by June Faver
Ty shook his head. “I didn’t do anything but introduce you.” He opened the passenger door and gave her a boost inside.
“No, I know how these things work.” She gazed down at him. “Because he knows your family, he assumes I’m okay. If I had gone in there alone, he would have wanted references. You made all the difference.”
He closed the door on her and rounded to climb in on his side. He pondered her words. Perhaps he had lent her come credence. He was glad he had been able to support her. The lovely Leah certainly needed some validation.
Chapter 4
Leah was thrilled. I’ve got a job! Just like that, I’ve got a job. She could hardly breathe. Her hands were clasped so tight together in her lap her knuckles were turning white.
Ty started the truck, the diesel engine roaring to life. “Okay, let’s go to the Bag ’n’ Save, and then I imagine your serpentine belt will be here.”
She turned on him with a breathless grin. “Thanks so much, Ty.”
“You gotta stop that,” he said with a grin of his own. “I’m just being neighborly.”
“Whatever it is you’re calling it, I thank you.”
He reached over to grab her hand and give it a squeeze. “You make it real easy to be nice to you, Leah.” Then, as if he caught himself doing something he shouldn’t, he drew his hand away.
Leah rode the few blocks to the grocery store, an uncomfortable silence suffocating her.
Once inside, Ty commandeered a cart, while Leah groped for Gran’s list.
“Let me see that,” he said, and she passed it to him with a sigh. He glanced over it quickly and tucked it in the pocket of his shirt. “How about some fresh stuff?” He headed for the produce section.
“Um, it’s not on the list.” She was painfully aware of the few items Gran had requested.
“Well, it’s on my list. Let’s see here. Does Gracie like fruit?” He proceeded to fill bags with apples, peaches, and grapes. He hefted a good-sized watermelon onto the carrier under the cart.
Leah kept quiet, nodding agreement whenever he asked her about some food item or another. He went up and down the aisles, filling the cart with all kinds of foodstuffs.
“Does your grandmother have enough ranch dressing? We better grab another bottle, because that seems to be the favorite.” He tossed a large bottle in with his other gatherings. He got cases of dog food and treats too. By the time he was done, the grocery cart was piled high.
She cringed when they got to the checkout line and the total was rung up. She offered the ten-dollar bill, but Ty whipped out a plastic card and swiped it through the slot in front of him.
“You keep that for emergencies. You’re starting your new job tomorrow, and you’ll need to buy lunch.”
The ache of impending tears stung her nose. Not going to cry! She bit the inside of her lips to keep her courage locked down. It’s all good.
Ty stowed the groceries in the back seat and started the truck again. “One more stop, and we’ll get that belt and take you home.”
She nodded, feigning a smile.
He drove to a convenience store and left the motor idling while he went inside. He came back with a small bag and tossed it to her. “I got you a pay-as-you-go cell phone and some minutes. Be sure to plug it in when you get home. I don’t want you out on the road without some means of calling for help.”
That did it. She burst into tears, her shoulders shaking and her hands over her eyes.
“Oh, come on, baby girl. I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He reached over and hauled her to him, patting her shoulder while she bawled. He stroked her hair and held her closer.
“Everything has just been so hard,” she said. “I mean—”
“Shh,” he soothed. “You’re here now, and everything is going to be all right.”
“Well, yeah. You’re being so damned kind to me. I don’t ever remember anyone actually caring if I broke down by the side of the road or not or…or if there was food on the table.” She sniffled loudly. “Or if Gracie liked apples or pears.”
“I don’t know why not. Somebody should care about you…a lot.” He rested his cheek against her hair. “I care,” he whispered.
She raised her chin, gazing into his eyes. Her heart thundered in her ears as he wiped the tears from her cheeks.
His expression melted any pretense of reserve she might have had. Softly, he brushed his lips against hers. And again, a little less softly. “Damn!” he muttered as her arms circled his neck. “I’m a goner.” He laid a kiss on her that she felt all the way down to her toes. When they drew apart, he flashed a sudden smile. “Don’t look so scared. We’ll figure this out.” He tousled her hair and put the truck in gear. “Buckle up, baby.”
