13.

 

Rhett had gotten into her car with a clear idea of where he wanted to go, and Mia found herself surprised when he directed her to a small diner toward the edge of town. She had never taken much notice of it. She had never actually gone out this way very often. But he had been raving so much about the food there that she felt she owed it to him to go. Especially since she had seen firsthand what a picky eater he really was. A guy who went to the fanciest restaurant in town and only ate from the breadbasket was definitely someone unique. He might as well eat something he enjoyed.

“Hey, buddy, long time no see.”

The man who greeted them was tall and burly, and looked like he belonged more on a motorcycle than he did behind the counter of the diner. But Rhett gave him a jovial nod and led Mia toward the back.

“Good evening, Frank,” he said, pulling the chair out for Mia and waiting for her to sit down. She was surprised by his courteous and gentleman-like manners for some reason because, from what she gathered, he was sort of lacking in that department. Whether he was strong and had saved her twice now or not, he was still lacking some in manners. It sometimes made her wonder whether he was oblivious or just a giant asshole.

“I’ll have my usual but could you get a menu for the lady here?” Rhett asked, gesturing to Mia.

“Certainly,” Frank said, rummaging behind the counter and coming quickly to the table to set a menu down in front of Mia. She took a small glance around the diner and noted that it was relatively empty. There was only one other couple there, an older man and his wife, and they were about finished with their meal.

“Thank you,” Mia said when Frank slapped the menu down. “Could I just get some eggs and home fries?”

“You certainly can,” Frank said, giving her a quick wink and turning away from the table. She watched him go curiously, wondering what had led to a man like this owning such a place, and then turned her attention back to Rhett.

“I have never eaten here before. Do you come here often?”

The question seemed redundant, as it was clear that Rhett did enjoy coming here. He nodded, and his handsome face broke out into a smile. Mia’s heart fluttered despite herself and she swallowed hard.

“Yes, this is one of my favorite places to eat,” he said. “I come here frequently with my brothers.”

“Brothers? Do you have a lot of brothers?”

“Five others besides myself,” Rhett said, his face darkening suddenly. “They were all forced to come here with me.”

“Forced? Forced how? That doesn’t seem right,” Mia said, frowning. “Is there something wrong where you come from? Maybe some sort of turbulence in your country? Or a war?”

“Where we come from is far more civilized than here,” he said quickly, a sharpness in his voice becoming suddenly present. It stung her, and she closed her mouth tightly. She didn’t like it when men snapped at her, especially when the place where she was from was looked down on. Sure, it wasn’t the best place in the world, but it certainly could be worse.

“I see,” Mia said.

Rhett’s eyes widened. Apparently, he could sense the ice in her voice, and he looked suddenly ashamed of himself.

“I’m sorry. I just wasn’t ready to move when we did,” he said. “I am not comfortable here yet. I don’t think I would ever be able to explain in a way that you can understand. But just suffice it to say that we had little choice in the matter and it has been difficult adjusting.”

“I’m sorry that you are having a hard time here,” Mia said. “I’m sure that everything is very different from what you are used to. But just try your best to seek out things that remind you of places you love or find new things to love about the place you are in.”

“I just miss home and wish I was there most of the time,” Rhett said, shrugging.

“I understand,” Mia said. “But it doesn’t do anybody any good to dwell and to hold onto things that are only hurting them. Give yourself permission to let go a little and create a new life, and you might find that everything starts to get a little bit better.”

Rhett’s eyes were serious upon her as she spoke, and she looked away, worried that she had offended him somehow. Sometimes, she said things without thinking much about them and ended up pissing people off, whether she meant to or not.

However, it was hard for her to hold back when she felt like she had something valuable to offer somebody else. That was why she was aspiring to be a life coach. She wanted to help everybody. Even Rhett, whether he was an asshole at heart or not. He had still saved her twice, and she was still attracted to him.

“I never really thought about that,” he said quietly. It was becoming clear that the words had affected him. “I always thought I had my life figured out and I knew exactly what was going to happen and where it was going to happen. I didn’t know that everything was going to change so drastically. I also didn’t know that I was going to find myself in such difficult situations that are hard for me to navigate. But here we are. Here I am. And sometimes, I really just don’t know what to do.”

It was odd to hear him speaking so openly about his feelings. Most men Mia new kept everything at a surface level and rarely went any deeper than that. But it seemed so natural for Rhett to express himself fully. Maybe he was just different from the men where she was raised, who thought that avoiding their feelings made them stronger, when in reality, it made them far more vulnerable to the world. She was glad to see him able to look inside himself. It was the only way for anybody to grow and she found herself wondering if maybe she had him pegged wrong all along.

“Just give yourself some time to figure things out, and you will be really glad you were able to gain insight and new experiences in a place you didn’t expect to be. If you try to treat every day as a gift and a chance to do or experience something new, it gets a lot easier,” Mia said, hoping she was being helpful, not preachy. “Like I said, though, letting go is really the first step. You can’t keep holding on to the thoughts of what could’ve been forever, or they will simply destroy you. Just move forward from here on out and do what feels right to you, don’t worry about what anybody else expects of you.”

“I don’t know why, but you are the last person I expected to hear something like that from. And yet, the person that means the most to listen to.”

Mia was surprised by the words and looked at Rhett in confusion as she attempted to figure out what he meant by that. But before she had a chance to open her mouth to ask, Frank reappeared and sat down a huge platter of pancakes in front of Rhett, and a smaller plate with Mia’s order in front of her.

“Enjoy, you two,” Frank said. He gave them another wink and then disappeared behind the counter.

All conversation lulled as Mia watched Rhett begin to inhale the pancakes in front of him. She should have figured that if Rhett liked bread, he would love pancakes. But the thought had never occurred to her and now she was entranced by his enthusiasm. He was excited.

