Mountain Man Handyman

(Standalone Novella)

by

S. E. Riley

Copyright © 2025 S. E. Riley

All rights reserved.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the writer and the publisher.

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Table of Contents

Prologue: Della

Chapter 1: Della

Chapter 2: Della

Chapter 3: Greer

Chapter 4: Della

Chapter 5: Greer

Chapter 6: Della

Chapter 7: Della

Chapter 8: Greer

Chapter 9: Della

Chapter 10: Greer

Chapter 11: Della

Epilogue: Greer

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Prologue: Della

“I can’t do this anymore,” I whispered, my eyes wet. I looked at Greer, his expression marred by a frown. He was just as upset. I could see it in the redness rimming his eyes. He was angry, too, and I couldn’t really blame him.

“Do what?” he asked, throwing his arms up in defeat. “Be with me?”

It’d been a year since his parents died, and while I helped him through it as best I could, I could no longer pretend I was happy. But he wouldn’t understand. He already thought my decision had something to do with him when it didn’t. Not really.

I licked my lips. They were wet and salty from my tears. I was trying my hardest to stem them, not when it felt like my heart was shattering inside my chest. I attempted to inhale a full breath, but I couldn’t manage that either.

Greer pulled his hand through his hair, visibly confused and frustrated, and I couldn’t, in any way, blame him for how he was feeling.

“I need more, Greer. This…” I waved my hand around my grandmother’s cabin, “…isn’t enough anymore.” Nanna’s cabin was a metaphor, though, for Kipsty Little Town itself, the small town we called home.

Greer expelled an angry sigh, looking between me and my luggage. I was planning on leaving before he came home, which I realized may have been cowardly, but I wanted to spare us this pain. I didn’t have the courage to face Greer before I left, and had written him a note instead, but he surprised me by coming home early for the weekend. He was studying Landscape Architecture at Colorado University and could only manage to come home on a Friday afternoon and stay for the weekend. It was another reason I couldn’t keep doing this and why I needed to leave. He was at school all week, and it felt as though all I really did was wait for him to come so we could spend a morsel of time together.

“Is it me?” he asked. His voice cracked, making me feel worse than I already did. I wasn’t only breaking my 18-year-old heart. I was breaking his too. And as much as it killed me, I couldn’t keep lying to myself anymore.

Kipsty Little Town had become too small.

I’d lived here my whole life, and all I’d ever really wanted was to leave and find something bigger. And, to some degree, something better, I guess. I felt trapped here, stuck on a hamster wheel that kept spinning without going anywhere. If I tried to explain to Greer the restlessness that had resided under my skin, and in my veins, for the last year, he wouldn’t understand.

I took a step toward him, and he matched it by taking a step away from me. The physical distance between us hurt. I loved him with every part of me, but our emotional distance was fraught with tightly bound tension on the verge of snapping us in two. And that, I realized, was what hurt the most. I had loved this boy from the time I was fifteen, he’d been my first everything, and it brought me no pleasure at all to inflict any kind of hurt on him.

But three years later, I had to do what was best for me, and this town, staying here, was not it. But Greer wasn’t listening to me. This had almost nothing to do with him, yet in his eyes, I was leaving because of him. That couldn’t be further from the cold, hard truth.

“It’s not about you,” I replied, swiping at the tears sliding down my cheeks. I had to find a way to pull myself together and stay strong in my own conviction. “I love you,” I told him fervently. “I’m in love with you. But I can’t stay here, Greer. I’m unhappy, and I’m not like you. I can’t see my future in this godforsaken podunk town. I want more for my life than being stuck here and living the same life my grandmother has lived.”

My life in Kipsty wasn’t bad. It had never been. I was raised by a very strong woman who profoundly influenced the woman I’d become. And as much as it hurt my grandmother to see me leave, she understood, better than anyone, why I was doing it. My mother did the same thing when she was my age, except she showed up back here a year later with me in tow and dropped me off on my grandmother’s porch. She never stuck around after that. And as much as I hated to admit it, the same restiveness that filled her spirit, existed in me, and it was about the only thing she gave me, besides my blonde hair, blue eyes, and curvy build.

