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Disappointment speared her that he’d let her off the hook so easily. Despite the fact that this was exactly what she needed him to be—just a friendly neighbor with an extra drill bit.
And nothing more.
* * *
Daniel stood in his open doorway watching Tasha trudge back up the hill, his drill bit shoved deep in her overalls pocket. He itched to run after her, help her—even just to feed her something more edible than beans and hot dogs. She was fiercely independent, which made her captivatingly different from the women he dated. At the same time, she harbored too many secrets, obviously shutting herself down whenever she thought she might be revealing too much.
Daniel’s idea of a perfect relationship was total openness, no questions necessary, complete trust—all the reasons his parents had such a great marriage.
And yet…he’d never felt so drawn to a woman. He wanted to know everything about Tasha, to plumb her depths. She was talented, intelligent, and industrious. Only someone completely special could have accomplished the things she had all on her own. Unconsciously attractive, she seemed unaware of her own loveliness. And he had to admit he was a sucker for a woman who knew her way around a tool chest and a hammer.
The guys would laugh him off the planet with that one, even though they would understand.
Daniel watched until she disappeared around the corner of her ramshackle cabin at the precise moment that his phone rang. He smiled when his mom’s name appeared on the screen.
“Hey, pretty lady.” He strolled through the house to the back deck, flopping down in a chair with his phone at his ear.
“Hi, honey. Tell me how you’re getting along on the cabin. Your father and I are dying to see your rustic retreat.”
He laughed, thinking of what Tasha had said. “Actually, it’s turning out to be a bit more than just a vacation cabin. But I’m still hoping to finish it by the end of the summer.” And thinking about Tasha made him realize how much he’d look forward to coming up here, oh, just about every weekend. “In fact, I see spending a lot of time here in my future.”
“Oh, you do?” He could picture his mom’s raised brow. “And, pray tell, is there a special reason for that?”
He’d never been coy with his mother. So even though he hadn’t quite made up his mind about his feelings for Tasha, he said, “I met a woman. She bought the cabin up the hill.” He crossed his booted feet and propped them on the railing, settling back.
“Ah, a new mountain neighbor. Smart and funny?”
“Gorgeous and talented too.” He told his mom all the things Tasha had done around her place. “And she loves my DIY videos.”
His mot
her laughed. “Goodness, you need to snap this paragon right up. She sounds perfect for you.”
He sobered. “That’s the problem.”
“That she’s a paragon?”
He closed his eyes, letting the sun warm him while he pictured Tasha’s smile—it would flash so brightly one moment, and then be gone the next. “Something just isn’t adding up. Why is she up here all alone trying to fix a cabin that should clearly be scrapped and rebuilt from the foundation up? Why did she leave a good job as a graphic designer to retrofit a dive?” He shrugged as if his mother could see him. “She doesn’t even have a cell phone, as far as I can tell.”
“Your father and I lived perfectly well without a cell phone for most of our lives,” his mother pointed out.
“It’s not about the cell phone,” he said. “I just get the feeling there’s more to her story. That there might be a whole bunch of messy stuff surrounding her and her life.”
“You know, honey, I’ve never heard you talk about a woman this much, messy or not.” His mother seemed hopeful that he would soon meet his match the way the other Mavericks had. “Maybe you should give it a little more time and pursue getting to know her better. You might find the mess isn’t as bad as you think.”
“In my experience, it’s usually a helluva lot worse. And you know that I’ve always steered clear of messy relationships.”
“I do know that, honey. But sometimes, waiting for perfection can be just a way of avoiding mistakes. If you never make a mistake, you never take the risk of finding exactly what you’re looking for. In fact,” she said in a slightly softer voice, “messes are usually a part of even the very best relationships.”
“Not for you and Dad,” he countered. “You’re the all-time-perfect love story.”
He waited for her to agree with him, but when she remained silent, he continued. “I like Tasha. And I won’t deny that I’m drawn to her. But I’m also not willing to settle for less than the perfect love that you and Dad have always shared with each other.”
Again, his mother remained conspicuously silent. Until finally she said, “Every relationship has its bumps, even if no one but the couple ever knows about them. And sometimes…”
He waited for her to finish, but she’d gone quiet on him again, halfway through a sentence.
Frowning, he prompted, “Mom? Is everything okay?”
