Rusty listened to the shower and tried to keep his emotions in check. All he could imagine was the feel of her body against his. He cursed the moon goddess for sending him the one woman he could never keep. Putting her in his bed had been the cruelest of jokes.

He found his cell phone. Relieved to see several bars lit up, he called Joshua and in a few words, explained to his friend what was needed. Joshua agreed to attempt the trip to his cabin to help with the tire.

“The roads are still a bit treacherous,” Joshua said cautiously, “but I’ll set out in about an hour.”

Rusty hung up and was just finishing the call to Melissa Richter when Sherry came into the kitchen. Dressed, she looked less like the woman who’d warmed his bed and more like the stranger he’d met in the woods. He felt their separation keenly. But outwardly, Rusty gave no sign of his broken heart.

He supposed it was a good thing she’d changed back into her own clothes, because if he’d had to send her out in his sweater, he wasn’t sure he could control his actions. He was already fighting to keep his desires in check.

“I’m ready. When will your friend arrive?” She played with the strap of her purse in her nervousness.

“Joshua said it would be about an hour. He’ll come here first, and we’ll fix the tire. After that, he’ll drive to your car, and then take you to town. I was just getting ready to call over to the inn to reserve you a room.”

He picked up his phone and pulled up the inn’s number. In a few minutes, he’d secured Sherry a room. Nothing else needed to be said, and the silence between the two grew louder than a jet airplane. Sherry went to the living room and sat down while she waited.

When Joshua pulled up, his truck loud in the stillness of a snow-blanketed world, Sherry nearly jumped up. At the sound of his footsteps on the porch, she met Rusty’s gaze and then lowered her eyes. She wasn’t sure what to say, so said nothing.

Joshua knocked, entering when Rusty called out to come in. Stepping inside the room, the other man looked between the two, eyebrow raised, and stomped his boots to remove the snow.

“Well, I reckon we can get that tire taken care of first. I brought a replacement. You got the jack?” He glanced over at Rusty, who nodded.

“You must be Miss . . .?” Joshua said, extending a hand to Sherry.

“Sherry Grimes,” she said, introducing herself to the mechanic.

Sherry found his handshake firm and brief. He looked like a man who liked to keep things simple, and the silent exchanges between the two men were a little disconcerting. It was as if they had a secret language, one she had no clue how to speak, let alone understand.

“Okay, well, let’s get that tire fixed. Then I will take the little lady into town.”

He was out the door as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

Sherry looked at Rusty, who was shrugging into his coat. Pulling gloves from his pocket, he nodded toward the kitchen. “There’s fresh coffee if you want a cup before you go. This shouldn’t take long, and then you can be on the road.”

Sherry raised her hand as if wanting to reach out to him, but nodded instead. Turning away, she walked toward the kitchen. Closing her eyes, she forced unshed tears back. Letting Rusty see her regret to be leaving would serve no good purpose.

A short while later, both men returned to the house. Sherry offered Joshua a cup of coffee, which he declined.

“Never touch the stuff,” he said gruffly, “but I thank you kindly for the offer. You ready to go? The storm’s coming back, I think. Best we get your car and get you to the inn.”

Sherry nodded. Stepping past Rusty, she was careful not to touch him, but the urge to squeeze his arm was strong. A kiss in parting wouldn’t have been out of order, but he didn’t offer, and she wouldn’t beg.

As she stepped up into the truck, she resisted the urge to look back.

Joshua backed out the truck, his gears grinding as he moved the large truck down the rutted drive. The air was growing cold again. Just before they rounded the corner to turn onto the main road, Sherry caught sight of Rusty out of the corner of her eye.

He stood on the porch, leaning against the post as he watched them disappear.

“He’s a good . . . man, our Rusty,” Joshua said, glancing over at her. “You can trust him. You can always trust him with . . . whatever needs trusting.”

Sherry shot him a quick glance. Was her broken heart that obvious?

“My wife trusted him. She was dying of cancer when they met. They became instant friends. Best decision we ever made was to move to Havenwood Falls. Best decision I ever made was to marry my Evelyn in spite of…well, in spite of our differences, I guess you could say. I wouldn’t trade a minute of the time we had together to be with anyone else.”

Sherry nodded at him, confused about what he was really telling her. What did he mean by “differences?”

Before she could ask him for an explanation, they came to her car. It was covered in snow, but otherwise just as she’d left it. Could it only have been last night? So much had happened since that fateful decision to drive down a deserted road in a less-than-perfect car.

“You stay in here where it’s warm, miss. I’ll get the car in gear. May I have your keys?”

Sherry dug around in her purse, pulling out the keys and handing them to him. His gloved hand gripped hers for a second, forcing her to look at him.

“It’ll all be okay, miss. If there’s one thing my Evelyn was always right about, it was that the moon takes care of her own.”

Sherry looked at him in confusion. What in the world was he talking about?

In a little over half an hour, they were back on the road and headed toward town. He’d first tried to start the car, but it was still not running, so he’d pulled her bag from the trunk before loading her car onto the truck’s bed, and the bag now rested at her feet.

Joshua dropped Sherry off at the Whisper Falls Inn and told her he’d call her with the verdict on her car. “Don’t you worry, miss,” he said before closing the door, “we’ll have you back on the road and out of Havenwood Falls in no time. That is, if that’s what you truly want.”

Nodding to her, he continued on down the road.

“What an odd thing to say,” Sherry muttered as she watched him go, her car traveling away from her. She hoped the damage wouldn’t be too much, and at the same time, she hoped the repairs would take a few more days.

“Hello, are you coming in?”

Sherry turned at the sound and smiled at the young woman who stood on the porch. Glancing around the town, Sherry was struck by how much she liked its quaint shops and houses. This was the kind of town she’d always wanted to live in. It felt like it could be home.

Pulling her suitcase behind her, she walked up the steps and into the inn.

The smell inside the building was warm. The yeasty scents of freshly baked breads mixed with the smells of fresh wood and paint from the remodeling work in the lobby, and she felt instantly comfortable here. She wasn’t disappointed in the room, either. It was occupied by a bed, a dresser, a desk with a phone on it, and a comfortable chair with a lamp nearby. There was a large window at one end of the room that looked out over a small garden.

She set her bag on the floor at the end of the bed and sat on the bed. In seconds, she had laid her head on the pillow, pulled up another beautifully quilted blanket, and let loose the tears she had been holding back all day.

Wrapped in the warm quilt, she cried away all her hurts. Old wounds had a way of creeping up at the worst of times. This was one of them.