Greer winced, and I watched him withdraw from me. It was like experiencing the loss of air in your lungs. And I was cold without him. Chilled to my marrow. He unknowingly took my air and heat and stepped away. The withdrawal was acute, and I felt it in every cell in my body. But I wouldn’t cave. I wouldn’t change my mind, and I think he was starting to realize that.

“Then I guess there’s not much left for me to say,” he told me quietly. For the briefest moment, he closed the gaping space between us, held my head between his strong and steady hands, kissed my forehead, and inhaled my scent one last time. I reveled in that affection, knowing it would most likely be the last.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for, Del. I really do.”

He stepped back and gave me one last look, his green eyes red and filled with so much I couldn’t quite put a name to. He shook his head and walked towards the front door of the cabin I’d lived in my whole life. It was filled to the brim with memories. Memories I’d also have to leave behind once I was gone. It wouldn’t serve me to hold on to anything if I wanted to move forward. The memories I’d keep were those of Nanna and me because they’d get me through the hard times ahead.

Greer glanced at me from over his shoulder and opened his mouth as if he had something else to say, but instead, he walked out and shut the door. I collapsed against the back of the sofa, and a sob escaped from between my lips. I slapped my hand over my mouth to smother the sound, but it was difficult when it felt like my lungs weren’t working.

The pain in my chest intensified, and I looked up just in time to see my grandmother, Delia, stop between the living room and the kitchen. Without uttering a word, she opened her arms, and I rushed to her, seeking the kind of comfort only she could give me.

“I think I broke my own heart, Nanna,” I cried, my head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around me, rubbing her hand over my back. “He’ll never forgive me.”

“Hush now,” she replied. “You knew this was the hard part, Della.” She pushed me back, hands on my shoulders. “You know in your heart of hearts that you won’t be happy if you stay, and you’ll only end up resenting that boy if you stay for him. You understand, baby girl?”

I nodded and swallowed the knot of tangled emotions clogging my throat. “Leaving you is hard, too,” I told her. And it was. She raised me, gave me a beautiful life, and made sure I turned out to be a decent human being. Everyone in town loved her, but I was so damn lucky she was my family. I was who I was because she made me.

“I know,” she replied gently. “But I want you to be happy, Della. You’ve been a dreamer your whole life, and I’d never stand in the way of those big dreams just to keep you here with me.” Her eyes glossed over, and she sniffled. “I love you more than life itself, Della Marie, and I’m so proud of who you are.” She dropped a kiss on my cheek. “The bus will be here soon,” she reminded me. “Promise me you’ll call when you get there, okay?”

“I promise.” I threw my arms around her delicate frame and held her close, breathing in the scent of cinnamon and sugar. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” she whispered. We parted, and she helped me carry my luggage to the car before she drove me to the bus stop outside town. I didn’t look back when I boarded that bus.

I wish I had.

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Chapter 1: Della

Mid-December, 11 years later

I shivered next to my car and held my phone up in an attempt to get some decent cell reception. But I was in the Colorado mountains, and it was snowing. The flurry of white snowflakes whirled around me, and I glanced at my car. I was driving up the mountain when I swerved for a squirrel, a squirrel, and now my poor Lexus was in a ditch on the edge of a curve in the road.

Sigh.

You’d think a Lexus SUV could handle a wet road and some snow, but it turns out that even the flashiest of vehicles eventually succumbed to bad weather. The worst part was that there was no traffic on this road, not this deep into the mountains. I huffed out a frustrated breath, the hot air coming out in a puff. There was little I could do at this point except hope that someone would be coming up this road.

I tried getting my car out of the ditch, but the wheels spun on the wet ground, making it worse. I was capable in many ways but getting a car out of a ditch was beyond what I could do. I climbed back into my car, holding my useless phone in my hands as I tried to stay warm. I didn’t want to leave the car idling for long, so I’d turned the ignition off an hour ago. My only option was to wait.

My head hit the headrest, and I squeezed my eyes closed. It was a freak accident, but it was easy to assume it would only happen to me because I was making my way to my hometown after eleven years. Though I was here just over a year ago for Nanna’s funeral, but I didn’t stay long. And now her cabin was mine. Along with the diner she owned on Main Street.

The whirr of an engine rose above the sound of the wind, and when I glanced in my rearview mirror, I saw a navy blue Ford Ranger pickup truck rounding the corner. I scrambled to get out of my car and wave down whoever was driving. I couldn’t see a face through the falling snow, but I needed help, and this was the first vehicle I’d seen since my car enthusiastically went nose-first into the ditch.

