Full Texas Throttle

by Katherine Garbera

  She signaled to get over as they approached the rest area. “Nothing.”

  “Why are we stopping? We need to get to Last Stand. And I can help you. I’m really good at impersonating Highwater. He hates it,” he added with a grin. “Also, I helped Braden with his college interviews and we both know how well he did,” Finn said. “Not bragging or anything.”

  She smiled to herself. He’d actually had been really good at helping Braden prepare for his college interviews. Finn had been racing in the truck series that year but had come home every break he had and taken Braden to different colleges around the country. Cal had been too busy with NFL training when Braden had been preparing. Not that Cal hadn’t wanted to be there, but Finn had been in a position to do it.

  That was one of the things she’d always admired about the Delaneys—how they were always there for family. They might fight, and to the world seem like they were complete opposites to each other, but those brothers always had each other’s back. Nothing would change that.

  “I don’t need that kind of help. You need a break. I saw you shifting around in your seat. A thirty-minute stop won’t hurt us.”

  “Fair enough,” he said, glancing in the back seat at Lane who was still sleeping. “When he’s sleeping, he looks like a little angel instead of the hellion he can be when he’s awake.”

  “He’s not much of a hellion,” Lancey said as she parked the car at the rest area.

  “I know. Thank God for that,” Finn said. “Cal and I were both live wires. Even Braden can be at times, but Lane seems to have…I don’t know whose personality. Because Rose could raise a ruckus, too.”

  “TJ could, as well. Lane must be a throwback to someone else in the gene pool,” Lancey said.

  She turned off the car and started to get out, but Finn stopped her. “I think it’s you. He has that same way of just staying calm and then laughing when things don’t go his way.”

  “Is that what I do?” she asked. He’d leaned closer and she could see the flecks of green in his eyes.

  “Yes, you do,” he said, kissing her slowly and deeply before lifting his head.

  “What was that for?”

  “Just a thank you for coming to get me and for making this drive better than I thought it would be. You’re a special woman, Lancey Maverick.”

  He got out of the car and then opened the back door to get Lane out, while she just sat there, feeling like he’d given her a gift. She thought he was pretty special, too. And for the first time since April, she didn’t feel like she was alone.

  Chapter Twelve

  Her interview with the chief of police went well and Lancey left the police station with a job as the booker for the temporary holding cells where they held suspects before they were transferred to the county facility. In the old days, Lancey suspected it would have been called the drunk tank. It wasn’t exactly as glam as her role as an MP had been, but Highwater was giving her a chance to do what she was good at and stay safe so she could be there for Lane. She wanted to think of herself as his mom, but she knew that Rose would always be that. She was determined to keep both Rose and TJ alive in Lane’s life through stories. He’d adjusted to missing his parents because he’d been surrounded by family who were keeping them alive and surrounding them with love.

  Finn had asked her to drop him off at Outlaw Tequila, so she was alone for the first time in five days. She stood there under the Fuhrmann statue and hugged herself. Her life was getting on track. She looked up at the cloudless July sky and wondered what her mom and Gran would think.

  She’d fought so hard to get away from Last Stand to make her life somewhere else, but Gran had said that life always leads a body where they need to be. Ironic that Lancey had thought she needed to be somewhere else, protecting people who needed it. But now she was coming to realize that everything in her life had led her to this place and this moment.

  “Hey, girl! We missed you the other night. But Amelia explained you had to get the NASCAR hottie and bring him back.”

  Lancey opened her eyes to see Delilah Corbyn standing there. She had two large wooden boxes filled with fresh produce in her arms and behind her were two young women, kids actually. They were probably high school students who she’d hired to work with her through the summer.

  “Hey. Sorry I missed it,” she said, completely planning to ignore the NASCAR hottie remark. “Do you need a hand?”

  “Sure,” Delilah said. “I had to come out and show these two—that’s Randy and that’s Molly—what to look for when they are in the produce market. Also, how to bargain with the sellers.”

