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"Oh yes. I'll have to have my car towed and fixed."
"What's wrong with it?" He should have ignored her conversation but somehow she'd got the best of his curiosity.
"Well for one, a busted radiator hose and a flat tire. At least I think that's what it is. Steam was shooting out from the hood. I recall my brother saying something about a busted radiator hose once when it happened to him."
It shocked Ben that she actually knew what was wrong with the car. He figured her for nothing short of an air head. She was just the kind of woman he liked to have a romp in the hay with and send her on her way.
"I guess you were late for the wedding, huh?" Ben couldn't catch his mouth in time. Here he was minding his own business when this runaway bride came waltzing up the aisle and now he was talking more to her than he did to his younger sister, Dana during his visit home.
"Wedding?" she shrieked enough to get the attention of the woman in the seat in front of her, and then glanced down at her clothes. "Well...as a matter of fact, yes. I guess you could say that."
But it was too late to explain, because the bus was pulling into the small station. Ben sighed comfortably as he moved to get up. He needed to get as far away from this woman as possible, obviously. He'd already asked too many questions, and gotten too many answers.
"We're here?" she gasped and looked about her.
"Yes ma'am."
***
So much for flirting with strange men, Savannah shrugged. If this one was any measure she had her work cut out for her. Not that she was one bit interested but losing a man to another man had damaged her ego a bit. This man was rather handsome, if he wouldn't frown so much. His dark sandy hair was cut short and well trained. But the beard didn't fit him.
She crept down the bus steps and stared at the vacant station.
"Where is everyone?" She blurted out when she saw the cowboy heading in the opposite direction.
The cowboy that sat by her on the bus was moving deliberately away from her at a fast pace. On hearing her question he stopped dead in his tracks and turned about to look at her again. By his actions she could have sworn he really didn't want to turn around and answer her at all.
"It's Sunday afternoon, everyone's either in church or home. Not much goes on, on Sundays."
Boy had she stumbled into a country town or what? It was like a fairy tale to her. Just the kind of place she wanted to be. A place where people took time to listen, to care, a Junction little town she could surely learn to do something in. This was her dream of heaven, away from the hectic schedules of modern day life.
"Is there a restaurant around here?" she asked the cowboy who was now hauling that beautiful tooled saddle she had straddled on the bus. She hadn't paid much attention to it on the bus, but now she could see it was very expensively crafted, and so was its owner.
"Yes, about a block down the street, Mary's Kitchen." He nodded the direction.
"Thanks," she said and hauled a small bag on one arm, her camera and tripod on the other and started for what looked like the town of Junction, Texas. But his next words stopped her cold.
"But they aren't open till tomorrow," he added his voice filled with some irritation. It was like he didn't want to give her any information, and it had been dragged from him.
"Tomorrow?" she whirled around and turned a startled glance on him. "You're kidding."
She'd spent the entire day without eating and her stomach roared.
But the stranger was doing his best to ignore her, it seemed. He stood there leaning against his jeep as though he was waiting for her to do something.
He shook his head. "'Fraid not. It's Sunday. Little towns have a habit of foldin' up early on Sunday's ma'am." He adjusted his Stetson again.
Sunday was merely another day of the week to her. She usually attended church, when home, then worked on her client list. She'd been a real estate agent for all of a year, but she had progressed, thanks to her dad's influence. Not her own. Still, she wasn't fooling herself; she didn't want a career in real estate. That was her dad's idea, not hers. Even though the work came easy for her, she had no interest. She wanted a home and family. How did one go about changing that kind of idea, especially when it was a lifetime idea?
All the stores would be open at home...But this wasn't home.
She glanced at her watch and grimaced, another couple of hours and the sun would go down. "How about a station where I could get my car fixed?"
"Full service filling stations went out a long time ago. We got a mechanic down the road a piece."
"Oh, good. How far?" She squinted in the sunlight.
"Couple of miles. I'll give you a lift if you like." His voice was indulgent, but right now, she just didn't care. He offered, she'd take him up on it.
