Something was different.
Hannah stood in the doorway, hair neatly combed, clothes crisp and practical. Her posture was straight, her smile polite. Nothing obviously wrong. Nothing he could point to. Yet the shift was unmistakable, as if someone had drawn a thin veil between them overnight.
His bear stilled, instantly alert.Something’s changed.
“Good morning,” she said, her voice pleasant but measured. The warmth had gone. It was as if someone had turned back time to the first moment they’d met—before the vineyard, before the laughter, before her hand had fit so perfectly into his. “Coffee smells wonderful.”
“Just made it,” Caleb replied, nodding toward the cup on the table. “Sleep well?”
“Very well, thank you.” She accepted the mug with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yourguestroom is very comfortable.”
Yourguestroom. Surely after yesterday, she knew she was more than that? The subtle distance in her phrasing wasn’t lost on him.
Caleb gestured to the table, where he’d set out butter, jam, and a loaf of bread he’d brought back from the restaurant lastnight along with the blackberry pie. “Breakfast isn’t much, I’m afraid. Just toast. I plan to go grocery shopping later.”
“It’s perfect,” Hannah said, sitting down across from him. “Thank you.”
The space between them felt different now. Gone was the comfortable silence of yesterday, replaced by something more deliberate. More contained. Caleb buttered his toast, watching her from the corner of his eye as she did the same, her movements stilted.
“The view is beautiful this morning,” he said, nodding toward the window where sunlight spilled across the mountain slopes. “Reminds me of yesterday at the vineyard.”
Hannah glanced up, her eyes meeting his briefly before sliding away. “It was a lovely day,” she agreed. “Thank you again for taking me.”
A thank you that felt like goodbye. His bear bristled, unsettled by the formality creeping into her voice.
“I thought you might like a tour of Bear Creek today,” Caleb continued, testing the space between them gently. “There’s so much I’d like to show you.”
Hannah took a sip of her coffee, her expression carefully neutral. “That sounds nice,” she said, though her tone suggested she’d already decided it wouldn’t happen. “Though I should check on my car first. See how the repairs are coming along.”
There it was. The first step toward leaving.
His bear growled softly.Don’t let her go.
Caleb took a breath, steadying himself. “Of course.”
Hannah set her mug down, fingers tracing the rim with deliberate care. “Actually, I was thinking—while my car is still in the shop, I could cover another shift at the restaurant.”She looked up, her expression professional and reasonable. “It seems only fair, two shifts for two nights.”
The reduction of yesterday’s connection to a simple transaction—labor for lodging—made his bear bristle with indignation.She’s our mate, not an employee!
But Caleb understood the instinct behind it. He saw it for what it was now. Hannah was carefully reconstructing her boundaries. This wasn’t a rejection. It was protection.
The kind Hannah had learned early and reinforced often, until it became nearly impossible to set down—because once, it had kept her safe.
“We’d be glad for the help,” he said evenly. And he’d be glad of her company. The shift might be his last chance to break down her defenses and convince her to stay.
She nodded, looking almost relieved that he’d accepted without argument. “Although I’d still like to check on my car first, if that’s all right.”
“I’ll drive you,” Caleb said without hesitation, already reaching for his keys. “Whenever you’re ready.”
No pressure. No questions about why the sudden change. He needed to give her space.
His bear paced restlessly.Ask her what’s wrong. Make her tell us.
But Caleb knew better. This wasn’t a moment for demands or declarations. It was a moment for patience, for showing Hannah that he could respect her needs.
Twenty minutes later, they were in his truck, driving down the mountain toward town. The silence between them was heavier now, weighted with all the things neither of them was saying.
Caleb glanced at Hannah’s profile as she gazed out the window. Yesterday, she’d watched the scenery with openwonder. Today, she seemed to look through it, her thoughts clearly elsewhere.
