Meeting Mr. Right

by Deb Kastner

  “Yes!” she exclaimed, freezing in place so she would not lose the signal. “Hold it...” she squeaked, “please, God, let the signal hold until I can dial someone to come pick me up.”

  She paused, her arm still extended high in the air. Now that she finally had a connection, she wasn’t sure who to dial. She didn’t have a phone book handy to call the auto shop back in town, and her brother Eli was working his shift at the police station. He’d probably come get her if she asked, but she didn’t want him to neglect his duties, and it wasn’t like it was an emergency for 911.

  At least, not yet, it wasn’t. The future remained to be seen.

  At length, she settled on calling her father. She knew he hadn’t left the house much since her mother had died, but she was certain he’d make an exception for her.

  However, after speaking to him and tossing around a few other options, they decided that it would be better for him to call Derek’s Auto Garage where Ben worked and have them meet her here with a tow truck. They’d be able to bring her truck back into town with them and not leave it temporarily abandoned on the side of the highway.

  The sooner they started fixing it, the sooner they would be finished. Vee groaned at the thought of an expensive car repair bill. Yet another stress point she didn’t need right now, but since she used her truck for work, it was a necessity to get it fixed as soon as possible.

  The sun was shining and it was a nice, temperate spring day in Texas, so Vee yanked down the tailgate of her truck and perched herself, legs swinging off the edge, to wait for the tow. She wished she had a book to read. Who knew how long it would be before the tow truck showed up? Her best guess was that she was a good twenty miles from town, and tow truck drivers were notorious for taking their own sweet time. She figured she might as well enjoy the fresh air while she waited.

  In truth, it was little time at all. She was surprised when a scant fifteen minutes later she heard the rumbling of a tow truck thundering down the highway.

  She was even more surprised to find that it was Ben Atwood behind the wheel, accompanied by two black-haired, green-eyed boys. Of course, she’d known that he worked at his uncle Derek’s garage, but she had no idea that he was the tow truck operator, too.

  She smiled at the wiggling youngsters as Ben pulled his truck next to hers. Even a casual observer could see the kids were clearly related to Ben. They must be his nephews, Vee thought.

  Ben pulled in front of her and then backed the tow truck close enough to hook Vee’s truck up to it.

  “Hey, Vee,” he greeted as he stepped out of the cab. “Having a little engine trouble, are we?”

  “Apparently,” she answered mildly, tongue in cheek. “Thanks for coming so quickly, although I’ve got to say that I’m surprised to see you here. I didn’t know you drove the tow truck,” Vee commented as she watched him fasten the chains from one vehicle to the other.

  “I don’t,” he replied, flashing his generous smile. “Not usually, anyway. My uncle has a kid who generally handles tow jobs. But as it happened, I was the one who picked up the phone when your father called, and once I found out it was you...” His sentence drifted to an awkward halt.

  Once he’d found out it was her...

  What?

  He’d made a special trip just to come to her rescue?

  “You—uh—have a smudge of grease on your...” He cleared his throat. “Here. Just let me get it.” Before she could react, he’d reached forward, gently brushing at her forehead with the pad of his thumb. She held her breath.

  “There, then. That’s better.” Ben swiftly returned his attention to attaching her truck to the towline. His face was flushed a deep copper color, and Vee wondered if the shade was a mark of exertion or uneasiness. His curly brown hair brushed haphazardly across his forehead, as if he’d been running in the wind, giving him an appealing boyish charm. She couldn’t help but notice that those enormous biceps of his were straining against his black T-shirt as he worked, only this time he wasn’t showing off for her.

  At least, she didn’t think he was.

  Either way, she had to appreciate him as a man. There was no doubt he was strong and attractive, whether he was wearing his paramedic uniform or, as he was now, in blue jeans and a T-shirt. With those amazing green-bronze eyes of his, he was beyond a doubt the best-looking man she’d ever known. She suspected he’d stand out anywhere, but especially in a small town like Serendipity. Certainly he had no shortage of women to date in town.

  Which was exactly why she didn’t like him. He went through women like bunny rabbits went through carrots, using his razor-sharp teeth to chomp them up and then spit them out. For the first time, she wondered if maybe it wasn’t entirely his fault. She was willing to give him at least the hint of the benefit of the doubt, since the women in question practically fell all over themselves to be with him. Of course, that was no excuse for treating them badly, but it had to be a little overwhelming to have so many people want to be with you.

  Not that she would know what that felt like.

  She apparently scared men silly. Either they didn’t like her looks or her attitude. Or both. And she wasn’t about to apologize for either, even if she was considering making a few changes. In any case, she certainly hadn’t been overwhelmed with potential suitors.

  Not now. Not ever. So why was Ben paying special attention to her?

  That was the question of the hour.

  He abruptly raised his head and cocked a brow. He’d obviously realized that she’d been staring at him, a fact that she hadn’t been aware of until the moment their eyes met. He didn’t comment on it, though that adorable half-grin of his snuck up one side of his lips, accentuating the dimple in his right cheek and the cleft in his chin. He managed to look both boyishly charming and utterly masculine at the same time.

