The Moment He Saw Her - 1st Chapter

Chapter One

 

“I had to choose a career that has me up at the ass crack of dawn,” Ryder Duke muttered as he got out of his car. He wasn’t a morning person but had learned to be. But some days were harder than others—this being one of them. If he’d continued drifting and still been clueless as to his next move, he could be in bed.

His hometown was in the grip of winter, and this morning was a cold one. Around him, Lyntacky was coming awake as the sun rose behind the snowcapped mountains. He stopped to look at the sight, marveling as he did every morning over the awesome display nature put on.

Shutting the driver’s side door, Ryder didn’t bother locking it. Anyone stupid enough to steal from a Duke deserved the trouble they’d end up in.

“Morning!”

That overly enthusiastic greeting came from Bart and June Matilda as they disappeared off into the distance at a brisk walk, both wearing those headband things that girls seemed to favor along with fur-lined boots at the first sign of winter.

“Morning!” he yelled. You crazy idiots.

Squinting down the main street of Lyntacky, he watched a white car appear and then crawl toward him making a clunking noise, which couldn’t be good.

Nudging up the brim of his ball cap, Ryder saw it stutter twice and then stop fifty yards up the road from where he stood. He thought about just unlocking the front door and getting inside his cafe because it was freezing. He hadn’t even had his morning coffee yet despite the house he’d bought being only a five-minute drive away. But he’d been raised better than that, and if it were someone he cared about in that vehicle, he’d want them to receive help. Ryder walked to the car and tapped on the window. The plates told him it was a rental.

A face looked up at him, but he couldn’t make out much. The sun hadn’t risen fully, and her window was misted up. He tapped it again and then made a lowering movement with his hand.

It moved two inches.

“You okay?” Ryder asked.

“What do you want?”

“To help you,” he said with far more patience than he felt.

“Why?”

“Because I watched your car limp down the street and stop,” Ryder snapped, not feeling his usual accommodating self right then because of the cold and lack of caffeine.

“My car just stopped,” she said.

“That happens when it’s out of fuel or—”

“I know when a car needs fuel!”

He only just bit back the sigh. “Do you need help or not?” Ryder said. She said something that was muffled.

“Lower the window,” he said with more force than necessary because talking through a two-inch gap was pissing him off. It moved a few more inches. “Are you from a big city?”

“What?” Her voice was low and husky.

“Usually big-city people don’t trust easy.”

“Women don’t trust easy,” she shot back.

“With good reason, but I don’t want to hurt you,” Ryder said through his teeth. “Look. I will help you if you need it. If you don’t, then I’m going into my cafe.” He pointed to it. When she said nothing, he added, “Come in there if you need help, to warm up, or coffee because I’m not standing out here any longer. I need to start baking.”

Ryder stomped away, pulled out his keys, and unlocked the front door of the Swing Through Cafe. Walking in, he flicked on lights and turned on the heating to warm the place. Looking around him, he felt the usual pride. Mine.

His sister, Zoe, an interior designer, had bullied him to go with timid white, which was, by anyone else’s standards, cream, with a feature wall of dark rustic wood paneling. Artwork was dotted about the place that he’d picked, and Zoe approved. There was a wide polished wood counter, on which his coffee machine sat, and a few cabinets he stocked with food daily. Tables had comfortable chairs pushed up to them. Chairs, his mother said, were important for people in Lyntacky, as they had a large elderly population. Some of them had bad joints, and good chairs were a requirement, apparently, for comfort.

After switching on the coffee machine—Meadow would be here soon and want her weird latte with coconut milk and no caffeine—he tied an apron around his waist and started work, putting whoever the suspicious woman in that car was from his head. He’d done all he could. She wasn’t his problem.

An hour later, he had most of his prep done and things in the oven, so he headed out of the kitchen to make his first coffee. The door opened just as he was pouring in the steamed milk.

His first glimpse of her was hunched shoulders and a pale face as she entered, closing the door behind her. Her eyes then did a sweep of the cafe before settling on him. One hand tugged the black hat from her head, which told Ryder she’d been raised by someone who told her to take it off inside.

Beautiful, he thought, with soft-arched brows and high cheekbones. Her hair was shoulder-length, caramel-colored, and he saw some golden bits that Zoe would call highlights. She wasn’t close enough to see her eyes, but he thought they may be blue or green. She was on the short side, but then most people were to him, as his family was tall.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi.”

Her white puffy jacket came to her waist, and he doubted it or the black fitted pants beneath offered much in the way of warmth. White sneakers, too, which probably meant her toes were frozen.

If he were to label her with one look, he’d say she was what his brother Dan would call a pick-me girl. Someone who wore all the labels and, to quote his mother, was trendy. She also had a tan in the middle of winter that may or may not be out of a bottle.

“Have you been sitting in that car for an hour with no heating?”

She nodded.

Pride or stupidity—he didn’t know her well enough to decide that either.

“Do you need me to call someone to come and get you?”

She shook her head.

“Want a coffee to thaw out?”

“Yes, please.”

The words sounded desperate to Ryder, so he held out the mug he’d just made for himself. “Have at it.”

She took the bag off her shoulder and opened it.

“On me,” he added.

Her eyes went to his, narrowed. “I can pay.”

“It’s on the house. I figure you have enough to deal with.” He nodded in the direction of her car.

“No, really, I can pay.”

“Are you always this untrusting, or is it just something about me?” He felt a niggle of annoyance that his gesture wasn’t appreciated.

