Page 33 of Truck Stop Titan
If she kept pleading with those soft fucking eyes, I’d do anything she asked. And when the hell had I turned into such a pushover? “No problem.”
“We should head back.” Moriah reached across my legs, grabbed my mug, then her own, and pushed to stand.
I snagged her forgotten cell out of the sand and followed her across the lawn.
“Morning.” A gruff voice came over my shoulder when we hit the porch.
I turned to find James Slade, Lettie’s husband, Tucker’s dad. He held his own mug of coffee in one hand, and the morning paper in the other. He smiled the same damn smile as his son, dimples and all. But in his eyes, I saw Blondie. Big and blue and full of zest.
“Morning,” I offered, with a chin nod.
“Morning, Mr. Slade.” Moriah said, her voice still shaky. “You’re up early.”
“Ah, well. Got a ton of ground to cover today. Mower needs a tune-up. There’s a faulty sprinkler head out back.” He huffed. “But first, got some digging to do. Lettie loves her lilacs. Gonna plant a row of bushes out back, so she can see them out the bedroom window.”
“Aren’t you the romantic,” Moriah practically purred. She patted James on the chest, then headed inside.
The old guy blushed.
I nodded and made to follow her, but James cleared his throat. “Dane.”
“Yeah?”
“I know you’re not sticking around much longer, but while you’re here, if you need a change of pace, I could use a hand. You know, with maintenance and such. Tucker helps when he can, but the place is big, and, well, I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“Sure, Mr. Slade.” I scratched the back of my head. “Anything you need.” I owed the guy, after all. He’d played a major role in keeping Rocky alive. And a little physical activity would do me good.
“None of that Mr. Slade crap. It’s James.”
“All right, James.” I met him eye to eye. “Need me this morning?”
“Why don’t we see how the little one does. You get a break, you come find me.”
“Sure.”
With that, he headed toward the barn.
I made my way inside, shaking my head.
Moriah
I SHOOK MY HEAD.Pinched the bridge of my nose. Drew a deep breath. “Sure. Sure. I understand. Thank you for your time.”
Another dead end.
I ticked off the ninth contact on my job search list.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Like Mom always said,” I mumbled to Mim, although I knew she wasn’t listening. “‘God closes one door, he opens another’.”
Maybe Mom had been right.
I’d told Matthew I wanted kids, and he shut me down—door closed.
Bam! A child dropped into my lap—door open.
I had always wanted to travel, get out of Shelbyville. Matthew hated traveling, and Mom got sick—door closed.
Boom! An impromptu trip clear across the country—door open.