“No running yourself into the ground today, okay?” He smooched her a second time and gave her a smile.
“Bossing me around already, cowboy?” she asked with a cheeky gleam in her eyes.
“More like taking care of someone who’s important to me, baby.” He hugged her, and she squealed when he patted her ass, even though she was out of sight of anyone in the café who might be looking out of the window. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you and see to Gunther in the meantime.”
Her cheeks blushed as she looked up at him and nodded. If he were an egotistical man he’d say she seemed like she didn’t want to leave him. She gave him her key ring and waved as she went to the door at the rear of the café and slipped inside.
When he arrived at her motel complex, it was to find there were two men working on changing her tires. He greeted them as he walked up and spoke with them at length about repair shops in the area.
Lydia had mentioned to him that Mr. Cortez’s cousin had been willing to fix the Karmann Ghia once she had the money to afford the repair. The two men had shrugged when he’d mentioned his name, and Chance knew there was no telling how much the mechanic had inflated the price on her repair if he could judge by the distrust that shown in their eyes. To top it off, he was the only mechanic in the area that worked on imports like hers. Chance was happy to have seen Mr. Cortez’s attempt to trap Lydia foiled.
His phone rang, and he excused himself. “Hello?”
“I have great news.”
He smiled at her cheerful tone. “What’s your news?”
“I’m off at noon and then I’ll be done with the Oasis Café. Simone’s sister, Sirena, has waitressing experience and can start immediately. She’s going to fill my position. I turned down the offer for the manager’s job and they understood completely. They gave me the money Mr. Cortez stole from me, plus a full week’s pay. I can leave today if you want to!” He laughed when he heard her delighted squeal again on the other end.
“Damn, that is good news! Well, Gunther has new tires, so I’m going to work on a way to get him out of Fort Stockton.”
She paused on the other end and then said, “Chance, it means a lot to me that you understand about Gunther.”
He smiled and said, “Baby, I wouldn’t take you out of Fort Stockton and leave behind something precious to you, even an old car like Gunther. I’m willing to bet we can get him fixed in Divine at a more reasonable rate than you can here, so I’ll see what I can do.”
“Okay. See you at noon?”
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
Her voice sent a pleasant thrill up his spine as she quietly said, “I’ll look forward to that.”
They said good-bye, and he called information. He asked for what he needed and waited as the call was transferred.
A friendly voice heavy with West Texas twang came on the line. “Fort Stockton Rentals. How may I help you?”
“Hi. I need a U-Haul trailer that will hold a nonrunning 1973 Karmann Ghia. Can you help me?”
Forty-five minutes later, he was looking at Gunther’s bulgy little headlights peering from the interior of a U-Haul trailer. He settled Lydia’s bill in the motel office and then went upstairs to make some phone calls.
The line connected and began ringing. His brother answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Clayton? I’m bringing her home.”
Chance thought he heard Clayton sigh in relief. “Man, that is good news.”
* * * *
Clayton Carlisle pulled off his reading glasses as he sat back in his desk chair and stretched his knotted muscles. He hadn’t been aware of how tense he was until he was suddenly able to relax.
“When do you leave?”
“We’ll be leaving in an hour, give or take, in case she’s hungry. I’m going to wait and eat lunch with her.”
“How does she seem? About the move, I mean?” Damn, he could hardly even think, he was so surprised. He’d figured she had family she was planning to go back to.
“She said she couldn’t make any promises yet, but she’s open to the possibilities between the three of us.”
His chair flipped forward and almost popped him clean out of it as he sat upright. “Really?” He hadn’t truly believed that she would be open to him as well as his brother. That she would want Chance was a no-brainer, because Chance had been taking time off to go see her. Clayton felt guilty because he knew he probably wouldn’t have invested the time going to and from Fort Stockton and found reasons to see her, the way Chance had. He didn’t deserve her openness toward him.