  “Nice to meet you both,” Lancey said.

  “You too, ma’am,” they said simultaneously.

  “Go on and load up the truck. Then go back and get the next load,” Delilah said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  She hadn’t noticed the fully restored ’57 Chevy pickup. Someone had hand painted the Dragonfly logo on the side of the truck. The open truck bed left plenty of room for all of the produce and other fresh ingredients that Delilah and her staff had brought. Lancey helped out, enjoying moving and using her body after days in the car.

  “I need to go and get the fish from Red. Want to drive me over? I want to hear all about the road trip,” Delilah said.

  “Sure, I don’t mind. There’s not much to tell,” Lancey said and felt herself blush.

  Delilah just chuckled. “Yeah, right. Molly, you drive back, then unload everything and take care of the stuff that needs refrigeration. Start your prep on the vegetables. I’m going to get the fish and then I’ll be in.”

  Delilah tossed the keys to Molly and then turned back to Lancey. “Where’s your ride?”

  Lancey led her to the Suburban that she’d purchased right after she’d moved back to Last Stand. It had seemed like a good vehicle for hauling kids and their stuff. They got in the car and she fired up the air-conditioning as soon as she turned it on.

  “So…”

  “What? There’s not much to say,” Lancey said.

  “Amelia said you two looked pretty cozy each night when she and Cal video chatted with you guys,” Delilah said.

  “We were. We’ve sort of become friends,” Lancey said. Well more than friends, really. And she had agreed to date him now that they were home, but she’d completely forgotten that everyone would know it. He was a playboy and had been from the moment he’d noticed girls.

  “Ugh. I think we’re dating,” Lancey said. “I’m not sure how it happened.”

  “Men, right? You think that you have something there and then they want to be all ‘let’s date’ but you’re not sure and it’s really too late because once they say it—”

  “I want it. I want him,” Lancey admitted. “But he’s not anywhere near ready for that. I’m not sure if he suggested dating because it will give him something other than his health and the fact that he can’t drive to focus on…or if it’s me. I mean I think it’s a little bit me, but I wonder if he’s using me to replace what he lost,” she admitted, saying out loud for the first time what she’d been thinking. She had been thinking that it was just losing his ride with NASCAR that was affecting him, but he’d lost Rose this year, as well. And there were only a precious few women that Finn allowed himself to care for.

  She knew Finn wanted her and she would make him a great partner, if he was truly ready. But was he?

  “I know. It’s hard to be sure once the heart is involved,” Delilah said. Her tone was quiet and there was a hint of sadness to it.

  “It is. I mean I don’t love him…but I could. He took me to the beach,” Lancey said.

  “Love can be complicated. And as for your admission? I’m willing to bet that you already do love him. I thought…listen, I don’t have any good advice for you, but I do know that the harder you try to deny how you feel, the worse it will get.”

  “I already figured that part out. I’m hoping it was just being in the car with him and then those tiny motel rooms each night that m
ade me like him,” she said. “Now that I’m back in town, he won’t seem so…”

  Fantastic.

  Sexy.

  Wonderful.

  “Yeah, good luck with that,” Delilah said as they pulled into the parking lot of Last Stand Expeditions.

  Red came around the side of the building with Finn and Lane and Lancey felt her heart beat a little faster.

  “Girl, being in town isn’t going to change a thing.” Delilah chuckled.

  She knew that. Really, she did. She wanted it to change something with Finn, but she had a feeling her mom and Gran had felt the same way when they’d fallen for men who were ramblers. And Lancey could only hope her story had a different ending.

  *

  Finn had seen the local doctor just to check his foot and they had agreed that he could remove the boot, but he’d have to go to Houston on Monday to see a specialist. Lane hadn’t wanted to stay at Outlaw Tequila, so Finn had brought him along with him. He didn’t want to admit it but he missed Lancey. He’d thought about her during his appointment and almost called her but had stopped himself at the last moment, not wanting to come across as weak.

