Their Wander Canyon Wish. Allie Pleiter

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      Wyatt looked up from draining a Jeep’s brake fluid to see a shapely silhouette standing in the garage bay door. Not a bad way to start a Friday. He put down the bucket and wrench he’d been holding and picked up his charm. “Well, hello there.”

      “Hi. My car needs an oil change.” She walked into the garage and Wyatt realized that silhouette belonged to Marilyn Sofitel. “I figured showing up here was the least I could do after you bought my daughters cupcakes yesterday.”

      Chaz never believed that Wyatt’s cupcake tab at Yvonne’s was effective marketing. It was always fun to prove Chaz wrong. “Cute kids. I felt bad disappointing them.” Given how long it was taking to fix the carousel, this wasn’t turning out to be the easy way to score points with the town fathers he’d planned. Not that delayed parts coming from Albany was his fault, but he wasn’t sure folks would see it that way. People were always quick to judge, but he’d learned to slough it off just as fast.

      “Oh, to hear them talk, they came out ahead. Cupcakes go a long way with those two. But I warn you, they plan on holding you to that first ride. They talked about it all the way home.”

      “I’ll try to make it happen soon.” Yvonne had told him about Marilyn’s visit with the twin girls. She’d given him a good ribbing about how taken the little girls had been with “the Carousel Man.”

      Wyatt had enjoyed many reputations in his day—still did—but he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to be known as “the Carousel Man.” That title belonged to the slightly kooky old guy who’d built the carousel. When he’d died a month ago, a carousel committee had been formed. But when the first malfunction happened, Chaz convinced Wyatt to help. It was supposed to be a temporary thing. Stopgap Carousel Man. Certainly not Wander Canyon’s new purveyor of childhood joy. Even for cuties like Maddie and Margie. Or their mother.

      “So.” He motioned toward the sensible upscale vehicle sitting just outside his garage. “Oil change?”

      She gave the car a dubious look and produced a small notebook out of her handbag. “According to this, at least. I’m just learning how to handle stuff like this. Landon was—” she searched for the right word “—particular about cars.” It fell just short of a compliment, a telling mixture of awkwardness and resentment.

      “It’s not a bad thing to learn how to be particular. I’d much rather service a car that’s been well looked after than one that’s been ignored.” He flashed her a smile. “Although, I admit, I make more money on the ignored kind.”

      She laughed, but there was a tension in it. Life had really taken a couple of hard swings at this woman, hadn’t it? She was prettier than he remembered her being in high school. Her glossy hair framed a delicate face with features he could describe using only the word tender. She moved like a woman still off balance and highly bothered by it. Wyatt wasn’t quite sure what gave him such an insight. He normally didn’t bother to read women that deeply. Perhaps it was the contrast of her current striving to the girls’ faces of easy joy yesterday.

      Being charming came to him as easily as breathing, but he was struck by the overwhelming urge to be nice to her. Genuinely, decently nice, not just the kind of nice designed to get him a phone number or a date. Huh. His upstanding do-right brother, Chaz, might have a lot to say about that, but thankfully Chaz was not standing in his garage watching him give Marilyn a kind smile.

      “I’m not a lot of things, Marilyn, but I am honest.” He held out his hand for the book, which he expected to be a meticulous maintenance log. “Let me look at this, and the car, and I’ll help you figure out what needs doing.”

      “Thanks.” She said the word easy enough, but just before she did, there was a flick in her gaze. A short burst of something behind her eyes that told him someone had given her plenty of reasons not to trust.

      He flipped quickly through the book, confirming that it was a detailed listing of all the vehicle’s maintenance and repairs. “Thorough.”

      She sighed. “My husband was nothing if not thorough.”

      Setting the book aside, Wyatt walked out to the vehicle and slid his hand under the grille to pop the hood. He could live with her suspicions, even dare himself to live them down. He did that all the time, after all. He barely even registered the sideways glances of folks in town anymore.

      The SUV’s hood rose to reveal a pristine engine. “You weren’t kidding.” Particular was an understatement for the kind of care this car received. He bent down over the engine, and whistled in appreciation. “I doubt you’ll have much to worry about with this car.

      She glanced back at the shop. “Have you worked at Manny’s long?”

      He looked farther and removed a spark plug, unsurprised to find it in perfect condition. “Nah. I’ve just been filling in for him while his wife gets her knee fixed. I’m still trying to figure out my long-term game plan.” Now that I’ve booted myself off the family ranch, that is.

      “Open your own garage, maybe?”

      Wyatt straightened up. “Dunno.” He wasn’t sure what made him test her with the next statement—her newness back in town, maybe. “Might be something for me if that new hotel keeps expanding.” He watched her reaction, knowing full well her parents were one of the most vocal opponents to the project. “You know about that?”

      She frowned, her face taking on the scowl most Wander residents did when discussing Mountain Vista. “Dad’s been talking about it,” she admitted.

      The resort firm had been looking at a large-scale expansion in the area. Word had it some offers had been hinted at to a few of the less successful ranchers. As far as he knew, town disapproval had kept any of the landowners from admitting to considering an offer, but Wyatt knew it was only a matter of time.

      They’d known better than to approach Dad or Chaz about ever selling Wander Canyon Ranch. Still, Wyatt’s buddy Tim had started talking to him about coming on board to run the maintenance and vehicle fleet—if the expansion went through. Sure, it was an unpopular project, but it wasn’t as if he had an СКАЧАТЬ