The hunter

loose ends

Isabella spent the weekend finalizing the purchase of her new home. She went around with James the whole day and got to know a bit more about the new place she was moving to. He even helped her to get everything set up for her car to be brought from Houston before she arrived back in two weeks.

He really was a great person to take the time to help her out the way he had. On Saturday evening, he took her to dinner, where they got to know each other more. She found out he lived in a section of the wildlife reserve, and he worked as a guide and security guard. His cabin is in the same zone as hers, so they were almost neighbors. They talked about what she planned to do for work once she got settled. She told him about her schooling and her degree in wildlife biology and animal science. She told him about leaving her job to move here. He was very surprised by her answers to his questions. He smirked at her. "Smart, sexy, funny, independent, beautiful and an animal lover. "You are really the girl of my dreams." His words made her blush and try to hide her red face from him. He chuckled and apologized for making her blush and suggested they go for a walk before he dropped her back at her motel and she went to bed as she had to wake early to catch her flight for Houston in the morning.

He didn't want her to go, but he knew he would see her again, so that helped calm his anxiety. He didn't know what it was about her, but she made him feel warm, calm, and anxious. All at the same time, he was drawn to her like a magnet.

They walked through the park, talking and asking questions about each other. When the topic of relationships came up, he noticed she closed off and changed the subject as fast as she could. He let it go, for now he had time to get her to open up to him. He wanted to learn everything he could about her.

They spent the rest of the evening making plans for when she came back, and he offered to take her to the airport in the morning and help her move her things in when she came back. If she needed, she accepted his offer and said she would let him know when she was to return, and they could make a plan. He dropped her at the motel with a sadness in his heart he didn't understand. He wished she could stay now, but he knew he had to be patient with her and take things slow. He wanted her, and he would be whatever she needed until she allowed him to be in her life and make her his.

She made it back to Houston safe and sound a week ago and, in that time, she made sure that she was able to do almost everything that she wanted and needed to with the help of her family. She was packing her apartment and organizing her things to be sent to her new home in Montana. She kept only what she had to have in her suitcase and a backpack for the time she was there. She had her brother make sure that her ex was not in their shared home, so she could get her things without running into him and then be done with him once and for all. She didn't want to shed any more tears over them. They betrayed her in the worst way, and she would never forgive them for their betrayal.

She left everything that wasn't personally important to her, set her engagement ring on the dresser with a note wishing them happiness and thanking them for saving her from making a huge mistake, then left without looking back, closing the door on the man she was going to marry and the life she thought she'd share with him.

She gave her parents, brother and sister-in-law her new number in Montana and promised to check in every few days. Her parents insisted she take the remainder of her college trust fund to survive on while she finds work. She eventually agreed and had them transfer it to her new account. She spent the rest of the day and evening with her family. Her flight leaves tomorrow afternoon, and she was excited to go back. She wasn't ready to analyze her feelings towards James yet, but she kept thinking about him and felt something developing for him in her heart already, and it scared her a bit. She never liked someone as fast as she had with James.

When she told her family about her trip and how she met James, they all had something to say about it, but she had let them know it wasn't what they thought. He was a nice man who helped her out and she needed friends. The men in her life warned her off from him but her mother, as always, told her to let fate do its thing and if it is meant to be, things would just go the way they were meant to. She laughed her mother's comment off as she was not looking to get her heart broken again any time soon, so no men for her, at least in that capacity.

She went to her room and sent James a message." I can't wait to be back. Would you mind picking me up from the airport tomorrow evening at 5:30 pm. If you have plans or are working, it is no problem, I'll figure it out." Sending the message, she went to shower and got dressed in leggings and an oversize T-shirt, then packed everything in her luggage. Checking her phone, she saw James had replied," I can't wait to see you. I'll be there, beautiful. I'm excited for you to be here for good. She smiled and replied," I can't wait to see you too, thank you. I'll buy lunch and dinner as a thank you for everything. Good night, James." She set her phone to charge and went to bed. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow, and she needed to rest.

The alarm blaring woke her from sleep. She turned it off and stretched out. She blinked her eyes to get rid of the sleepiness weighing them down. She got up and did her morning routine, then went down to make coffee.

She made some toast while she waited, then sat down to eat and enjoyed her first cup of coffee. She wrote a note to her brother, thanking him and Liz for everything they had done for her. Then she went and collected her phone and charger. Zipping her bag, she left to go catch her flight.

She slept peacefully on the plane and woke just before they landed when she was waiting in baggage claim and sent a message to James letting him know she was getting her bags, and she would wait out front for him. He replied that he was waiting for her already. She smiled, thinking about how they had met and how sweet he was to her. He was friendly and definitely good-looking. She felt herself blushing with her wayward thoughts. Gosh, she needed to get her head from the clouds and focus on what she wanted to do with her life now that she was starting over.

She found James out front like he said he would be. She greeted him with a hug, happy to see his smiling face and those icy blue eyes that sent a thrill through her body whenever she stared for too long. He is sexy as hell, and she knows she should mind her thoughts and feelings towards him. She wasn't ready for a new relationship. She needed to sort her life out here first before she thought about having a man in her life or bed.

They talked and laughed as he drove her to town. She needed to stop for groceries before she went home, so he stopped at the only grocery store in town, Freddie's grocer and pharmacy. She received many curious looks and even a few dirty looks from some of the females, but she ignored them all and did her shopping. James told her not to buy any meat. He had some he was giving to her, and he would not take no for an answer, so she conceded and said okay. After paying for everything, they loaded it up in the truck and headed to her new home.

James carried her groceries inside while she put things away. She felt his eyes on her every time he entered the kitchen. He walked into the room, setting the bags down on the counter. " That's everything, bell. What can I do to help?" She asked him to show her how to light her water heater. She wanted a hot bath in her new house. When he was finished with the water heater, he told her he would be back shortly. He was running home to get the meat he wanted to give her. After seeing him out, she said goodbye, closing the door after he drove away.

She spun around, doing a little happy dance. Her heart felt light for the first time since her life imploded, and here she was in a new state and a new house starting over after tying up all her loose ends. She could be happy here. She felt it deep down inside. Maybe she could even learn to love again.