“There are as many days when she’s pressed just to admit we’re related, so it all evens out.”
“If you say so.”
“I’m just being honest. Always am. Sometimes to a fault.” He grinned. “Okay, most of the time.”
“Well, it’s been appreciated by me. Maybe it won’t sound so crazy now, but I think that’s why I came out here.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s what I started to say earlier, but I didn’t know how to phrase it without sounding over the top. I just…it’s been a little overwhelming, not to mention disconcerting, being here, having people know who I am but not know me personally. And the only person who does know me is the one I am here to sort things out with. I have a lot to deal with, to think about, not only with my family situation, but with my job, with…a lot of things.” She looked at him directly now. “And, with my seeing them again being imminent, I guess I rode out here kind of on instinct.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“Maybe I’m sounding crazy after all, but I think I needed to sort of touch base with the one person I knew here who would just say what he thinks, and not what he thinks I want to hear.” She smiled, but her eyes were still a little troubled.
It bothered him that he was troubled by her being troubled. She was right in what she’d assumed about him, but that didn’t mean he wanted to get in the middle of anything. She’d said herself she didn’t want him there, either. So…what was she saying now?
“Don’t worry, okay? I’m only saying it’s nice to know you can count on at least one person to speak plainly.”
“Given the world you just left, I can imagine that’s a commodity in short supply.”
“Very true.” They held each other’s gaze for a longer moment, then she finally broke the hold first and slipped her helmet back on, made a show of buckling the strap. “Well, I’m past the risk of overstaying my welcome, so thanks for letting me bend your ear.”
“It was just a little tug.” Jake couldn’t help but think that if Ruby Jean were a fly on the wall in that moment, she’d own him for the rest of her natural life. The bigger kicker was, for all his concern about being, well, concerned, he actually didn’t mind so much that she’d sought him out. Or that he’d helped her cope in some way.
She smiled. “I’ll get out of your way now.”
He let go of the bike, surprised at how reluctant he was to do so. For a few minutes, he’d gotten to step outside of the frustration that had shadowed most of his waking hours of late. He told himself that’s all it was. Problem was, he was having a hard time believing it. “See you Sunday.” He had no time to spend showing someone the sights. After succumbing to Ruby Jean’s tearful plea, he had already figured out how to narrow the time down to the barest minimum and still fulfill his promise. Now…now he was mentally scrambling, trying to figure out how to juggle his time and his obligations so he could spend more time with her.
“I’ll let you know tomorrow, for sure. What time, Sunday?”
Anytime. All the time. “We can figure that out when you call. Or, if you need to work off some steam, feel free to pedal on back out here. The exertion does wonders for pent-up frustration.”
“Sounds like you have some personal experience with that.”
He’d been thinking of a different type of exertion, due to an entirely different kind of frustration, but she didn’t have to know that. “A little.”
She adjusted her helmet strap and balanced her weight as she got ready to mount the bike. The vision she made, all pink-power girl, made him smile as she backed the bike up until she could turn it around, aiming toward the open end of the hangar. His thoughts drifted, quite naturally, he thought, to other things he’d like to see her mount. The rear view, in particular, was extremely…inspiring.
“Well, we’ll talk again, one way or the other.”
He tugged the rag from the pocket of his jeans and wiped his hands, then shoved them both in his pockets when she glanced back at him, hoping she wasn’t noticing just how much he’d been noticing her. Plus, with his hands in his pockets, he couldn’t do something remarkably stupid. Like reach for her. He did something like that now, and he’d either be really sorry he’d pushed it…or she’d be really late for dinner. Neither possibility was a good outcome. So he kept his hands hidden…and other things hopefully camouflaged. “Sounds like a plan.”
She nodded, then turned her attention back to the bike, which wobbled quite dangerously when she launched off. He almost trotted after her, but she steadied herself after a few rotations. So he made himself stay where he stood, all the while wondering what in the hell had gotten into him, as he watched her ride until she was out of sight. In fact, he had to force himself to turn back to Betty Sue instead of wandering closer to the end of the hangar, where he could watch her pedal herself almost all the way back down to town.
“Right, because you don’t have about a hundred and ten things you need to be doing right now.” Didn’t stop him from thinking about her though. He slapped his thigh and called out for Hank. He heard a groan and a snuffling snort, then minutes later, his big old hound came shuffling over. “You missed her, you know. Not much of a watch dog.”
Hank stared at him with soulful eyes.
“You’d like her. She’s quite something to watch, too.”
In response, Hank wandered over and sighed deeply as he collapsed in a boneless heap by an oil drum.
“She’d like you, too, I think.” He smiled as Hank stretched out in a fading beam of sunlight. He turned and looked back through the open hangar door. And wished his life was simpler. At that moment, an afternoon spent stretched out under the sun sounded almost as intoxicating as racing five hundred miles an hour, barely a breath off the ground. Of course, the former option he wouldn’t have to perform solo.
“Yeah,” he said, wandering back over to his tools. “You’d like her a lot, Hank. Problem is, I like her, too.”
Chapter 6
Lauren smoothed her hair, then her shirt, then her hair again, for at least the hundredth time. She’d dressed casual-nice, despite the fact that, from what she could tell, the town at-large was almost universally casual-casual. Which normally would have suited her just fine. One of the things she’d immediately loved about quitting her job was not having to armor up every morning. But, when she was dressing for dinner, she decided she could use all the support she could get. She might not like the power suits and sensible pumps, but, in truth, she felt more in control while wearing them. Capitol Hill Lauren. Assistant to a powerful state senator, Lauren. Future-all-mapped-out Lauren.
Which was definitely better than newly jobless Lauren, no future plans Lauren, or wildly attracted to the local plane jockey Lauren.
No, what she needed to be was “ready to meet the man you can’t believe your mother married Lauren.” Yeah, that was going to take at least a few layers of well-tailored support.
Satisfied that she was as pulled together as humanly possible, she ignored the rampantly flapping butterflies in her stomach and pushed through the doors. She welcomed the cooler air of the restaurant and drew in a deep breath of it. But before she could even look for the table where her mother and Arlen were likely already seated, she was accosted by the hostess.
“Well, hello! Welcome to Ragland Gap. I’m Kim, your hostess.”
Kim, another naturally caffeinated denizen of Cedar Springs. Lauren might have worried that she’d landed in Stepford-ville, except they were all so sincere in their friendliness, it was hard not to respond in kind. “Hi,