss her cheek and then thought better of it when Duke started growling again. “See you Sunday.”
“Not if I can help it,” she muttered under her breath as he went out the door. She would do what she did so often these days—come up with a good reason not to attend Sunday dinner at her parents’.
“You’re so mean to him,” Kylie commented on a sigh. “You could do so much worse.”
“Looks aren’t everything.”
“He’s also reasonably articulate, he has a degree, and he runs the family business,” she added. “Why not give him another chance?”
“Um, I don’t know. Maybe because he’s a lying, cheating man-whore?”
“Everybody makes mistakes.”
“A mistake is forgetting someone’s birthday or buying them a 3X in sexy lingerie when they wear an XL,” Kate growled, sounding much like Duke. It was still a touchy subject for her. She wasn’t petite like Kylie, but she wasn’t a 3X either, and Luther should have known better when he bought it for her. “It is not sticking your dick into another woman.”
Or ten.
There were probably even more that she didn’t know about. That was what happened when a guy was movie-star handsome and lived in a town of limited prospects. Some people were willing to overlook bad behavior that a less attractive man wouldn’t have been able to get away with.
She wasn’t being sexist. It was the same with beautiful women, too. Like her sister, for instance. Kate loved her, but she got away with a lot more than Kate or Karyn had at her age. It was true what they said; the youngest child was also the most spoiled.
“That was five years ago,” Kylie pressed, “and he’s still trying to get back together with you. What does that tell you?”
“That he’s going to live a long and lonely life.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not going to be the only one.”
She wasn’t wrong. For the record, Kate was totally okay with that. She’d much rather spend the rest of her life alone than married to an asshole.
Kylie sniffed and added, “Maybe he just hasn’t found someone woman enough to hold his attention.”
“Well then, he’s shit out of luck because I’m pretty sure he’s already sampled all the local goods.”
“Not all of them.”
Kate narrowed her eyes at her younger sister, wondering if she was considering throwing her thong into the ring. Kylie had stars in her eyes when it came to Luther and, like their mother, tended to turn a blind eye to his indiscretions.
As far as Kate knew, no one, including Luther, took Kylie’s crush seriously. Now that she was over twenty-one, the age difference might not be as much of an issue.
“Kylie,” Kate warned softly, “you’re not seriously thinking about—”
“Gah, no! Don’t be ridiculous.”
A Shakespearean line from high school English popped into Kate’s head, something about a lady protesting too much. She also knew, based on the crossed arms and the challenging look in Kylie’s eyes, that she was not in the proper frame of mind to accept big-sisterly advice, so Kate shelved that discussion for another time and changed the topic.
“We got a new shipment of plumbing supplies this morning. They’ll need to be inventoried before they can go on the shelves.”
The change was immediate. Kylie’s arms dropped, and she gave Kate the puppy-dog eyes. “Can’t you do it?”
“I can, but then you’d have to man the register.”
A classic and well-practiced pout joined the puppy eyes. “Where’s Dad?”
“Out back, handling a big lumber order for Jerry Petraski. You promised you’d help out today.”
She huffed softly. “Fine. But don’t take all day. I have plans.”
Kate headed to the back, Duke at her side. Kylie always “had plans,” even when she didn’t. More accurately, Kylie had an aversion to work, particularly anything that might mar her latest gel manicure.
Kate looked down at her own short, unpolished nails and sighed. They were as different as night and day, she and Kylie, both in looks and personality. Kylie took after their mother—petite and feminine with dark hair and light-green eyes. She liked pretty, sparkly things, spent hours every day assembling and accessorizing her outfits, and could apply false eyelashes like a boss.
Kate and Karyn, on the other hand, favored their father’s German heritage. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a frame that was what their mother kindly called “big-boned.” Kate preferred comfort to fashion and liked getting her hands dirty, whether it be helping her father with some DIY project or getting creative with traditional recipes in her kitchen.
She cheered herself up by thinking that, if there were a zombie apocalypse, she would have a much better chance of surviving than Kylie.
The inventory took her a couple of hours. Duke wandered off at some point, which he often did. He came and went as he pleased. She didn’t worry. She didn’t know where he went every day, but she did know he’d show up at her place when it was time to turn in for the night.
By the time she went back into the store, her father had replaced Kylie at the register. No big surprise there. Their father was far more susceptible to the puppy eyes than Kate was.
“The inventory is done.”
“Thanks, Katy-belle.” Her father infused the nickname with affection. He’d been calling her that for as long as she could remember. “Did you see Luther this morning?”
“Yes. He said he’ll bring the tax forms with him for you to sign on Sunday.”
“Good, good.”
“Do you need me for anything else?”
He smiled fondly at her. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Thanks. I’m going to take off then.”
“Got a hot date tonight?” he teased.
“Several.”
He knew it was her Meals on Wheels night. Once a week, Kate helped prepare and deliver meals and supplies to local residents, mostly elderly folks who lived alone or weren’t able to get to the store.
She grabbed her coat and kissed her dad on the cheek. “See you tomorrow, Dad.”
“Be careful, Katy. Everything that melted today is going to freeze up as soon as the sun goes down.”
It didn’t matter that she was nearly thirty or that she’d lived in Sumneyville her whole life; her father still felt the need to warn her of the perils of winter driving.
“I know. I will.”
Kate crossed the street to her place and then climbed up into her Jeep, glad for the heated seats as she waited for the defroster to do its thing. Butt warmers weren’t an option she normally would have considered, but the vehicle had come with the package, and the local used car dealer—also a good friend of her dad’s—had given her a great deal. Now that she’d experienced them, however, her ass was pretty sure it never wanted to go through another northeast Pennsylvania winter without them.
As she drove down Main Street, she saw a dark pickup turn off onto the road leading up the mountain and thought about the guy who’d been in earlier.
She hoped he’d meant what he said because she was already looking forward to next week.