She almost forgot the plate of food right in front of her, but when he finally took a break to swallow the food he was shoveling into his mouth and met her stare, she was caught so off guard by his incredibly handsome features that she looked down to avoid the intensity of his gaze and the strange heat that was creeping to her cheeks. She picked up her fork and started in on some of the eggs, glad to have a distraction so readily available.

“So, what happened with your daughter?” Rhett said, his eyes narrowing. “I could try and do something about it. Just give me a description and if I see whoever did that, I will take care of it myself.”

Somehow, she got the impression that this wasn’t just the run-of-the-mill machoism that most men displayed. There was something far more substantial about this coming from Rhett, especially after having seen him physically protect her twice now without expecting anything from her in return. He hadn’t even really asked her out. Not technically. Except maybe to see her again. But that whole thing had been rather confusing.

“Well, but I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”

“Really, it is no trouble at all. I can’t stand the thought of anybody wanting to hurt you or a child.”

“For some reason, I have a feeling that he didn’t actually want to hurt my child. But that could be wishful thinking. Either way, the whole thing is weird and unsettling, and I want to put a stop to it as soon as possible.”

“The cabin that I was telling you about is actually really big. You guys might be comfortable there until whoever this person is, is taken off the streets.”

“I really appreciate you saying that,” Mia said. She wanted to trust him. She did trust him. But still, she had a hard time with the idea of putting herself and her daughter at the mercy of a man she didn’t fully know. She wasn’t going to simply agree to go into hiding unless there was really no other option. She might be scared, but was that really the only way out? Maybe the police would be able to handle it.

“Look, I understand you don’t trust me, and maybe you shouldn’t. I’m a stranger to you. You don’t know anything about me, and you probably think I am really strange and kind of a jerk. But I really don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. I don’t want you to get hurt. If I wanted you hurt, I probably would’ve just let that guy tonight hurt you. So, maybe later, I could at least show you where the cabin is and give you a copy of the key in case you need it. How does that sound?”

“That sounds better,” Mia said, relieved at the thought of having it as an option whether or not Rhett knew about them being there. At the same time, she wanted badly to trust him. Trust him entirely. With her everything. She had been having such a hard time trusting others lately, and knew it would only get harder after being attacked that way.

“Okay, if you want, we could go there after we eat. How does that sound to you?”

Mia was surprised, but the thought of going back home to her mother and daughter still wasn’t settling well with her. She needed some time to collect herself. And being out with Rhett was starting to help her feel a little bit better about everything that had happened. She felt safe with him. She didn’t feel safe alone.

“Sure, you can show me where the cabin is. Are you sure you trust me enough to give me a key, though? It seems a little bit unwise.”

“I can tell that I can trust you,” he said, his eyes suddenly serious upon her. She was sucked in by their intensity and they gazed at each other for a few moments before she continued eating, her heart hammering hard in her chest.

“Okay,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She wished she could trust him just as easily as he supposedly trusted her. That would make everything so much easier. It would help her to get rid of these unwanted doubts about whether or not he was the kind of man she wanted to be with and give her the chance to really trust herself with him and begin creating a relationship that she could be proud of and happy with. It would be so much easier than questioning whether or not he was a jerk all the time.

“Okay then, that’s settled. You will come to the cabin with me and maybe, if you like it or you want to do it, then we can make you a copy of the key. Or I could just give you mine. My brothers have keys that I could get a copy of later.”

Mia nodded. He was really being generous. Maybe he did care about her well-being and wasn’t going to use having her at the cabin for his own benefit. She could usually tell who to trust, but for some reason, there was something strange about this man that made it hard for her to trust even herself.

“Thank you,” she said, unsure of what else to say.

They finished eating and Rhett stood to pay the bill and banter with Frank for a few minutes as Mia went into the ladies’ room to wash up after the attack. She hadn’t thought about what she looked like, but it was clear that she had been distressed earlier in the evening. She wondered what Frank might think, but he was a gentleman and had kept his opinions or assumptions to himself.

She tidied herself up, allowing herself to take some small comfort in the action. Before she left the bathroom, she pulled out her cell phone and called her mother, and let her know that she was fine, but she had run into the man that she was dating and they were going to be spending a little bit longer together before she got home.

Of course, her mother’s instant reaction was full support. Jewel had been fine and wasn’t even fazed by the events of the day. She believes that the police are going to make sure that everything was all right. She had also sensed that she wasn’t in too serious of danger, apparently, but still, it was always better to be safe than sorry. And just the idea that anybody would be laying eyes on her daughter without her knowledge or understanding why made her furious.

Knowing that her daughter was fine made Mia relax. She was safe and sound in bed now and had already been asking about when she was going to get to go back to school.

Of course, she was going to stay home from school at least until the whole thing was taken care of and a watch was posted for sure.

When she emerged from the bathroom, Rhett smiled at her and gave a nod toward the doorway. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Mia said, following him to the car. "I could really use a drink."

The words slipped out unintentionally. She had been so stressed out from the events of the night that she just wanted something to take the edge off a little bit.

Rhett raised his brow at her. "We have a bar at the cabin if you want to stay for a couple of drinks."

“Yeah, that would probably be nice,” she replied, her heart thudding dully in her chest. She really wanted to be near him. As long as she could manage. Without him reminding her what a jerk he could be. “We will see how I feel. It is getting a little late, after all.”

“Great,” Rhett said. “We will see how you are feeling toward the end of the drive and if you want to come back, that’s up to you. There is really no harm either way. You don’t have any obligations toward me, as you know.”

Mia laughed, and they got into her car. For some reason, she just simply enjoyed spending time with him. “All right, let’s go.”