Breaking down, p.3
Breaking Down, page 3
The seconds ticked by while Carmen sat, making a conscious effort not to think. She counted her heartbeats and allowed the bustle of the cafe to fade into a pleasant hum around her. The happiness and normality of the other people going about their days numbed her racing thoughts. Finally, with a sigh of resignation, Carmen pulled her phone from her purse and powered it on.
The screen blazed to life and promptly flashed a “low battery” warning. Before she could see the background photo she had yet to change, she opened the messages app and scanned the list for her sister’s name.
With her face bent over the mug, she started to type a message to Marcy but paused, lost for words. Desperation warred with pride in her chest. Spurring the motion of her fingers and then staying them. She hated this, asking for help, but it had come to the point where she did not have another road to follow.
The door chimed, making her twitch. She glanced up and her heart delivered a none-too-subtle punch against her ribs. Sawyer Stevenson closed the door behind him and pushed the hair off his brow with one smooth motion. If someone paused time, it would poise him to land on the pages of a magazine.
“Morning, Sawyer!” The girl who had served Carmen popped out from the kitchen; her voice as bright as the sun filtering through the windows.
“Hey, Chuck,” Sawyer hollered, waving with a grin as he pulled out a chair at a small table near the front.
“Coffee?” She was already at the table, the pot poised over an empty mug in her other hand.
“God, yes. Couldn’t sleep a wink last night,” he said, folding his long body into the seat. She filled the mug, the two of them engaging in fluent, familiar small talk until another ding from the kitchen’s bell sent her hurrying off.
Sawyer sat back in his chair, stretching his hands over his head and yawning. He sipped his coffee with obvious relish, steam rising to dance around his full mouth.
It was a moment before she realized Sawyer had seen her. He lifted his hand in a wave. Breath trapped in her chest as Carmen smiled before burying her face in her cup. Her phone chose that moment to beep again, loud enough to make her jump. A few heads swivelled in her direction, and she scrambled to turn the volume down with a muttered apology to no one in particular, heat creeping up along her neck. She still had to send the text to Marcy, and the thing was about to die.
“You should charge that phone. The garage might need to get a hold of you.” A deep voice that held husky notes leftover from sleep froze her on the spot. Carmen’s thumb hovered over the send button.
Her heart attempted to clamour up and out of her throat when she looked up at Sawyer and grinned. “Everyone knows they will keep it as long as possible so they can charge more for labour,” she quipped.
“Ah, drat, the lady is onto us.” Sawyer swung his fist to the side in mock consternation, then chuckled. “May I join you?” His hands wrapped around the back of the chair opposite her. Carmen gazed down at his hands. They told the story of a man who laboured for a living, knuckles marked with scabs and scars.
“Of course,” she said.
He settled into the chair, bringing a plethora of scents with him: shampoo, cologne, grease, and gasoline. “I hope I’m not interrupting?” He sipped at his coffee. “I adhere to the belief people shouldn’t eat alone. It goes against our ancestral instincts.”
Before she could respond to his question, the server appeared at the table with two steaming plates. The way she placed things in front of Sawyer, pulling ketchup and hot sauce from her apron pocket, made it clear they had long ago established a routine.
“Carmen, this is Charlotte.” Sawyer grabbed his fork and grinned at the waitress. “She keeps me fed and listens to me complain every day. I’ve known her forever.” He held the back of his hand up to his mouth and said in a conspiratorial, wide-eyed whisper in Carmen’s direction, “She’s older than me, though.”
“Pfft.” Charlotte made a noise like a valve releasing air. “You know what comes with age, Sawyer?” Charlotte cocked her head, waiting to see if he would answer. He stared back at her, without answering, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Wisdom,” Charlotte supplied after a beat.
Swallowing a mouthful of coffee, Carmen extended a hand to the other woman, deciding to break up their verbal spar before it escalated. “Nice to meet you, Charlotte.”
Once they had exchanged pleasantries and Charlotte moved to another table, Carmen turned to Sawyer. “Did you call that poor girl ‘Chuck’ when you first came in?”
