Page 92 of Hero Unbound

She turned to the pups. “You guys have to stay here, but I’ll be back to get you soon. Don’t worry.” The dogs didn’t seem to mind. They were comfortable here. Knew this was a safe place.

Yet another reason she didn’t want to leave.

She needed to go into town and talk to Mr. Collier about the car for sale he’d mentioned. Buying it would wipe out all the money she’d managed to save the past month, which didn’t put her in a good position to leave Oak Creek and start again. The thought was panic-inducing, so she shut it down. She couldn’t think about that right now.

Couldn’t think about how she’d ruined everything. With the town she’d come to love, with the friends she’d started to make, and with Theo. She would just have to take things one step at a time.

The drive into town took twice as long as it normally would. The fog made it dark and difficult to see. The beautiful mountains that surrounded the town were completely invisible.

She pulled up at the front of the pharmacy and got out of the truck. She scanned around three hundred and sixty degrees before walking toward the store. The last thing she wanted was to run into Gareth.

Maybe the only good thing to come out of all this was her determination to stay away from him. She might not be able to stay in Oak Creek, but she definitely wasn’t going anywhere with him. They were done. There were a lot of things confused in her mind, but that was very clear—the situation with Snowflake yesterday had confirmed it.She didn’t want anything to do with him ever again. She didn’t care if they’d been engaged or not.

She didn’t see him anywhere around, not that she could see much anyway in the dense fog and dim light, and walked inside the pharmacy. She waited over to the side until Mr. Collier finished with the customers he was talking to.

The older man smiled when she walked up to the counter. “Back again so soon?Got another sick animal?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I wanted to talk to you a little more about the car for sale you mentioned. Is it still available?”

He put areceiptin the drawer then leaned his elbowsonthe counter. “Do you know someone who wants to buy it?”

“Me.” She shrugged. “My car caught on fire a few weeks ago and wastotaled. You might have heard.”

He grimaced. “I think everybody in town heard. That was the biggest source of excitement we’ve had around here in a while. I thought you were using one of the Linear Tactical trucks. They have plenty.”

“I am. I was. Um, I might not be staying in town much longer, so I need something of my own.”Her throat wanted to close around the words as she said them, and the last part came out a littlechoked.

Mr. Collier studied her for a moment. “I see. Well, I was thinking about how much I wanted to sell the car for. And honestly, it’s such a drain on my resources, I was going to cut the price by about a third.”

Now Eva studied him. She didn’t know if he was telling the truth or if he was trying to help her out. Either way, she had no choice but to be thankful. “Well, that definitely puts it more in my budget if you’d consider selling it to me.”

“Do you want to drive it around a little first?” he asked. “See if you like it? Right color, right style, all that stuff.”

She shrugged. “Does it run well? Honestly, that’s allIreally care about. Isit going to get me where I need to go?”

He was silent for a long moment. “Do youknowwhere you need to go, missy?” he finally asked softly.

No, she really had no idea. “I’ll figure it out.”

He nodded. “Then yes, it will get you where you need to go. It’s in good shape despite its age.”

“If you’ll give me a little bit of time to get the cash together, then it’s a deal.”

He straightened back up behind the counter. “Consider it sold, if you’ll do me one favor.”

She put a smile on her face but prayed he wasn’t about to ask her to show him proof of insurance. That was the very reason she was trying to pay cash for a used car. A dealership wasoutof the question since they’d require it.

“What do you need?” she asked.

“Let me start by asking if you’ve ever done anything so stupid that you’re not sure it could be explained to any reasonable person.”

For a second, Eva took the question at face value and almost panicked. Then she realized he wasn’t talking about her situation at all; he was making a joke.

“How much time do you have?” she asked back with a half laugh.

Mr. Collier leaned in closer and lowered his volume. “Last week, I was supposed to order five hundred small plastic measuring cups that we give out with liquid medication. Five hundred lasts us probably about eighteen months here, but instead, I accidentally ordered ten thousand.”

She couldn’t stop the smile that stole over her face. On the scale of stupid, this situation was probably as benign as you could get.

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