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His expression turned guarded. And, good Lord, that dark look made the man even more attractive. “Yup.”
“It’s just… I’ve seen that truck before.” Gloria’s eyes widened. “Oh my God. You’re my mystery man!”
The poor guy’s eyebrows winged up to his hairline while his sister choked on a laugh.
Gloria’s cheeks went hot. “That’s not what I meant.”
Except, face to face with Franklin, it kind of was. Shoot. She’d never felt such a fluttering in her belly before, and so quickly too. The attraction was strong with this one, which made her realization all the more worrisome—and a little more than interesting.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, she hurriedly tried to cover her slip. “It’s just, I’ve been coming and going, moving into my great aunt’s house for a couple of weeks now and while I’ve seen that truck, I never saw my neighbor.”
“So you’re the one who took over Patti Hammond’s place?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, still a little stunned. “Wow. Um, it’s nice to meet you at last.”
“You, too.” The mechanic turned to his sister. “Bailey. The car, please.”
The teen rolled her eyes as she hopped up from her chair, snagging the keys on the desk where she’d dropped them. “Yes, master.”
“Funny, Bailey.”
“I know, Frank. I try.”
Franklin couldn’t believe his luck.
As he popped her hood and engaged the hood strut to keep it in place, he had a hard time deciding whether it was good luck or bad.
Just because he chose to live in one of the more remote cabins on the mountain, that didn’t mean he was completely out of touch. Ms. Patti Hammond had been a staple in Hamlet his entire life, and when he bought the cabin next to hers more than a decade ago, Franklin got to know her as well as he did anyone—which was to say that he said hello on the rare occasions that the elderly woman left her house.
Still, he heard the rumors. Mainly through his younger sister and Vanessa, his father’s second wife. When Ms. Patti abruptly died at the beginning of the month, he knew that he’d get a new neighbor eventually.
Then he heard the buzz from Bailey—who heard it from her friend Ethan, whose mom was Ms. Patti’s lawyer—that she left the property to an outsider relative. Odds were that Mrs. Oliver was going to get the outsider to sell the land and the cabin without the outsider even stepping foot in Hamlet. Franklin sure hoped so since the last thing he wanted was any kind of outsider taking up residence so close to his home.
Honestly, he had had half a mind to buy the cabin himself if only to keep his part of the mountain quiet, just the way he liked it. Before he could even ask Mrs. Oliver if that was possible, though, word came down that Ms. Patti’s family member was coming to stay.
And Franklin would have an unknown neighbor, whether he wanted to or not.
He knew what kind of man he was. He made no apologies for his behavior. No excuses, either. Bailey was right. He was interested in his work: cars and engines and motors on one side, plus the craftwork that kept him busy when business was slow. And, sure, he wasn’t the biggest talker around. He liked to listen, to observe, and he spoke up only when he had something to say.
But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t a man, or that he was blind. In Hamlet, there were more men living in the village than women. Women his age? There were maybe a handful and, by now, they were all married. It would be one thing if he took a trip to the outside to be social, maybe make a love connection. He didn’t, though. His trips out of Hamlet were few and far between and he liked it like that.
And now, during his least favorite time of year, a woman had finally walked into his life right as she walked into his garage.
If it was just the garage, it wouldn’t be such an issue. Once the car was fixed, he’d never see her again. It would be a pity and a shame, but that was life. He was used to it.
Only she wasn’t just a customer. She was his new neighbor.
He still couldn’t believe it.
Franklin had managed to dodge Ms. Patti’s great-niece for weeks—until now. He didn’t know what he had expected of his former neighbor’s relative, either, but the gorgeous blonde woman sitting in his garage wasn’t it.
Though, now that he saw her, he understood why all the single guys in town were going ga-ga over her. At least five guys he knew had already tried to stake a claim, not including the boy deputy that the new sheriff had recently hired for the Hamlet Sheriff Department, and Franklin wasn’t even sure they’d met her yet. She was new blood, a new face, and he wasn’t surprised that there were already friendly wagers being made over who might win over the outsider.
If he thought he stood a chance with her, he might believe that, for once in his life, his luck was turning around.
But since Franklin knew that there was no way that a friendly, smiley beauty like Gloria Watson would want anything to do with a grumpy mechanic like him, he knew his luck was as bad as it had always been.
Franklin was her neighbor.
