Page 5 of Shelter for Tanna

“Charlie’s Wrecker and Recovery Service. Charlie speaking.”

Braden had wondered if she’d answer the phone, but nope?the voice was that of a cigarette-dependent burly guy. “Uh, is Tanna there?”

“Nope. Out on a run. Want me to take a message?”

“No. Uh, wait. Yeah. Could you?”

That grumpy voice barked, “What is it?”

“Tell her Braden called and this is my number.” He rattled it off and waited. “Got it?”

“Yeah. I’ll give it to her when she comes in.”

“Thanks. Bye.” Braden ended the call and sat there, staring at the tabletop in his kitchen. Would she call him back? He kind of doubted it, but it was worth a try.

The day passed and his phone never rang. That was apparently her answer, and he decided that was the end of the line. He wouldn’t try to call her again. She had his number and if she wanted to talk to him, she’d call.

* * *

“StationFour, respond to accident, Fourth and Mallory streets. Repeat, Fourth and Mallory streets. Multi-vehicle accident with multiple injuries. Copy?”

“Copy, dispatch. Rolling in two.” ElCapitan bellowed out, “Let’s go, boys!” and everyone in the firehouse hit the floor running.

It was a mess. One car was crushed between the other two, and the woman was still inside the passenger compartment. Sparky was trained in using the extraction equipment and as the EMTs waited, he bit into the metal and cut it open like a drink can. In the meantime, another team of EMTs treated two people who were injured in the pickup truck involved in the accident. A third demolished vehicle sat abandoned at the curb, its owner standing on the concrete sidewalk as everyone worked. Braden and the rest of the crew cleaned up the mess and talked to the police officers who’d shown up on scene.

They were ready to leave the scene when the tow trucks started pulling up, and Braden watched. Sure enough, Charlie’s Wrecker Service had a truck there, and he could tell the driver was Tanna because she was so small. He wanted to offer to help her get the worst of the vehicles on her truck, but she hadn’t bothered to call him back. ElCapitan pointed HotShot to one of the vehicles and Dude to another, and it was just Braden’s luck that he pointed directly to Braden and then to Tanna’s truck.Damn it, he muttered in his head while he headed that direction. “Need some help?” he asked as he walked up.

She turned and, instead of the look she’d given him the week before, she actually smiled. “Thanks. That would be nice.” He didn’t make an attempt to talk to her, just busied himself picking up pieces of the car and putting them on the bed of the truck. When they were all gathered up, he watched as she hooked the winch up to the frame of the crushed vehicle and pulled it onto the flatbed. They had finished and the truck was ready to go when she turned to him again. “Braden, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good to see you again.” There was something in her expression, a spark, that he hadn’t seen before.

“Good to see you too.” He hesitated for a few seconds, wondering if he should say anything, before he finally blurted out, “Is there a reason why you didn’t return my call?”

Her brow dipped toward the bridge of her nose. “Your call?”

“Yeah. I called Charlie’s office and left you a message.”

When she tilted her head in confusion he couldn’t help but think it was cute. “I didn’t get a message from you. What did it say?”

“It was just my phone number. That was all.”

“Oh. No, Charlie didn’t give it to me. What did you need?”

He dragged a toe across the pavement and dropped his gaze, suddenly nervous. “I was going to see if you’d like to go to dinner.”

“Oh. I don’t know how I’d… I’d have to find a sitter.”

When he lifted his head and looked into her face, he swore the smile she was wearing was the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. “Oh! Well, um, I can give you my number. If you want to go out and can arrange it, give me a call. I work a forty-eight during the week but I’m free the rest of the time.”

“Sure! What is it?” Two minutes later, it was stored in her phone and he wondered if he’d ever see her again. Maybe she was just placating him so he’d go away. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch,” she said as she slipped the phone into her pocket.

“Great! I’ll look forward to it! Thanks, Tanna.”

“Thank you, Braden. Have a good day.”

“You too.” He wheeled on his heel and headed back to the truck before she had a chance to change her mind. She was pretty enough, very curvy, and her hair was a beautiful caramel gold above those glorious green eyes. There wasn’t one thing about her that didn’t appeal to him, and he wanted to get to know her better.

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