Page 3 of The Billionaire Land Baron

“Yo, Greg!” Matt shouted.

A man with a full beard and an unlit cigar dangling from his lips came around the front of a minivan in the closest bay. He shook Matt’s hand.

“The truck okay?”

“She’s running great since the last tune-up. We’ve got a real beauty for you today. Need to tow her in.”

Matt nodded his head to Jake, but Greg glanced at him and kept talking to Matt. “What kind of car?”

“Aston Martin,” Matt said.

Greg tucked the cigar in his front pocket and reached out to shake Jake’s hand. “Well, now. I’ve never seen one of those. You know it’ll be days before we can get parts if it needs them.”

“Hopefully it will be a small thing,” Jake said. But it never was with Layla. She was a total diva. Demanding, hard to please. When she had problems, they were not small.

Slim must have gotten hot or bored in the car, because he sidled into the garage and leaned against the counter.

“You got a place to stay?” Slim asked, joining the conversation like he’d been there all along.

“I was supposed to be staying at L’Auberge this week.”

“What’re ya doing all the way up here then, boy?” Greg said.

“Just out for a drive,” Jake said. So far, this excuse was working just fine. “I don’t want to be far from her, so I’ll probably just stay close. Are there any hotels or bed and breakfasts?”

Greg and Matt both looked at him. Slim snickered.

“Son, look around you,” Greg said. “This is Lucky, Texas, not New York City. You see any hotels out on your drive? You’re stuck for now.”

“Where’s the closest town with a hotel?”

Slim, Matt, and Greg all laughed now. “Son, you’d have to head to Orange. And no one wants to stay in Orange.” Greg spit on the cement floor.

“What’s wrong with Orange?”

“Let’s just say that Lucky and Orange don’t get along and leave it at that,” Matt said.

Not for the first time, Jake thought about how strange Texas was. Small towns in general were always interesting, but, true to its reputation, everything was bigger in Texas.

“I’d like to get my car, if you don’t mind. I’ll figure out where to sleep later.”

“Hey,” Greg said, “Shelby’s place! Isn’t she renting out that trailer?”

The name Shelby made Jake picture an older woman with thinning white hair and one of those big floral house dresses, the kind his grandma used to wear.

Matt narrowed his eyes and looked to Jake. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Jealousy came off him in waves. So, Shelby was not an old woman.

“It’s perfect!” Greg said. “And besides that, it’s the only place around. I can call her.”

“She’s got it listed on that AirB thing,” Slim said.

“You mean AirBNB?” Jake asked.

He opened the app on his phone. He often used it on the road, preferring unique places to generic hotels, especially if he could rent a whole house. There was only one listing for Lucky, Texas. A shiny silver airstream trailer, next to a lake where the sun was setting, sending reds and purples over the surface of the water and the trailer. Not luxury, but unique and private. And apparently the only thing outside of Orange, which was apparently off-limits.

“I’ll drive you to L’Auberge,” Matt said. All three men looked at him. For whatever reason, he did not want Jake going to Shelby’s. “I don’t mind. We can tow your car and then I’ll drive you down.”

Jake’s finger hovered over the Book Now button. “Is there a problem?”

---