The relief that rushed through her at the sight of the cracked hose couldn’t be measured. It was a cheap repair she could do herself, and she was grateful for that.
A cow crowded close to the wire fence on the other side of the ditch and mooed at her.
“Hello, there.” Her voice seemed to lift on the restless winds and carry long and wide. A dozen grazing cows in the field swung their big heads to study her.
Great. It was only her and the fields of cows. The green grassy meadows gently rolled for as long as she could see. There was the long ribbon of road behind and ahead of her, but nothing else.
No houses. No businesses. No phones.
It was sort of scary, thinking she was out here all alone, but she’d look on the bright side. If she walked to town and back, she wouldn’t have to dig into her remaining funds to pay for a tow truck.
After locking her car up tight, Alexandra grabbed her purse and started out. Dust rose beneath her sneakers as she crunched through the gravel. It reminded her of when she was little, and she’d hike with her younger brothers down the long dirt road to the corner gas station at the edge of town.
Like today, the sun, hidden by clouds, had been cool on her back and the air had tickled her nose with the scents of growing grass and earth. In that little store she’d traded her hard-earned pennies for ice-cream bars and big balls of bubble gum.
Why was she remembering these things? She’d long put that painful time out of her mind. What was coming over her today? It was being here, in this rural place. She’d been careful for so long to live with the bustle of a city around her. Traffic and people and buildings that cast shadows and cut into the sky.
It was a mistake to head east. In retrospect, maybe she should have headed south, through California. A busy interstate would never have brought these memories to light. But in this place, the fresh serenity of the countryside surrounded her. The whir of the wind in her ears and the rustle of it in the grasses. After fifteen minutes of walking, not one car had passed.
The wind kicked, bringing with it the heavy smell of rain. She tipped her head back to stare up at the sky. Dark clouds were sailing overhead, blotting out the friendlier gray ones. After another ten minutes, she could see the sheets of rain falling on the farther meadows, gray curtains that were moving closer. She’d lived in Washington State all her life, so what was a little rain?
The roar of an engine broke through the murmur of the wind. Glancing over her shoulder, Alexandra saw a big red pickup barreling along the two-lane road between the seemingly endless fields.
She prayed it was a friendly truck. That it would pass by and keep going. The closer the vehicle came, the more vast the fields and the sky seemed. The more alone she felt.
Her heart made a little kick in her chest. Come on, truck, just keep on going. No need to slow down.
She didn’t glance over her shoulder, continuing to walk along the edge of the ditch.
She could hear the rumble of a powerful engine and the rush of tires on the blacktop. The truck was slowing down.
This wasn’t good. Not one bit.
Please, don’t let this be trouble, she prayed, eyeing the width of the ditch and wondering just how fast she could get through that fence.
She could hear the truck downshift as the driver slowed down to match her pace. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the polished chrome and the white lettering on the new-looking tires. The passenger window lowered.
Alexandra went cold. Did she expect the worst? Or was it simply that old country code of neighborliness that was at work here?
As if in answer, a little girl leaned out the open window and tugged off plastic green sunglasses. “Hi, lady. My dad says I gotta ask if you need a ride.”
At the sight of the blond curls and friendly blue eyes, Alexandra released a breath. She hadn’t realized her chest had been so tight.
It just went to show how traumatized she’d been this last year. And that deep down, she expected the worst—of life and of people.
It wasn’t something she could brush off lightly. If this past year had taught her anything, it was important to stand on her own two feet. To keep from needing anyone. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t mind walking.”
“That’s what Dad said you’d say, right, Dad?”
“Yep, that’s what I predicted,” answered a molasses-rich voice that sounded very familiar.
On the other side of the little girl, behind the steering wheel, a man tipped his Stetson in her direction. Alexandra recognized that handsome profile and those mile-wide shoulders.
“This has to be more than a coincidence running into you twice in one day.” John Corey shook his head. “I can’t believe this.”
“Neither can I.” She blinked and he was still there. The truck’s door felt steel-cool beneath her fingertips. “I thought you had a store to run. What are you doing out here?”
“Since I’m my own boss, I can close up shop for a few minutes. Folks know to wait or give me a call if it’s an emergency. Hailey, here, spent the morning out at a friend’s place and gave me a call to come pick her up.”
“Yep.” Hailey swiped wayward curls from her eyes, waving her neon-green sunglasses as she talked. “We had a barbecue picnic and potato salad for lunch. I didn’t like the potatoes one bit ’cuz they were the red kind and Stephanie’s mom put in those black rings.”
“Olives,” John informed Alexandra from across the cab. “We’re not olive people. We flick them off our pizza if they get on by mistake. The pizza people hear about it, too.”
“Rightly so.” Not everyone shared her opinion of olives. Okay, so maybe it was all right to let herself like him, just a little. “It’s good to meet you, Hailey. I’m Alexandra.”
John leaned over the steering wheel to get a better look at her. “Alexandra, huh? I couldn’t help noticing your car alongside the road a few miles back. Figured I might come across you on the way to town.”
“You seem awfully sure of yourself. How many women fall for your knight-in-shining-armor act, Mr. Corey?”
“Thousands.”
“None.” Hailey frowned. “My daddy only dates the TV.”
“The what?”
“Now don’t be revealing all my secrets. A man’s relationship with his sports channel is sacred.” He flushed a little. “Hailey, open the door for the lady. It’s a long walk to town and it’s fixing to rain.”
“I’m not afraid of a little rain,” Alexandra argued, because it had been so long since she’d accepted help from anyone.
Hailey moved back on the seat, as if to make room. “You gotta come with us. It ain’t right to let ladies walk.”
“You said it better than I could.” Leaning past his daughter on the bench seat, John fixed his deep hazel gaze on Alexandra. “Come on aboard. You’ll be perfectly safe with us. If you’re worried at all, I just want to put your mind at ease. My daughter doesn’t bite, and on the off chance she forgets her manners and does, she’s vaccinated.”
“Daddy.” Hailey scowled, scrunching up her freckled nose. “I haven’t done that since last year at Sunday school, and Billy Fields bit me first.”
“See? We’re as trustworthy as can be.”
“Trustworthy, huh?”
“Absolutely.” John reached over and opened the door.
“We got lots of room,” Hailey added.
“You two make it impossible to say no.” It wasn’t as if