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"Pete has some customers who’ve been wanting work done on their classic cars, but none of the guys who work for him could handle the requests. I needed some parts for my girl there,"—he pointed behind me at a black muscle car sitting in one of the bays in the garage portion of Pete's gas station—"so Pete and I made a deal. I work on his customers’ cars during the day and he gets me the parts I need and lets me use his tools so I can fix up my baby. I offered to watch the pumps while I'm here so Pete can earn a few bucks with the overnight business."
I'd known Pete my entire life. The gas station/garage was his pride and joy. He wouldn't have left it in the hands of just anyone, so he must've trusted Zander for some reason.
An awkward silence fell between us and I found myself clutching my purse to my chest like some kind of shield.
"Is there someone I can call for you?" Zander asked after a moment. "Not sure if a town like this even has Uber or Lyft?"
"Has what?" I asked.
"Never mind," he said with a chuckle. "You need decent reception first."
I hated that my throat tightened up at his laugh. It wasn't like he was the first one to ever find amusement in the fact that I was very much lacking when it came to knowledge of the world outside of Eden. Most times, when the random tourists who came into the diner where I worked had a good laugh at my expense while they were trying to order some type of fancy coffee drink or they mentioned some kind of New Age diet they were following, I did my best to let the hurt just roll off my back. But something about Zander poking fun at me in the place I'd lived my entire life in, the place I was raising my son in, stung more than usual.
"Come on, I'll give you a lift home."
Zander's offer broke through the pain in my chest. "Oh no," I said with a shake of my head. "No, I can…"
Can what? I asked myself.
Call Jackson? Not only did he live on a ranch a good twenty minutes away, he’d go ballistic if he found out what Ted had done to me. While Jackson was normally a gentle, easygoing guy, he was still very protective of me and our son, and if he even suspected someone had raised a hand to me, he’d do what many of the men out here did… he'd take care of it with his fists. There was no way I wanted to risk him spending a night in jail for a mistake I'd made. That left calling my parents, who lived a few towns over.
My blood ran cold at the prospect of telling my mother I'd taken shots at Ted. To my parents, the good-looking, wealthy Ted was the Holy Grail when it came to prospective husbands. They already thought I was going to hell for divorcing Jackson and they never failed to let me forget it. So there'd be no pity for what Ted had done to me. My only saving grace was that Zander had been the only witness to what had happened, so the likelihood of the story getting back to my parents was unlikely. I doubted Ted would go around admitting he’d been bested by a woman with a gun.
"I can walk," I said firmly. Okay, yeah, I wasn't thrilled at the idea of walking three miles in the middle of the night, but something about the idea of being in the same car with Zander had me on edge.
And not entirely in a bad way.
"It's no problem," Zander said and then he was moving past me, giving me no chance to argue any further.
The fact was that I was tired, and I just wanted to get home so I could wash Ted's touch off of me and then cry in the privacy of my shower. And then maybe I’d cuddle up with my son in his bed.
Three miles. That was all it was. What could possibly happen in three miles?
As soon as I had the thought, I heard Zander say, "Hey, Joli." My stomach did a silly little flip-flop as he trotted back in my direction. Maybe he’d changed his mind about kissing me after all?
"Yeah?" I asked, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice.
Zander came to a stop in front of me. His eyes actually seemed to twinkle, and somehow that made me feel a little lighter.
"Don't forget this," he said as he handed me something. "You never know when it might come in handy." He winked at me and I died a little on the spot. That little gesture had softened the harshness of his features. I'd never considered a man beautiful, but damn, Zander was just that.
