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  This was scary. Nobody has ever looked after me, except my parents, who didn’t expect something in return. What did he want? What did I have to do to get this car? My mind was spinning in all different directions.

  “Jesse, you have that suspicious look on your face!”

  “What look? What are you talking about? I don’t have any look on my face! You’re seeing things.”

  “Yes, you do. It’s that look you get when you think something’s fishy. Nothing fishy is going on, so stop worrying. You’re getting a fairly new car, and I’m getting a tax write-off. No big deal.”

  I pulled out of the car lot and made a U-turn onto Rt. 29.

  “First off, it is a big deal,” I scowled. “I can’t afford a car like this. It probably cost twenty thousand dollars. And secondly, how do you figure I’m going to pay for it? The payments alone are probably more than my rent used to be. I’m not rich, you know. Money could be a problem.”

  “You can pay through payroll deduction,” he said. “We’re getting the car at cost—fifteen-five.”

  “Who gets the car if I quit?”

  Billy looked hurt. “I’m hoping you’ll stick around, but if you do decide to leave, you can get a loan and pay it off, or you can leave it with me, and walk away. How does that sound?” He reached into his back pocket and removed his wallet. “Here’s your paycheck. I forgot to give it to you before you left today. I’m sorry.”

  I was trying to drive and concentrate on Billy at the same time. I reached over, took the check without looking at it and said, “I wasn’t expecting to get paid until next week.”

  “I’ll pay you at the end of each week. Besides, I don’t know how long you’re going to hang around,” he said as he laughed.

  “Why are you so good to me? You hardly know me.”

  “Whether or not you know it, we’re going to be partners for a long... long... long... long time, so get used to it. Partners look after each other.”

  “You’re assuming a lot, Billy boy,” I joked as I parked the Jeep at the front door.

  “No, I’m not. I’m just a good judge of character.”

  Fifteen minutes later, we left Redman’s Auto Center in separate automobiles. Billy had his truck back, and I was driving a sweet ride. He had lived up to his promise and asked for nothing in return, except what was expected. It made me realize he truly was a good man, someone I could trust. I’d been dumped on and treated like dirt by every man in my life, except for my dad and my brother. It was it hard for me to trust any man.

  I honked and waved at Billy as he made his turn off Rt. 29. As I drove, my mind began to wander, something it does quite often. It amazed me how quickly our lives can change. Thinking back to my past life before the mountains, I realized just how lucky I am now. I had such a boring life before, and now I have a good one. I’m happy. I have a home, family, friends, job, and a great boss. All I needed to do now was work on my relationship with Cole, if there still was a relationship.

  Pulling into the driveway, and still thinking about how much I liked my new car, I saw Claire walking down the steps. Dad was behind her carrying luggage, while Mom walked along side of him.

  “Where’re you going?” I asked, getting out of my car.

  “Claire’s going home,” Mom reluctantly announced. “She’s going to try to work it out with Carl.”

  “What do you mean, work it out?” I cried, running up to my sister. “Claire, don’t go. You need time to think this over. You just got here. Take a couple of days and see what develops. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your answer while you’re here. If you go back to him now, you won’t be giving yourself a chance to find your true feelings. I know you’re lonely without him, but can you really tolerate him cheating on you? Once they cheat, they never stop. Please, think it over.” I was desperately trying to get her to listen to reason.

  Claire began to cry. “I can’t help it. I love him, Jesse. We have two kids and another one on the way. I have to think of them!”

  Claire has always been the weak one in the family. You could talk her into anything. I knew she would go back to that creep and be miserable for the rest of her life, for the sake of the kids. It was a lost cause. That’s just the way she is. I backed off and let her go. I watched her leave, with a sinking feeling in my heart.

  Mom cried, while Dad tried to console her. “Come back inside, Minnie. She’ll be fine. She has to run her own life.”

  “Dad’s right, Mom. Claire can handle it. She’ll be okay,” I lied.

