The Same Place (The Lamb and the Lion #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,76
front of the car—not a move a real officer would have made, but Jem needed to use the bulk of his body to hide what he was doing. He unscrewed the plastic cover on the tire’s air valve stem, produced a penny from his pocket, and used the penny’s edge to depress the metal pin inside the valve. Air hissed out.
“Officer? I found it.”
The tire wasn’t flat, but it was obviously low, and Jem figured that was good enough. He got to his feet, dusted his hands, and moved back to the driver’s window.
“No gauge?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t even know what one looks like.”
“Then you probably don’t have one,” Jem said with another smile. He accepted the manual, flipped pages, and found the section on tires. Half a year before, this would have been the trickiest part of the game he was running. Now he could read tire because half the middle grade books Tean bought him were about cars. Tire, fire, wire. “I’m going to fold this page. You’ll need it. 35 PSI—if you don’t remember that, just look at this page again.”
“I’m sorry, Officer, but what is going on?”
“Come take a look.”
She got out of the car, and he walked her to the rear tire.
“But I didn’t even feel anything,” she said. “It was driving just fine.”
“Well, it’s not a blowout, miss. It’s just got a steady leak. But I really don’t think you should be driving on it. You might limp around for a while and it’ll seem all right, but you’ll be doing a lot of damage to the suspension and the frame. Do you have AAA?”
“I have—” She glanced at her watch. “I have something like that, yes, but I’ve got to get to this appointment.”
“Is it far?”
“Just a few miles.”
“Well, you’ll make it all right. I’ll follow you over there in case you do have a blowout, and just make sure you get that tire inflated before you go any farther.”
“You really don’t have to follow me.”
“I’m off duty, and I’ve got nothing waiting for me,” Jem said with a self-deprecating smile. The woman blushed and smiled back. “And it’s not far, you said.”
“It’s really not.”
“Then let’s get hopping.”
When they got to LouElla’s, she parked on the street, and he pulled into the driveway. He could see the surprise on her face when she got out of the car. Jem opened the door, laughing, and beat her to the punch, “You’re joking, right?”
She stared at him.
He laughed a little more. “You can call those people back. You don’t need anybody to come out and fill that tire for you.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I’m pretty sure Mom has an air compressor in the garage. Gosh, talk about coincidence. She told me somebody was coming out today, but I never thought it would be you. I was picturing one of those matronly types, really fierce, face like a bulldog.” Jem covered his grin. “Oops.”
She laughed, touching her hair, and Jem knew he’d sold it.
“Lily,” she said, holding out her hand as she met him on the driveway. “Lily Pederson.”
“Jem Berger. Gosh, you’ve got Mom shaking in her boots. She’s convinced she’s not going to pass whatever test you’re giving her.”
“It’s not a test,” Lily said, but she was smiling. When she shifted her weight, Jem shifted his. When she touched her clothes, Jem touched his. When her smile widened, Jem was grinning like a loon. “This is just a safety inspection, you know. And a few follow-up questions.” She blushed and added, “We’re obligated to ask, even if the reports we get don’t seem reliable. Sometimes people don’t understand what they’re seeing.”
Jem shrugged. “I’d rather have somebody who’s overly concerned and makes a report. We need more people like that in the world. Anyway, let me walk you inside.”
After that, everything ran smoothly. LouElla was charming. Jem was charming. Foster mom and foster son, with their enduring affection and relationship. Lily smiled as Jem and LouElla hugged. Lily asked about how long they’d known each other. Lily asked about life after foster care.
“She put me through college,” Jem said, “and the only reason I graduated is because she said she’d taken out a second mortgage on the house to pay the tuition.”
“Jeremiah,” LouElla snapped in mock anger. “You know you weren’t supposed to tell anyone that.”
Jem grinned guiltily and rolled a shoulder.
At the end of the safety inspection, Lily said, “There are a few things that we need to talk about. Otherwise, everything looks in order except—well, the bathroom