Love Inspired: April 2022, Box Set 1 of 2 by Patricia Davids

Author:Patricia Davids
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

On Friday, Dev was headed back to his cabin when Stan flagged him down. “Need your help with something,” the white-haired math teacher said.

“Sure.” Dev was bone tired, but Stan was a neighbor.

Stan led him over to the side of his cabin and indicated a square of ground that was marked off with stakes and twine. “I need to dig this up and work in some compost,” he said. “Hoping you’ll help. I got an extra shovel.”

Dev blew out a breath. Maybe the teacher had been sitting at a desk all day, but Dev had been lifting and hauling, doing physical work. The last thing he wanted was more of that.

But Landon was over at the boys’ cabins, having a supervised playdate—only Dev wasn’t allowed to call it that, of course, because Landon was way too old—with a couple of the other boys. Dev had no plans, and he’d already learned that Friday nights could be lonely up here in the mountains with little else than the stars for company.

A hawk swung its solitary way across the sky as the sun sank toward the mountains, lighting them up with a rose-gold glow. Around him, in the trees beside the cabin, chickadees fluttered and dived, calling out cheery greetings to one another. Sage and pine scents blew in on a cool breeze.

Even though Dev had done physical work all day, he’d been stuck inside. “Sure, I’ll help.” He took the shovel Stan offered and started digging. “Planning a vegetable garden, are you?”

“Sure am. It’s tough up here, a short growing season, but working with the earth keeps me sane.” Stan grinned. “Plus, the new horticulture therapist is a real beauty. I’ll consult with her.”

So I’m digging your garden to help your love life?

The work wasn’t easy. The ground was dry and hard. And it seemed to Dev that he was digging at twice the pace that Stan was. Oh, well. The guy was probably twenty years older than Dev. Dev was grateful he had the health to work hard.

He doubled down to it, figuring he’d get the job done as soon as possible and then head home to a shower and the hockey game.

“Noticed you’ve been spending quite a bit of time with Emily,” Stan said out of nowhere, leaning on his shovel.

Dev’s senses went on alert. He kept shoveling but studied the white-haired man from the corner of his eye. “Yeah?”

“We’re a little protective of our own,” Stan said. “We—or I, rather, I shouldn’t speak for anyone else—I’m a little concerned.”

The we and our own language made Dev feel like the outsider, but he supposed that was only right: he was the newcomer and the outsider. And Stan had the right to be protective. “It’s just fallen out that way since she’s tutoring Landon,” he explained. “We’re friends, or getting to be. That’s all.”

“Uh-huh.” Stan started digging again, not responding further, as if waiting for Dev to go on.

But there was nothing more to say. He wasn’t the type of man a smart, educated woman like Emily would go for.

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