Her thoughts drifted back to Shane.
She'd come to Hazard Falls expecting to find a man who would fight her for every dime. A man who'd slam the door in her face the second he learned who she was. And he still might.
But after their few encounters, she found it difficult to dislike him. He was friendly, caring, and family-oriented.
He was also a man who didn’t know a piece of his life was missing. And she was the one holding it.
The truck jerked, and her brows pulled together. “Don’t you start.”
The temperature gauge climbed. Then kept climbing before a plume of white steam suddenly billowed from beneath the hood.
“Seriously?”
Stepping on the brake pedal, she guided the vehicle to a stop on the shoulder of the road before putting it in Park and cutting the engine. Silence followed, broken only by the ticking engine and the hiss of steam.
She leaned back and blew out a hard breath. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Reaching down under the dashboard for the latch, she popped the hood and then climbed out of the truck. Heat rolled up at her, sharp and immediate. The smell of overheated metal assaulted her nose. “Perfect.”
After using the rags from under the seat to lift the hood without getting burned, an unwanted thought raced through her mind, and cursing, she opened the rear cab door. There, she found the water jugs, still sitting empty where she'd left them after the last breakdown. She’d meant to pick up some coolant, as Seth had suggested, or at least refill the jugs, but with everything else going on, it had slipped her mind.
With her hands on her hips, she glared at the engine as if that might somehow solve the problem.
It didn’t.
She glanced up and down the road. Recognition hit a second later. It was the same stretch of road where the truck had overheated on her way into Hazard Falls that first day. “You've got to be kidding me.”
Pulling out her phone, she checked for a signal.
Nothing. Not a single bar. Again.
Apparently, the cell service out there was as reliable as her pickup.
Shit!
Between the empty jugs and her inability to make a call, there wasn't much she could do except wait for the engine to cool and hope somebody came along.
Time dragged, and sweat rolled off her forehead.
Then, faint at first, the sound of another engine carried down the road. She straightened, turning toward it. A black pickup came into view from around the curve, slowing as it approached before pulling in behind her. Dust kicked up around the tires.
The driver’s door opened, and when Shane stepped out, her stomach sank. Of course it was him. For one ridiculous second, she considered ducking behind the hood and pretending she wasn't there. Then common sense prevailed. The man had already seen both her and the plume of steam rising from the truck.
He strode toward her. “Overheated?”
She huffed out a breath. “That obvious?”
His mouth tipped slightly. “Usually is.”
Despite the situation, she laughed, then rolled her eyes. “I forgot to refill the water jugs and thought I had more time.”
“And the truck disagreed.”
“Clearly.”
Heat shimmered around them. Somewhere in the distance, a bird called, and another answered. Aside from that, the world felt oddly still.
Shane gestured toward his vehicle. “I've got some coolant. Let it cool down, then we'll top it off.”
