Restoring Her Faith. Jennifer Slattery

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       Chapter Two

      Drake Owens glanced at the frazzled city girl, dressed like one of those granola types, sitting in the passenger’s seat beside him. Chestnut hair fell over her shoulders in long, loose waves. Gray eyes shadowed by deeply furrowed brows hinted that a spitfire lingered just below her polite smiles and thank-yous.

      Pretty enough to jumble a man’s head, if he wasn’t careful. Drake never had that problem with the folks from Leaded Pane.

      His phone rang. His headset answered. “Hey-lo.”

      “You called?” It was Elizabeth, his sister.

      “Just making sure y’all made it down to the lake all right,” Drake said. “That my rascally sons didn’t give you and Mom too much trouble.” At three and a half and six years old, those two could be quite a handful. His mom had always managed to keep them wrangled well enough...until Dad’s accident. Now she spent most of her time caring for him. Luckily, Drake’s sister had stepped in to help nanny, almost full-time. Otherwise he would’ve had to back out of the restoration project.

      “Oh, your boys were fine. Getting Dad into the truck was another story.”

      “The picnic will be good for him. He needs to get out of the house. Mom, too.”

      “I know. Now if I could somehow get him to socialize a little... He’s been tight-lipped all day.”

      More like all month, not that Drake could blame him. That fall from the barn loft had stolen more than his mobility. He’d lost his independence, ability to provide for his family, to do what he’d always loved...

      If he lost the ranch, too...

      Drake refused to let that happen.

      “William!” Drake’s sister called out to his youngest. “Get that out of your mouth!” With a sigh, she returned to the phone. “Got to go. See you in a few?”

      “Yep.” Soon as he dropped his feisty little friend off.

      Not that he could blame her for her sour mood. He’d just ruined her afternoon in a big way. To think that if he’d stayed out at Mr. Farmer’s for ten more minutes, he might’ve avoided the accident altogether... But he’d been too wrapped up thinking about his parents’ financial issues. As a result, he’d totaled her car, and nearly sent her trailer flying with who knows how many thousands of dollars’ worth of stained glass.

      Speaking of...why was she here instead of the guys from Leaded Pane? As a family-owned business from Northeast Texas, they understood the importance of maintaining the flavor of a place. Not so with city folks, like this princess sitting next to him. They always seemed compelled to force their progress on everyone else.

      As if a town couldn’t make its own decisions.

      That church held way too much history, personal and otherwise, to let some city girl botch things up.

      An image filled his mind of his wife standing at the altar. She’d looked beautiful dressed in a white lace gown that hugged her soft curves, the Garden of Eden mural covering the wall behind her. The deep green in the leaves had provided a beautiful contrast to her strawberry-blond highlights and peachy complexion. Her blue eyes were so full of life—until cancer stole that from her.

      Though he no longer felt the sharp sting of grief, he would always hold tight to the memories of all they’d shared. A good deal of them in that small country church.

      He slowed as he neared the Cedar View Inn. “How long you been in the restoration business?”

      Her gaze met his, held it long enough to spike his pulse. But then her cheeks flushed and she looked away. “A while.”

      She was such a tight-lipped little thing. Because she was quiet or lacked the experience to do the job? Then again, she might still be shaken up from the accident. Or spitting mad. “Bet you been all over the country, huh?”

      She gave a slight shrug and focused on the single-story, metal-roofed motel in front of her. He eyed her trendy silk tank, long flowing skirt and strappy white sandals. Had city girl been expecting something fancier?

      “Listen, about your car...” He cast her a sideways glance, momentarily distracted by the soft curve of her cheek. “I’ll make sure it gets fixed up right, and as quick as possible.”

      “I’d appreciate that.” Her tone held a hint of a bite.

      The truck jolted as he hit a pothole, before pulling up to the cement parking bumper. “This is it.” His was the only vehicle in the lot. “Except...looks like Mr. Johnson, the hotel owner, isn’t here.”

      “What does that mean?”

      “There’s no one to check you in at the moment. The place doesn’t get enough business for front desk staff.”

      “Oh.” She frowned. “Mind if I call him? Before you leave, I mean?”

      Her vulnerable tone drew Drake to her in the most inconvenient way. “Sure.”

      He waited, engine humming, while she rummaged through her purse and pulled out a folded slip of paper. Looked like a printed-out email.

      “Thanks.” Phone to her ear a moment later, she sighed. “Voice mail.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Hello, this is Faith Nichols, I spoke to you last week. I have a reservation...” She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “For tomorrow. But I was hoping you might have a vacancy tonight.” She left her number, then dropped her phone back into her purse.

      She leaned back against her seat, obviously completely flustered.

      This had been quite a day for her. Because of him. “Most likely the owner’s at the church picnic. I wouldn’t expect him back until...” Drake placed his hand on his gearshift, prepared to reverse the truck and trailer. “You hungry?”

      “Excuse me?”

      You would’ve thought he’d asked her to eat a worm, the way her head jerked toward him. He was merely trying to be friendly. He couldn’t exactly leave her here. “Figured maybe you’d like to come to the picnic.”

      She scraped her teeth across her bottom lip, then gave a slow nod. “I might as well.”

      “All right then. Give me a minute to turn this thing around.” He reached for the door handle, then paused. “I figure you’ll want to leave your gear here, instead of having us drag it all over СКАЧАТЬ