She shook her head to clear the daydream and chastised herself for thinking thoughts that only brought pain to her chest. It wasn’t going to happen, and she should just be grateful he’d been there to support her through the last few minutes.
She was also glad she’d be able to get her things back and, if they found her money, at least get her tires replaced. She thought she would have enough left over to at least make a dent in the cost of the other repairs on Gunther.
Starting over completely was no longer what she had to look forward to, but her victory over the situation was hollow compared to the gratitude she felt for this moment alone with him. Biting her lip, she decided to enjoy the time with him but mentally braced herself for when he had to leave.
Turning to him, she said, “It’s awfully late for you to start a trip home. Are you sure you don’t want to just drop me off at my place and head on out?” She wasn’t even sure where he lived but remembered that he and his twin brother had a ranch.
“If I do that, how will you collect your belongings later? I was planning to get a hotel room for tonight. I came prepared,” he said, gesturing to the backseat of the four-door cab.
“Oh,” she said, noting the button-down shirt and jeans hanging from the clothing hook on the sidewall of the truck. “Why did you come to Fort Stockton today? You’re not pulling your trailer.” She wanted to take back the words, realizing it wasn’t her place to interrogate him.
Chance turned his bright-blue eyes on her for a moment and murmured, “You really have to ask?” She frowned in puzzlement at him, thinking she had worked too many hours today for guessing games. “Baby, I came to see you.”
If her eyebrows could’ve risen any higher they would have been in her hairline. “You did? You came all this way to see me?” Her stomach fluttered with new butterflies replacing the old, exhausted ones from earlier, and she stuttered, “I–I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Lydia. You’ve had a long day and you probably need rest more than anything else.” He pulled in under the brightly lit awning of the Sonic Drive-In and chose a spot to park in. “What would you like to have?”
After looking at the menu, she told him, and he refused her money when she reached in her purse. She sat there while he placed their order and remembered her silver bracelet. It was still in the pocket she’d hidden it in, and she slipped it on, feeling lucky to have both it and its giver sitting beside her.
Recalling what he’d said about getting a hotel room, she groaned. At his inquiring look she said, “I heard today in the café that there is a huge family reunion going on this weekend. Everyone in the café was talking about it. They all started rolling into town this morning. You may not be able to get a hotel room.”
Thoughtful for a second, Chance replied, “Well, maybe I can still get a room at your motel.” Lydia frowned, not sure he’d want a room at her motel. “You’ll need transportation in the morning anyway.”
Wow. He was planning on being around in the morning, too. She had expected he would want to get an early start toward home the following morning. But he said he came to see me. She looked up at him and caught him watching her.
* * * *
Lydia looked ready to bolt, so Chance didn’t say anymore. He decided to wait a while to give her the gifts. She seemed to need a little time to settle in his company first, so he changed the subject.
“I think I asked you one time how you came to be in Fort Stockton, but you never got to answer me. Your boss interrupted you, as I recall,” he added with a grin.
“I’m originally from San Angelo.”
He nodded and said, “That explains your ak-cint.”
She chuckled and with a pronounced Texas twang said, “I don’t have an ak-cint. I lohst it in Austin.”
He winced and replied in kind, “Austin only made it stronger, darlin’.”
They laughed at each other’s accents, and she continued, “I moved from San Angelo to go to the culinary institute in Austin.”
“Culinary institute? Really? And you were working in a café?”
She nodded sheepishly and said, “I found myself in Fort Stockton, in need of a job and took the only one I could get.”
Chance recalled eating at least a couple of meals at the Oasis Café that had tasted unusually good for café food and said, “You’ve cooked for me before?”
She nodded and smiled, “A couple of times. I help LaMont when it gets busy, but I like to stay in the dining room because I make more in tips there.”