A Fresh Start (6 page)

Paige peered over at him. “Why are you so interested in my past?”

He had no idea. “You’re staying at the Seymours, I want to make sure you’re not a fugitive or something.”

She laughed softly. “I’m not.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because…” Her tongue made a quick flick across her upper lip before pursing her lips into a thin line. Then, she blinked and continued. “You know, you’re the one who insisted I stay with them.”

It was his turn to laugh.

Clearing his throat, he asked, “Why did you look so upset over what you saw on TV?”

Her smile turned rueful. “Are you a Christian?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Technically, he did say the sinner’s prayer and he was baptized, but he hadn’t been to church since he left Pine. Even during the time when he was in Pine, he’d gone to church only because he didn’t want to upset Mrs. Seymour.

He once believed there was someone up there who could make a difference, who could change his mother.

That didn’t happen and he doubted it ever would.

But he did have the Seymours and he considered them his miracle.

“I guess so,” he finally answered. “Why?”

“The preacher on TV, he was saying that God always has a plan; a good plan for us,” she said. “Sometimes, I can’t help thinking that either He has forgotten about me or the plan has gone horribly wrong.”

He gave an understanding nod. He had been there.

Those times when he had gone to sleep praying that he would wake up the next day with his mom alive and in her own bed, only to wake up to an empty house. Those times when he was hiding under his bed or in his closet while his mom threw a rage over a missing bottle of alcohol.
 

But despite all that, he always had the Seymours.

“Are you in trouble?” he asked in all seriousness.

“Not with the law,” she answered. “Nothing that will get you or the Seymours into any trouble.”

“I wasn’t referring to that. I was asking if
you
are in trouble.”

She stared ahead, not saying anything.

He glanced over at her, then back at the road. “I’m not trying to force information out of you. Just saying, if you need help—”

“I know, you’ve got a guy.”

“Yeah, me. I can help.”

She took her eyes off the road. “Thank you. Things are fine now.” She drew in a deep breath through her nose and nodded. Broadening her smile, she repeated, “Things are fine now.”

Paige looked as if she was trying to psych herself into believing her own words.

“What about you? Is this your full time job?”

She couldn’t have been clearer on her aim of changing subjects.

He wasn’t ready to let it go. He wanted to make sure everything was all right, he wanted to let her know that he meant it when he said he could help.

He couldn’t understand his protectiveness over Paige.

Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, he swallowed down the speech he’d prepared in his head. “Sort of.”

“Sort of? So what exactly do you do?”

Justin hadn’t known Paige for a long time, but the previous conversation alone was enough for him to know that she wasn’t one of those women looking for a man to buy her a new bag.
 

He thought about her question for a moment, wondering if there was a professional term for flipping houses.
 

“Are
you
a fugitive?”

He laughed, nodding his head. “Yeah, I am. And you should be careful because you have so many things over at your place that I can rob.”

Turning into the parking lot in front of the large hardware store, Justin chose a lot closer to the store and steered the car in. “We’ll order everything we need today and we should be able to get them delivered by Monday."

Inside the hardware store, Justin could see what Paige meant by being a fast shopper.

She wasn’t wishy-washy. She listened to his suggestions and made quick decisions from the few choices he had shortlisted. Even when she questioned him, she seemed genuinely interested in knowing more about the mundane knowledge he had on tiles, floorings, and paints.

While they were there, he took the chance to replace some of his worn out tools.

She followed him around without any complaints, occasionally picking up a tool and asking him what it was.

When making payment, Justin saw her take out a nearly empty wallet. While the cash compartment was stuffed with fifty and hundred dollar bills, only one of the card slots was taken up by her driver’s license.

“I got it,” Justin said, already pulling out his wallet. “I’ll pay for everything first. You can pay me back later.” He paid with his credit card and as they were leaving the store, he asked, “Why don’t you have a single credit card?”

“Because I don’t believe in using credit cards?”

“It’s more convenient. Not to mention a lot safer than carrying all that cash around.”

“I didn’t know how much all this would cost, so I thought I’ll bring more just in case.”

Even if she didn’t believe in credit cards, there were always debit cards.

What is she running from?
It was so difficult to suppress his curiosity, but he did. He was pretty sure he wasn’t going to get an answer from her anyway.

He placed the bag of things they’d bought into the back seat and drove them over to the mall for lunch.

“I swear I’m not a fugitive.”

“What?”

“I know how it looks like. Not having any cards, using only cash, having only one luggage.”

“I seriously doubt you are, but you
are
running from something, someone.”

She swallowed, not saying anything, while her hand reached over to her ring. “Yes,” she eventually said.

“Do you need help?”

“No. I’m safe now.”

“As long as you’re not found.” That was the only reason that explained why she only had cash in her wallet.

She drew in a deep breath and angled her face away from him. After a moment, she turned back to him. “I can’t talk about it. I’m sorry, I promised Drew.”

“Drew?”

“Andrew. My brother.”

“If you need help,” he said.

“I need you to help me fix up my house. Other than that, I’m good.”

“Okay.” Again with the unexplainable protectiveness. There was a part of him that wanted to pull the car over and make her explain everything to him. He wanted to make everything right for her.

He shook his head and continued talking about the house in order to get his mind off from mulling over Paige’s past.

When they were done with lunch, Paige suggested he wait in the restaurant while she shopped, promising she wouldn’t take long.

He loved that suggestion, but he’d left his laptop in his car. So they left the restaurant together, and he headed toward his car while she began her shopping.

He sat in his car and spoke with his realtor for a while before grabbing his laptop and returning to the mall to look for a coffee shop.
 