  “I do appreciate this.” She had trouble finding the right words to express her gratitude. Maybe because so many other emotions were skirmishing for prominence inside her mind and heart.

  “My pleasure,” he responded, opening the passenger-side door of the tow truck. “Okay, tough guys. Scoot to the back and buckle up,” he ordered his nephews, whom he introduced as nine-year-old Felix and seven-year-old Nigel. It took a moment for him to rein in the squirrelly boys and make sure they were safely buckled into their seats, but then he turned his attention back to Vee. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought the kids along for the ride. They wanted to see what their uncle Ben does all day.”

  Vee didn’t mind. Not at all.

  The ride back into town was definitely interesting—and informative. For one thing, the boys’ presence kept her from the awkwardness of having to be alone with Ben. As a side note, it was interesting to watch him interact with his nephews. The boys hung on his every word as he explained in an age-appropriate fashion how the towing process was executed. He genuinely listened to their questions and answered them carefully. Maybe most telling of all, he laughed out loud at their childish attempts at humor, especially when they were aimed directly at him. He was definitely a man who could take—and make—a joke.

  It came as a great surprise to her that Ben was such a natural with children, although she didn’t know why he wouldn’t be, now that she saw him with his nephews. Both boys clearly desired to emulate him, even going so far as to mimic his gestures, like the way he brushed the curl off his forehead with the back of his palm, or the way he half shrugged with his left shoulder when he was agreeing with something.

  As far as Vee was concerned, he got two thumbs up as a male role model, at least in this setting. If Ben brought the boys along on a date, they’d see a whole different side of him...but that was hardly likely to happen. Besides, it was clear that Ben was careful to moderate his behavior so that he didn’t say anything that might confuse the boys or set a bad example, which meant that he probably wouldn’t let them anyw
here near his social life.

  A half hour later, they were back at the shop and Ben had unhooked her truck from the towline.

  “You want me to see if I can take care of this now?” he asked, popping the hood and leaning in to get a closer look at the engine. “I can’t promise I can make a quick fix. Most engine repairs take at least a couple of hours of labor time. Sometimes more like days, especially if we don’t have the parts on hand.”

  She glanced at her watch and shook her head.

  “No, that’s okay,” she affirmed. “I’m obviously going to have to change my plans, so there’s no rush.”

  Not today, anyway. There was no point in trying to make it to Amarillo and back now, not with the sun already halfway down in the west. She’d have to make her excursion another day, and it would have to be soon. Not that she could count on having another free day between now and Saturday. She might have to come up with a Plan B or else rush into town and back, grabbing the first dress that caught her eye.

  That’s if she didn’t completely lose her courage first and nix the whole idea.

  At this point, that was a very big if.

  Dear Veronica Jayne,

  Today has been a good day. It always is when I get to spend time with family and friends. I don’t ever want to take that for granted. Remind me of that if I start complaining about life, will you? It’s so easy to forget how many blessings God has showered me with.

  I’ve got a super busy weekend, so I’ve been spending extra time on our project so I don’t get behind. I’m organizing the final presentation with the software. I was blown over by how well your script and my graphics meshed together—better even than we’d planned. I think you’ll be surprised when you see them. I’ll attach the whole thing to an email once I’m sure I’ve got things the way I want them.

  Excellent work on the script, by the way. The photos would be nothing without that great narration. I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating—I’m so happy you’re my partner! Two thumbs up!

  Sincerely,

  BJ

  Ben’s gaze slid across the inner workings of Vee’s truck, his years of working on engines making it easy for him to spot the problem.

  “It looks like your timing belt snapped,” he said, his hands gliding expertly over the engine’s surface as he peered here and there to be certain he was making a complete diagnosis of the vehicle. “I’m afraid I’ll have to special order some of the parts in order to fix it, so it may be a day or two before you get your truck back.”

  “You can’t just slide on a new timing belt and call it good?” she asked hopefully.

  He chuckled. “Not exactly. Let’s just say that it’s a little more complicated than that. I have to take the engine apart just to reach the area where I need to work. That’s going to take some time in and of itself. Plus, with Serendipity being such a small town, off the beaten track and all, we don’t keep a lot of spare parts at the shop. That would be too much of a burden on the shop’s overhead. We’ve found that it’s easier to order parts in when we have specific requests and know just what we need.”

  She sighed and smoothed her hair with her palm. “That figures. So what are we looking at? A week? Two weeks?”

  “Well, hopefully it won’t be quite that long.” His gaze shifted briefly to where his nephews crouched, looking through a toolbox full of various-sized wrenches. “You need it for your work, right?”

  “Exactly. Not to mention the special occasions coming up. Between the Easter banquet and Easter week services, my dance card is full to the brim. If it’s going to be a long time, I may have to try to find some other reliable means of transportation to tide me over.”

  She groaned aloud. “And it’ll be expensive, too, I’m guessing. A month’s wages down the drain, right? Do I need to start looking for a third job?” She closed her eyes and raised her hands as if she were being held up by a gun-toting thief. “Just please make it a clean wound. That’s all I can ask after the lovely day I’ve had.”

