Chapter 2: First meeting

"How's the pizza so far?" asked Jo as she came to check on us.

"It's fine. Can we actually have the check and a to go box please?" I asked quickly. The sooner we left the better. I felt out of place here and it saddened me. Why the hell didn't I consider this possibility before I moved my daughter here. I mentally kicked myself.

"Sure thing." Jo left right away to retrieve the items I requested.

I paid the check and told Jo to keep the change.

"Ready baby girl?" a loose ebony curl tickled my ear as it escaped my braid.

"Ready mama." I helped her down from her seat and grabbed her hand before turning and facing the man who stared me down since walking in a short while ago. When I finally saw him I lost my breath. Good lord he was fine, his skin was tan hinting at native heritage. He had long dark brown hair touching his broad shoulders. His eyes stared back at me a beautiful shade of honey brown. He had a scar along the right side of his face, his only imperfection.

Before I made a fool of myself I broke eye contact and rushed out of the diner. I let Amelia climb into the car and helped her buckle in as quickly as I could.

"You forgot this." spoke his gruff voice from behind me causing me to jump in fright.

"Sorry, you scared me." He looked down at me and I looked up at him craning my head back. He was so tall, too tall.

"You left in a hurry." He spoke nonchalantly, but I picked up on something unspoken. It was in his tone.

I simply nodded, because he didn't ask me a question he made a statement.

"It just seemed like you barely got to enjoy your meal." He elaborated. With each word he spoke there was a growl that seemed to incorporate itself into his speech. He sounded rough and rugged and it was very pleasing to the ear.

"Well I'm just eager to get home. We have a lot of unpacking to do and I still need to stop at the store so." I tucked a stray curl behind my ear. Why is he questioning me like this? With the way everyone acted in there why is he surprised I ran away?

"Well I wanted to make sure you didn't feel unwelcomed for some reason. This is a really small town and most folks here aren't used to seeing new faces."

Ah. So he felt it too. Interesting.

"Right. Well we need to get going. Thanks for bringing this out to us." I gesture to the pizza box. He glances at Amelia in the back seat. Surprisingly he waved at her and she waved back. I closed her door with one hand while holding the pizza in the other. I tried to avoid eye contact with him but he lingered in front of me refusing to look away from my face.

"Right. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around." and with that he walked back inside.

I exhaled once I was in the Jeep with the door closed. That was interesting.

Maybe I misread the situation all together. Shit now I feel silly.

After getting a few necessities from the local grocery store we were home. We were getting into our pajamas while the air mattress filled up.

"I'm sleepy mama." Ame rubbed her eyes looking up at me.

"I know baby hold on." I scooped her into my arms and cuddled her.

She fell asleep before the mattress finished so once it was done I laid her down without even putting a sheet on the bed. I climbed in on the other side and covered us with a throw blanket and sleep took me immediately.

One Week Later

We were settling into our house nicely and our furniture was finally going to be delivered today between noon and three. We had been sharing the air mattress every night and honestly it was nice cuddling Amelia throughout the night, she was the only thing keeping me going.

"Hey do you want to go out for breakfast today?" I asked once we finished with our morning routine.

"Yeah! I want pancakes." she giggled.

I was optimistic that we would have a better experience at the diner this time. I'm sure news spread about us so it wouldn't be such a shock to everyone when we came in.

We arrived and were seated right away in the same booth as last time. We ordered our breakfast and chatted while we ate. There was no tension and Jo seemed a lot more relaxed this time around. A few people even spoke as they passed our table. Okay so last time was a fluke? My shoulders shrugged in relief. I was worried I was going to have to cuss the whole town out.

"Alright lets go we have to be home in time for our delivery." It was only 11:30am so we had plenty of time.

"Is my bed coming today? I miss sleeping in my own bed mama."

She was definitely reaching her big girl stage so she didn't want to be babied as often as usual and she knew big girls didn't share a bed with their mommies.

As we pulled up to the house I saw all of our furniture out on the front lawn.

"What the hell?"

On the front door was a note that said 'Missed assigned drop off time'.

This was total bullshit. My time was between noon and three in the afternoon. Now I have to figure out how to get all this furniture in the house with no help. Fuck.

"Mama I'm strong. I can help move things inside. I'm strong mom look."

Amelia attempted to lift the couch.

"You are strong, but this stuff is super heavy please don't do that."

Just then a big black pickup truck slowed down in front of the house. The window rolled down and the guy from the diner was the driver.

"I saw the movers unload all this stuff about 20 minutes ago decided to circle back in case you needed help." he called out in a growl.

His long hair was pulled into a man bun at the back of his head. Damn he looked good like that.