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He got to his truck, climbed in and went directly to the family ranch, where he was staying in the guesthouse. “Welcome home,” he said to the emptiness around him. He had the crazy image of a woman waiting there to greet him; she had dark curls and a smile he wished he hadn’t seen. “Stupid,” he muttered, but that didn’t blot out the memory of those blue eyes.
* * *
INCREDIBLY, FAITH SLEPT well that night, no dreams, no nervously waking only to realize that no one was pounding on her door wanting to arrest her. It was just past eight, and she got up right away, dressed and glanced at the paper sack that still held the untouched sandwich from the night before.
She felt better, and she had a feeling it was time to just go and not stay a second day. Wolf Lake was nice but so small, and she knew she’d be conspicuous. The man the night before had spotted her for a visitor, and others would, too. The visitor who wasn’t doing any sightseeing, she thought and knew it was time to drive on.
She got her things together and arrived at the registration desk an hour later. The couple from the night before were helping themselves to coffee and Danish pastries. Mallory was behind the desk.
“Good morning,” the woman said, eyeing Faith’s bags in either hand. “You’re not leaving, are you?”
“Yes, I need to check out.”
Mallory frowned with concern. “You aren’t happy with the room? I told you, I could move you—”
“No, it’s not that. I had a good rest and really need to get on the road again.”
“Oh, okay,” she said, then her smile flashed. “Well, if you’re ever near Wolf Lake again, come on back and stay a bit longer.” She counted out Faith’s refund for the unused second night.
Faith wished she could stay, but she knew she’d never be back to this town. “Thanks,” she said again, collecting her things and heading for the door.
The morning was gray and cold. Snow from the night before covered everything, and only a couple of cars were driving down the recently plowed street. She spotted patches of ice on the black asphalt.
The interior of her car was freezing. Quickly, she pushed the key into the ignition. The engine turned over and she flipped on the heater. She was thinking about heading north to Colorado as she reached for the gearshift. Everything came to a stop as she caught a whiff of something burning followed by a sudden sputter of the engine right before it died. She stared at the gauges, saw a check-engine light was on and noticed the acrid smell in the air.
This couldn’t be happening. This car was everything to her. She couldn’t rent one and risk leaving a trail for the authorities to find. There was no bus or train service handy. And she couldn’t walk. The best-laid plans never worked out, Faith thought, trying the key again. Nothing. Not even a click.
The temperature was bitter cold. She just shook her head. So many things she hadn’t taken into consideration. The car was used. Because it had been running so well for the past two weeks, the thought of it breaking down hadn’t even entered her mind.
She grabbed her wallet and got out of the car, locking it. It took a full second before she realized she’d just left her keys in the ignition. She wanted to scream or maybe laugh at the absurdity of the moment. Instead, she made herself breathe evenly and think. A mechanic. Surely Wolf Lake had an auto repair shop somewhere.
With a heavy sigh, she returned to the inn. Mallory was still behind the registration desk. She looked up as the chime sounded and saw Faith. “Hey, did you forget something?” she began, then her smile faltered as she saw Faith’s expression. “What’s wrong?” she asked, quickly coming around the desk.
“My car won’t start. I just wanted to know where I can find a mechanic.”
“Sure, of course. Just farther down the street.” She motioned to the west. “Manaw’s Garage is on the other side of the street, three or four blocks down.” She gestured at the phone on the desk. “Let me call him,” she said, reaching for the receiver.
“Oh, no,” Faith said quickly. She didn’t want the woman involved any more than she already was. “I can walk down there.”
Mallory hesitated. “You sure?”
“Absolutely. I appreciate the offer, though,” she said to soften her refusal. “I’ll get going.”
Mallory called after her, “Ask for Dent.”
Faith waved a hand and stepped back outside. She got to the street, headed west, and after a couple of blocks, she spotted her target. She crossed the street and arrived at Manaw’s Garage.
