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“No, but it was a close call.”
She was sorry to hear that. Still, she couldn’t figure out why he’d bother to tell her about it. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Guess where it came from?” he asked.
Where was he going with this? “Not over by the Haslem property...”
“Notbythe Haslem property. It camefromthe Haslem property. Drove out of there like a bat out of hell.”
Throwing back the covers, she jumped up and began to pace. “Did you tell Jay that?”
“Not yet. I’m kind of afraid to point any fingers. It all happened so fast, you know?”
“Are you saying you didn’t get a good look at it? What kind of truck was it?”
“A Ford, I think.”
She was immediately disappointed. She needed that information, and he’d had a chance to get it. “You couldn’t tell?”
“No,” he said, “but it had a Fetterman Well Services sign on the door.”
She froze. “Are you kidding? Did you see who was driving?”
“I didn’t. Happened too fast. I only saw that much because we nearly ran into it. Then I swerved, and by the time I managed to stop, all we could see were the taillights.”
Ellen sank down onto the bed. Hendrix had been with her at the time. That meant either Lynn or her father had sabotaged the well—and her father didn’t seem nearly vindictive enough.
After leaving the Gerharts’, Hendrix had stopped off to have a beer. He wanted to tell Ellen about his encounter with Averil, but he knew if he went over there, he probably wouldn’t leave—not if she let him stay. He was already afraid word would get back to Lynn that he’d helped Ellen drill the Haslem well and she’d freak out and demand Stuart fire him or something. He believed that, especially when it came to him and Leo, she meant well, but she had a temper and could be rash and impetuous—not to mention touchy where Ellen was concerned.
He was walking to his truck, which he’d parked at the curb near the Stardust, a dive bar he frequented on the rare occasion he wasn’t in the mood for Hank’s, when he received a text from Ellen.
Rocko Schneider just called me.
He’d been thinking of her all day and couldn’t believe how relieved and excited he was to get a message from her. It was ridiculous.
He paused to respond before climbing behind the wheel.That dude wants you bad, he wrote but, apparently, so did he. He couldn’t remember ever being so caught up with a woman.
This time it wasn’t to ask me out.
Rocko had tried asking her out? When Hendrix had arrived at the diner with Veronica Salvo, he could tell Rocko wanted to, but he was surprised the burger joint owner had finally worked up the nerve.What’d he want?
To tell me about something that happened last night. I think you should hear it. Can you come over?
Hendrix rubbed his forehead. If word got back to Lynn that he’d helped Ellen with the Haslem well, he’d already be in trouble. He was curious to learn what Rocko had said, though. And, more than anything, he was dying to see Ellen—and this gave him the perfect excuse.
“Fuck it,” he muttered and texted her back:Be there in ten.
Ellen could’ve told Hendrix what Rocko had told her over the phone. But she’d wanted to see his face when he heard the news. She knew he’d have a hard time believing what she’d learned. In some ways,shehad a hard time believing it. She’d always known Lynn didn’t like her and wasn’t happy she’d moved to town. But for a grown woman, well-known with a solid reputation in the community, to go out in the middle of the night and cause what could’ve been a lot of damage to someone else’s property...
It was hard to imagine Lynn would go that far.
Ellen was pacing in the living room when Hendrix knocked. Taking a deep breath, she smoothed the peace-sign tank top she was wearing with a pair of faded cutoffs and answered the door.
His gaze lowered over her, but he didn’t reach for her. He had to be slightly confused. She’d told him she wouldn’t see him again, and yet here she was, asking him to come over. Her head and her heart demanded opposite things, and each had their own small victories in the tug-of-war between them.
Chalk one up for my heart, she thought.
“Come on in.” She stepped aside so that they wouldn’t touch as he passed by, even though touching him was exactly what she wanted—when she wasn’t able to think better of it.