The pickup slowed to stop in front of me, and I exhaled a breath of relief. I waited for the driver to climb out, and I sucked in a breath when he did-shock black hair, muscular build, and brown eyes with sharp brows when he faced me.

“Della Marie, is that you?” he asked, the pitch of his voice high.

“Kyle?” I asked, brows furrowed. “You know I don’t like being called that.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” he murmured under his breath. “Same old sass, I see.” He walked closer and surprised me when he picked me up and spun me around. I surprised myself when a laugh broke free from between my lips. He put me down and looked me up and down.

“Damn, you look good,” he remarked, his lips tilted in a friendly smile. My lips were stiff, but I did my best to return it. He was my first blast from the past, yet another person I’d hurt the day I left. He was Greer’s best friend, but we were just as close growing up seeing as we were in the same age group. He’d since grown into his muscular build and had that whole lumberjack thing going on.

He glanced between me and my car. “You need some help?”

“I, uh, got myself stuck in a ditch,” I replied. “Forgot how tricky this stretch of road can be.”

When he took a proper look at my car, he whistled. “With a car like that, you shouldn’t have a hard time on these roads.” I was too embarrassed to explain how I landed myself in this situation, so I didn’t.

“Think you can get me out?” I asked instead. He scratched the side of his face and blew out a breath while checking my car.

“Doesn’t look like there’s any damage, but I don’t have a tow kit in my car. You headed into Kipsty?” he asks.

Like I’d be going anywhere else if I was on this damn road.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “I’ve been stuck here for an hour, though. You’re the first person I’ve seen.”

“Well…” he looked between me and my car again, “…I can take you into town myself, and come back for your car. That work for you?” I knew the chances of my car being stolen around here were next to nil, but I was still hesitant. However, I was wholly aware that I had no other choice.

“If you won’t mind, I’d appreciate it.”

Kyle nodded once, and I popped open the back of my car. He looked at my luggage with raised brows. “You moving back or something?”

“Or something,” I muttered under my breath.

He chuckled. “I know a whole lot of people who will be surprised to see you, Della. That’s for sure.”

Rather than respond-I didn’t want to think about how anyone was going to react when they saw me pull in-I started lifting my suitcases out of my car and wheeling them over to Kyle’s pickup. Between the two of us, it took about ten minutes. I grabbed my purse and locked my car before climbing into the passenger side of Kyle’s pickup. He turned the key and drove back onto the slick roads. Unlike me, Kyle had chains on his tires, dramatically improving his grip on snow-covered tar.

Not one to sit in silence, Kyle gave me a sidelong look. “So, you never answered my question. You moving back to Kipsty or what?”

There was no getting around this. I blew out a hard breath. “Yeah,” I replied quietly. “I’m taking Nanna’s cabin.”

He chortled and shook his head. “Never thought I’d see the day that you would come back to Kipsty Little Town. And for good, too.” I didn’t bother correcting his assumption about how long I’d be staying. I was still deciding.

After my life in New York fell apart at the seams, I just needed a place I could run away to, and Nanna’s cabin seemed an obvious choice.

“We’ve all been waiting for a for sale sign to pop up,” Kyle continued. I looked at his profile, noting how much he had changed. But I suppose time does that to all of us. Life experience, too. We all had to grow up eventually. “Most of us were sure you’d sell it.”

The thought of selling Nanna’s cabin had a band tightening around my chest. I may have left Kipsty when I was eighteen with no intention of ever coming back, but, “I’d never ever sell Nanna’s cabin.” Which was now my cabin.

He huffed out a laugh. “You might feel differently when you see it.”

“What does that mean?”

Kyle rested his elbow on the door and looked over. “We’ve had a few nasty storms over the past few weeks. Last I checked, Nanna Delia’s cabin had a tree fall on the roof, and you now have a hole in the living room. Not sure you’d actually be able to stay there until it’s fixed.” My heart plummeted into my stomach.

“Is it bad?” I asked, a lilt to my voice that sounded a whole lot like panic. I had no one in town who could have let me know in advance about the state of the cabin. “Can I stay at the inn?” I asked. The last time I was in town, the inn was still there.

