Page 5 of Break My Fall

“Huh?”

“The phone? The pictures?”

“Oh. Right.” She handed it over and gave herself a mental slap.

He turned the screen toward her. “See this?”

She studied the photo. “That’s where my diesel leaked?”

“Yeah. It’s hard to see, but when I wiped the line dry, I could see the cut. I don’t suppose you, I don’t know, ran over a large branch, or took the van through a ditch, did a little off-roading?”

His questions, albeit increasingly facetious, held a tinge of hope. He would have been thrilled if she could give him an explanation other than the one she could already see forming in his mind.

She wanted to say that she made it a habit to take her freakishly expensive dental office on wheels through random fields, but she refrained and answered truthfully. “Mrs. Frost has a gravel driveway, but her sons smoothed it out last week. I didn’t so much as hit a pothole today.”

Gray’s mouth twisted into an unpleasant grimace. “Stay here.”

It wasn’t a request, and she considered ignoring it. But given that there were now two vehicles and two people on the side of the road, she chose to remain where she could flag down any oncoming motorists before Gray, who was now walking up the middle of the road, was flattened into a police chief pancake.

He walked around the curve and out of sight. Rude. He could have said something like, “I’m hot on the trail.” But no.

She opened her van door and reached inside for her coffee. It was still hot, and she was on her eleventh sip—and yes, she was counting—when Gray reappeared. He didn’t say anything as he returned to her side. When he reached her, he looked at the insulated tumbler she held. It was a lurid pink. “I didn’t think you liked pink.”

“I don’t particularly.”

“Then why?” He waved a hand toward the cup.

“Because Cal and Mo used to have a bad habit of raiding my kitchen when they can’t find their own mugs. I bought four of these in lovely neutral shades before I gave up and started buying the most obnoxious colors they make.”

“Clever girl.”

Meredith nearly dropped her coffee. Was Gray flirting with her? This was flirting. Right? “Would you like a sip?”

“What’s in it?”

“Coffee.”

“I gathered that. What else is in it?”

“Oh, um, oat milk creamer?”

He rolled his eyes but took the tumbler and raised it to his lips. He took a cautious sip. Then another. “That’s not bad.” He blew out a breath. “We have to consider the possibility that someone punctured your fuel line while you were at Mrs. Frost’s house today.”

Meredith leaned against her van. “Why?”

“I have a few theories.”

“Care to share?”

“Not here. Not now.”

“Does that mean later?”

Gray shifted his feet. “I’m not sure.”

“I deserve to know.”

“You do. But I don’t want to scare you.”

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