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“No.” She felt a sudden weight on her shoulders. Even though she’d told herself she was prepared to hear the worst about her car, she’d held out a slim hope that the old convertible could somehow be resuscitated.
“’Fraid so. The rings are shot, the distributor cap needs to be replaced, the cylinders are only working at about thirty percent of capacity…” Len rattled off a list of repairs that made her tired. In her mind’s eye she envisioned hundreds of dollars flying out of her wallet just the way they did on cartoon shows. “So,” he said, and she imagined him scratching the silver stubble that forever decorated his chin, “looks to me like you might want to scrap her out and start over. For the same amount of money you could get a car a few years newer and probably a helluva lot more dependable.”
“I—I’ll think about it,” she said and hung up slowly.
Josh’s eyebrows lifted with an unspoken question.
“That was Len at the service station,” she said, deciding not to let this one last piece of bad news bring her down. “Looks like we’re going to have a funeral.”
“What?”
“The car’s officially dead.”
Josh’s face split into a wide grin. “So we’re gonna get a new one?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Yeah, probably.” How, she wasn’t quite sure.
“All-l-l-l ri-i-i-ight!”
“But the most important thing is, we’re going to move.”
“Move?” he repeated, suddenly serious. “Where to?”
“Tiffany’s house.”
“No way.” Josh looked at her as if she’d just said they were going to be living on Jupiter.
“Yes, way. They’re moving to a farm J.D.’s family bought—the old Zalinski place—so Tiffany wants me to be the manager of the apartments in exchange for living there free. We’ll be closer to the main part of town and the school. We’ll rent this place out, and yes, I think we’ll be able to afford a new car—just not a BMW.”
Josh’s smile fell away, and his eyes thinned suspiciously. “Wait a minute. Doesn’t the guy who was here last night live over there?”
“Yep.” She’d thought about Luke residing right next door, and she didn’t like the rush of anticipation she felt when she considered how close they’d be. “But he won’t be renting there for long. He’s got a ranch outside of town.”
“Good,” Josh said as he kicked open the screen door with his good foot so that Blue could saunter outside and lie in his favorite spot in the shade of a rhododendron bush near the back steps. “’Cause I don’t like him. I don’t like him at all.”
Katie bristled a little. “Why not?”
“I don’t know. It feels weird when he’s around.”
That wasn’t surprising, she supposed. Josh probably sensed that she was interested in Luke. At that thought she froze inside. She was not interested in him. Not really. It just had been so long since a man had shown her any attention, since she’d let a man flirt with her. Remembering Luke’s kiss, she touched the tips of her fingers to her lips, then realized that her son was staring at her.
Quickly, fearing he might read her mind, she reached for the phone again. Cradling the receiver between her shoulder and ear, she dialed the number of John Cawthorne’s ranch. “I’m going to see if I can borrow Grandma’s car ‘cause I’ve got some errands to run this afternoon. Will you be okay here alone for a couple of hours?”
Josh lifted a shoulder. “I’m not a baby anymore.”
“I know, I know, but you’re only ten—”
“Almost eleven.” He stuffed the end of one of the bagel halves into his mouth, and Katie heard the sound of someone picking up the phone on the other end of the line.
Her mother answered with a quick, “Hullo.”
“Hi, Mom,” she said, feeling warm inside at the sound of Brynnie’s voice. “It’s Katie. I’ve got kind of a crisis.” Then, hearing her own words, she said, “Don’t have a stroke, it’s not serious—not really, but the car is in the shop again.”
“I thought Jarrod fixed it yesterday.”
“He tried, but as a car mechanic he makes a great private investigator.”
“Oh.”
