Still, she wasn’t sure she would be able to make herself go back. She was seriously considering finishing school at the local Baptist college.
It was still early, but the sun was already really bright and hot. It felt like it had to be at least seventy-five out. It had also rained earlier in the morning and you could smell the wet hay from the field that stretched out before her. It was going to be a beautiful day. Almost perfect. If it wasn’t for the humidity, and her current mood.
Her hair was already so damp from sweat, dark auburn strands were sticking to her face and the side of her neck where they had escaped her pony tail, and she could feel her t-shirt sticking to her back where she had been sitting against the vinyl seats of the old car.
Luke Ross had given her plenty of grief about the condition of her car. He was the only mechanic in Sapphire Springs, and the best one in all of Diamond County. He could literally fix anything with a motor.
He hadn’t thought it was wise for her to take the old Dodge to school with her, and he hadn’t been shy in telling her so. He usually didn’t hold back when his opinion differed from hers. He had been worried about her being in Springfield with the old car, where he couldn’t work on it for her. He tended not to trust other garages. More for their dishonesty, than their lack of skill.
The agitation rose inside her again, making it hard for her to resist the temptation to kick the headlights out with the tip of her worn cowboy boot. She decided she better turn and walk away before she did give in. She didn’t something else to replace.
She really did love the old sixty-nine Charger. It was the ultimate muscle car. It just needed a lot of work. Honestly, she had been lucky. She had at least made it back into town before the car broke down.
Her brother Phillip and Luke both, had offered to fix the car for free. Several times. The problem was, her pride kept getting in the way. Especially where Luke was concerned. She wanted to be able to pay them for the work. It was just with college and trying to live on her own, she just didn’t have the money. Even with living in the dormitories it took everything she had just to make it from month to month.
Phillip, the oldest of the sixteen children, and the one her parents always sent them to when they weren’t listening to them anymore, owned his own auto body shop. It was probably embarrassing for him for people to know his sister was driving a car in such a state. The paint used to be red, but had faded so much it now looked pink. There were a couple of dents that had been there when she bought the car, and the old vinyl covering the seats was torn in several places. The old car had obviously seen better days.
Her whole family had a love for cars. Her mom and dad still had the old fifty-seven Cadillac she had been born in. Her dad babied that car like it was part of the family. He only took it out on special occasions. Most of the time only once a month. That was when he took her mom out to dinner for their date night. But he still kept it washed and waxed like he drove it all the time. And it ran like a dream.
She was debating just walking the rest of the way home, but it was an old wide car, and she was afraid someone might come around the corner and smash into it. She wasn’t worried so much about her car, but the car of the other person. The old Charger was made of metal and really heavy. It could really do a lot of damage to a newer, smaller car. At the very least, they might not be able to get around it. She hadn’t been able to pull over very far. There just wasn’t much road left.
If her dad had already taken his morning run, he might be by soon, on his way to work. Of course, he was an accountant, and with tax season over already, work would be slowing back down. He probably wouldn’t go to the office until nine and it wasn’t much past eight yet.
She had been wanting to surprise her mom and dad. They weren’t expecting her for another week, but she had already taken her last final for the year. Even with this being her second year of college, she had still been homesick as the day she arrived in Springfield for her first semester. She had just been wanting to get home bad enough, she couldn’t wait another week.
Standing on the side of the road, glaring up at the sky, she found herself wondering what Luke was doing right then. She was wishing he’d drive by in his tow truck and pick her up. He could at least pull the car the rest of the way to her mom and dad’s. She didn’t want to leave it just sitting here, sticking out in the road. It was too dangerous.
She drew in a sharp breath, letting her mind wonder once again. She was wondering if Luke was still dating Tracy Lewis. They had started dating c couple of weeks before she left for her second year of college. She didn’t understand what he saw in her. They were so different from each other. She wouldn’t have thought it would have ever worked. Luke was always so nice to everybody. He always treated everybody with respect. Tracy was the exact opposite, and a little crazy. And that was putting it nicely.
She remembered how she had reacted when she first found out about their first date. She had told him he had lost his mind. She had actually been concerned for his safety, and had told him so. He had just laughed at her, and said she was worrying over nothing. She hoped he had been right.
She could remember, even back in grade school, Tracy being really mean for no good reason. She was the one who had started all the other kids calling Mr. Tagert, Mean Old Mr. Trashy Tagert. She would always make fun of his house. It was just an old house. It had some missing shutters, and needed a paint job. He wasn’t really trashy. He kept the yard mowed and clean. And he was a nice old guy, who always seemed a little lonely.
After his kids went away to college, they never came back. There had been at least one Christmas when they didn’t even come back to visit. She remembered her parents had invited him for Christmas dinner that year, so he wouldn’t be all alone for the Christmas holiday.
Mindi and Luke had a lot of rough patches in their history together. It seemed like they fought on a daily basis. It was a wonder he wanted to help her out with the car. Sometimes she didn’t feel like he even liked her at all. She was the one person he didn’t seem to like. She wished she could say the same for herself. It was at her sixteenth birthday party that she realized she was in love with him.