Sawyer chuckled against the rim of his coffee cup, sending a plume of steam dancing on his breath. “I did. People call her Charlie for short, but sometime around the fifth grade, I started calling her Chuck, and well—” He winced and shook his head. “I promise I apologized profusely to her over the years.”
Carmen accepted the knife and fork Sawyer pushed across the table for her, snorting softly. “That almost makes me glad I haven’t had any friends for that long.”
The aromas of bacon and buttery toast drowned the scent of him, and Carmen caught herself breathing deeply, trying to find it again.
One tawny brow raised. He studied her from across the table. “So? Was I interrupting anything?”
“No, you weren’t, I was just . . .” She flapped a hand around in a vague motion that encompassed her coffee and the menu, then picked up her phone. A melody rang out, and the screen went black, even as she looked down at it.
“There is probably a plug around the shop if you need one?” Sawyer offered.
“Thanks,” Carmen said, sprinkling pepper on her eggs. “Mine is back at the hotel. I’m terrible at remembering to charge it.” For now, the fact it would not be buzzing with messages from Billy was a relief. Until she charged the battery, she had a reprieve.
“People put too much stock in the things anyway.” Sawyer took a massive bite of toast. “How was your night in the luxury suite?” he asked with his mouth full.
Carmen narrowed her eyes. Talking with a full mouth was disgusting. It was almost a relief to see such faux pas on a human as beautiful as Sawyer. Otherwise, her traitorous brain may go thinking he was perfect, or something crazy like that.
“It was . . . I didn’t get murdered, so that’s the most important thing, right?”
He let out a bark of laughter, causing a few of the restaurant’s grey-haired patrons to swivel in their direction. “The most important.”
After that, they ate in comfortable silence. Carmen chewed and wondered what it was about the Stevenson men and their ability to make her feel comfortable.
The breakfast was delicious. Carmen finished in record time and sat back with a sigh; thankful the meal had not turned on her hungover stomach.
“Hash browns?” Sawyer asked around a mouthful of toast.
“Sorry?” she asked.
“Would you like some? They give such big portions. I can never finish them all.”
Carmen gave him a skeptical look, dropping her eyes in a slow appraisal of his size. “Liar,” she accused, though her mouth watered at the sight of the grease-soaked mound of pepper-flecked spuds. Forgetting how full she was, she moved her empty plate closer. Sawyer rewarded her with another crooked, boyish grin. Using his knife, he slid half the pile over, paused, and added a few more before pushing the plate back across the table to her.
“So, you never told me what brought you to our little city.”
“Well, if you recall, it wasn’t voluntary.” Carmen shovelled some potatoes into her mouth, rolling her eyes back with a moan of appreciation. “I’m so thankful your dad came and got me. Speaking of murder, spending the night on that road?” She gave a huge, mock shiver. “No, thanks.”
“These highways aren’t the safest.” He looked at her from under blond lashes before he dropped his eyes back to his plate. “Even less so for beautiful women driving cars older than themselves.”
“Excuse me?” Carmen scowled, though her heart did what felt like a backflip at his compliment. “No mocking the car. She’s a gem.”
Sawyer snorted. “An eighteenth-century gem.”
“Just because you’re so used to tow trucks and tractors that you can’t appreciate intrepid German technology doesn’t mean you can make fun of her.”
His laughter filled the café. Carmen looked up and saw Charlotte—who stood twisting cutlery into tight bundles—watching them. She caught Carmen’s eye, smiling, and picked up a coffeepot, holding it aloft with a raised brow before moving to their table.
“Would you like more?” Her voice was high. Carmen wondered if Sawyer knew she had a crush on him. He held up his mug and moved Carmen’s forward for Charlotte without asking.
“So, are you working today?” Charlotte asked Sawyer as she filled their mugs.
Sawyer nodded and tossed a smirk in Carmen’s direction. “Oh, yeah. Big job today. Monumental you might even say.”
