Zero Forks

by Cat Johnson

She had rich, deep chestnut brown hair, just about the color of the retired thoroughbred race horse we currently had at the farm—though I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate the comparison.

  White collar city girl was written all over her, from her office clothes to her quick, hurried stride.

  Then there was the way she seemed completely baffled by the chaos in our little small-town diner. This woman looked like she had a housekeeper and an assistant and maybe even a yard boy to handle all the unpleasant chores in her life, such as getting her take-out food.

  That was all right. I was never opposed to introducing a city woman to the joys of life on my family farm. Hay lofts. Lazy floats down the river. Making out on a blanket by a bonfire at the Friday night football games.

  It would definitely be her first time for all of that. There was not even a whiff of farm girl on this one. Not with that white button-down shirt with the collar flipped up in a way that I swear said, “Go on. Just try and mess with me.”

  Her high heels wouldn’t make it five minutes in the gravel—if she was lucky—or in the mud—if she were not—since most parking lots around here were one or the other.

  My gaze landed on the tight skirt molded to her body, from the nipped in waist to the wide flair of her hips, and all the way around her generously round ass—

  Damn. Talk about showing off what you got.

  The outfit alone was so inappropriate for a Saturday morning in Mudville she would have stood out even if she wasn’t hot enough to make me stand up and take notice. Literally. I pushed off the counter and stood to my full height to be able to see her as she glanced around and walked toward the counter.

  She stopped to talk to Shalene and I enjoyed the view as her blouse gaped. I got a nice look at the rounded tops of tits I wouldn’t mind getting to know better.

  As she leaned forward over the counter, her heart-shaped ass just begged to be pierced with cupid’s arrow—or mine.

  I was definitely enjoying the scenery, until the greenest eyes I’d ever seen caught my gaze.

  Oops. I’d been caught staring.

  She narrowed those eyes at me and straightened. Apparently, she didn’t appreciate my appreciation of her assets when she had bent over. My bad.

  “I’ll be with you in a second,” Shalene said to the stranger, holding up one finger before she set my milkshake on the counter. “Here you go, Boone. One extra thick black and white.”

  “Thanks.” I slid a five-dollar bill on the counter. “Keep the change.”

  She grinned. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” I rushed to add before she left, “And hey. Find out what you can about that one down there, will ya?”

  Shalene let out a snort. “If I’m going to be your pimp, it’s gonna cost you more than this.” She waved the five-dollar bill she’d just scooped off the counter.

  “Come on. Hook a lonely single guy up, will you?”

  “Lonely, my ass.” She shook her head but couldn’t hide her smile. Finally, she added, “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thanks. You’re the best.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” With a smile and an eye-roll, Shalene spun away, moving down the counter to the stranger.

  I had what I’d come for, but I couldn’t resist hovering within earshot to hear what had brought this lovely lady to my town.

  That’s when I heard the stranger I was rapidly falling in love with ask my cousin, “Do you have a children’s menu?”

  And my heart fell. She had a kid and most likely a man to go with it.

  Alas, like Romeo and Juliet, our love was not meant to be.

  I pushed my way outside, my sole comfort my milkshake, that Shalene had made so thick I couldn’t get any through the straw, making my dejection complete. That was until I got the idea to take the lid off and slurp it right out of the cup.

  Impressed with my own brilliance, I smiled as I wandered to my parked truck, just as the sun broke through the clouds. I raised my face toward to warm rays. It was turning out to be a great day after all.

  I grabbed my sunglasses from the dashboard and took another slurp of cold thick shake.

  Since it was so nice, maybe I’d take a walk across the street to Bethany’s bakery and say hey. Grab a honey bun while I was there to go with my shake. Then I’d head over to the house on Second Street to do that work for Brandon.

  It sounded like a plan—not that I always stuck to my plans. That’s what plans were for, to be broken. Plans and rules. Definitely rules were meant to be broken.

  As I crossed the street and hopped onto the opposite curb, I absently wondered if the sexy stranger was a rule breaker.

  Probably not. But it would sure have been fun turning her into one.

  Oh well. Too bad.

  THREE

  Sarah

  How illegal was it to leave a sleeping child strapped in his car seat alone?

  It was a cool day. I'd parked in the shade and I had left the sunroof open, plus all the windows open a little bit. And I really was only running in for a minute.

  Even thinking all that had me cringing and second—or third-guessing my decision as I envisioned the news report.

  Thirty-nine-year old woman arrested in Mudville for child endangerment and neglect.

  Why did they always mention the age? It really didn’t seem necessary.

  As if the prospect of turning forty wasn’t traumatic enough, I didn’t need an arrest haunting me. But at least I’d look well put together for my mug shot. Although heels and a pencil skirt had to be the worst fashion choice I’d ever made given how today had turned out.

  I decided not to beat myself up about it since today was my first full day with my nephew. God help me.

  God help us both.

  I glanced out to my car parked along the curb and then back to the waitress.

  Until now, I’d had no concept of how challenging Liza’s life was as a single mom. I was rapidly learning.

  But juggling take-out food and sleeping children was the least of my worries. It was becoming apparent that the logistics of this babysitting gig weren’t going to work.

