smiled in obvious discomfort, let go and stepped back, tipping his cap in a surprisingly courtly manner. “How do, little lady.”
Cassidy looked down at her now-greasy hand, then back up at Earl, trying to hide her annoyance. “I’ve been better,” she answered truthfully. “As I said, my car is acting up. It started a few miles ago. Coughing and bucking. For a while it evened out when I accelerated. Then it started stalling, no matter what I did. I barely made it to town.”
Earl nodded. “Hmm. Let’s take a look,” he said as he turned toward the door and made his way outside.
She followed, trying not to cringe at the idea of his coveralls coming in contact with her creamy leather interior when he climbed into her pride and joy.
After starting the car and listening to the engine run a few seconds, then stall, he pursed his lips and nodded sagely. “’Pears to me you’ll be spending some time here in Mountain View, little lady. ‘Less you got a husband who can come get you, that is.” He gave her a friendly gap-toothed smile.
“No husband,” she answered, ignoring the pang in the region of her heart. Sometimes her life seemed so empty. What good was earning tons of money with no time to spend it and no one to spend it on? Especially when you didn’t earn all that money in a way that was in the least fulfilling.
“That’s good. That’s good,” Earl replied, still grinning.
His grin suddenly made Cassidy nervous. “Why do you say that?”
“Wouldn’t want him to be worrying ‘bout you being stuck here so far from home. Ain’t a nice world no more for young ladies. Guess since you don’t have a husband, you’ll be staying with us for a while.”
She looked around what she could see of the town. Stay? Here? Was he crazy? When the mountains had loomed ahead, a picture of her next few weeks had flashed into her head. A luxury suite. A chic hotel shop where she could buy a sketch pad and some clothes. A four-star restaurant, or maybe even room service for her meals. Calling this a one-horse town would be kind.
Cassidy looked back at Earl’s smiling face and wondered why he looked so pleased. “What’s wrong with my car?” she asked, trying to ignore the thought that had rocketed into her brain. What did one do in Mountain View, PA? Watch the grass grow? The frost settle?
“Could be the fuel filter. That’d be the cheapest. Could take a few days to get one up here. But then, it could be the pump or the carb. That’d take longer. But then, could be somethin’ else altogether. Won’t know till I get to workin’ on it.”
Cassidy blew out a breath. “How long will it be until you can look at it?”
“Hmm. Well, I got several folks in line ahead of you. Guess I could squeeze you in late day after tomorrow, or the next morning.”
Cassidy’s head started pounding harder. “Look, I’ll pay you double your labor rate to take a look at it tomorrow.”
“Sorry, little lady, but a promise is a promise. Can’t put you ahead. Just wouldn’t be fair. But don’t you worry none. I got me a good supplier. Bet it won’t take long at all to get hold of any part I’ll need. And once I get going, I’m real quick.”
Again Cassidy looked around at the tiny hamlet where she’d landed. “I’ll pay triple,” she offered.
Earl shook his shaggy head. “Nope. Late day after tomorrow at best.”
Cassidy squeezed her temples. Whatever had happened to her grandfather’s axiom that everyone had a price? Looking at Earl Pedmont’s set features, she decided he’d never heard of that particular rule of life. She felt as if she’d fallen down a rabbit hole.
Earl took off his cap and scratched his head. “You’ll be needin’ something to eat and somewhere to stay. Maybe you ought to go on down and see Irma Tallinger. She runs the café and the Mountain View Hotel. She’ll fix you right up. Her place is just there up the road a piece,” he said, pointing toward a flickering sign.
Cassidy saw the old sign but she saw nothing that looked like a hotel. She gave one last glance at her traitorous car, then turned to trudge toward the café Earl had recommended.
Her head ached. Her stomach burned. At least, she consoled herself, walking down the side of a road without sidewalks put her in no danger. Traffic in the booming metropolis of Mountain View was as nonexistent as foreign car parts.
Chapter Two
Cassidy held out little hope that Irma’s Café would provide a decent meal. After all, it had been Earl Pedmont who’d recommended the place, and that didn’t inspire much confidence. But it seemed to be the only game in town, so she headed toward the flickering neon sign he’d pointed out. Though traffic along the country road was indeed no problem, the uneven surface was.
With the prospect of spending several days watching everywhere she put her high-heel-shod feet looming in her mind, she opened the door to Irma’s Café—and almost gasped aloud. Instead she stood there gaping because inside the unassuming concrete-block structure was a perfectly preserved fifties diner, replete with shining red counter and matching stools. Sitting opposite the counter was a row of cheery red-and-white booths.
Cassidy sniffed the air appreciatively and sighed. Until that moment her surprises that day had been anything but pleasant. Maybe her luck had changed. Maybe things were looking up.
“Don’t get too excited, Cassidy old girl, there was nowhere to go but up,” she muttered to herself as she went to put her hand to her throbbing head and noticed her grease-stained fingers.
As the bell over the door tinkled, an elderly woman stopped polishing the red faux-marble countertop and looked up. “Sit wherever you want,” she said with a friendly smile. “I’ll be with you in no time.”
Cassidy nodded gratefully and nearly staggered to the nearest booth. She sank down onto the comfortable red bench and put her clean palm against her forehead, closing her eyes, trying to decide what to do next.
Her car clearly needed more than the typical in-and-out repair she was used to having done. Should she have her grandfather send a car for her, or should she look for lodging? That was really no choice at all, since right then she didn’t even want to talk to her grandfather, let alone ask for his help in any way.
“Are you all right, dear?” a female voice asked.
She looked up at the elderly woman who’d called to her from behind the counter. To Cassidy, she looked like everyone’s great aunt. Round. Gray. Kindly. The fairy godmother in Cinderella come to life.
“My car broke down and I don’t know what to do next,” she confided to the woman for some unknown reason.
“You look like you could use a little repair yourself.”
Cassidy felt as if someone had wrapped a blanket around her cold spirit. Baffled by her reaction to the woman, Cassidy shrugged. “Oh, it’s no big deal. Just a monster headache and an ulcer burning a hole in my stomach.”
“How about a bowl of homemade vegetable soup, some crackers and a nice cup of herbal tea?”
Cassidy sighed. “Is the soup what I smelled when I came in here?”
The