  He laughed. “You sound like a cup-half-empty kind of girl,” he teased. “I don’t want you worrying about time or money. It sounds like you’ve got enough on your plate as it is. I’ll tell you what. How about if I cut you a break? I’ll do the work on my own time and only charge you for the parts I use.”

  Her gaze locked on his, her almond-colored eyes narrowing. He’d never realized how beautiful they were until this moment. His stomach did a backflip as she stared him down. His throat bobbed as he tried to swallow.

  “What?” he asked when she didn’t speak.

  “Why would you do this for me?” she asked suspiciously, her gaze narrowing on him.

  Now that was a good question.

  Why would he offer to help Vee? He’d done some really dumb things—like offering to work for free—early on in his dating days. He’d given of himself and gotten nothing back in return, except more dead-end relationships.

  But even if he hadn’t learned his lesson in that department—not to give too much of himself for free when he stood the risk of being hurt—there was no overlooking one fact.

  He and Vee weren’t dating. She didn’t even like him overmuch.

  So what was he doing? And more to the point—why?

  Why should he put himself out for her when she was very rarely even nice to him? Wouldn’t he simply be laying himself out like a carpet and asking to be walked on?

  When the silence dragged on, she apparently decided that he didn’t have an answer to give, or at least not one that either of them would believe. Instead, she wandered to the other end of the garage and nonchalantly peeked under the vinyl cover of a hooded sports car.

  His sports car, as it happened. Pride welled in his chest. This beauty was a classic Mustang rebuilt with his own two hands over a period of several months. He’d repainted her a deep navy blue with black trim, and she was custom-made from the engine to the wheel rims.

  To say he was proud of that car would be an understatement. It was practically his baby. He’d spent countless hours nursing it to health and making her live up to the vision in his mind. But he’d never once, until now, showed her off to anyone other than his uncle. Even then, he’d only given Uncle Derek the merest glimpse of her. This was the first time he had considered showing her off for real, and his nerves crackled with tension.

  “You’re welcome to have a look,” he said, carefully removing the cover on the shiny blue vehicle, which had been methodically waxed from stem to stern until it sparkled with a keen luster. The tire rims were gleamed silver and the black leather interior had been polished until it shone.

  Vee whistled her appreciation and Ben stood up an inch taller, unable to still the smile growing on his face.

  “Wow,” she complimented, walking slowly around the vehicle, stopping to admire it from various vantage points. “Now that is a sports car. I’ve never seen anything quite so nice. It’s really beautiful, Ben. Did you do the work yourself?”

  Pride chased ego in dizzying circles in his stomach and curled up into his throat. He coughed into the crook of his shoulder.

  “Who owns it? I’m so jealous, whoever they are. I’ve never seen anyone driving it around here, that’s for sure. I would have remembered a car as fancy as that.”

  For some reason, her comments affected him more than he would have liked. He didn’t know why it mattered what she thought. She probably didn’t know a sports car from a Zamboni, but her smile was so genuine and her approval so apparent that he couldn’t help the pride that welled in his chest.

  It was an odd feeling. While there was no question that he was proud of his work on the car, there was something about the fact that it was specifically Vee Bishop’s admiration that stroked his ego even more. That, he knew, ought to be cause for concern in itself, but he had to admit he liked the feeling.

&
nbsp; “It’s mine and I rebuilt her myself,” he confirmed. “All the way from the ground up. She’s my pet project. Between the auto shop and the fire station I haven’t had much time to put into any kind of a hobby, so it’s taken me several months to get her this far.”

  “She’s definitely a beauty. You do good work.”

  “Thanks,” he said, choking up again. He settled his weight on the balls of his feet. He was wound up like a top, waiting for her to spin him.

  “So why haven’t I seen you driving her around?”

  “I suppose I was waiting until she was finished to show her off, until she was just perfect. I only drive her late at night when no one is around to see her while I get the engine in tip-top shape. I think she’s close to making her debut now.”

  “I should say so. I’m impressed. I didn’t know you rebuilt cars.”

  “Only this one.” If she didn’t stop escalating his ego, his chest was going to pop like an overinflated balloon. As it was, his adrenaline was running overtime, making his pulse buzz in his ears. “I suppose you could call rebuilding her my hobby, of sorts.”

  “Well, it definitely puts my hobby to shame.”

  “Really? What do you do for fun?” He was genuinely curious, although he couldn’t have explained why. Maybe it was that she’d shown so much interest in what he’d done that he felt he ought to reciprocate.

  She laughed, looking a little self-conscious, which wasn’t like Vee at all. At least, not the Vee Ben knew—the woman who was always in control, who always knew what to do or say in any given situation. The woman who was generally as strung up as tight as a bow.

  And the woman who didn’t like him at all.

  Or at least he didn’t think she did. She didn’t usually treat him with the respect she was showing him now, and that put her in a new light for him.

  Maybe he was judging her too harshly, based mostly on her outward appearance and attitude. Yes, she sported a tight bun and an even tighter expression, but he supposed that was understandable given her circumstances. She worked in a tough, nearly exclusively male environment at the fire station. Maybe she wasn’t as rigid as he’d been given to believe she was.