Jake chuckled. “We stopped to help a lady whose car broke down beside the road. I towed it into the yard so I can take a look at it.”
“Oh. Good thing you happened along. Where’s the lady?”
“I took her to work. Gotta go back and get her at six.”
“Ah. I can go get her if you want,” Tina offered lightly. “If you don’t mind eating early.”
He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. But somehow, it did. “I’ll take care of it. Besides, I need to talk to her about her car.” Tina nodded, but for some reason, Jake felt as if he needed to defend himself. “She doesn’t seem to have much money.”
Tina smiled. “Naturally you’ll help her.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, so he changed the subject. “Frankie’s got something for Tyler. To go in the new SUV.”
“Christmas tree!” Frankie declared, holding the two small packages aloft.
“So that’s why you had to have it.” Jake chuckled. “You’re four months too early, pal.”
Smiling, Tina went to take Frankie’s arm. “Tyler’s in his room. Let’s carry it up to him. Okay?”
Frankie nodded happily, and they moved toward the hallway.
“If you don’t mind keeping an eye on him for a little while,” Jake said quickly, “I’d like to get Kathryn’s car into the barn and go over it.”
Tina shot him a smile over one shoulder. “Sure. And thanks for picking up those things for me.”
“No problem.”
As he headed to the door, Jake heard her say to Frankie, “Kathryn, hmm?”
“Miss Kat’ryn,” Frankie corrected.
Tina’s soft hmm made Jake wince.
Newlyweds always thought everyone around them was trying to couple up. Well, he’d been there and done that already. Besides, even if he dared reach for such happiness again, he suspected that once in a lifetime was all anyone could expect. Maybe it was all he could endure.
* * *
“Where’s Frankie?” Kathryn asked, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt.
“Playing with his cousin.”
The truck engine idling, Jake waited patiently until she buckled her seat belt before backing the truck around and heading it down the dirt road.
Kathryn watched Sandy’s little house recede in the side-view mirror of the truck and wondered if she’d ever be back, and if not, what would become of the gaunt, pleasant old man. Nearly ninety, he got around with the help of a walker and in the average week saw just Kathryn and a rural nurse. With his family far away, he depended on professional caregivers.
Out of the blue, Jake Smith said, “I towed your car to Loco Man.”
She gasped. “You did what? I told you, I can’t afford—”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” he interrupted, shaking a hand at her. “But I couldn’t leave it sitting on the side of the road. It could’ve been hit. And I don’t know where you live, so I couldn’t tow it there. Besides, I can fix it for the cost of the parts. My shop’s not operational yet, but I’ve got everything I need to work on it in the barn.”
Hope welled up inside her. “You’d do that?”
“Sure. I can give you wholesale prices on the parts, too, but it’s still gonna cost in the hundreds,” he warned. “The engine has to be completely rebuilt.”
Her hope of a moment before waned. If only she could find that insurance policy, but she’d looked everywhere she could think to look. The company insisted that they had no record of the changes they’d agreed upon more than a decade ago. Kathryn bit her lips, noticed him watching and stopped. A moment’s thought told her she really had no other choice.
“Put together an estimate then,” she told him uncertainly. “I’ll try to figure out something.” Hopefully, her tax savings would cover it. If not...she didn’t want to go there.
“I’ll calculate the estimate tonight,” he promised. “Now, where am I taking you?”
“Oh. It’s Sixth Street. Number eleven. In War Bonnet, of course.”
They drove along in silence for some time before he abruptly announced that Frankie had begged for air fresheners for himself and his cousin because they came in the shape of Christmas trees. Kathryn had to digest that.
“You mean those evergreen car fresheners?”
“Yep.”
“You know those could be dangerous, don’t you? He shouldn’t put it in his mouth.”
“Relax, worrywart,” Jake said, grinning. “The air fresheners are still in their packages, and once they come out, they’ll be used for their intended purpose.”
“Oh. Well, you can’t be too careful.”
“Really? You mean like accepting rides from strangers on isolated Oklahoma roads?”
She started to say that she hadn’t had any other choice, but suddenly every murder mystery she’d ever read, every cop show she’d ever watched, flitted through her mind.
“Oh, come on,” Jake said. “You’re perfectly safe with me. It was a joke.”
Kathryn caught a swift breath and provided him with a weak smile. “I’m sure I am. It’s just that this has never happened before, and I can’t help worrying. A-about the car.”
“Want me to stop off at the ranch and ask my sister-in-law to ride the rest of the way with us?” he asked, clearly not fooled.
She considered it, but Sandy knew where she was and who she was with. He spent a great deal of time on the phone with his few remaining friends, and word had filtered through the grapevine that the Smith brothers were regular attenders at Countryside Church and friends of the Billings family. Besides, Jake had been very generous with his time and concern thus far. She shook her head, feeling a little foolish.
“No. Thanks for offering, though.”
He smiled, nodded and fell silent again.
It’s just that he’s so handsome, she told herself, and so big.
She was used to standing as tall as most men, or nearly so. Those she met in the grocery store and at the gas station weren’t usually as tall as him. Plus, she knew them, at least by sight or name, and if they spoke to her, she just nodded and moved on. Glancing at Jake’s broad, long-fingered hands, she wondered why none of those other men seemed as strong, capable or dangerous as him. She felt a keen sense of relief—and a puzzling disappointment—when they turned onto Sixth Street.
“This