The building looked old and settled, with none of the cuteness of faux adobe or Old West touches. It was weathered wood and stone, with twin gas pumps standing by the street in front of the two service bays. As she approached the closest one, she spotted the mechanic, a short, stocky man with a shaved head wearing an oil-stained denim jacket over equally stained orange overalls.
He stood under an ancient truck raised on a lift and turned when her boots hit the cement floor with a dull thud. He came out from under the truck and smiled. “How’s it going, little lady?”
Little lady? She almost smiled at that. Wolf Lake could be quaint. “My car broke down. The battery, I think. It won’t start.”
“The make and year?”
She told him and finished with, “It’s over at—”
“The Inn. I know,” he said, rubbing his dirty hands on a soiled rag.
“How did—”
“I know?” he asked for her. “Saw the car there this morning. Always notice a new car in town. Assumed you were staying there.”
Faith was grateful she could dismiss the irritation she’d felt thinking Mallory had called after she’d asked her not to. Faith guessed everyone that lived here pretty much knew everything going on. “Well, it’s there, and I accidently locked the keys in it.”
He grinned. “I can get in any car in less than a minute,” he assured her, and she wondered if that was a good thing. “I’ll be over there in an hour or so.”
“How long do you think it will take to fix it?”
“No way to tell until I get a look-see at the problem. If it’s a battery, no time. Be done today. But if it’s more, I don’t know. Depends on what and how bad it is. Just give me a number to reach you at, and I’ll be in touch as soon as I figure it out.”
Her heart sank. She didn’t want to give out the number of the pay-as-you-go cell she’d bought before leaving Texas. No one had that number. Then she knew what she’d have to do, at least for the next few hours. “I’m at the inn, so you can call there.” She would check with Mallory during the day.
“Great.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said.
“I’m no sir. I’m Denton Manaw, sole owner and head mechanic at this establishment. But people call me Dent.”
“Dent,” she repeated. “I’m Faith. And thank you again.”
He nodded, then got back to work on the truck.
She walked away slowly, toward the inn, taking her time, checking out the town. Wolf Lake felt so comfortable, as if it belonged right where it was, as native to the area as the buttes and mesas were. No rush, no fuss, and nice people, if they were like Mallory and Dent. The memory of Adam came to her. He was nice, too, she suspected. He’d bought her another coffee and obviously felt bad about running into her.
She glanced into several windows decked out for Christmas and considered what it would be like to live in a place like this. It was a world away from Chicago in more ways than one. When she spotted the same coffee shop she’d gone to the previous evening, she ducked inside, ordered coffee and a pastry, then took a table by the window that overlooked the street. Slow and easy. It was good to just sit still for a bit. There was nothing else she could do, so she sipped her steaming coffee and nibbled on the flaky pastry.
She hadn’t been there more than ten minutes when she looked out the window and spied a tall man striding down the sidewalk. He was heading in her direction. There were the leather jacket, faded jeans and boots she recognized. Adam, she thought, but now he had a dark Stetson pulled low to shadow his face. He walked quickly, an obvious destination in mind, and she wondered if he was searching for the man he’d argued with the night before.
As he got nearer, he glanced up and to his left, then waved to someone across the street and kept walking. As he got closer, she had to fight an impulse to move back from the window. But she stayed put as he came abreast of her on the other side of the glass. She looked down into her coffee, sure that he was going to pass without noticing her. She was wrong.
There was a tap on the window, and she looked up, knowing who she’d see. Adam. His intense gaze was on her, then the smile she’d seen last night, the one dimple exposed by the expression. He looked rugged and confident, as if he fit right in at Wolf Lake. She managed a nod, formed what she hoped was a pleasant smile for him, and all the while her heart was hammering against her ribs.
Please keep walking, she pleaded silently, but he had no intention of going past with a mere wave and a smile. He headed for the shop’s entrance, all but dwarfing the space. In a few strides he was at her table. Without hesitating or asking if it was okay, he pulled out a chair and sat across from her, taking off the Stetson and putting in on an empty chair by him.