Leah nodded wordlessly, not sure what there was to figure out but willing to go along with it, whatever it was.
The last stop was the auto supply store where, once more, he left the truck idling and went inside to emerge with another bag he tossed in the back seat. “Now we’re done. Let’s get you home so I can start to work on your car.”
They made the trip back to Gran’s with their fingers interlaced.
Ty sang along with the radio, and he did, indeed, have an incredible voice. His rich baritone was right on key, and he seemed to know the words to every song the disc jockey played.
Leah’s thoughts were jumbled. She was afraid to even try examining her feelings too deeply. She only knew this was the happiest she could ever remember being, and Ty had done it with his kindness and a few kisses.
* * *
When Ty pulled up in front of the little farmhouse, he saw Gracie outside playing with Lucky and Eddie. She dropped the stick she’d been throwing and ran up to greet them with a grin. The cast on her arm looked ungainly on her slender form. “Hi, Mommy! Hi, Ty!”
He got out and picked Gracie up, swinging her around a few times before setting her back on her feet. “Hi, Gracie. Are you keeping the dogs in line?”
She laughed and nodded. “Eddie likes to run around with Lucky. I throw the stick, and they bring it back to me. They’re best friends now.” She pointed to the unlikely duo. Lucky, a big, silky-coated purebred retriever, and Eddie, a small, black-and-white mixed breed with curly fur and bright, shiny eyes.
Eddie sat down and scratched behind his ear. Ty figured he would need to treat both dogs for fleas since they had become “best friends.”
He opened the driver’s side back door and loaded his arms with plastic grocery bags. He looked back to see Leah gathering more and trailing behind him. Gracie ran ahead and held the screen door open, and he carried his load to the kitchen, setting everything in the middle of the floor. “I’ll get the rest and leave you to put stuff away.” He spoke to Leah, who nodded at him.
Returning to the truck, he contemplated the turn of events. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he could no longer pretend he was indifferent to the lovely Leah. He had felt the attraction from the moment she walked into Tiny’s Diner with Gracie in tow. They’d both looked scared to death, like the boogeyman was hot on their trail.
He wrenched the truck door open again, grabbing the rest of the groceries and the bag from the auto supply store. He dropped the latter on the porch and hauled the rest into the house.
Leah and Gracie were gleefully going through the bags. Just the sight of their faces made his chest feel like it was full of feathers. “Where’s your grandmother?”
Leah stared hard as he slipped the nicely starched western shirt off and arranged it over the back of a kitchen chair. Now he was wearing just a white T-shirt. “Gracie tells me she’s out cleaning up the bunkhouse in your honor.”
“That’s mighty nice of her, but she didn’t need to go to all that trouble.” He raked his fingers through his hair and set his Stetson back on his head.
Leah laughed. “Well, you didn’t look too
comfortable crunched up on the couch. She must have thought you needed a little room to stretch out.”
“Maybe she’s right. I’ll be outside if you need me.” He strode out the door, grabbing the bag he’d left on the porch and his tools out of the truck. He inserted a favorite CD and opened the windows so he could hear music while he worked before heading to Leah’s car.
Popping the hood, he stared into the guts of the aged vehicle. He sang along with the CD as both dogs came to lie in the dirt near him. “Thanks, my buds.” Eddie cocked his head, but Lucky just lowered his head onto his paws and prepared to go to sleep.
Ty opened the store bag and took out a plastic drain pan, then slid it under the oil reservoir and drained the dirtiest, sludgiest-looking oil he had ever seen. Damn! I bet she hasn’t had an oil change in a year. He shook his head, a muscle tightening in his cheek. Hasn’t anyone ever taken care of you, Leah?
It irked him that she was so grateful for any little thing he did to help her out. It shouldn’t be that way. A woman as sweet and pretty as Leah should have someone by her side, happy to do all the things a man is supposed to do for a woman. He could see the shredded remains of the serpentine belt coiled around the various parts it was supposed to keep moving. Expelling a disgusted breath, he set to work, hoping his little contribution would help her stay safe on the road and help her start a better life.