“I’m back in town twenty minutes, my car is broken down and Luke’s the first thing I think about. If I’m not careful, I’ll be throwing myself at his feet before you can say Sapphire Springs, Missouri.”
Mindi sighed in frustration. If her cell phone battery wasn’t dead, she could just call Luke’s garage. Or even his cell phone if he wasn’t there. She had checked the battery before she left her dorm this morning, but her phone had shut itself off about twenty minutes before she got into town. Her battery wasn’t staying charged, and she had lost her car charger. She thought she might have kicked it out of the car when she was in a hurry, or maybe someone had walked by and stole it one of the times she had forgot and left the windows down. There was always the she had kicked it under the seat of the car.
“Oh, what the heck. I haven’t got anything better to do,” she said out loud to herself. “It’s better than moping around, crying about things I can’t fix,” she told a lone cow that had ambled up while she was standing there. The cow was probably thinking she was crazy for just standing on the side of the road. Well, if a cow could think such a thing, anyway.
Mindi turned back to the car and opened the passenger door, and leaned down to look under the seat. There was a bunch of junk under there, and most of it looked like trash. She stood back up and leaned over the back seat to see if there was anything in the back seat she could use as a trash bag.
She had stopped on the way out of Springfield to get some potato chips and a soda to snack on for the trip. She hadn’t wanted to have to stop anywhere, and she hadn’t taken the time to eat breakfast.
“Lord, please, don’t let my mom find out, or I’ll get a lecture on nutrition,” Mindi mumbled out loud to herself.
She took the half-eaten bag of potato chips out of the bag and laid them on the seat with what was le
ft of her soda. She backed back out of the car, and once again leaned down and looked under the seat of the car. She started dragging out old fast food wrappers and soda bottles and stuffing them in the make shift trash bag.
She managed to find some old eye shadow she had lost months ago, and a hair brush that had so much hair in it, you could barely see the bristles. She even found a dirty pair of shorts that she wasn’t sure even belonged to her. They were so stained up at this point, she couldn’t tell what color they had been. A minute more digging around, and the only thing else she was able to unearth was more old wrappers and a CD she had lost ages ago, but not cell phone charger.
Mindi had become so absorbed by her treasure hunting, that she didn’t notice when a truck pulled up behind her, or the sound made by the crunch of heavy work boots on gravel.
“Well, hello, Gorgeous. What are you doing sitting on the side of the road at eight in the morning? Please, tell me you did not think this would be a good place to clean out your car,” Luke said with a grin spreading across his handsome face. He couldn’t help but shake his head at her. Cutoff jeans and cowboy boots. Typical Mindi fashion. “I thought you were still away at school.
Luke didn’t even hesitate. When she turned around and looked at him, he just reached up and pulled her sunglasses off, causing her to gasp. I hate it when she covers up her eyes. She still has the most amazing green eyes I’ve ever seen in my life. They had always reminded him of emeralds. He had often thought about getting her an emerald bracelet, but he didn’t’ figure she would accept it.
He was wanting to kiss her so bad, it was almost taking superhuman strength not to reach out and grab her. She had a really sexy mouth. She had full cherry red lips, that were always a little crooked when she grinned.
Mindi very rarely wore makeup. She didn’t need it. Her skin was flawless, pale ivory, and always looked so soft it made him think of silk sheets. It was hard for him not to reach out and brush her cheek with his hand. The only thing that stopped him was, he was sure she would probably try to deck him.
Mindi’s heart jumped and skipped a beat with the first sound of his voice. Now that she was turned around and looking at him, it wasn’t getting any better. He was just inches away from her. Man, he looks good. Even in old jeans, splattered with grease stains. And his t-shirt’s so snug, I can see his washboard stomach.
She stood there staring for a full minute, fighting back the tears. She really didn’t want to burst into tears on him, but it was getting to be a close thing. She had become overwhelmed by her emotions the moment her eyes met his. She might have done better if he had let her leave her sunglasses on.
She could see the concern that was growing in his eyes, and made a conscious effort to get off the path she was on. It really wasn’t working. She knew she had to be red enough to glow in the dark. She wondered what he would think if he knew what she was thinking right then. She just stood there staring at him for what felt like an eternity. She couldn’t seem to move. All that was going through her head right then was how much she had missed him.
She had forgotten how good looking he was. His eyes, as always, made her think of chocolate, and his black wavy hair needed a trim. At least she knew he would think so. It was just curling up at his collar a little bit.
Because of his Indian heritage, his brown skin was so much darker than hers, they were like night and day. He had always been well muscled. In high school, he had played football and lifted weight. Now, with the work he done, he probably didn’t have to work at it quite so hard. He is absolutely gorgeous.
Great. Now I’m even redder. He’s grinning at me with that devilish grin he always wears. I wonder if he can read my mind. Probably not. He’s still standing here. He hasn’t taken off for the back forty yet.
She didn’t realize, if he’d had any idea what she was thinking right then, he would have given into the urge to grab her and kiss her.