  That sorry scumbag! He better get his act together, or he’d have me to deal with. He wasn’t going to hurt my sister and get away with it! I’d hurt him so badly that he wouldn’t know what time of day it was. I could get Billy to help me. We’d make his life miserable. I knew we could do it. Once again, I had visions of a bear eating him for dinner. It could happen!

  I tried to change the subject by asking Dad what he thought of my new car.

  “Is that your car?” he asked.

  “It’ll be mine when I make the last payment. Billy financed it for me.

  He’s going to use it as a tax write-off for the agency, deduct the payments from my paycheck, and when it’s paid for, it’ll be mine. He gets something, and I get something,”

  “Is that legal?” Mom asked.

  “Yes, according to Billy, and he would know,” I said in my best know-it-all tone.

  “Let’s have a look at this car,” Dad replied. “Start it up and pop the hood. I want to see what it has under there.”

  Dad was impressed with what he saw, and was even more impressed when he drove it. He had good things to say. “This is nice. It handles well and has a smooth ride. It’ll be perfect for driving in the snow.”

  Mom loved my car and kept talking about how nice it was.

  “Maybe you’ll let me drive it to the store. You can be with me. It’s new and I wouldn’t expect you to let me drive it by myself.”

  “You can drive it all you want. You don’t need me with you. You can take Dad. I used your car many times. You can use mine all you want.”

  Athena had been riding in the cargo area, and was awful glad when we let her out. Poor dog, I guess I’ll have to get her some Dramamine for dogs... if they make it. One day we might have to take a trip, and I didn’t want her to puke in my new car. Dogs are so much like kids...

  Later, as I crawled into bed, I thought about my paycheck. I dug for my purse and discovered that even after taxes were taken out, I had a check for $400.00. Billy said the job paid $250.00 a week. There was so much going on in my life right now that money was the last thing on my mind. Yet, I knew this had to be wrong. Billy must have made a mistake. I dialed his number at home.

  “Billy, this check is for $400.00,” I said when he answered. “You made a mistake.”

  “It’s correct. I don’t make mistakes when it comes to money. You earned every bit of it.”

  “But I didn’t do anything.”

  “Oh, yes you did,” he rebutted. “You did more than you think.”

  “I’m not going to argue. I’ll take your money and be glad to get it.”

  I hung up the phone, my trusty dog by my side, and went to bed. What a great life!

  Chapter 12

  Saturday, I spent the morning doing laundry and organizing my room. I helped Mom around the house a little, and by the afternoon, we decided to take a ride to the IGA in my new car. Mom was nervous driving, and Dad kept telling her to pick up the speed.

  “You’re driving too darn slow, Minnie,” he said to her.

  “Oh, hush up, Mack,” she scolded. “I drive at a speed I’m comfortable with. These roads are so curvy. We’re not on the main roads yet, so what’s the problem?”

  Parents, are they all the same? Haven’t I seen this same scenario played out in a movie somewhere?

  As we stopped in the IGA parking lot, we noticed four police cars with their lights flashing, at the Amoco gas station off to the left.

  “Wow!” I
exclaimed. “I wonder what happened over there. Maybe somebody robbed the gas station. What do you think, Dad?”

  Hesitantly, Dad proclaimed, “I don’t know, but I think we’d better sit here until we see what’s going on. Lock the doors, Minnie.”

  “Mom, hit the button to your left on the armrest that says Door Lock,” I commanded. “It locks them all.”

  I heard the door locks click. We sat there for a minute, looking around.

  “Isn’t that Cole standing over there by the gas pumps with that other officer?” Mom asked.

  “It sure is,” Dad mumbled.

  “It must be over,” I said. “Two of the cop cars are leaving.”

  “Let’s go and talk to Cole,” Mom insisted.

  Dad saved the day by saying, “No, Minnie. He’s on duty. We can’t bother him. We’ll just be in his way.”

  “I agree, Mom. He’s on duty.”

  As we got out of the car, I glanced over in the direction of Cole. He turned just in time to make eye contact, and I felt like a school kid again. My knees got rubbery, and my heart started to flutter. I’m such a dork.

