Redwood Bend

into the cabin again.
Katie looked at Tom. “Ever have one of those annoying visitors? The kind who just doesn’t get it when they’re not actually invited? ”
Tom laughed. “Maxie, my grandmother, has a million friends. She never had a visitor she wanted to leave.”
“Hmm. Maybe she’d like to have Dylan,” she offered.
Tom laughed and stood up. “I’ll call the game warden, Katie. Listen, don’t become the bear’s adversary. Stay out of her way. New mothers can be unpredictable.”
Dylan heard the talk on the porch. Is he the one you’re interested in? No, just a friend, passing through town… He chuckled soundlessly. He was still putting food in the refrigerator when he heard Tom’s truck start up and back out of the clearing. And then Katie was there. “Oh, you’re funny,” she said. “I guess if I’d wanted you to stick around before I should’ve just told you to leave.”
“Are you throwing out the dating net, Katie?” he asked.
“That’s none of your business…”
“You should tell me so I can manage to be…ah…unobtrusive when young Tom comes calling.”
“How about absent? Absent would be so much more convenient than unobtrusive.”
His expression became serious. “Look, I don’t blame you for not wanting to move in with your brother—I personally think he has a short fuse and a very crabby disposition. But I don’t think you should be all alone out here. I’m cooking tonight—my special pizza. The boys will love it. I’ll take the couch.”
She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t think so.”
“Then I’ll sleep in the truck. Or on the porch—I have a sleeping bag.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Being responsible? Helping out?”
“I’m not your responsibility,” Katie said. “And you’re confusing me. You’re in, you’re out, you’re back, you’re leaving…”
“I missed you,” he said. “And I shouldn’t have left the way I did. But I had to leave. And we’re not done talking…”
“Don’t you have to get back to work? Don’t you have an airline and airport to run? A movie to make? The paper says you’re living on a big estate in Montana—you won’t be happy on a couch. Or a porch.”
He scrunched up his eyebrows. “Estate?”
“Your grandmother’s estate…”
“Estate?” he said again.
She sighed deeply. “Airline? You own the airport it operates out of? Your rich and famous grandmother’s estate? Am I speaking a foreign language here?” she asked.
He was careful with his answer; he was not smiling. “I checked in with the company. They’re maintaining in my absence. And the ‘estate’ is being watched over. Would you like me to take you on a nice long, exciting bike ride? That used to blow your whistle.”
Her hand slid over her belly. “Maybe not while I still have the remnants of this little bug…”
“Shouldn’t you be better by now?”
“Something’s going around, so don’t breathe my air. You don’t want to catch it.”
“I’m not too worried about that. I’d be willing to take my chances for a whiff of your air.”
“As flirting goes, you might be losing your touch.”
“Okay, tell me this. How do we make peace with your big mean brother so I don’t get hauled off the couch and beat senseless in the dark of night?”
She couldn’t help but smile at him. “Already on the couch, are you? I thought you were taking the truck or the porch.”
“I’m trying to make up, Katie. Work with me here.”
“Leslie and I will take care of you and Conner,” she said. “Don’t worry about a thing.”
Dylan smiled broadly. He was feeling a sense of safety and familiarity. This was one of the reasons he hadn’t fallen in love before, he realized. He was used to women who thought he was important, either as an actor or the owner of an airline. Hah—two six-seaters and a Lear! Or the owner of an airport—a relatively short runway paved onto his grandmother’s back forty and a couple of Quonset hangers and a prefab building for an office. Oh, yeah, there was that wind sock. Suddenly he wondered how many people thought he lived on an “estate.”
Katie wasn’t that impressed. She wouldn’t trade a thing for his importance. The two women Dylan admired most were his grandmother and his best friend’s wife, and Adele and Sue Ann didn’t need a man to define them, bring their value into focus. He was ready to add Katie to that group, but…
“When I explain that he has to be nice to you, what should I say