Page 10 of High Country Escape

She heard the excitement about his work in his voice and the touch of pride. “That’s great that you’re able to take your experience with search and rescue and Jeep rentals and use it to tailor software to the needs of those endeavors,” she said. “It’s technical, but it’s also really creative.”

“Well, sure,” he said. “People who think tech isn’t creative don’t know anything about it.”

“People I know never understand why I find writing code interesting,” she said. “I try to tell them it’s all about finding ways to solve real problems, but they don’t see it.”

“Oh, I get that, too,” Dalton said. “Everybody cares about the results of what we do, but their eyes glaze over if I try to explain how it’s done.”

For the rest of the drive to Eagle Mountain, they discussed the ins and outs of software development, testing and troubleshooting. Roxanne began to relax. Work was the one area in her life where she rarely second-guessed herself. Coding was logical and predictable, unlike other people.

But she fell silent as they neared the scene of her accident, her body tensing as her mind replayed the moments before the collision. Dalton glanced over at her. “That must have been terrifying,” he said. “Being run off the road.”

“Yes.” She had a hard time getting the word out, the muscles of her throat had clenched so tightly.

“But you survived it,” he said. “You’re going to be okay.”

She closed her eyes, the words the same ones she had told herself so many times, especially in the early days, after she had escaped from Ledger. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I’m a survivor.”

He didn’t ask what she had survived beyond the accident. He didn’t ask about the man who had driven the truck, or why the sight of him had shook her so. He didn’t tell her why she shouldn’t be afraid or how she needed to put the past behind her. He merely listened and...accepted.

She directed him to her house. When he turned into the driveway she indicated, they had to maneuver around a large moving van. “What’s going on?” she asked, alarm clear in her voice.

“Is that your house?” he asked, indicating a blue-and-white building about the size of a garden shed.

“No, mine is the green house over there.” She pointed across the drive. “I guess I have a new neighbor.”

A petite woman with bright red hair emerged from the blue house. She looked their way, then started toward them. Dalton rolled down the window. “Sorry about the moving truck,” she said. “They should be gone in half an hour or so.” She glanced from Dalton to Roxanne. “Are you my neighbors?”

“I am.” Roxanne leaned forward. “I’m Roxanne.”

“I’m Kara. Kara Lee.” Kara’s smile was tentative. “I’m glad there’s someone else out here,” she said. “I’ve been a little nervous about living somewhere so remote.”

“I’ve only been here a few days myself,” Roxanne said. “But it’s very peaceful.”

“That’s good to hear.” Kara glanced over her shoulder. “I’d better help get the rest of my things unloaded. But I’ll see you around a lot, I’m sure.”

“It was good to meet you,” Roxanne said.

Dalton continued up the driveway and pulled the Jeep close to the door. “She seemed nice,” he said.

“She did.” Roxanne sighed. “It’s kind of a relief to have someone in that house now. Like she said, it doesn’t feel so isolated.”

Dalton turned his attention to her house. “This is a cute place,” he said.

“I like it.” She put her hand on the door to open it, but didn’t move right away. “Thanks for the ride,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to get home.”

“I was actually on my way to see you when I came upon the wreck,” he said. “I mean, I was looking for your place, hoping to find you.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Because I wanted to ask you out.”

He couldn’t have surprised her more if he had told her he was from another planet. Not that men hadn’t asked her out before, but Dalton didn’t even know her. “Oh.”

He shifted to face her more. “So, maybe my timing is terrible, but do you want to go out sometime? Get dinner or something?”

She opened her mouth. Closed it again. She was tempted to say yes, but she knew very little about him. And he knew even less about her. Once he heard her whole story, he was liable to run in the opposite direction. It had happened before. Best to save them both the trouble. “I need to hold off on dating anyone right now,” she said. “Until I get some things settled in my life.”

What was she thinking, inviting more questions? She braced herself to come up with an explanation of what she needed to settle.Everythingdidn’t seem an appropriate answer.