  All of us waved at him. He leaned over and put something in his car, and then motioned for us to come over. He made a thumb’s up signal to let us know everything was safe.

  “Hello,” he said. “I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to stop by.”

  I thought he was talking to all of us, but he looked directly at me and said, “I get off at four o’clock today. God willing that nobody else decides to rob the gas station before then, I’d like it very much if you’d come to dinner at my house tonight. I’m cooking.”

  Mom stepped up and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry, but Mack and I have plans for the evening. Thank you anyway. Maybe Jesse could make it. What do you say, honey?”

  Oh, lord, there she goes again. “I’d like that very much,” I politely responded, trying to avoid the obvious. “What time and how do I get there?”

  “Say, around seven?” he replied. “Take a left out of your driveway and go until you reach a dead end, and then take a left. You can’t miss it. I’m the only house on the road.”

  I was floating on a cloud when I replied, “I’ll be there.”

  I grabbed Mom by the arm and led her away. “Don’t we have some grocery shopping to do?”

  Let me catch my breath. Once we got home, I tried to figure out what to wear. If a man invites you to dinner at his house, what do you wear? Should I wear jeans, a skirt, a dress, or sexy underwear? I was freaking out. I didn’t know what to expect. Should I go casual, or try to fancy myself up some? He wouldn’t ask me to dinner at his house unless he was still interested. I could feel my anxiety getting out of control. Calm down, and get it together, I kept telling myself.

  Finally, considering the type of man I thought Cole to be, I decided to wear a pair of Levi’s and a T-shirt. This was the real me. I’m not going to try to be someone else for the sake of others. I have a life. I’m going to be me.

  I threw myself together, and drove up to Cole’s house. I was doing those breathing exercises they teach you to control anxiety, the whole way. My heart was pounding so hard, I thought I would choke to death.

  I kept hearing Mom’s voice telling me how to behave in the company of a man. Over and over, her instructions on how to get a man’s attention and keep it were roaring through my head. She had fussed over me the entire time I was trying to get ready for my date, until I thought I would go crazy. Why was I listening to her anyway? Times had changed. Women chased men. They asked them on dates, and they were the ones who decided when and where they were going to have sex. Sometimes they even paid for the movie or dinner. It wasn’t like it used to be when she was dating. But, then again, she’d been happily married to the same man for a hundred years! I wish I could be so lucky.

  I followed Cole’s directions. When I parked in his driveway, I was surprised at how neat and clean the place looked. For a cop/single man with a dog, living alone, I had pictured a small cabin in need of repair; a place littered with several work-in-progress jobs; and a pile of trash somewhere, waiting to go to the dump. I don’t know what made me see those images in my mind, but I was totally shocked to see how wrong I’d been. It wouldn’t have been the first time. Assumptions can be a waste of time.

  Cole’s house was a two-story, A-frame. It had a porch that appeared to go all the way around the house, and come out in the front, with a wide set of steps down the middle. To the right and left of the house were clusters of trees that blended in with the rest of the woods behind it. Mountain peaks lined the horizon. His small parking area in the front was graveled, and the only automobile parked there was his Jeep.

  As I got out of my car, I saw what looked like a dirt road to the left of his house. I walked about ten feet past his Jeep and looked down. The dirt road sloped down to a cleared field the size of a tennis court. To the right of the field, facing the mountain was his police cruiser.

  I walked up to his front door and knocked. It was almost seven o’clock and the sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains. The early evening sky was a mix of royal blue, streaked with orange and shades of yellow. The temperature was around sixty-five. What a beautiful night it was going to be.

  Tonight was the deal breaker, and I knew it. If Cole and I were going to have any kind of a relationship, tonight was the night to make it happen. Sometimes you just have that feeling.

  Cole answered the door wearing jeans and a T-shirt. His dog was by his side, barking and howling just like Athena.

  “This must be River.” I leaned down and patted his head. He nuzzled my leg, licked my hand, then rolled over and made funny noises.