  Lane had been funny and patient while they’d seen the doctor and Finn had realized how much he liked having his nephew with him all the time.

  “Where should we go now?” Finn asked Lane. “Ice cream?”

  “Yes. Where’s Auntie?” Lane asked.

  “She’s at a job interview. She’s going to text us when she’s done,” Finn said. He wasn’t really cleared to drive, so he looked around for his ride. Braden had dropped them off earlier but his kid brother was nowhere to be found now.

  “Hey, Finn. Over here,” Red called.

  “Hey, Red, you our ride?” he asked.

  “Yup. Braden had to go back to the office for some kind of tequila emergency,” Red said.

  Finn nodded. He was the first to admit he had no idea what Cal and Braden did at Outlaw Tequila and he pretty much never wanted to. They sponsored his car at two races each year and Finn had shot a few ads for the brand as the ‘outlaw,’ which he had enjoyed.

  “Fair enough. I did make this one a promise of ice cream, though,” Finn said.

  “I’ve got a cooler full of great choices back at my store,” Red said.

  “Sounds good. Did Bray leave the car seat?”

  Red nodded and opened the back door of the pickup truck and Finn hefted his nephew into the car seat and fastened him in. He set Lane’s bag that Lancey had left with him on the floor beneath Lane’s feet but grabbed his favorite book out of the bag and handed it to him.

  “Thanks, Unca.”

  “You’re welcome, kiddo,” he said, dropping a kiss on Lane’s head before he stepped back and closed the door.

  He got in on the passenger side and Red was staring at him. “I can’t believe how domestic you are.”

  “What? I am very normal.”

  “Normally you’re in the spotlight,” Red said. “I’m not criticizing. I like it. It suits you.”

  “What suits me?”

  “This,” Red said. “I know you’ve always been someone who runs at one hundred miles per hour, but it’s good to see you slow down.”

  “Did Braden tell you about my ‘problem’?” Finn said. He still didn’t like saying deep vein thrombosis out loud. “It’s temporary.”

  “He mentioned it. But that’s not what I was talking about,” Red said, driving through town.

  Main Street was crowded with tour buses and tourists and the streetlamps were decorated with red, white and blue banners to get ready for the Fourth of July. He noticed the Corbyn mansion when they turned. Ash and Main Streets were decked out like something out of a Hallmark movie in festive patriotic colors. There was something about being in this town that most people found welcoming. It invited everyone who was here to sit a spell and rest. But for Finn, resting felt like dying. Or it always had. Hadn’t he changed at all? Was taking a rest going to kill him? He’d always been afraid of what he’d find if he stopped. But he hadn’t felt that way much since he’d found Lancey.

  He knew Red meant well but was this his future? Would the highlight of his day be getting ice cream with Lane and waiting for Lancey? Because he had no career here in Last Stand. He knew that. She was going for an interview at the police office, so obviously, Lancey intended to stay here. Could he?

  The back of his neck started to itch and everything felt too tight, too contained. All the joy he’d felt when he’d got that boot off was gone. He needed a fight, but Red was too chill to start one with. He’d tried it in the past and just wound up more frustrated than when he’d started.

  Braden would be good for a fight. His younger brother liked to pretend he was all suave and sophisticated but deep inside, he was still a dangerous Delaney, just like Finn. He took several deep breaths as Red parked his truck outside of Last Stand Expeditions.

  “I’ve got a client coming in fifteen minutes, so I’ll join you two for some ice cream.”

  “Yay, ice cream,” Lane said from the back seat.

  Finn shook his head and opened the door. He needed to stay grounded in this moment. He knew that. But it was hard. All he saw was the long track of his life and instead of flying by the parts he didn’t like, he was stuck on the side of the road, forced to face and deal with them. He wasn’t sure he could.