  Thanks to getting the new account, I’d be working harder and more hours than ever before. I obviously needed full-time childcare.

  I’d googled the duration of shingles and found it could be well over a month before my dad would be clear. And there was a good possibility my mother would have caught it by then and the cycle would start all over again. It was obvious they wouldn’t be up for tending Stewie for a while.

  My apartment was tiny, so I couldn’t move Stewie into my place with me long term. My sister lived too far from where I worked, so staying at her place was out of the question.

  I was going to have to somehow find a short-term rental for us for at least the next couple of months.

  It was a lot, but that was all taking a backseat to my concern that if Stewie woke up alone in the car while I was in the diner, he was going to flip the hell out. Then I’d be arrested for sure.

  Blowing out a loud breath I turned back to try to catch the waitress’s attention and ask her how much longer it would be for the order I’d placed.

  She walked by and I called out, “Excuse me.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I have a three-year old asleep in the car outside. Is there any way you could put a rush on my order?”

  Preferably, before all hell broke loose and the cops showed up.

  The waitress cringed. “The kitchen’s pretty slammed but if you want, you can go out and wait in the car and I’ll run the order outside to you when it’s ready.”

  I jumped at her offer. “You’d do that?”

  “Sure.” She nodded.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I’d thank her even more with cold hard cash in the form of a tip later.

  “No problem,” she replied before skittering off to deal with a woman waving at her from the other end of the counter.

  That problem solved, I ran outside to the car and tried the doo
r.

  Locked.

  Of course I’d locked it. I didn’t want Stewie to be kidnapped on my watch. But I’d only brought my wallet into the diner. Not my purse. So where were the keys?

  Leaning in I peered through the window . . . and spotted the keys dangling from the ignition.

  Holy shit. How could I have done that? Locked my keys in the car with the kid?

  Jeez, I was a horrible babysitter.

  Chances where good I was going to accidentally kill or maim him yet. Then I’d be in prison where I wouldn’t have to worry about rentals or ad campaigns.

  Drawing in a breath, I looked around, panicked. There were a ton of cars parked out here, and the diner had been packed inside, but there wasn’t a soul outside on the sidewalk.

  Panicked, I realized my cell phone was also inside the car, in the holder on the dashboard where it had been giving me GPS directions from my sister’s place to my apartment.

  Mouthing another obscenity, I glanced around me again, completely at a loss. I could go inside and ask to use the diner’s phone to call the auto club to come break into my car for me, but then I’d have to admit I’d locked my nephew inside.

  I didn’t relish that idea. But I also couldn’t let Stewie wake up and realize he was trapped inside.

  Could a kid his age open the car locks if I talked him through it? I had no idea.

  I was so unprepared for this task it was criminal—literally.

  There was no way around it. I was just going to have to give in, go back into the diner and beg for help.

  Fighting tears, I covered my face and groaned in frustration.

  “Problem?” The manly voice had me peeking between my fingers to see the insanely good-looking twenty-something guy I’d noticed in the diner before.

  The hot one who, if I weren’t crazy, had been checking me out. The one who was much too young for me to be thinking of as hot to begin with or assuming he’d be interested in a woman my age.

  Nope. I wasn’t going to ask him for help. No way. I’d take a chance on the auto club getting here before Stewie woke up.

  My irrational proclamation was overturned when Stewie chose that second to do just that. I saw the big blue eyes open beneath the shock of overly long, wavy dark brown hair that my sister refused to trim.

  I saw the moment he saw me on the wrong side of the locked door. Luckily, he was too young to know it was locked or that there was a problem.

  If I could just control my own expression he’d never know.

  Forcing a smile I leaned low and said, “Stewie. Hey, buddy. You’re awake.”

  “I’m hungry,” he said, his little voice muffled by the mostly closed window between us.

  “I know you are, bud. The food is coming.” Maybe I could slip the french fries to him through the crack in the window one at a time.

  I felt mister hot young bod behind me before I turned and saw him there. He’d leaned to see past me, to the steering column, even as I moved to block his view.

  A smirk twisted his lips. “You lock the kid in the car with the keys?”

  “No. I mean—” I let out a sigh. “Not on purpose.”

  His grin widened. “Wait here. I’ll be back in a sec.”

  “Not like I can go anywhere,” I mumbled as he trotted away from me.

  As promised, he was back in under a minute. Thank God because I was running out of small talk with Stewie.

  “Let me in there,” he said as he sidled around me to get to the driver’s side window.

  “What are you going to do?” I panicked when I saw the long metal rod in his hand. “Don’t break the window.”

  He frowned at me. “I’m not.”

  Sliding the thin piece of metal between the window and the doorframe, he wiggled it around a bit and then, thank goodness, I heard a click.

  After pulling the tool back out he reached down and opened the driver’s door. “There you go.”

  I let out my breath in a whoosh. “Thank God.”

  “Actually, the name’s Boone, not God, and you’re welcome.” He grinned.

  I couldn’t even be annoyed at his cocky attitude and dumb joke. I was too grateful. He’d helped me out of a huge jam. Saved Stewie from certain meltdown. Prevented an embarrassing call for help.

