Page 2 of Beat around the Bush
“Thanks. I’ll give them a call in the morning.” There was no way I would be calling them. I barely had enough money in my account to cover the groceries I just bought. No way was I paying a mechanic to lie about some problem on my car and upcharge the hell out of me.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked again.
“Yep. Get home safe,” I clipped, turning to slip back into my car. He was still standing there when I closed my door and cranked up the heater.
I grabbed a few napkins from my center console and watched as he disappeared into his truck while I patted my face dry and wrung out the ends of my soaked hair. These storms in the west were no joke. I knew that from having grown up in Colorado, but no matter how long I’d been around them, I’d never been able to get used to them.
Seeing that he wasn’t pulling away, I shifted into drive, and pulled around his truck, heading down the road. I watched in my rearview mirror as he continued on his way. Releasing a deep breath of air, I headed in the direction of my rental.
I internally told myself not to think of my mother or the fact that my dad hadn’t stopped calling me since I left Denver. I could deal with all of that later. Right now, I just needed to make it back to the rental I was calling home, unload these groceries,scarf down some food, and get a good night's sleep before my interview tomorrow.
The rest could wait.
2
Lennon
Grabbing a clean travel mug from the cabinet, I poured myself a cup of coffee. Black, just how I liked it. With how shitty my night went, I’d need all the caffeine I could get today.
I’d tossed and turned for hours. Everytime I closed my eyes, all I saw was amber hair and eyes so green I thought they were fake. The dim light of the headlights did little to hide her.
She’d looked so damn pale when she got out of her car, a tremble in her hands as she rambled. I couldn’t give two shits less about my damn truck at that moment. Knowing if she was alright was the only thought on my mind at the time.
These storms weren’t for the weak, which led me to wonder why she was even out in it in the first place. I’d been driving home from Tumbleweed Feed, the only feed store in town,when she’d hit my truck so hard at the four-way stop that it jerked forward a few inches.
My ‘78 GMC K15 didn’t budge easy, but man, had she slammed into it. She had to have been looking at her phone or something and not realized there was a stop sign. I was just thankful she hitme, because if she had ended up going through the intersection without looking, someone could have hit her.
I pushed the thought of someone smashing into the side of her car away and downed the rest of my coffee, then refilled my mug to the rim. After grabbing my baseball cap off the kitchen table, I headed out the door, locking it behind me.
Typically, I tried to get to the feed store before whoever was scheduled to open with me so I could get some paperwork done in peace, but with barely any sleep, I was running behind schedule.
Climbing behind the wheel of my truck, I drove towards town with the heat cranked. Fall was practically nonexistent this year as summer jumped right into winter temperatures. The first snow would be here before we knew it.
Hopefully that woman got new tires before the snow came. Even in the dark, I could see there was little to no tread on the rubber. I didn’t miss her Colorado plates either, which meant she at least wasn’t a stranger to icy roads.
Jacey’s SUV was sitting in the parking lot by the time I pulled in fifteen minutes later. Parking my truck in its usual spot in the corner of the lot, I hopped out and headed inside the already unlocked front door.
Jacey had started working at Tumbleweed Feed around the same time I had. Fast forward eight years, I was now the owner of the store. Jacey was three years younger than me, just shy of turning thirty. With our work history, we got along great, and I considered her a friend, but nothing else.
I had no interest in dating right now. My mind was more focused on the store and Bottom of the Buckle Horse Rescue. My parents had started the rescue a few years before they had me, and even as our family grew, they never slowed down with the nonprofit. They lived and breathed BOTB, and all of my siblings supported it in their own way.
I was constantly trying to find potential homes for some of the rescues. With the foot traffic at the feed store, it was easy to strike up conversations with customers in an attempt to get them interested in adopting or volunteering.
“Good morning,” Jacey greeted me as I walked by her on the way to my office.
“Morning,” I grumbled.
She halted her sweeping, leaning up against the handle. “What’s got you in a mood?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I headed into my office, setting my travel mug and keys down on the desk.
Jacey’s curvy form appeared in the doorway. “I’m not buying that.”
Taking a seat in the chair, I blew out a long breath. “Don’t know what to tell you.”
“Please,” she scoffed. “I know you, Len. Spill.”
I met her gaze, noticing her hair. “Ponytail?”
