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  First Frost, A Lyrical Press Anthology

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  First Frost

  A Lyrical Press Anthology

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  A Keeper

  Sweet contemporary romance by Charlotte McClain

  Some things are worth keeping. Some guys are keepers.

  Dina Paxson has a few days before going back to work on the cruise ship to straighten out a billing snafu at the storage facility. Paul Hanover is baby-sitting the facility for his mother when Dina comes in. She's a little odd, but in a way that makes him want to know more about her. Too bad his need to know conflicts with her desire to be a little more anonymous.

  Dina jumped out of the car and tried to get her raincoat closed before she froze. Nice day, they said. You won’t need a coat, they said. What the hell was wrong with them? There had to be an icicle forming on the tip of her nose. The bloody coat was too big too. That’s what she got for not owning one anymore and having to borrow from her mom. Every breath of wind blew it out like a sail, carrying any molecule of heat she’d managed to hoard into the atmosphere. She trotted toward the little office outside the storage facility gates. One quick stop to get this billing snafu straightened out, grab the key and see what Jeff had left her with and she could get back to Mom. He’d said he’d cleaned out all his stuff and then in the next sentence said he couldn’t take anything big. So were the dishes there? The photos? Her snow globe collection?

  She pushed open the door and stepped into the only slightly warmer, but blessedly not windy, office. It looked just like she remembered; pale green walls, display of boxes, tape and padlocks in the corner and a chest-high counter. The tall blond-haired man behind it was new though. So was the man inexplicably wearing only a stained wife-beater stretched over his potbelly and sagging grease-stained pants. Really, the temperature alone demanded sleeves. The wind called for a jacket.

  “You son of a bitch, I’ll see you in court!”

  “You have that option, Mr. Broadbent, but by the terms of your rental agreement, we have the legal right to lock you out of your unit for non-payment after sixty days. You are already past the ninety day mark.” The blond’s hands on the counter appeared perfectly relaxed, but around the corner she could see his legs were braced. Half ready for a fight, half ready to shake hands. Imposing enough that his presence filled the room.

  Potbelly didn’t seem to care. “That’s my stuff!” he shouted.

  “And you are welcome to it as soon as you bring your account current.” Storage Guy shifted his arms and his hands tensed. Nice shoulders for a desk jockey running a storage facility. “You have until the end of this month. At that point we have a legal right to sell your belongings to pay the balance.”

  “You can’t do that.” Potbelly’s voice developed a whine.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but it is in the rental agreement you signed.” Storage Guy held up a paper that, from the far side of the room, appeared to be exactly like the one she’d watched Jeff sign six years ago when this little adventure had began.

  Potbelly snatched the paper out of Storage Guy’s hand. He tore it up and threw the pieces in the air. “There. Now what are you going to do?”

  “That was a copy. The original is still in your file, and even if you tore it up, it would still be legally binding.”

  Potbelly reared back.

  Storage Guy held up his hand.

  Stop in the name of love, Dina thought. That would be a fun activity next cruise.

  “Sir, I’ll advise you that if you spit on me I can have you charged with assault.”

  Ew, but damn this guy was good under pressure.

  Potbelly slumped. “This is not over.” He spun around and stomped toward the door.

  Dina skittered out of his way before he went through her to get out.

  Storage Guy blew a breath through his nose and turned to her, not smiling, but not at all unfriendly. “Sorry about that. What can I help you with?”

  “Um, hopefully it won’t be as traumatic.” Dina stepped up to the counter. He was tall enough she had to tip her head to meet his gaze. “My ex-husband emailed me that the account is delinquent, but I don’t know how that could be because it’s auto-pay. I’m only free for a few days and then I’m headed back to Florida so I need to get this sorted out fast. I emailed that I would be in today.”

  “Dina Paxson. I did get your email. Sorry I didn’t get back to you. I have your file right here.” He opened another manila folder on the counter and glanced up. “Not a whole heck of a lot happens around here. You’re the only person I expected to see this morning.”

  Pretty alert to hear her alarmed silence too. Wherever the owner, Cecelia, had gone, she’d left the place in very capable hands. That was good considering he was protecting all her bits of precious.

  “I looked into the account and you’re ninety dollars in arrears.”

  “Ninety dollars! That’s not possible.”

  He ran a finger down the invoice. “I see what happened. You have been paying one hundred-ten dollars every month for the unit.”

  “Which is what my ex-husband told me it cost.”

  “It’s one hundred-ten and ninety-four cents.”

  Dina sagged. “You’re kidding.”

  “No. Every month you have been automatically paying the one hundred-ten and shorting the rent by ninety-four cents and incurring a monthly late fee on top of that shortage. See?”

  She looked where he pointed. Ninety-four cents under paid. Fifteen dollar late fee. Every month for six months. “Well, bless his stupid heart. He told me the new rental amount was one-ten, not one-ten-ninety-four.”

  “I figured something like that had happened but I can go in and take the late fees off. All you owe then is five sixty-four. Sorry, I didn’t see it until just now.”

