Pounce

Chapter 2

Welcome Home!

Hannah

"Home sweet home, I suppose" mutters Hannah Ryder as she parks her old truck at her new cabin home in the mountain wood in Alaska.

She just moved there this week. There was one other cabin home just like her own right beside her. Other than that there was quite a drive out to town. So she made sure to stock up on groceries for her nine year old daughter Mimi.

Being in Alaska was certainly quite a change of pace from living in Florida. Hannah warms her hands up on the heater in the truck before braving it out into the cold once more.

She was going to start her new job as a secretary at a local bread and breakfast inn. It was sure a change from being a secretary at a law firm office.

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"Change, is good" shivers Hannah to herself as her fingers began to warm up some. She had to find those new gloves that she had bought for herself.

She was not used to wearing gloves or hats. Nor bundling up just to walk down to the mailbox. She was also much to scared to endure outside at night. She heard a strange howling outside her bedroom window the night before that shook her to the core.

She knew there were bears as well as wolf out there in these areas. It scared her for her little daughter. But there was no way THEY could find them all the way out here.

She looks over at all the groceries she was going to have to carry in herself. She missed her husband's help more these days than ever before. She thought maybe she could get them all in one trip out there.

She started to grab as many bags as she could get on her one hand. Then worked on the other hand. She scooted her body out of the truck as she managed to get all of the food out of the car with just two hands only.

"Atta girl!" she mutters to herself.

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She turns her booty to the truck door, managing to shut it with her rear end. She nodded looking pleased with herself. She steps into a bank of fresh fallen snow.

"s**t!" she mutters as snow sinks in the opening of her boots.

A chill hits her feet rather quickly. She rushes to the cabin as fast as she could go. Her daughter was running late for her first day of school so she did not have time to shovel the walk way yet. She tried to walk through the trial of footsteps they had created that morning.

"Almost there" she mutters. The bags began to weigh her down. She wobbled a little bit, she regains her composure. "Whew, close one" she sighs.

She tries to walk again. The bags began to get to heavy for her. Soon she plops herself down in the banks of the cold snow. Food flies about out of the bags.

"NO!" she cries as she covers her face while the food landed here and there. A loaf of bread and a bag of chips hits her in her face. "Ouch" she grumbles.

"Hi there, you look like you could use some help" a cheerful male voice says to her suddenly. She shivers as she removes the food that had landed on her.

"Maybe so!" she sighs giving up. He holds out his hands to her. The sun blinded her so she could really see his face just yet. "Thank you" she goes to tell her rescuer. She gets a good look at him at last. He was pretty good looking from what she could tell.

He was all bundled up which she should have been. He had on a dark black wool coat. He had on black boots. A black and gray scarf was wrapped around his neck.

His stunning blue eyes looked right into hers capturing her attention in a good way. He was very tall. Maybe six foot. She was only about five foot. Not even that. He towered over her.

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"We are neighbors. I live next door" he tells her in a deep sexy tone. She smiles shyly.

"I see, we just moved here this week. I have not gotten to meet many people yet I have been getting my daughter all moved in" she says.

"A daughter huh? How old?" he asks making small talk as he helps her collect all the food that had fallen in the snow.

"She is nine years old. This is a change for us moving here from Florida. So far my daughter says she hates it here. Though she always wished for snow at Christmas time. Go figure that one" laughs Hannah. She nearly had all the groceries put in bags thanks to her neighbor's help.

"I can see it would be a change. My sister lives out in Hawaii. She always lived here her whole life" he tells her.

"From warm to cold is a change for anyone. My name is Hannah Ryder" she tells him cheerfully.

"Mason Iris" he informs her with a handsome smile making her smile shyly.

"Your hands are turning a dangerous red. You can get frost bite easily out here" he warns her.

He stops her to warm up her hands in his right away making her blush. It had been over a year since a man had touched her. Since Carlos had been killed.

Mason takes off his gloves. He makes her put his on her cold fingers. His gloves were a little on the large side for her. She goes to get the bags of food. He had scooped them all up right away. With no problem.

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"Hey thanks" she laughs. She leads him to her home. "It is a little messy in here. We have boxes all over the place" she tells him.

"No worries" he says softly. She fumbles for her keys. She finds them and unlocks the door. She lets him inside.

"Thanks" he tells her.

"Set them over there" she tells him. He accidentally steps on one of her daughters "My Little Ponies"

"Sorry!" he tells her.

"She needs to stop leaving her toys out. I tell her that all the time" sighs Hannah as she picks up the toy and setting it out of the way.

"Kids" he chuckles. He goes to help put away the food for her.

"Oh no you don't have to do that" she exclaims as she goes to help.

"Let me! I am off work today. I get restless when I am off work" he tells her.

"What do you do?" she asks as they begin to put the food away together.

"I work at the local lumbar factory. I chop wood down all day long" he tells her.

"Interesting. Never saw a lumber jack before" she says cheerfully.

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He takes off his wool hat and sets it down on her table. He had spiked black hair. Stunning hair. He was a nice looking man. She was sure someone like Mason had a lady in his life already.

"Well thank you. Can I offer you a cup of coffee before you go? For all your help?" she offers.

"Sure why not" he replies. He takes off his coat. She takes it from him. She hangs it up for him. She looks around for the coffee.

"Funny" she mumbles thoughtfully.

"What?" he asks curiously.

"I know I bought coffee" she mutters.

"Just a second" he laughs. He goes back outside. Then a few moments later he comes back with a snowy box of Folgers coffee.

"Hey you found it! Was it in the snow?" she asks. He nods. She grins.

"Sure was" he tells her.

"Thank you Mason. If you ever need anything let me repay the favor one day, if I can" she tells him.

"Well thank you" he tells her as he sits down at her table.

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She begins to make a fresh pot of coffee for them. She gets out a few cookies that she baked with Mimi the night before thinking Mason might enjoy them.

"Still getting the news from back home?" he questions her as he points to the old Florida paper she had laying around. She snatches it up quickly.

"Yes, kind of" she mutters. She throws the newspaper in a drawer quickly. It was the news about her husband being shot down. She had saved it. She was just not ready to talk about it to anyone.

"I bet you miss Florida?" he asks her as he nibbles at a chocolate chip cookie she offers him.

"Not really..." she replies as she sits down with him at the table.

"Not at all?" he wonders.

"No, I had a hard life back there. I am ready for a new start. A better life. New adventures to" she explains.

"Nothing wrong with that" he says. At last the coffee pot was about ready.

She gets out two coffee mugs out for them. She pours coffee in them.

"Better than Starbucks" she jokes.

"Almost" he agrees. "Here are to new adventures and new friendships" he tells her as he holds up his coffee mug. They clink mugs carefully together.

She smiles, feeling happy to have a new friend in her life.

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