His eyes flicked to her coffee. “I promise not to get too close to that,” he said with that wry grin.
Did the man know what effect he had on women, or was he one of those guys who didn’t have a clue? Staring into his dark eyes, she wasn’t sure. His smile was genuine, his body language showed ease, and if he smiled fully again, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. But she knew she wasn’t going to drink any more coffee. She kept her hands clasped in her lap under the table.
He glanced out the window, then back at her. “So how’s it going for you in Wolf Lake?”
“Good,” she said tentatively, “although I really haven’t seen much of what’s around here.”
His gaze held hers and that made her even more nervous. “Maybe you need a tour guide,” he said, one dark eyebrow lifted slightly.
Darn, he was... She erased that image, knowing any thoughts about him being sexy were out of order, especially given the circumstances. “No, I’m leaving today.” She hoped that was the truth. “I’m just getting a few things done before I go.”
For a moment she thought she saw a flash of disappointment in those eyes, but the recovery was so swift, she was sure she’d imagined it. “Well,” he murmured, “I hope you get back sometime, and if I’m here...” He shrugged. “Who knows?”
What she knew was that wouldn’t happen. That made her feel... She didn’t know, but it wasn’t pleasant. It was all so bizarre. At any other time, if Adam had sat down across from her, she would have definitely talked with him, got to know him a bit, to maybe let whatever he was hinting at blossom, but that was out of the question. “Who knows?” she repeated softly.
He frowned, his head tipped slightly to one side as if considering something. He leaned forward, his forearms on the table, his strong hands clasped together. He paused before he finally spoke again. “You know, to be honest, I’ve got the feeling that I’m a problem for you.” The smile was gone completely now.
Shock zinged through her, and she didn’t know what to say. A problem? “What?”
“Maybe not a problem, but I’m making you upset and I’m sorry for that.” She had a heart-stopping moment when his hand moved and she thought he was going to reach out and make contact with her. Thankfully, he didn’t. “I’m going out on a limb here, because I’m not sure what’s going on, but if you need help, someone to talk to, I’m a great listener.” She wasn’t sure what expression she had on her face because he quickly added, “Just someone to talk to.”
His offer was genuine, she could sense that, and that was what terrified her. He could tell she was alone, that she had no one to confide in and that she would have loved to have that luxury.
What scared her the most was his reading her so perfectly when she’d thought she was being so outwardly contained. “No,” she sputtered, her panic rising to the surface. “There’s nothing, not anything.” She tried to slow herself down, to actually sound as if she were fine. “But it was good meeting you,” she said, acknowledging how much she really meant that. She reached for her wallet. “I need to go.”
Adam stood, looked down at her, and her knees felt weak. He spoke softly. “Have a good life. Just remember, I’ll be coming back here more often now.”
“I don’t think I’ll be back, but if I am...”
“Look for me?” When she didn’t answer his question, he added, “There is something that I need to ask you, though.”
She braced herself for any lie she had to tell to get out of there. “What’s that?”
“Who are you?”
She felt a rush of anxiety flood her senses. “Ex...cuse me?” she managed.
“If I come back, I need to know who to ask about. You never told me your name.”
Oh. If she could have done a backflip out of joy at such a simple question, she would have done it. But all she did was take a breath before answering him. “Faith.”
“Faith,” he murmured, that smile flitting at the corners of his mouth. “Faith.”
She nodded and moved past him to get to the door.
She stepped out onto the street, turned abruptly to go and noticed at the first corner she came to that she’d gone in the wrong direction to get to the inn. She could see Manaw’s garage two blocks ahead. She felt too unnerved to care at that moment and just kept going until she got to the next corner. She darted a look behind her.
Adam was nowhere to be seen. Who are you? he’d asked. The words had contained as much force as a physical punch.
She pulled her jacket more tightly around her, kept going and circled back at the end of the block to pass a mixture of trailers, houses and bare land. Then she took another street that led to the main drag and came out a block beyond the inn.
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