  He got Lane out of the back seat and they went around back where the river flow was low but still steady and the porch was wide and shaded. He bent down to pick up Lane, who put his little arm around Finn’s shoulders and Finn felt something settle. He hugged Lane back and leaned over the refrigerated case to see what the options were. He saw a juice bar and grabbed two of them.

  They sat on the steps that led down to the river with their juice pops and ate them as fast as they could before they melted. Lane was a sticky mess when they were finished but as he wiped his nephew’s hands, he realized that this had calmed him. Being with Lane gave him purpose. It showed him that life had other options. Maybe being stuck on the side of the road didn’t matter if he had the right people by his side. But was he using Lancey as a consolation prize?

  Immediately his heart and soul rejected that idea. Lancey was more important to him than racing. Having his own family—one that accepted him for who he was—that was the one thing he’d never wanted to admit he craved.

  After they cleaned up using a hose around the side of the building—because just wiping hadn’t touched the mess Lane had made of himself—they walked to the front just as Lancey got out of a truck in the parking lot.

  His heart started beating wildly and he realized that he wanted to stay—for her. Now he just had to figure out a way.

  *

  “Auntie!”

  Lane ran toward her and she bent to scoop him up. He smelled faintly of strawberries and Finn’s aftershave. She noticed that Finn wasn’t wearing the boot, which had to be a good thing. He hadn’t talked to her about his injury at all. It was one of those things like racing that he kept bottled inside of him.

  If she’d learned anything after spending five days in a car with him, it was that Finn liked the world to see an affable guy who could charm everyone. She’d seen that side of him often enough. She’d also glimpsed his temper once or twice as well, but he had managed to keep it under control.

  “Hey. How’d the interview go?” he asked.

  “Great! I start on Sunday, since that’s the beginning of a new week. And Cal and Amelia get Lane for the weekend, so that works out. I’ll have a shift every other weekend,” she said.

  He nodded. “That’s good. I got the boot off. I’m going to see a specialist in Houston on Monday. Are you working that day?”

  “I am,” she said.

  He nodded again. There was something in the way he kept nodding that didn’t feel right. She put Lane down as he started to squirm.

  “Fish?”

  Red had a big aquarium in the middle of the storefront as part of his decor. It contained
large freshwater fish from the area that he used to show his clients what they could catch. Since the fishing trips that Red took his clients on were catch and release, sometimes they kept one or two for the aquarium and then Red released them back into the wild the next day.

  Lane loved watching the fish. “Yes. Let’s go. I have to take Delilah to the Dragonfly after she picks up her stuff from Red. But then we can go home.”

  “Sounds good,” he said.

  But did it? She couldn’t tell what was going on with Finn, but he was not acting like his usual self. He was more like the surly guy she’d encountered that morning they’d left California. This was something she hadn’t shared with Delilah. What woman wanted to tell their girlfriends that their man—was he her man? Yes, he was her man—had flaws.

  Sure, all men had them but somehow, advertising them never seemed like the thing to do. What if he turned back into that man-child he’d been in California? What if that was who he really was?

  Was she fooling herself, seeing what she wanted to see in Finn? She had always thought of herself as a pragmatist but now she wasn’t sure. She took Lane’s hand and led him up the stairs into Last Stand Expeditions. It was cooler inside, but she hadn’t even noticed the heat of summer when she’d been outside. She’d been too focused on Finn.

  That had to stop.

  She wasn’t going to be that kind of woman. He was a man. A man she cared about and liked and was probably in love with. But that didn’t mean she could afford to be blind to his faults.

  As much as she admired her mom and Gran, she didn’t want to be the latest Maverick woman left behind. She was staying put because her life was here. And if she was going to love a man, he had to know and respect that. He had to be willing to meet her halfway.

  She thought about what she’d said to Delilah earlier, while pretending to admire the fish that Lane pointed out to her. She still didn’t know if she was his temporary fix until he could return to NASCAR. And she needed to be more than that.