But he bumped into Paige, seeing her with two large bags of Victoria Secret, a bag of shoes, and another small plastic bag containing a water bottle.

“You’re fast,” he said.

Paige adjusted the straps of the paper bags on her arm and he saw the red imprints right beneath her elbow.

Without thinking, he reached over and took the bags from her. “Leave these with me. I’ll wait for you at the coffee shop.” He pointed out the shop to her.

“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll be fast.” She walked away from him and toward the departmental store.

He began strolling over to the coffee shop, but halted and turned around, widening his strides to catch up with Paige.

“Where are you going?” she asked when he neared.

“You need help with the bags.”

“Do I look so weak to you?”

He should say ‘no’ and return to the coffee shop.

“I’m fine,” she assured. “Go have your coffee.”

He dropped his laptop into the bag with two shoeboxes. “You said you’re a fast shopper, so let’s get what you need and then we can go. You have a house to paint.”

“Okay, but don’t complain if I’m not fast enough for you.”

There wasn’t a need to; Paige was true to her words.

Her style of shopping was fascinating.

She scanned the clothes as she strolled along and tried a few. If she liked it, she would pick a few from the different colors available.

“You don’t have to rush. Take your time to look around.”

She looked down at the clothes over her arms and grinned. “This is how I shop. I prefer plain, simple clothes, and I know the designs that suit me. So whenever I find a design I like, I’ll buy it in the different colors I think are nice,” she said. “So, you haven’t told me what you do exactly.”

“I buy old houses, revamp them, then sell them away.”

“Is that why you were away from Pine Bluffs?”

“The Seymours told you?”

“No.” She shook her head and took her eyes off a dress she was looking at. “When they saw you, Mrs. Seymour said something about being finally back in Pine.”

He sighed softly, apparently she hadn’t heard his stories. “Not exactly. You haven’t been around much in Pine, have you?”

“Why?”

“Just wondering if you had a taste on the gossipy nature of small towns. Since you’re from New York, I doubt you’ve experienced that before.”

A corner of her lips snaked up and she shook her head. “Oh, I’ve experienced that already. I was walking around, trying to familiarize myself with the neighborhood when people came up to me, smiling and introducing themselves, then proceeded to their various attempts at digging information out of me. Much like you have.”

“So they know you’re from New York.”

She placed a dress in front of her and turned to him. “How does this look?”

“You need better skills at changing subjects.”

“I’m going to try this out.”

Justin watched as she retreated into a changing room, shaking his head with a grin.

No wonder she hadn’t been out much in town. She didn’t want to lie about her past, but neither did she want to reveal anything to anyone.
 

That made both of them prisoners in their own house.

He leaned against a wall and wondered what she would think of him if she found out why he didn’t want to go out entertaining people and would rather be here shopping with her over the weekends.

Justin turned into Marquardt Avenue and grinned the moment he saw Paige’s car.

“I should move the car,” she said, probably realizing the source of his amusement.

“Don’t crash.” He stopped his car in front of the Seymours instead of directly behind Paige’s car.

She glared at him, then hopped out of his car and moved hers forward, allowing Justin to drive his car all the way up to the front of her house.

He got out of the car as she came trotting up the stairs.

“I’ll take the bags. Why don’t you open the doors?”

She watched him for a moment before nodding and turning toward the door.

Submissive.
Another characteristic added to his understanding of Paige. She rarely fought his decisions. Even when she did, she backed down after some insistence on his part.

She must had been a perfect student in school, one who scored well on every tests and lamented when she failed to get an A. One who probably had more than enough credits to graduate and apply for early admissions into great colleges.
 

So why would someone like her move all the way into a small town like Pine?

He thought about the conversation they had in his car, about her reaction when he had asked if she was in trouble.
What trouble can someone with such mild personality get into?
“Where do you want them?”

“Just put them here.”

He placed the bags down and leaned them against the wall. “The tiles and stuff will be here on Monday, I’ll start work then?”

“Yeah. Thanks for driving me there and helping me with the bags.”

“You need anything else?”

She shook her head, then paused. “Can you show me how to get the circuit up if the lights get cut off like last night?”

He cocked his head toward the kitchen and went out of the house through the back door. He showed her the switches and reminded her to keep the torchlight nearby so that she wouldn’t have to go stumbling around in the dark.

“I don’t have a torchlight.”

Justin went back out to the car, reached into the bag of stuff he’d bought, and fished out a torchlight. He turned around and found her leaning against the side of the door. “Yes, you do.” He waved the torch in his hand and jogged toward her.

“You bought that for me?” She took the torch and twisted it around in her hand. “Thanks.”

“Anything else?”

“Nope. Thanks for everything.”

“See you on Monday.” He returned to his car and drove home.

Throughout the drive back, he couldn’t stop the nagging thought in his head. It was going to take her forever to paint the house alone. He had nothing to do anyway, he could help.
 

That was the neighborly thing to do.

But she hadn’t asked. It would be weird for him to show up and insist to help.

He was still debating his decision when he saw Gloria standing outside his house. He sighed and shook his head.
 

Gloria never gave him a second look in high school.

He was too poor for her to pay any attention to.

Mrs. Seymour had told him in one of their phone conversations that Gloria had dumped her long-time boyfriend, Jason, when he lost his football scholarship.

It didn’t take much for him to figure out why she was here.

He stopped his car outside his house and got out.

“Hi, Justin. I heard you were back in town. Remember me?” she said in a disgustingly coy voice. She flashed a wide grin and strode over toward him in her high heels and tight fitting dress.
 

Justin didn’t bother to reply her.

“Anyway, a few of us are going down to Cheyenne for drinks. I thought you might want to join us.”

“You thought wrong,” he said and continued walking to his door.