  “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.” He hit the button to unlock all the doors, opened Stewie’s and leaned in. “Hey, buddy. How are you doing back there?”

  “I’m hungry,” Stewie repeated, making me feel like the worst aunt in the world.

  “The order is coming,” I explained.

  “Yeah. They’re slammed on weekends. It can take a while. Want some of my shake?” Boone asked Stewie directly, holding the cup out toward him.

  My eyes widened. We were coming into cold and flu season. I didn’t know this guy. Before I could express all my concerns, Stewie reached out for the cup.

  “I’ll hold it for you. It’s kind of big.” This stranger bent his long legs and settled right in the back seat next to Stewie, holding the cup for him with one big hand while he guided the straw into the child’s mouth with the other. “It’s good, huh?”

  Stewie nodded.

  “Always ask for extra thick when you order. That’s the trick,” Boone explained, as Stewie focused on him like he was spilling the secrets of the universe.

  “Hey, here you go.”

  I spun at the girl’s voice and found the waitress next to me, bag extended.

  “Thank you,” I said, grateful as I realized I’d never went into my wallet to get her a tip. I rushed to put down the bag and remedy the situation when she stepped to the rear door and peered inside.

  “Hey, Boone. Whatcha doing in there?”

  “Hey, Sha. Just hanging out and sharing my shake with this little dude.”

  She laughed. “I’d say he’s a step up from some of the people you usually hang out with.”

  “Ha, ha. Smart ass,” he mumbled.

  “Smart ass,” Stewie repeated with a wide grin on his face.

  I sucked in a breath. I shouldn’t react. That would just reinforce the behavior, but I couldn’t control myself.

  Boone’s eyes shot wide as he glanced at me. “Oh shit. I’m sorry.”

  Stewie giggled and proceeded to chant, “Shitshitshitshitshit.”

  In fact, he made it into a song. One that went on and on and actually had a catchy tune to it.

  At that, the waitress lost it, laughing so hard she had to bend over at the waist.

  Boone cringed and met my gaze.

  I didn't know what to think of this hot young guy, but I did know one thing—however long I had him for, our time together was going to leave a lasting impression on Stewie . . . and afterward my sister might never speak to me again.

  FOUR

  Boone

  “Maybe if you feed him, he’ll be too busy eating to keep singing.”

  Singing, very happily, the shit song that I had, though unintentionally, taught him.

  I glanced at the hot chick to see what she thought about that idea. She looked completely overwhelmed and honestly, about to lose her shit. I guess I couldn’t blame her. Her child now had a mouth suited for late night cable television, thanks to me.

  “I guess.” She glanced back at the diner, where Shalene had gone back to work after she’d finally stopped laughing at the situation I’d caused. “There weren’t any tables. I guess we could eat in the car.”

  “That’s not a very nice place to eat.”

  “Is there a park with picnic tables or something?” she asked, confirming my guess that she wasn’t from around here. Though I’d known that. If she had been, I’d have remembered seeing her.

  “I’ve got someplace better. Come on.” I tipped my head toward the side street.

  “Where?” she asked not moving. Not trusting me either, I could see.

  “There’s a beautiful spot along the river with a nice table and chairs where you can eat.”

  “Oh. Okay. Tha
t sounds nice. Shall I follow you?” She moved toward the driver’s side door.

  “No need. We can walk. It’s only about a block.” In fact, I could see the cupola of the house above the trees from where we stood. I leaned low to duck into the car. “Hey, little dude. Wanna get out of there?”

  The song, thank God, stopped as he nodded.

  After setting my shake cup on the roof of her car, I started to unbuckle the straps of the car seat as she sputtered behind me. “Wait. I’m not sure—”

  She was one of those people who overthought everything. I could see that already.

  “Nothing to be sure about,” I said as I hoisted the kid up and out of the seat and set his little sneakered feet on the sidewalk. “Want a piggyback ride or you wanna walk?” I asked him.

  “Piggyback ride!”

  “Yeah, I thought so.” I laughed and lifted him over my head.

  He held on with two sticky fingers in my hair. I probably should have thought that through better, but it was only a block. I’d live.

  “You carry the bag of food. I got him,” I said. I knew if I waited for her, we’d be here all day discussing it.

  Holding his leg with one hand, I grabbed my shake from the roof with the other and turned toward the side street.

  I started down the road and trusted she’d follow. She should. I had her kid.

  The blue Victorian-era house appeared in front of us as I heard the fast click of her heels behind. She was having trouble keeping up with me. No surprise. Her heels were high. My legs were long and I was walking fast.

  Her kid was kicking me in the chest with every step I took, so if I didn’t want bruises all over me, I needed to get there and unload my passenger. I’d never hear the end of the teasing from my brothers if they saw bruises on my chest. They’d never believe me that I’d gotten them from a kid and that they weren’t hickeys.

  When we reached the driveway I slowed and turned to see her rushing behind me, purse in one hand, brown paper bag of food in the other.

  “I thought you were taking us to a park.” She said as she looked at the big, ornate house that, between Brandon’s money and my skill and time, was well on its way to reclaiming its former glory. “Is this your house?”