Their Wander Canyon Wish. Allie Pleiter
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Название: Their Wander Canyon Wish
Автор: Allie Pleiter
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon Love Inspired
isbn: 9780008906191
isbn:
So she did have a bit of fight left in her. He kept his words casual as he wiped his hands. “They have an uphill public relations battle ahead of them, that’s for sure.”
She straightened. “I work in public relations. Or did. But I prefer causes I believe in.”
He pushed out a breath and motioned for them to walk back into the garage. “I believe in fast cars and good steaks. That doesn’t mean I don’t work on slow little Volkswagens and eat my share of chicken wings.” He handed her back the maintenance logbook. “’Course, we all know being respectable’s never really been high on my priority list.”
“Even if I didn’t care about integrity—” she gave the word a sharp emphasis “—I’m not really in the market for that kind of drama.”
He laughed at that. “Well, you came to the wrong place to hide out from that. We may look charming from the outside, but I expect we rank as high in the drama department as whatever fancy Denver suburb you came from. Or don’t you remember?”
“I loved growing up here.”
Her declaration had the edge of forced hometown pride that always drove him nuts. “Good for you. Three cheers for Wander Canyon.” Why was everyone always insisting Wander was so idyllic? It had never struck him that way—just the opposite, most days.
“If Wander’s so bad,” she challenged, “how come you never left?”
She definitely had some fight left in her. You try getting out from underneath Old Man Walker and see how far you get. He didn’t have the luxury of some well-heeled city tycoon sweeping her out of here to go tend to some tasteful three-car garage house at the end of a quiet Denver cul-de-sac. He met her glare for a long moment before saying “Reasons,” with a little more hiss than he ought to. “Look, you only need an oil change and I can do that easy. But if I don’t rank high enough on the integrity scale for you, feel free to head on over to the dealership twenty miles east of here and let him charge you forty dollars more for inferior oil. It won’t bother me none.”
She hoisted her handbag higher up on her defiant shoulder and turned toward the door. “Well, when you put it that way...”
What was the matter with him? Picking fights with customers? Manny would kill him for starters, and he liked to think of himself as capable of more charm than that. “Wait. Stop.”
She did, which surprised him.
“Look, I was out of line.” He ran a hand down his face. “I’m just a little down on Wander at the moment. People are getting on me about the carousel and all. No reason to take it out on you and your tidy little ride there.”
“I get it.” She actually looked like she did. When you spent lot of time at the end of your rope, it wasn’t hard to see it in other people. Somehow, at that moment, he could see that Marilyn wasn’t home by choice. He wasn’t quite sure how he didn’t see that yesterday—maybe she put up a good front for her daughters—but her eyes broadcast it now loud and clear.
He walked over to her. “I’ll be glad to change the oil for you. And write up what ought to come next and when, if that’ll help. Least I can do for jumping down your throat like that.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t very fair of me to ask you why you hadn’t left. Everybody’s got reasons.”
Those last three words hinted at a lot. What were hers?
Marilyn stood in the middle of the sidewalk, half fuming and half stumped. Wyatt had told her to come back in an hour and a half, and Mom had taken the kids to the grocery store with her.
She now had time to herself. Taking in a deep breath, Marilyn looked up and down Main Street, surprisingly stumped as to where to go next. Wander was the kind of small town people would call quaint, with a classic Main Street lined with mom-and-pop businesses, the kind of restaurants where everyone knew your name, and was generally blessed with clear sunny days perfect for meandering. The morning ought to feel like a holiday, the peaceful, blissful stretch of time she’d often dreamed of in Denver’s hustle and rush.
Now, thanks to Wyatt Walker, she couldn’t quite figure out what to do with it.
The man unnerved her. How did anyone get away with not caring what anyone thought of him the way he did? In a small town like this—actually, even in a big city like Denver—that seemed impossible to her. You couldn’t indulge in that kind of disregard. Good, upstanding people had to care about their reputation. Community standing still meant something, didn’t it? Her parents had taught her that. She was still trying to hang on to that belief. Of all the things Landon had taken from her, she wasn’t going to let integrity be one of them.
Wyatt Walker declared himself “honest.” She believed him to be—blatantly, even tactlessly forthright. Honest was one thing, but Wyatt was also defiant and more than a bit reckless. Truth be told, if the messy state of the garage was any indication, he was also rather disorganized. If she clung to anything in life, it was organization.
So why did she care even one whit about how messy the man kept his garage? It wasn’t as if he needed efficiency to recommend his work. He had been—and clearly still was—handsome enough to get away with just about anything he wanted. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had more female customers than male. After all, he wielded that dashing smile like he knew exactly the effect it had...on other women.
Well, it wasn’t going to have any effect on her. Marilyn wasn’t even the slightest bit interested in romantic relationships. Especially with men in possession of dashing smiles. Even if she found some perfect man here in Wander Canyon—which was unlikely at best—people might talk. Small-town vistas always looked quaint, but small-town tongues could be cruel. She guessed a year—if not more—would need to pass before any date she might go on wouldn’t immediately be labeled as too soon. The fact she was such a young widow wouldn’t matter.
The fact that her marriage to Landon had grown cold couldn’t matter, because she couldn’t let that come to light. Not even her mother knew how the love had somehow drained out of her marriage to Landon. She couldn’t bear for anyone to know how powerless she was to stop Landon’s growing disregard. Oh, they looked happy from the outside—Landon always made sure of that. Marital strife was unacceptable for Denver’s next promising candidate for the state Senate. He’d made it quite clear that her role was to smile, look happy and tout him as promising and successful. There were days Marilyn felt she was married to a resume, not a loving father and husband. It had become a lonely way to live, and his death simply deepened the emptiness.
Nope, she told herself. None of that. The very last thing she needed on this glorious morning alone was to give in to any kind of pity party. These days had to be about looking forward, and getting herself and the girls settled.
Marilyn sat for a moment on one of the rough-hewn log benches that dotted Wander’s Main Street. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and fell back into the ritual that had gotten her through the months since Landon’s fatal car accident. Three things I’m glad for, Lord, and three things I need. How many times had she stopped wherever she was and taken a moment to thank God for three little blessings СКАЧАТЬ