to keep pace with her, he asked, “Where can I take you?”
She bit her lips before saying, “I—I need to get to a client’s house. Sandy Cabbot. He’ll be wanting his lunch soon.”
“Don’t know him. How do I get there?”
“Just head on east to the county line, then go left. It’s only a few miles.”
“No problem. You’ll have to point out this county line to me, though.”
She seemed surprised by that. “Oh. All right.”
They drew alongside the truck. Jake opened the front passenger door for her and jerked his thumb toward the back seat. “That’s my boy, Frankie.”
Frankie waved at her. She waved back, smiling timidly, before climbing into the truck. Jake walked around, tossed his hat onto the back seat next to Frankie and slid behind the steering wheel in time to see her pass a trembling hand over her forehead.
He started the engine and rolled up the windows, sitting for a moment to let the cool air from the vents flow over them. “Tough morning, I take it.”
She nodded. He waited. After a long moment, she softly said, “Without that car, I can’t work, and if I can’t work, I can’t fix the car or...” She shrugged morosely.
“I find things usually look better if we give them some time,” Jake told her, getting the truck underway.
Muttering something about time running out, she pulled a cell phone from the pocket of her voluminous skirt. “I have to make a phone call.” He listened unapologetically as she placed the call and spoke into the phone. “Sandy, this is Kathryn again. I’ve got a ride. See you in a few minutes.”
She replaced the phone in her pocket then jerked when Frankie yelled, “Hey, lady!”
Jake briefly closed his eyes. His outgoing, energetic three-year-old didn’t take well to being ignored, and he habitually spoke at the top of his lungs. Tina claimed that was perfectly normal. Applying patience, Jake prepared to remind Frankie to use his “inside voice.” Before he had the chance, Kathryn Stepp twisted and gazed into the back seat.
“Hello.”
“Hay-ell-o!” Frankie repeated happily, mimicking her Oklahoma drawl.
Jake winced, but she laughed. “You’re a cutie.”
“You a cutie!” Frankie bellowed back at her.
“Take it down a notch, please,” Jake instructed.
She glanced at Jake but went on speaking to Frankie. “Are you having fun, riding around with Daddy today?”
“No,” Frankie said bluntly, moderating his volume a bit. “I wanna ride my pony.”
She frowned. “That sounds dangerous. Doesn’t your mama worry you’ll get hurt when you ride your pony?”
Jake leaned forward slightly, watching his son’s face in the rearview mirror.
Frankie replied matter-of-factly. “No. She in heben.”
“Heaven,” Jake corrected gently, relaxing into his seat again.
“Oh,” Kathryn said, sobering. “I’m sorry.”
“She like it,” Frankie said, sounding unconcerned.
“That’s nice.” Turning to Jake, she asked, “He’s only three?”
“About three and a half.”
“He seems big for his age,” she commented, as if that were a worrisome thing.
“Smiths are big men,” Jake muttered defensively.
At the same time, Frankie asked, “S’wat her name?” He often got his contractions backward, substituting s’wat for what’s and s’that for that’s.
“It’s Miss Stepp.” Or so Jake assumed. Surely if she had a husband, she’d have called him for help. On the other hand, maybe the man was out of town. Glancing at her, he asked, “Or is it missus?”
She bit her lips before answering coolly, “Miss.”
Couldn’t say he was surprised. She didn’t seem to trust men. Or was it that she just didn’t like or trust him?
She was a pretty woman, though, with that long, long neck and those intense green eyes and rosy lips. Obviously, she didn’t take much stock in her appearance, given her mismatched garb, straggly hair and utter lack of cosmetics. Even Jolene had known how to get dressed up.
His late wife had been the perfect soldier, but once the uniform had come off, she’d tended toward sparkles and slinky fabrics. He’d often wondered if that had been her way of making up for her dedication to all things military. This quiet, nervous female hardly seemed of the same species. If Jolene’s transportation had broken down beside the road, she’d have commandeered the first vehicle to cross her path.
He supposed that most women would be more cautious. Few had Jolene’s training and confidence, and too many men were willing to take advantage of a woman alone, especially a timid one. Glad that he’d stopped, even if this unexpected passenger was prickly, Jake smiled at her. Instantly, she leaned away from him, her eyes going wide.
So much for chivalry.
* * *
Kathryn had never known how to behave around men, especially the good-looking ones, and Jake Smith definitely fit into that category. With his rumpled black-coffee-colored hair, chiseled features and straight white teeth, he was movie-star handsome, and that dark, prickly shadow practically shouted masculinity. It was the way he moved that made her so nervous, however. Every motion proclaimed him a confident, capable man who had never met an obstacle he couldn’t overcome.
Before getting into the vehicle with him, she’d reasoned that no man with a three-year-old in tow would truly present a threat, but old habits died hard. Since the age of seventeen, Kathryn had been virtually on her own, apart from the wider world, tied to her mom’s bedside by that woman’s debilitating physical condition. Always shy, Kathryn had never been very brave or confident, and from the time of her mother’s accident, she had diligently taken every precaution, especially after her father had abandoned them.
As usual, thoughts of Mitchel Stepp brought a world of worry down on Kathryn. How was she to keep him from forcing the sale of her home when she couldn’t come up with the money to buy him out? And now her car was broken down. If only she could find her mother’s insurance policy. It wouldn’t pay much, but it might be enough to satisfy her father for at least a while. Her salary as a home care provider covered her bills and allowed her to put aside a bit every month to cover the property taxes that would come due at the end of the year, but Mitchel expected thousands, half the value of her house.
As Jake pulled the metallic olive-green truck to a stop in front of Sandy Cabbot’s lonely little farmhouse, he glanced around. “Can someone here give you a ride back to town when you’re finished? I don’t see a car anywhere.”
Shaking her