  “Thank you. I almost had heart failure. Ninety dollars.” Dina pulled out her wallet and sifted through a collection of American, Mexican and Haitian money trying to determine if she had exact change. Why hadn’t she taken the other currencies out and left them at Mom’s? Because that would have made sense. “The next thing is, my ex told me he left a key here for me.”

  “I’ll check. If there’s a key here under your name, I’m still going to need to see some ID and make a photocopy for the file.” He took the money to the desk behind the counter and fiddled with the computer for a minute before digging in a drawer.

  Nice broad shoulders. Trim waist. He worked out. God save her from gym divas. Six months of singles cruises and she’d seen enough gym divas and pool bunnies hook up to ruin a person’s faith in the future.

  “Nope, no key.”

  Dina’s brain snapped like a rubber band. “You’re kidding.”

  “No.” He fished through the keys again.

  Dina put her hand over her face. “No.” How much would it cost to get her maiden name back? Should have done it when she got divorced. Jeff’s name was like an albatross. An infamous albatross. “Okay, then, how do I get into the unit?”

  “If you were on the lease you could have the lock drilled out and replaced.”

  Dina uncovered her face. “If?”

  “You’re not on the lease.”

  She leaned over the counter as if the view she already had might change enough to reveal her name on the damned papers. “He promised me he was going to put me on the lease.”

>   “The only name on it is Jeff Paxson.”

  “He moved all his stuff out. The rent is coming off my credit card.”

  “I’m sorry. Legally, unless your name is on the lease or I have permission from the lease holder, I can’t let you in the unit.”

  “Permission in the form of a note on a key?”

  He nodded. “And a copy of your ID.”

  “Legally” was about to become her least favorite word ever. She glanced at the security monitors at the end of the counter. No chance of sneaking in herself and taking the lock off either. Not that she’d know how. “So now what? Do I have to sue him for custody of my own stuff? How am I supposed to find him? He’s on an extended road trip with friends ‘finding himself.’” TMI. TMI!

  “You can have him send me a signed letter stating that he wants to turn the unit over to you. Then he legally won’t have any right to it.”

  Dina’s fingers twitched. In Jeff’s email, when he told her he was setting off on this grand adventure, he’d said he was leaving behind his grandfather’s desk because he couldn’t fit it in the RV. If he had no legal right to the unit, she’d have that desk to hold over his head for his half of the storage rental for the past year. It was dirty pool. Totally not like her.

  Which is why he wouldn’t suspect it. She plucked a pen from the cup on the counter and pulled out a piece of scrap paper so she could take notes. “Okay. What do I have to tell him to do?”

  * * * *

  Paul watched Dina get in her car and drive away. She was up to something. What, he didn’t know yet, but it was something. The way she clutched that coat around herself it was like she was hiding a knife under it. Or a knife wound. His mom might know.

  “Hello?”

  “Did I wake you?” Paul glanced at the clock. It should be the middle of the afternoon in Seattle.

  “Your niece is vampire baby. We’re sleeping in shifts. What do you need? Is everything going all right at my facility?”

  “Fine. Everything’s fine. Dina Paxson was just here and she was acting fishy.”

  “You think everyone acts fishy.”

  “It’s a hazard of the job and she was pretty desperate to get into Jeff Paxson’s unit. Storage unit.” Why was his mind leaping right to the double entendre?

  “It was their unit, but her husband always filled out all the paperwork.”

  “Mom, you never advised her that she would have no legal right to the unit if her name wasn’t on the papers?”

  “There was no reason to. They were such a happy couple. A shame what happened.”

  Such a happy couple. Not from where he stood. Maybe it was a wound she was hiding under that coat and not a weapon. “What happened?”

  “They worked on that cruise ship that was stranded in the middle of the ocean a couple of years ago. Her husband was blamed for it, but she ended up being praised as a hero for keeping everyone’s spirits up. He had moved into a little apartment in town after he came back, but he was in and out of that unit a lot last spring when he signed the new contract.”

  “She said he was on an extended road trip and they were divorced.”

  “Divorced? That’s a shame. I know she was still working for the cruise line and he was living alone, but I didn’t realize they were divorced.”

  “So in spirit that unit is at least part hers?”

  “Sure. When I first opened they were my first tenants. He was just out of the Navy and they had both gotten jobs with the cruise line. They were packing up the things from her college apartment and what few things he had after he got out of the service. They were so excited to start their jobs. Traveling all over the world.”

  She hadn’t looked excited when she was in here a few minutes ago. A little over tanned and cold, but not excited.

  “Mom! Mom!” His sister yelled in the background. His niece started crying.

  “I have to go. Did you need anything else?”

  “No, I just wondered what was up.”

  “Internet search them. They were both pretty big news when their ship broke down.”

  “I will. Give Jenny and Hal my love.”

  “And little Jessa. Hello Jessa. Can you say hello to your Uncle Paul?” And the line died. His mom was far too excited about this grandchild, but it did let him off the marriage and grandchildren hook. At least until Mom got some sleep.