* * *
Leah and Gracie finished putting away the groceries.
Gracie told her she had never seen so much food in her life. That made Leah feel happy and sad at the same time.
“Well, now we have it all put away safe, so let’s go help Gran clean the bunkhouse and tell her about our windfall.” Leah held out her hand to Gracie, who grinned and clasped it with her good hand.
They pushed their way out of the front screen, and Gracie called a greeting to Ty, thus affording a great display of rippling muscles as he straightened from under the hood of Leah’s car and raised a hand to wave. He had ditched the T-shirt and looked like he belonged on the cover of a fitness magazine.
Dang! How hot is that? Leah swallowed and tried out a fake casual finger waggle while waves of lust roiled through her insides. He turned back to his task, and Gracie half dragged her around to the bunkhouse at the rear of the homestead.
She could hear Gran humming before they entered. All the windows were open, and the door stood ajar. When she stepped inside, Leah spotted Gran with a scarf tied around her head, turban-fashion. “Hey, Gran,” Leah called. “Reinforcements have arrived. What can we do to help?”
Gran was washing something in the sink. She rinsed some sort of glassware under the running water. “Hello, you two.”
Gracie broke free of Leah’s hand, running to Gran’s side. “Guess what Ty did?” she demanded. Without waiting for a reply, she went on, “Ty bought a whole bunch of food for us. Mommy and I put it all away.”
Gran frowned and then looked at Leah for confirmation.
Leah shrugged. “He sure did. When we went to the store, he just went up and down the aisles and filled the cart. Nothing I could do to stop him.” She picked up a tea towel and began to dry off the glass globes Gran had placed on the drain board.
“Well, he shouldn’t spend his money like that. Nice young fellow, but surely he doesn’t think we’re some sort of charity case.”
“Oh no,” Leah said. “I’m certain he doesn’t think that. He took me to lunch too.”
Gran smiled at that. “I think that boy is sweet on you, Leah. Yes, I do.”
Leah felt her face heat up. “He was just being nice…but guess what?”
Gracie and Gran said “What?” at the same time.
“I got a job. Ty took me to see a man, and he hired me on the spot.”
“Yay, Mommy!” Gracie danced around with her good arm waving over her head.
Gran’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “Doin’ what? It ain’t nothin’ unrespectable, is it?”
Leah shook her head. “Nothing like that. I’ll be working for a Mr. Ryan who is a lawyer there in Langston. He told me to come in and start tomorrow. It was because he knew Ty’s papa.”
“Well, I suppose that’s all right then. I heard of Mr. Ryan. He’s supposed to be a pretty good man.” Gran pursed her lips. “Sounds like Ty is a fine, upstanding young man. Maybe you ought to set your cap for him.”
Yeah right. Leah gnawed her bottom lip. “I don’t think so. He’ll be leaving soon, but I’m glad to have a job. I really appreciate what he did for me.”
“You could do a lot worse.” Gran gave her an amused look.
“Listen, Gran, what about those guys who set fire to your barn? Are they still giving you trouble?”
Gran’s entire appearance morphed from pleasant to grim. “Just forget about ’em. They’s the scum of the earth.”
“You said they were messing with you. What did you mean by that?”
Her grandmother heaved a huge sigh. “They ain’t important. Don’t you worry. I can hold my own with those two.”
Alarmed, Leah moved closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I don’t think you’re being truthful. What’s really going on?”
“I got into it with their old man. Now he’s sendin’ his weaselly boys to give me a hard time.”
“Tell me the truth. Did they set fire to the barn?” Leah’s stomach was clenched like a fist.
“No tellin’, but I’m pretty sure they did. I caught it early on and got it put out real quick.”
“Oh no. What if they try something like that again?” Leah worried about bringing her daughter into such a dangerous situation.