When he moved to step around her, and look in the car, she knew she was in trouble. His arm snaked out around her and came back with what was left of her soda and bag of chips. When she looked him in the eyes again, the devilish grin had been replaced with a scowl. “Is this all you’ve eaten today?”
She really didn’t want to answer that, but she didn’t figure it was going to matter one way or the other. He already had his answer.
“Mindi, you know how you get when you don’t eat well. And judging by the number of moods you’ve already displayed in just a couple of minutes, you didn’t eat very well yesterday either,” he said, the irritation ringing in his voice.
Without another word, he tossed the soda and chips back in the car, and turned and stomped off toward his tow truck. At first, she thought he was just going to leave her sitting on the side of the road. But rather then climbing in the cab, he just opened the door and grabbed something out of the seat. He had apparently stopped and got something to eat on the way.
He walked back to where she was standing, and glared at her. “Here, eat this. It should at least level your mood off.” He tossed the fast food sack at her with a note of irritation, and just stood there glaring at her. Waiting.
She knew she had no chance of winning a staring contest against him. He could stand there all day if he needed to. So, with a snort of reluctance, she took the sandwich out of the bag, and unwrapped it. She knew he had no intentions of moving another step until she had eaten the sausage biscuit. So, she took a bite, and glared back. They stood there in silence for a while. She was trying to concentrate on eating the breakfast sandwich in her hand, trying not to look too closely at his beautiful face.
The longer they stared at each other, the more the tension burned inside her. The fire in her veins got to be too much, and she had to turn her back on him. She got her soda back out of the car, using getting a drink as an excuse to break eye contact.
When she thought she could handle looking at him again, she turned back around, and took a sharp intake of air. He had stepped closer to her when she turned around, and now they were nose to nose. He wasn’t a very tall man. She was five eight and he was only two or three inches taller than her. Which didn’t make him short. She was just use to men being over six foot. Her bother Zane was six four. Mark, one of her brother’s other friends since grade school, was even taller than that.
I have to be imaging things. There for a second, I thought I saw something like passion flare to life in his eyes. It has to be wishful thinking on my part, she thought, shaking herself.
She didn’t realize he really was having very passionate thoughts. The desire to grab her and kiss her was getting stronger. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to give in. He knew he had to keep staring her in the eyes. If he stared at her luscious mouth for very long, he’d give in and kiss her despite the fact he thought she’d be likely to punch him.
I don’t know. Kissing her might be worth the black eye I’d probably get.
He had decided when she left for college this last year, when she got back, he was going to ask her out. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to wait any longer.
She wasn’t sure how long they stood there before he finally broke the silence. “Would you like some help?”
He was still looking in her eyes when he spoke again. “Mr. Tagert called me,” he said, fighting back a grin. “He said you had broken down. He seemed to think I needed to come and rescue you.” He finally lost the battle with his laughter, and she could hear the humor in his tone. “He said it had to be you. He recognized the car.” His devilish grin was starting to wear on her self-control.
He was standing so close to her now, she could feel his breath on her face. It was making it hard for her to breathe, and she was becoming a little light headed. She was sure her imagination was acting up again. It seemed like he was about to kiss her. He seemed to be staring at her mouth, and it was making her nervous.
She stepped around him and walked a little-ways away, then said the first thing that came to her mind when she turned back to look at
him. “So, are you still dating Tracy?” She was trying to sound unconcerned, but soon lost the battle. “I still think she’s dangerous.”
At first, she thought he looked stricken, but then his face relaxed back into his usual grin. “No, I haven’t dated her in a while. Your parents didn’t tell you, I gather, but she tried to kill me.”
Now she felt stricken. “She what? What do you mean she tried to kill you?” she asked, her voice starting to rise. “I would surely have heard about her being arrested.”
He just looked at her and grinned. “Oh, she wasn’t arrested. There wasn’t enough evidence she had meant to try and kill me.”
“Not enough evidence?” she asked, her voice rising again. “What did she do? What if she tries again?” She was starting to get very upset. She didn’t know how she would take it, if something happened to him.
“Look, I’m really happy to hear you’re concerned for my wellbeing, but there was nothing the police could do. And she’s since left the area. I think her parents said she went to Kansas City.” He gave her an almost confused look. “I figured you’d be all about telling me, ‘I told you so.’ Where’s the Mindi I’ve grown to know and love?” he asked with an amused look on his face.
She chose to just ignore his obvious attempt to pull her into an argument. “I can’t believe you’re being so nonchalant about this.” Without realizing it, she had walked back over to him and laid her hands on his chest. “She is crazy. She will most likely try again.”
“I know she’s crazy,” he said, his voice taking on a rough quality. “She was getting really clingy, and following me around when we weren’t together. So, I broke things off with her. That’s when she tried to kill me. I probably should have waited till she put the gun she had been target practicing with up before I told her. We only went out on three dates.”
She could feel his warmth beneath the cotton t-shirt he had on, and realized his heart was racing just as fast as hers. She tensed and let her hands drop to her side. She walked away again, needing to keep some space between them.
Summer Obsession (The Townsends Book 1) Page 2