No Place Like Home

Again.

Not that much meant anything to her anyway. When a person lay dying beneath all her worldly stuff, stuff accumulated over a lifetime, it changed a person’s perspective. But she had to admit that her RV mattered to her. It had belonged to her granddad and there was a host of memories inside the poor-looking thing.

Besides, it had been beat up and banged up during the same storm that beat her up…she and her prehistoric monstrosity were survivors.

Sheriff Brady pushed his hat back a bit and looked down at her, and she realized with a start that he’d said something. He probably thought she was crazy since not everyone winked at heaven and grinned like a goofball.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked, focusing on him.

“I said, the rest of the vendors will start trickling in tomorrow afternoon, but the actual event won’t start until Friday.” He paused, touching her shoulder with his finger, halting her. “Are you okay?”

His touch was gentle and Dottie tried to ignore the warmth that seemed to radiate from it. “Yes, I get kinda weird sometimes, thinking about how good God is, that’s all.”

He smiled. “I have to say I’ve never seen anyone wink at God.”

“Get outta here.” Dottie shoved his arm. “You’re telling me you never winked at God.”

He laughed. “I’d have to say that’d be an affirmative. But it was cute.”

She laughed and their gazes locked.

The laugh died in her throat. His face was shadowed, his eyes shimmered, in the disappearing light. Suddenly it felt like a pebble dance across her stomach, instantly sending ripples radiating through her solar plexus. Oh my!

“L-look,” she managed to say. “I have to explain something.”

“What’s that?” He dropped his chin and raised an eyebrow.

What in the world was happening to her? She was tired—it had been a long, a very long, hard day. “I didn’t come here to be a vendor in the trade show.” She rattled out the words so fast that he stepped back, head cocked back a notch.

“You didn’t?” He looked over his shoulder at the motor home being set up in the vending spot. The motor home that looked exactly like it wasn’t out of place in a setting like this.

“Actually…” She snapped the words out. Ignoring—well, trying to focus on what had brought her here in the first place. “I picked Cassie up on the road. She was hitchhiking about a hundred miles away. I just couldn’t stand seeing that young girl out there on the road, so I broke my ‘no hitchhiker’ rule.” She made quotation marks in the air with her fingers. “I picked her up. When she started telling me where she was going I couldn’t just drop her off somewhere along the way and hope someone else brought her safely here—I had to bring her.”

Brady removed his Stetson and scrubbed his hand through his short brown hair.

And Dottie, drat her fickle brain, forgot everything for a moment. The man was gorgeous—even with the hat crease running across his forehead.

“You’re telling me you went a hundred miles out of your way to bring a hitchhiker to Mule Hollow?”

She nodded, hearing the disbelief edging his words, understanding it completely. It was her reaction to him that she didn’t have a clue about! “Not any hitchhiker. Cassie. Oh, wait—is hitchhiking against the law?”

The corners of Brady’s lips curved engagingly and her stomach did a double backflip!

“Nope. Least not the last time I checked. Though it could possibly be bad for your health.”

“Funny.” She scrunched her face at him before she could stop herself. “I didn’t want to get Cassie in trouble,” she continued, regaining some composure. “I can’t help feeling like I need to watch out for her. She knows everything about this town and has talked nonstop all the way here about finding herself a husband. It’s like she’s obsessed with getting a husband and getting him yesterday.”

“She wouldn’t be the first woman looking for a husband—hold on just a minute. How old is she?”

“Bingo! I honestly don’t know. I thought she was really young, too, but I don’t think she’s as young as I first believed. She wouldn’t tell me earlier when I asked, claiming a lady doesn’t tell her age.”

He was instantly all law enforcement. A gleam lit his eyes and she could very nearly see his brain rolling. “I think I need to do some checking on Cassie. She could be in some kind of trouble.”

“Please do, and thank you. Only, I don’t want to scare her. I don’t think it would be a good idea to let her know you’re checking into her background. Is that possible? If she’s a runaway she might get scared and run again if she’s spooked.”

“I agree,” he answered. “It’s a good thing you’re going to be around for a while to keep an eye on her.”

Dottie couldn’t agree more. She’d have to talk to her brother Todd, let him know what was going on. Once he heard all the facts, he’d agree that looking out for Cassie was important. There wasn’t too much she could do at the moment anyway in California, at least nothing until they heard whether they were going to keep the lease…she said a quick prayer that God would step in and save No Place Like Home. It was inconceivable to think that a place that was doing such wonderful work would have so many sudden problems. She forced away the worry, certain everything would be okay. God was taking care of her, surely He would take care of the women’s shelter.

“Did you ever in your entire life see such a dreamy guy?” Cassie paused, filling her glass with water, and sighed.

Plumping her houseguest’s pillow, Dottie tossed it up onto the bed above the RV’s driving compartment, then picked up another one. Cassie had been beaming ever since Jake had driven up to help them. Dottie fully expected to see the girl float to her bunk at any moment.

A far cry from the hard-edged kid she’d picked up on the highway.

Dottie paused, mid-plump. “He’s a dreamboat. But, Cassie, he can’t be much more than twenty.” It was a weak argument but all she had to try and slow Cassie down.

“And what’s wrong with that?”

“Well, nothing. He just seemed…well, young.” Dottie felt older than her twenty-eight years looking into Cassie’s youthful face as she plopped into the table booth, and stared up at her, her chin in hand. Her bright gaze sent Dottie to check her cupboard. She really was uncomfortable giving advice, and she…well, she needed to see what supplies she had so she could start baking in the morning.

No, she needed to try and talk some sense into Cassie.

“How old are you, Dottie?”

“Hey, you’re the girl who wouldn’t tell me her age earlier this afternoon. Remember?”

“Well, that was before I knew you. Before I trusted you.”

Trust.

Dottie’s stomach soured thinking about how Brady was going to check on Cassie’s background. Trust. “I’m twenty-eight. How old are you?”

“I’m really nineteen. Really. I know, I know, I don’t look it. I hate people telling me I look younger. But if you look at me really close you can tell I’m not sixteen. Look, I have crow’s-feet.”

Dottie busted out laughing, turning toward her just in time to see Cassie pointing at the edges of her eyes. “Oh, brother!” True, she did look nineteen on second glance. Maybe. Once more she wondered about Cassie’s background.

“Okay, you look nineteen, sort of. Don’t you think that’s a bit young to be so gung-ho about finding a husband right away? You do know that you need to fall in love.”

“Hey, I want a husband and I’m gonna get one. I’ll fall in love, but it’s about…never mind. I’m too tired to think straight. What are you cooking tomorrow? Can I help?”

“Can you help?” Cassie had effectively changed the subject and Dottie let it slide. Tackling the subject of husband hunting with her was going to require alertness and at the moment she was worn out. “Aren’t you the one who got me into this fix?”

Cassie chuckled. “That’d be me.”

“Then, yes, you’re about to learn to make candy. Tomorrow. We’ll just make things like fudge and brownies though. Cooking in an RV is limiting. But we can make do. And the microwave can be utilized, too. Do you like to cook?”

Cassie’s smile faded. “I—I can cook some. Your average can of beans and corn.”