Carmen kicked him beneath the table, smiling sweetly at Charlotte as she accepted her cup. Sawyer grunted and reached under the table to rub his shin.
When their second cups were empty and the plates cleared away, Sawyer sighed and pushed back from the table. “I suppose I should get over there. My dad was mad the last time I tried to trap a girl here by not fixing her decrepit car.”
Carmen shook her head to hide her smile. “Men. You never learn the first time.”
He winked and stood, stretching his arms upward. The tips of his fingers brushed the ceiling, and his shoulders let out two unpleasant pops. “See you at the shop later?” he asked.
“Sure?” Carmen said. If he said so. What else was she going to do with her day? “Any idea how long until the old gal is ready to hit the road once more?” Carmen’s mind scrambled with the tasks at hand: charge her phone, talk to Marcy, email Jake. Sawyer’s blue eyes were on her face; his head cocked to the side. She paused, wondering if she had muttered something out loud.
“I’m afraid I don’t know. Come by about noon and I should have a better idea of what we are looking at.”
“Sounds good, thank you.” Carmen bent to gather her things, and when she straightened, Sawyer was already striding out the door.
Charlotte was at the counter when Carmen walked up. “So, are you here visiting?” she asked but made no move to ring in Carmen’s breakfast.
“Sort of.” Carmen located her wallet in the abyss of her purse and withdrew it. “My car broke down about an hour up the highway—I was on my way to visit my brother in Cascade Creek.”
“Where are you from?” Charlotte asked, twisting the end of a dark curl around her finger. She was facing Carmen, but her eyes strayed to the windows.
“Vancouver,” Carmen said. “Hey, is there a library here where I could charge my phone and use the computer?”
“Just down the road a block, turn left at the hardware store and it’s on the right.” Her eyes fell on the wallet. “Oh, Sawyer got the bill.” She glanced at the window once more. “Left a good tip too.”
Carmen had been following her line of sight but turned back to her in surprise. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Her smile was warm, but a shadow passed over her eyes as she looked back at Carmen. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Finally, she blurted. “That bruise . . . Is it from your breakdown?”
Carmen’s fingers rose to her cheek and hovered over the mark. “No. I’m clumsy is all.”
Charlotte nodded, but the look on her face said she did not believe Carmen. Who would? She may as well have said she walked into a door.
“It was nice to meet you, Charlotte.” Carmen hitched her purse higher on her shoulder as another ding echoed from the kitchen and rang through the cafe.
“You too, Carmen, and don’t worry, if anyone can fix your car, it’s those Stevenson men.”
Chapter 4
“HEY, MAN, HOW’S IT going?”
Sawyer looked up to see his cousin, Noah Stevenson, come through one of the open bay doors of the garage. He grinned and straightened up from the engine of Carmen’s car. “Not much, just getting ready to face the challenge of my life.”
Noah cocked his head, studying the bug. “It looks that way, holy shit. Where did you find this thing?”
“Dad went out and rescued a girl last night.” Sawyer took the rag from his pocket and wiped his hands. “He saw her first, but I plan to steal her.”
Noah laughed. “We all know Uncle Dan only has eyes for one woman.”
“You just drop Sunny at school?” Sawyer asked.
Noah nodded. “Yeah, I’m off today. We finished that house outside of town, so the boss gave us a few days.”
“Good, you deserve it.”
Noah shrugged. “I suppose.”
Sawyer shook his head. It was typical of Noah to be modest. His cousin was one of the hardest working men he knew; a single father with a full-time job, he also helped take care of his ex, Sunny’s mom, Julia. A few months after Sunny’s birth, Julia suffered brain damage after a car accident that almost killed her. She’d been drinking and went over a bank into a tree. Sunny had been with Noah, a fact the family had been eternally grateful for. She was in a long-term care home, but Noah paid for the medical bills and took Sunny to visit her mom twice a week.
Noah walked a lap around the VW and shook his head again, chuckling. “Can’t you just talk this girl into sending it to the scrapyard?”
