But don’t be comin’ ter do it beneath this here truck.”
Jessica shook her head, trying to get a word in edgewise. “You’ve got it all wrong, sir. I wasn’t trying to die.” She gestured at her car, “I was asking for help. My car won’t start, and I’m stuck here with my kids.”
The anger drained from his face at once as understanding dawned and he bestowed a grandfatherly beam on her kids. He seemed to make a mental shift. “Oh I see, you got some wee ones with ya, hey? I’ll take a look-see at yer car and let you know, lickety-split, what the problem is. Hopefully, even git ya on yer way.”
Jessica fought down a grin at his accent and choice of words. It didn’t get more country than this. “Uh…sure. Thank you Mr. …” she trailed off, uncertain.
“Name’s Roy, ma’am.”
He removed his hat just then, and she saw, for the first time, that he was completely gray.
“Thank you, um, Mr. Roy. I’m Jessica … Harris,” she added.
He grunted, as he began to fiddle with something underneath the hood of her car.
She let him work in silence, thanking her stars that she had acted so quickly to wave him down. Truth be told, it had been more panic than smarts. She was still holding her breath as he worked.
Her kids erupted from the backseat and dashed forward to stand beside her and Roy. “What’s he doing?” Kal demanded, planting his little body protectively in front of his mother and sister.
Roy looked up for the first time since he’d started tinkering, and a wide grin split his face as he took in the little boy. Clearly, he was the man of the family.
“You gonna stand over there pissing on yer territory or you gonna come over here and give me a hand, boy?” Roy demanded as he stuck his head beneath the hood again.
Kal’s eyes widened until they positively bulged, “Can I?”
Jessica threw her son a surprised glance. Those two words were filled with such hunger and disbelief and joy that, in a split second, she saw clearly what she’d done. In the four years since her ex-husband walked out on her and their kids, she had parented her son exactly as she parented her daughter. He was hungry for male attention. He desperately needed a father figure, and apparently, this old guy was it at the moment.
Her heart was in her throat as she ruffled his hair, “Go on.”
Kal was so excited that he forgot to frown at her for ruffling his hair. He catapulted forward and skid to a halt beside Roy.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked eagerly.
Roy grinned at him, “Here, hold that.”
He handed Kal a small bottle of oil. Kal held it gingerly as though it were made of fine porcelain, his eyes fixed in concentration.
Jessica felt tears sting her eyes as she watched Kal proudly lean over to pour in some oil when Roy told him to. Her little boy was growing up without a father, and she hadn’t realized just how hungry he was for one. A few minutes beside Roy, and her eyes were opened.
Roy tinkered a little more and then lifted his head to give her a nod, “That oughta do the trick. Go on and test her.”
Jessica hurtled into the driver’s seat and twisted the key in the ignition. It started at once, and she grinned. “Roy, you’re a miracle worker. Come on, kids, get back in,” she called as she exited the car to thank him more properly.
Roy tipped his hat to her and helped shoo the kids into the car.
“Well, can’t have a little miss like you stranded in the middle of nowhere, now, can we? Not from around these parts, are you?” he observed
It wasn’t much of a newsflash. Her clothes alone were a dead giveaway, she decided with a grimace, looking down at her sundress and flat sandals. They had looked so beautiful when she took off this morning, but now, seeing the rough rolling hills and pagan landscape, they seemed as impracticable as horse riding on a New York sidewalk.
“We’re from Oklahoma,” she told him.
He stared at her in silence as though he seemed to be waiting for something. She would have been confused if she hadn’t read enough Nora Roberts novels to know that, in small towns this size, they all lived to know each other’s businesses.
Well, he had been helpful, she decided. Maybe she could be a little more neighborly herself,