Kyle shook his head just as we rounded another bend and turned left onto the road that led straight into Kipsty. “Inn’s full,” he replied. “Wedding party, I think.”

It wasn’t unheard of to have weddings here. It was actually quite beautiful, especially for a winter wedding. I fiddled with my fingers, partly because I was worried about where I was going to stay. I was suddenly nervous being back here after so long.

Kyle drove down Main Street and headed towards the cabins. He stopped his truck outside mine and climbed out to help with my luggage. While he unloaded my suitcases, I walked up the porch steps and yelped when the wood beneath my feet gave way. I slipped and fell on my ass, my foot stuck between where the wood had splintered. Kyle rushed over and helped me stand.

“You okay?” I rotated my ankle and gave him a nod.

“Fine,” I sighed. “You weren’t kidding about the state of this place.”

I unlocked the front door, and the faint smell of pine, cinnamon, and sugar tickled my nose. Even though it had been over a year since my grandmother had passed away, it still smelled like her. “You weren’t kidding about the roof,” I murmured under my breath.

Kyle walked in, wheeling my suitcases in behind him, and stopped next to me. “We’ve been trying to fix all the cabins that the storms have hit, but it’s a lot for just me and…” He stopped talking and cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You and?” I prodded.

His expression was reticent, as if he didn’t want to say more. I stared at him expectantly. “Say it, Kyle, how bad could-”

“Me and Greer,” he interrupted, his expression changing to one of concern. My heart flopped around at the sound of his name, and I had to admit that the other reason I was nervous about coming back was seeing Greer.

“We run a small construction company together,” he explained. “Your local, friendly handymen sort of situation.”

I lifted my hand. “It’s okay, Kyle. No explanation needed.” Kyle was Greer’s best friend, and he had been since they were in diapers. It was inevitable that I’d not only hear about Greer but see him too. I just wasn’t ready for the latter. My phone started going off in my purse now that I had reception, and when I saw it was my ex, Alex, I sent it to voicemail. He’d been trying to reach me for hours, but I had little doubt that what he had to say wasn’t all that important. I had something bigger to worry about, like where I was going to stay.

“You sure the inn is full?” I asked, turning around. The hole in the roof was substantial, and with the wind came the snow and other debris. It was uninhabitable. Which meant I was basically homeless. Just what I needed.

“I can call my mom and confirm,” Kyle replied. “But when I spoke to her this morning, she was already complaining about having her hands full with the guests.”

I exhaled a heavy breath, hands on my hips. “Then I’ll just have to make it work,” I told him. “Thanks for your help. You’ll, uh, let me know what I owe you for towing my car?”

He gave me a look and dryly replied, “I’m not making you pay shit, Della. I’ll go fetch your car now and leave it out front for you.”

I thanked him, handing him my keys, and I fell onto the old, worn sofa only after he'd left. Dust puffed up around me, and I sneezed. Obviously, the place needed some work, but perhaps if I could fix it up, piece by piece, I could fix myself up the same way.

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Chapter 2: Della

Kyle towed my car to the driveway less than an hour later, finding me in the same spot I had slumped into. My mind had been consumed with where to start to make the cabin a little livable. He handed me the car keys, reassuring me that the car was fine before confirming that he had called his mother and the inn was full for the next week. He only left minutes later after asking if I was sure about staying in the cabin. I stood by the door and watched him drive away before I quickly kicked into action. I couldn’t stay idle for long.

I went into the kitchen, looking for a broom and dustpan. They were exactly where Nanna had left them. I started in the bedrooms, moving around the debris in the living room. There were only two rooms and a small bathroom. Nanna had one of the smaller cabins. The larger two-story cabins were a row up from here. I wasn’t surprised to see that my childhood bedroom had stayed the same. The small double bed was pushed against the far wall, and beside the door stood a simple white dresser covered in glitter stickers from when I was younger. In the corner stood the small closet that once kept all my clothes, most of which came from Goodwill in town.

I removed all the bedding and changed it, swept the floor as best I could, and then moved on to Nanna’s room. It was slightly bigger than mine, and I would probably take it now that the cabin belonged to me.

I was halfway through mopping the floors-and ignoring the growl in my stomach-when there was a knock on the front door. I rested the mop against the wall and opened it, not entirely prepared for who I’d see. It could have been anyone, really.