“No way, man.” Sawyer shook his head. “She’s attached to this thing. Plus”—he shrugged, avoiding his cousin’s stare—“if I did that, what reason would she have to stick around for a bit?”
“Oh, I get it. She’s hot.”
“She’s more than hot. She’s . . .” Sawyer blew out a breath, shaking his head. How could he describe the way Carmen made him feel?
“I . . . okay, don’t make fun of me, but . . . I haven’t felt a connection like that with a woman since I met Celine.”
Noah’s head jerked back in surprise. “Holy shit,” was all he said.
“Yeah,” Sawyer said.
“What are you going to do?”
“Well, I told myself it was stupid to pursue anything. She isn’t staying. She’s only here by fluke to begin with but . . .”
“But?”
“But then I decided, fuck that, I’m going to ask her out.”
Noah barked out a laugh. “That seems more your style.”
“Get this”—Sawyer leaned a hip against the bug and jerked his chin at Noah—“Dad blushed when she said something nice to him.”
Noah inhaled so sharply he choked on the air and had to pound a hand against his chest. “What?” he wheezed.
“Yeah, and he smiled at her.”
“No way.” Noah laughed.
“I’m telling you, there’s something about her.”
“Well, keep me posted.” Noah headed to the door. “I’m going to go clean up the house; Sunny will need it spick and span so she can mess it up when she gets back.”
Sawyer laughed, waving at Noah as he headed out the door. With a sigh, Sawyer turned back to the VW, crossing his arms as he stared down at it. There was a rattle and his dad’s head poked out the office door. “Was that Noah?”
“Yeah, he just left. Said he had to go clean the house so Sunny could mess it up.”
Dan grunted in response. He frowned at Sawyer. “Did you get Carmen settled into her hotel last night?”
Sawyer nodded. “Yes, though I’m amazed she didn’t turn around and run out of there. That place smells weird.”
“Just dropped her off?” Dan asked. It was Sawyer’s turn to frown.
“Yes?” he said, drawing the word out as he tried to figure out what his father was angling at.
Dan crossed his arms, leaning back on the office chair he was still sitting on, and looking down his nose at Sawyer. “Why do you look tired?”
Sawyer scowled. “Because I didn’t get much sleep.”
“Why not?” Dan demanded, his eyes narrowing.
It was Sawyer’s turn to cross his arms. He scowled at Dan. “Because, I was hanging out with my brother, after I dropped Carmen off, then . . . well, then I just had trouble falling asleep.” He hadn’t been able to fall asleep because thoughts of Carmen had bombarded him until he feared his brain would explode. He’d finally gotten up and allowed himself to think of her, while he was in the shower.
“So, if I called Sam, he’d tell me you were with him last night?”
“Holy shit.” Sawyer shoved both his hands into his hair. “Yes, Dad. I was with Sam, your eldest son. Not debauching the woman you so gallantly rescued. I’ll call, let him talk to you to confirm my alibi if you’d like?”
Dan seemed satisfied by this. “All right,” he said with a nod. “There’s no need to call Sam. I believe you.”
“You’re a maniac,” Sawyer said, shaking his head as he turned away. “How does Mom even let you out of the house?”
Chapter 5
CARMEN DECIDED NO HARM would come from a bit of exercise, so she jogged back to the hotel and grabbed her phone cord. Then, taking her time, she walked back to the diner, following Charlotte’s directions to the library from there. It was still early in the day and the sun was peeking between a light frosting of puffy clouds in a blue sky. Along the streets, flowers were in vibrant bloom, overflowing big cement pots, their sweet scents mixing with the fresh air. Carmen breathed deep, and, though not entirely relaxed, she felt less agitated than she had been in days.
An older man with a dog approached in the opposite direction, giving her a nod and a smile as they passed on the sidewalk. Surprised, Carmen glanced backward at the man and nearly bowled into a teenager walking in the other direction.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She stumbled and caught herself, holding her palms up to the boy, her face flushing. Flipping back a fringe of black hair, the boy grinned down at her.
“No problem. Are you all right?” His dark eyes wandered to her bruised face.