“I don’t know you,” she said, reaching the counter. Her nails were long and painted the color of raspberries, her hands slender, and wrists a little on the skinny side, with a slim gold link bracelet around one. One ring on her middle right-hand finger was a gold band with an enormous diamond.

It looked real, but then he didn’t know shit about diamonds. She had that look of money to him.

Taking the mug from him, she cradled it like it were her firstborn. The first mouthful had her moaning softly.

When he was done making his coffee, Ryder looked at her again. Her eyes were green, like the emerald engagement ring his dad had given Mom. Long dark lashes and a small nose. A scar ran along the edge of her jaw to just below her ear. Recent, he thought, and would have taken several stitches to close.

As if she noted his gaze, she tugged her hair forward to cover it.

“So being untrusting must make life hard,” he said.

“It makes me safe, and I don’t know you,” she said, looking at him now. He wondered what life lesson had taught her she needed to be.

“Ryder Duke,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Sorry?”

“My name is Ryder Duke.”

“Libby.”

“No last name?”

“Ah… yes, it’s Gulliver,” she said, not sounding sure that was her name, and he wondered if it was her real one or if she’d made it up. Then he wondered why she would.

“So, Libby Gulliver, I know you’re not from around here, so what are you doing in Lyntacky at the ass crack of dawn?”

Ryder watched as she dropped her eyes again.

“Just passing through.”

“To where?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’m just on a vacation.”

“Good morning!”

Meadow McAllister breezed in, dressed in a long pink-and-orange caftan. Her jacket had to belong to one of her sons because it was way too big. Around her neck was a green wool scarf the color of rotten cabbage. She wore thick knitted socks and sandals on her feet.

Ryder admired her simply because she held true to her values, even if they made him shudder sometimes.

“What a beautiful day!”

Meadow was the future mother-in-law of Ryder’s oldest brother, Sawyer. A hippy right down to her toes, she lived on the outskirts of town off the grid with her husband, a menagerie of animals, and all the organic fruit and vegetables a person could need.

“Are we opening early today, Ryder?” Meadow arrived at the counter in a whirl of color and earthy scents, looking at Libby. “I know the Curlers would be happy if we did so.”

“No. Libby Gulliver, this is Meadow McAllister. Libby’s car broke down,” Ryder said. “She’s thawing out in here.”

“Oh dear, well, that’s not good at all. Are you vacationing in our wonderful town?”

Ryder loved Lyntacky because his roots were here, along with everyone he cared about, but in no way could it be termed a top-ten vacation destination, unless you were into adventure sport or square dancing.

Meadow thought her town the best in America and was sure to tell anyone who asked.

“I think so.” Libby was eyeing Meadow like she was a foreign species she didn’t know how to communicate with. “For a few days at least, yes,” she added with more certainty.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place to start off your vacation. The Swing Through Cafe has the best baked goods and coffee in town.” Meadow leaned toward Libby. “But don’t tell any of the other food places I said that.”

Meadow was the best baker in Lyntacky as far as Ryder was concerned, and he was a close second, so when she’d wandered in one day and asked if he needed her help in making his cafe a zone of peace and harmony, he’d told her to give it her best shot. Then he’d found her out back helping his niece, Ally, put together some muffins. After tasting one, Ryder had asked her if she’d wanted a job. She’d informed him she’d take it until the wind blew her in another direction.

As he had no idea what the fuck that meant, he’d said great.

“Libby, dear, your aura needs cleansing. You have a lot of negative energy,” Meadow added, digging around in the enormous bag she carried with her everywhere. “Hold out your hand.”

Libby shot Ryder a look that was full of panic. He smiled and nodded. Silently communicating to her to just roll with it.

“I’ll make your turmeric latte, Meadow,” he said.

“Lovely. Ah, here it is.” Meadow came out with a necklace. Leather, with a stone on the bottom. “Amethyst, Libby. The spiritual community believe that wearing or carrying amethyst will attract calm and peace.” She then placed it over Libby’s head. “Excellent. Now I need to get baking.”

Meadow floated off toward the kitchens.

“Don’t try to understand that, just roll with it,” Ryder said when Libby dragged her eyes from Meadow and looked at him. “I’ve known her all my life and still don’t understand her.”

“It was very nice of her,” she said, touching the stone with the hand not clutching the coffee.

“Very nice,” Ryder said solemnly.

“I should go.”

“Where to?” he asked.

“I need a place to stay. Then get my car fixed.”

“It’s a rental, so the company will fix it.”

“I need it, so I’ll fix it, and they don’t need to know.”

Ryder shrugged and then pulled out his phone and found a number. Hitting the Call button, he waited.

“Hey, Bob, got a lady here who wants to talk to you.” Ryder held out his phone. “It’s the local mechanic,” he said.

She looked shocked again, like she had when Meadow had put the rock around her neck, but took the phone.

Ryder started making Meadow’s insipid drink while Libby talked to Bob the mechanic. He tried to pick her accent. It had a Southern sound to it, but there was a slight difference.

“Thank you, Mr.—”

“Just Bob,” Ryder said, taking his phone.

“Right.” She frowned, which produced a line down her forehead. “Bob is going to pick up my rental, which is very kind of him. So I need to get my bag and find somewhere to stay.”

She spoke in a slow, concise way, like she had to think about every word before it came out of her mouth.

“Bob’s a good guy. Want me to call the Circle Left for you?”

“What is a Circle Left?”

“Accommodation, and it’s clean.”

She licked her lips, then clutched the coffee cup tighter.

“You all good?” Ryder asked.

Exhaling slowly, she nodded. “I wondered if you need someone to wash your dishes?”