  So Dina Paxson had been happily married to a former military man who ended up being blamed for a cruise ship disaster, and now she was left holding the bag, or at least the rental unit bill, while the ex went gallivanting off. That felt more right than the idea of that pretty woman scheming to get into her ex-husband’s storage unit to wreak havoc. Until the end, she hadn’t had the shifty tells of a con artist. Maybe she just felt uncomfortable asking him to turn over ownership. For once Paul wanted to think the best of someone.

  An internet search wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe a little more professional background check if things played out as interesting as they seemed to be headed. Before she left she’d said something about coming back next week so, barring more visits from the Broadbents of the world, he had lots of time and a couple of favors he could call in.

  Then next time she stopped in he could ask her to have a cup of coffee with him. Close up the office, take her to the Caribou down the street. His mother would approve. Provided Dina Paxson had a little distance from her divorce. He had no interest in being rebound material again.

  * * * *

  Dina parked the car and leaned over the steering wheel. “Please, please, please let Jeff have sent the letter. Please.” Then she sat up, checked her face in the rearview mirror and got out. Either it wasn’t as cold today or she was adjusting.

  Or the soul deep chill the rest of her life caused was making her immune to the weather. Whatever.

  Storage Guy was leaning on the counter with a file open when she walked in. This must be a seriously boring job.

  “I got the letter from your ex-husband yesterday.”

  “He said in his email he’d sent it. Right before he told me all about his new woman. Jolene. Can you even fathom it? He actually hooked up with a woman named Jolene.”

  Storage Guy stared at her. “What’s the significance of the name?”

  It was a little out of left field. Everybody on the ship would have understood, but she wasn’t on the Riva Luce. “Jolene, remember that Dolly Parton song?”

  His forehead crinkled in a frown. “I thought you were divorced.”

  “I am, but I really didn’t want to know my ex already had another woman.” Dina shook her head. This was not appropriate conversation for total strangers. She should have saved that tidbit for lunch with Shelly. “Never mind. I shouldn’t burden you with it. It’s just fresh. Has the lock been replaced?”

  “No, my maintenance guy hasn’t been here.”

  Dina slouched on the stool in front of the counter. “He’s the only one who can do it?”

  “I’m afraid it was in his contract. Keeps him from becoming expendable.”

  At least it wasn’t another legal thing.

  “But we can go ahead and fill out a new lease in your name. Then legally the unit will be yours and he won’t have any right to it unless you give him a key.”

  “That won’t be happening.”

  Storage Guy pulled a blank rental agreement from under the folder that held Jeff’s. He put the original copy of Jeff’s letter on the counter. “You can have this if you want.”

  Jeff’s block letters screamed up at her from the paper. Written in pen it said only, “I turn over ownership of unit three twenty-two to my ex-wife Dina Paxson.” She really needed to get her last name changed. “Can we burn it in effigy?”

  “You can do whatever you choose with it.” Storage Guy was focused on the paperwork. He had nice handwriting. Neat and masculine.

  Dina picked out a spot on the wall. Anything was better than ogling the Storage Guy. She didn’t have time to ogle him or any other man on the planet right no
w. “What’s your name anyway?”

  “Paul Hanover. Why?”

  “It just didn’t seem fair that you knew my name and I didn’t know yours. Paul Hanover. Nice to meet you.”

  “The pleasure is mine.” He slid the form across the counter to her. “You will need to change the auto debit so the right amount gets sent also. You don’t want to go through this again in six months.”

  “No. Do you have a web address or something where I can do that?” She plucked a pen out of the cup beside the security screens to sign the form.

  Paul put his hand over hers. Not grabby, just pausing her movement. Dina tensed and relaxed at the same time. If he hadn’t been holding onto her she’d have slid off the stool in a pool of hot Jell-O, which made no sense because the only reason she wanted to slide off was the touch of his hand on hers.

  “Before you sign, I need you to understand that once you do, the unit will be yours. No one will be able to access it without your express permission.”

  “Okay.” Okay? Oh brother. Pulse dancing through her veins. Barely able to draw breath. Completely unable to produce any kind of intelligent comment. There was no time for this.

  But he was so…so…

  He pulled his hand back, glancing at it like it had betrayed him. “I just— Legally, I have to tell you that. If anyone else needs to get into the unit you will have to contact me with the name of who is coming and they will have to bring their drivers license so I can make a copy for the file.”

  Don’t say okay again. Don’t say okay again. “I understand. The only person who would come here would be my mom and that would only be in a dire emergency. I doubt she’d drive all the way here from where she lives unless there’s a major catastrophe. She lives about an hour away from here.”

  “I just have to inform you of your rights.”

  “Thanks.” Dina signed her name.

  Paul had turned to his desk and was shuffling around on it like it wasn’t half empty and frighteningly tidy.

  “So when can we get the lock drilled out?” Dina asked. He had such a nice broad back, beautifully filling out that green polo shirt. Good butt too, though his jeans were a little on the worn side and had a black stain on the back of the left thigh. He probably didn’t even know it was there. She kinda wished she didn’t. It was going to pop up in her dreams now. Because she needed to be dreaming about men who lived in other states when her judgment was suspect to begin with.