Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“There’s nothing cuddly about my father when his family is being threatened.” Josh wasn’t sure his father would consider the sheriff trying to move Nic along a threat to his family. After the conversation they’d had this morning, his dad might be okay with it. Which was precisely why he had to figure out what was going on with her. If someone was after her, there was no way his father’s protective instincts didn’t take over. If he spent time with Nic, his father would see how sweet she was, how perfect she was for him and Grim. “Why would the sheriff suddenly be interested in her? She’s been here for a couple of weeks.”
A brow rose over Al’s eyes like he thought Josh was being naïve. “You’ve spent too much time traveling lately. The sheriff’s dating Alyssa’s cousin. They seem to be real close.”
“And I employ most of Alyssa’s family. You might point that out to the sheriff if he mentions Nicole’s name. Unless he wants to take care of a bunch of unemployed relatives, he’ll leave her alone.”
“You know as long as she’s at that motel, he’s got easy reasons to check up on her. He has deputies out there at least twice a day. I’ve worried about her. Now I hear there’s another single lady staying there for a while.”
Her new friend. What had her name been? Hannah? Heather? He thought he remembered Nic saying something about her mother being sick, but he’d never seen the woman before. It was possible she lived outside of town and he’d never met her. He needed a last name.
But Nic becoming friends with someone temporarily staying at a motel wasn’t what concerned him now. “She’ll be staying with us soon, so don’t worry about that.”
A brow rose over Al’s eyes. “You’re moving fast, Josh.”
“I always knew I would when I found the right one.” He’d merely been marking time, waiting for Nicole. He needed to go easier on his sister because he rather thought that was what she was doing, too, but she didn’t have a Grim to remind her she wasn’t alone. She didn’t have a partner to help her.
He still didn’t think it would be the Farley brothers.
“Well, the first thing you should do is get her a new car. That one is on its last legs,” Al admitted. “She thinks the alternator is all she needs, but nothing is in real working shape on the vehicle. It’s old and hasn’t been taken care of. That thing has over two hundred thousand miles on it. And I’m pretty sure she was living out of it at some point. I don’t like to be nosy…”
He did. “What did you find?”
“She keeps blankets and a pillow in the trunk. I only got in there to inspect the car,” Al said.
“Did you find anything else?”
“No, but I didn’t look real close,” Al admitted. “Look, Josh, if you asked me I would say she’s on the run from someone, likely an ex. She has that look about her, and she damn near panicked when I told her how much it would cost. I don’t think it was entirely about money. I think she wanted to keep going. I’m sorry, Josh. That part is old, and I can’t order it until I have the cash in hand.”
Josh waved that concern away. “I’m not upset with you for that. I understand you have a business to run.”
“So you want me to arrange to sell that junker for parts?” Al asked. “Like I said, it’s old and there are some parts that could make her a couple of hundred. Otherwise, I would have it cubed like your daddy did.”
He rather thought Nic would have him cubed. He’d heard the stories about his dad’s predilection for smushing vehicles that offended him into small cubes. He’d been told the cube his pops kept in his office used to be a motorcycle. “I don’t think we’re in a place yet where she would take a car from us, but I’m pretty sure I can get her to stay with us while her car is being fixed. It’s an old part, right?”
Al grimaced. “Yeah, and I’m afraid it could take a while even after I order it.”
“Oh, I think it should take a couple of weeks. Maybe a month,” Josh said. “Maybe it’s stuck on a container ship that’s trapped in the bottleneck at the Panama Canal. I read something about that.”
Al nodded. “It’s not that much of a stretch. I did tell her I would have to order the part and I couldn’t until she made a down payment. You trying to keep her around?”
“I think that women on the run keep running until they find a place that feels safe enough to take a risk.” Josh had been thinking about it all day. He wanted to respect her privacy. No. That was a lie. He knew he should respect her privacy. What he wanted was to know absolutely everything about her, to track her every movement in case she needed him for some reason, to be a couple of steps behind so he could ensure she was safe and no one hurt her either emotionally or physically. That was what he wanted, but he would be content with knowing what she was running from. Then he could plot and plan and get her out of whatever situation had put the lost look in her eyes.