  “Ah, he likes you,” Cole said. “Normally, he bares his teeth at most strangers. Come in the house. I’m glad you could make it.”

  “You invited me to dinner,” I replied. “After the last time we were together, I’m surprised you asked me. I wasn’t exactly the best company. Drinking and I do not mix.”

  “I could tell you weren’t much of a drinker. I thought you were cute. At least, you weren’t driving. You know we frown on that here. Being a deputy and all, I’d have to take you to jail.”

  “You’re really trying to impress me, aren’t you?” I joked as I tagged behind him to the living room. “Hey, this is nice.”

  “Thank you,” he replied. “I built this house myself, with the help of my family and some friends... Billy included.”

  “You did a great job. I love the way the room seems to go on forever. It’s like one big open space, yet it has a cozy feeling. The cathedral ceiling is breath taking. What’s upstairs?”

  “My bedroom,” he replied. “Beneath us is a basement that’s divided into a recreation room and a bedroom. There’s also a half-bath down there. Here’s the guest bathroom,” he gestured to a room to my left. “Upstairs, I have a full bathroom off my bedroom. I also have a pantry off the kitchen, down here,” he said as he pointed. “But don’t go near it. River seems to think it’s his room. It’s a disaster area.”

  He laughed as he guided me to the kitchen. “I thought I’d grill us a steak for dinner. I put a couple of potatoes in the microwave, and I fixed a salad earlier. I hope you like Italian dressing because that’s all I have. Sorry, but shopping is the last thing on my mind at the end of the day.”

  “I understand,” I said. “As long as I’m not cooking, anything’s fine with me.” I wanted him to know that cooking was not one of my fields of expertise. “I’m not much of a cook.”

  “That’s all right. You don’t cook well and I don’t clean well. We ought to get along fine. How about a glass of wine, or maybe a shot of Tequila?” he joked.

  “I’m afraid I’d better pass on the wine. It makes me crazy. Tequila would probably kill me. What else do you have?”

  “I have beer, tea, milk, or water... you choose.”

  “I’ll take a beer. I haven’t had one in a long time,” I said, knowing I would need something if I were going to s
urvive this night. My stomach was doing flip-flops, and my heart was trying to set a world speed record.

  We settled into an evening on the back porch. The night was warm, with a slight breeze blowing in through the trees. As Cole grilled our steaks, I noticed how nice he looked in jeans.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Nope, everything’s under control.”

  The food was good; the atmosphere pleasant; and the promise of what was to come, was even better. I could feel the attraction between us begin to intensify.

  Toward the end of the meal, Cole went inside and turned on some music. Oldies were his favorite, he told me. “Real music, the kind you can understand.” We listened to Diana Ross, the Temptations, and even a little John Denver. I had to admit, I liked this music, especially Percy Sledge’s—When a Man Loves a Woman.

  “What happened at the gas station today?” I asked. “Can you talk to me about it?”

  “Sure,” he replied. “Two punks from upstate New York managed to make a pit stop in our fair town. It seems they were headed back home to Texas. They made a mistake by stopping here.”

  “They probably didn’t realize the police station was two blocks down the road, huh? Criminals can be so stupid.”

  “The gas station attendant claims one of the guys jumped the counter, demanded money, and then hit him in the face with a gun. The crook’s partner was to be the lookout, while he pumped gas. Fortunately, Deputy Briggs was making his routine check of the shopping center, when he noticed a suspicious looking character at the pumps. He says the guy was looking around like he was covering for someone. Briggs called for backup, then entered through the back door and subdued the guy inside. Two units pulled up to the front and got the one at the pump. Bam! It was over.” Cole got up to clear the table.

  “I’m glad that nobody got killed,” I stated. “Here, let me help with the dishes. It’s the least I can do.”

  If I’d been by myself, the dishes would still be on the table in the morning. However, I didn’t want Cole to see that side of me, yet. That was one of my bad habits I’ve been trying to change. When I moved here, I made up my mind to change some of my old habits. I’m still working on them.