People in Kipsty were nosey, and I was sure the town would be abuzz with news of my arrival soon enough-if it wasn’t already. It was possibly the only thing I wasn’t looking forward to.

Greer stood tall and imposing on my porch, having grown into his muscular form. His blonde hair was messy, and his green eyes clouded over beneath sharp brows. His jaw was sharp, like his cheekbones, and his lips were full and round. I sucked in a hard breath. Okay, maybe seeing Greer was something else I wasn’t looking forward to, and now he was here, dressed in dark denim, work boots, a flannel shirt, and a black hooded jacket.

He's really embraced the whole mountain man vibe.

“Greer.” His name left my mouth on an exhale.

“I didn’t believe Kyle…” he said, his tone hard, “…when he said you’re back.”

My throat worked as I tried to swallow, but it was no use. It felt as though someone had stuffed a wooly sock in my mouth.

“What are you doing here?” He barked. I flinched at how harshly he’d posed such a simple question. I blinked and remembered myself. We weren’t kids anymore, and he didn’t get to speak to me like my arrival was inconvenient. I straightened my spine, swallowed around the emotion in my throat, and met his gaze.

“I’m moving in,” I said, keeping my tone firm but conversational. It wouldn’t do me any good to meet his confrontational countenance with the same.

“You hate Kipsty,” he stated, unabashed by his own lack of diplomacy.

I cocked my head and really looked at him. At how he’d changed. He was no longer a boy but a 30-year-old man. An attractive one at that. Then again, he was always attractive to me. He was my first love. And I never did see him when I came back for Nanna’s funeral. I didn’t look very hard, though. I was grieving the only family I had left, and Greer was the last person on my mind that day.

“Thanks for the reminder.” I huffed. “You come here for a reason other than to confirm that I’m really here?”

He licked his top lip, resting his hands on his hips. Even his stance was hostile and imposing. And for what? Because I dared show my face in my hometown? That wasn’t going to fly with me. I had every right to be here, whether he liked it or not. “Was it to ask why I’m here?” I guessed.

He gritted his teeth, a muscle popping in his angular jaw, and like a pro, he evaded my question with one of his own. “Kyle tell you you can’t stay here?”

I looked behind me and tried to hide my grimace. When I faced him again, I smoothed my expression. “The rooms aren’t damaged,” I told him. “It’s just the living room.”

I stumbled back when Greer stepped forward and into my personal space. He was taller than I remembered. And a whole lot bigger, too. Menacing. He eyed the hole in the roof and the mess on the floor.

“You can’t stay here,” he said, his voice low. “You’ll freeze or worse, Della.” It was the first time since he’d shown up that he’d bothered to say my name, and hearing it from his mouth made my skin shiver and my bones shake. He didn’t say it with any kind of reverence. In fact, he said it with irritation lacing his tone. But in that deep timbre of his voice. I still felt it down to my toes, which curled in my boots. The truth is, he was right, but on principle alone, I wasn’t about to let him tell me what I could or couldn’t do.

“Pretty sure I’ll be just fine, Greer. Besides, where am I supposed to stay? Kyle said the inn is full.”

“Your car is a better option than this,” he replied, jutting a thumb back towards my truck. “You know you’ll freeze your ass off in here. It’s as cold as a witch’s tit outside, and the snowfall is just getting worse. Thought you’d remember what the seasons were like here.” His dig was subtle, but I felt it nonetheless.

“I’m not sleeping in my car,” I replied incredulously. “I’ll freeze in there too! At least here I have a fireplace.”

Greer quirked a stubborn brow.

“The fireplace is blocked, Della. No one has lived here since Nanna Delia, and it’s been empty for over a year.”

“This place is all I have,” I told him, folding my arms across my chest when a strong gust of wind came in behind Greer. “I’m not sleeping in my damn car.”

“Then you’d best make a plan,” he replied. “Because you can’t. Stay. Here.”

I threw my arms up in defeat, already tired of arguing with this brute of a man. “I have nowhere else to go! I packed up my entire damn life to come here, okay? That what you want to hear? I’m here because my life fell apart in New York!” I didn’t mean to say so much, or reveal why I came back, but something about the way he kept barking at me made me want to explode. It’s not like I expected a red carpet welcome or anything, but this? He had no damn right. Asshole.