Her grandmother spat out a derisive sound. “I’ll blast them boys all the way back to their papa’s place. Don’t you worry one little bit.”
Gracie came closer, tugging on Leah’s sleeve. “Mommy, what can I do to help?”
Leah spied a glass container that looked like it would hold water or juice. “Here, honey. Why don’t I fill this with water, and you can put it in the refrigerator so Ty will have something cold to drink?” She handed Gracie the filled jug and watched as she crossed the room to put it on a shelf in the old avocado-green refrigerator.
Gran was quite tight-lipped, so Leah did not bring up the topic of the vandalism again.
She finished drying the glass and glanced around. “It looks great in here, Gran.”
“I’ve put fresh sheets on the one bed, and I plugged in the refrigerator in case he wants to keep something in it.” She waved her hands around. “I cleaned up the kitchen and tried to tidy things a bit.” She picked up one of the glass objects. “I even washed the light fixtures. They were a mite dusty.”
In a flash, Leah realized her grandmother had stood on a rickety chair to take the glass globes down. She shuddered to think what might have happened. “Let me put those back up for you.” She took the globes and arranged them on the small dinette table and chose a sturdier chair to stand on.
From her vantage point, she kept an eye on her daughter and Gran as they worked around the room, making things nice for Ty. When she had the light fixtures rearranged, Leah climbed down from her perch. “This place looks real homey. I’m sure Ty will appreciate your efforts.”
Gran beamed, and Gracie twirled around in a circle.
With a pang, Leah realized she wasn’t the only one who had become dangerously attached to Tyler Garrett.
* * *
He grinned and leaned his forearms on the fender. The new serpentine belt snaked its way through all the machinations it was supposed to keep moving, just as it should, and he was feeling pretty smug about it. The oil change must have helped, because the engine, while not exactly purring, was at least not chugging as it had done previously.
Ty straightened and wiped his hands on a rag he kept in his toolbox. He closed the hood and turned to find Leah standing behind him. �
�Whoa! I almost stepped on you.”
She was smiling now, but it was a sad little smile. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been stepped on.”
Ouch! He managed to get hold of his sharp retort before it left his lips. She needed to stop thinking of herself as a doormat, but maybe she had been stepped on too many times to know how to be anything else. “Want to try ’er out?”
“Sure,” she said, and then her smile faded. “Maybe I better save the gas for tomorrow. The tank was pretty low when—when you found us.”
He slid into the driver’s seat and noted the level of the gas gauge. Running on fumes. “Well, I’m going to give it a quick spin. Jump in.”
Her big brown eyes opened wide, but she hurried to get in on the passenger side. She fumbled for the seat belt as he revved the motor. “That sounds a lot better than before. It reminded me of a coffee grinder.”
Ty drove to the end of the lane and then out onto the highway. The windows were open, and Leah’s hair was blowing away from her face, showing off the sharp angles of her cheekbones.
He found a side road and turned around.
Leah was still grinning when he returned to the farm and shut off the motor. “Ty, you’ve been so great—”
He cut her off by pulling her across the seat toward him.
She stared at him, her eyes wide and her mouth an undeniable invitation.
He couldn’t hold back any longer, capturing her luscious lips with his own.
The kiss was soft at first but quickly deepened. Her hand stroked his bare arm and reached to embrace him. Such a small gesture, but it set off a storm of lust raging in his core.
She pressed against him, the thin fabric of her shirt doing nothing to disguise the soft, warm woman beneath.
He heard a groan, surprised that it came from him. Tearing his lips away, he buried them in her windblown curls. How could he have fallen so far, so fast? And why now?
Holding her close, he felt his own heart throbbing in his chest. The timing couldn’t be worse. Why hadn’t he met her before, or better yet, after he had made it big in Nashville? He swallowed hard and pressed another kiss into her hair. “You can make it into Langston, but I’m going to get you some gas tomorrow so you can drive to your new job all week.” His voice came out husky and rough. Cradling her head in his hand, he kissed her forehead and drew back to gaze into her eyes.