Deck the Halls

His expression grew suspiciously bland. “I had noticed that.”

“And I don’t have a lot of money for another,” she snapped, trying to offset the little thrill that his droll comment had produced.

“I would think that would make you less of a target for the unscrupulous, frankly,” he said calmly.

Bitterly, she shook her head. “You would think wrong.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

She gulped at the sincere tone of his voice. “The thing is, I don’t know enough about cars to guard against getting ripped off.”

“You could learn,” he suggested lightly. It sounded almost like an invitation.

She looked down at her toes. “I doubt that. I’m not the mechanical type.”

“Just the suspicious type,” he countered dryly.

Rolling her eyes up, she met his gaze. “I have reason to be.”

“I wouldn’t know about that,” he said, his voice softening, “but I know this. You have nothing to fear from me, Jolie Kay Wheeler. On any score. Ever.”

Now what could she say to that? Apparently he didn’t expect a reply, for he started toward the wrecker.

“Well, you try to have a good evening.”

“Yeah, you, too,” she grumbled, disliking the mishmash of feelings that swamped her.

He flipped her a wave, climbed into the truck and drove off, leaving her standing there in the gathering twilight like some oversized, ponytailed traffic cone. Glancing around self-consciously, she made her way to the driver’s seat of her little car and dropped down into it.

A sedan flew by with the blare of a horn. Traffic had moved back into the outside lane the instant Vince and his flashing lights had pulled away, but she had barely noted that fact. Shaking slightly, she switched on her headlamps, jammed the transmission into gear, put on her blinker, turned off her hazard lights and prepared to merge.

It hit her then. Like a ballpeen hammer to the back of the head.

She had never thanked him. A handsome, apparently successful man had gotten her car running for free, and she hadn’t even had the grace to thank him properly. She tried to remember all the reasons why she had been right to suspect his motives, but somehow they didn’t quite ring true.

Jolie brushed her bangs up, then down, blowing out a stiff breath and closing her eyes until the world righted itself and equilibrium returned and she could look at the situation dispassionately.

On second thought, it just didn’t figure. He had to have some ulterior motive, something so slick and cagey that she couldn’t even think of it. And maybe—good gracious—maybe he was just a nice man who liked to help people. Stranger things had happened.

Somewhere.

Sometime.

Telling herself that it didn’t matter, she took a last measuring look at traffic, then pulled away from the curb.

The problem was, somehow it did matter. A lot. Enough to make her feel small and petty and unreasonable.

She was halfway home before it occurred to her that she still had both of those coupons.

Vince shifted in his seat, the safety belt biting into his shoulder. He craned his neck, trying to work out a kink there. It was ridiculous, getting this worked up over a little thing like having his motives questioned. Everyone was suspicious of everybody, at least until they got to know one another. He’d been accused of having ulterior motives before, though not in quite some time. It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t fatal.

So she didn’t trust him. So what? The world was full of people who expected automotive repairmen to rip them off. It was foolish to think she would be any different. And what difference did it make, anyway? God had obviously brought her into his life so that he could get her old car running for her again, and that was just what he’d done. End of story.

The thing wasn’t going to run for long, though. With just a cursory inspection he’d found enough wrong under that hood to keep him busy for days, but he’d only mentioned the worst of it because it was obvious that she didn’t have much money. It was just as glaringly obvious that she wouldn’t be easy to help, either.

Maybe that was the point.

If so, he’d definitely be seeing her again. He believed that God had a purpose in all that He allowed into the lives of His children. So if he never saw her again, so be it. It wasn’t his business, after all, to second-guess God, and he was just fine with that.

So why was he fighting the urge to turn around and give her a lecture on the stupidity of looking a gift horse in the mouth?

Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

He didn’t know her well enough to be this disappointed in her attitude. And he probably never would. A hole seemed to open in his chest, burning hot around the edges.

Vince sighed and tried to concentrate on his driving. He passed an intersection on a green light and immediately heard the screech of tires followed at once by the crunching of metal. Automatically, Vince flipped on his warning lights and pulled out of traffic.

Looking around, he saw that two cars had collided in a grocery-store parking lot across the street. It didn’t seem serious, and it wasn’t impeding traffic, plus, he was off-duty. The fact was, he didn’t make wrecker runs anymore. At least he hadn’t until Jolie Wheeler had called. Well, that would teach him.

Shaking his head, he began making his way across the busy street to the parking lot. What was he going to do? Leave without making certain that no one needed his assistance? Not his style. Then again, neither was embarrassing himself, but he’d managed to do that twice now with Jolie Kay Wheeler. Twice was quite enough. Why couldn’t he just leave well enough alone?

He reached the scene of the mishap, killed his engine and slid out onto the tarmac. Two women were glaring at each other over the hoods of their tangled cars. Vince put on a smile and waded into the fray.

“Can I help, ladies?”

Almost an hour later he’d managed to uncouple their bumpers and pull out a fender so both could be on their way, still angry but maintaining their civility even as they each contemplated a hike in insurance rates. Twenty bucks richer—the one with the crumpled fender had insisted on compensating him—Vince swung the wrecker through a fast-food lane to pick up a burger to eat at home. Alone.

He could’ve dropped in on his mom or one of the girls. They were always willing to set an extra plate at the table for him, but they were always wanting to know where he’d been and who he’d seen lately, too, and he just wasn’t in the mood to answer questions about his nonexistent love life or hear how he worked too much. He wasn’t in the mood to eat alone, either, but those were the options. With a sigh, he resigned himself to the latter.

It was only later as he bit into his burger at the kitchen counter that he wondered if Jolie would call on Cutler Automotive when her old jalopy finally conked on her again, because conk it would—and she still hadn’t redeemed those coupons.

Feeling a little better, he enjoyed the rest of his burger.

Chapter Three

“Aaargh!”

Jolie smacked the steering wheel with a closed fist. Not again! This time the engine wouldn’t even turn over. No cough, no sputter, nothing.

She’d have cried if it would’ve done any good, but tears wouldn’t pay for automotive repairs. Air wouldn’t either, and that’s what was in her checking account at the moment, with payday still two days away and rent due next week.

To make matters worse, she was going to miss at least a few hours of work this morning. The week was not starting out well. Sick at heart, she wrenched her keys from the ignition and crawled out of her old four-banger—no-banger at the moment—to head back upstairs.

Her first telephone call was to Mr. Geopp, who told her only to get into work when she could. He was a pleasant enough employer but somewhat distant personally. His late wife had been easier to talk and relate to. She’d cut Jolie every possible break, especially after Russell had arrived.

Jolie would stay with Geopp for no other reason than loyalty to the memory of his wife. She just wished that he would display a little more emotion, if only to let her know for sure where she stood with him in moments like this. It was one more worry on a long list of worries.

Jolie sat down to think through her options with the car. It had started before with a simple jump from a battery charger. Maybe that would work once more. She judged her chances of getting it done for free a second time at slim to none, however, especially if she called Cutler’s again. After questioning Vince’s integrity, she doubted that he’d cut her a break. Then again, neither would any other emergency service in town.