LITMIR.BIZ

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of the tow truck came around to the passenger side. His face wrinkled and weathered by more than sixty years, Vern lifted his baseball cap and scratched his thinning gray hair.

      “Adam’ll will be right with you, miss. He’ll take good care of you.”

      “Thank you for bringing us here. I don’t know what I would have done if that deputy sheriff hadn’t come by. My cell couldn’t pick up any bars.”

      “Yep, reception’s mighty spotty around the mountains, that’s for sure.” He resettled his cap. “If it’s all right with you, I’ll unload your car so Adam can take a close look.”

      “Of course. Thank you again.” She eased Raeanne out of the way of the truck. As shaken as Janelle, five-year-old Rae had a fierce death grip on her favorite stuffed animal, Ruff. The poor thing’s fur had worn thin over his ears and he’d lost some of his stuffing.

      “Careful you don’t step in any grease spots,” she said.

      Although as she glanced around, she noted the garage floor was nearly spotless, certainly in comparison to some auto shops she’d visited over the course of her twenty-eight years.

      At the back of the garage there was an office with a window. The man she took to be Adam, presumably the owner, handed something to the man he’d been talking to. They separated, the younger man going to his pickup and Adam walking toward Janelle.

      Wearing blue overalls, he had a nice, comfortable stride and a smile curving his lips. Although his saddle-brown hair was cut fairly short, it was rumpled as though he’d recently run his fingers through it. She guessed he was in his mid- to late-thirties.

      “Sounds like you didn’t get a very good welcome to Bear Lake,” he said in a warm, friendly baritone.

      “Unfortunately, no. Particularly since I’d read that Bear Lake is the friendliest little town in Montana.” She’d also spotted a billboard to that effect as they’d reached the town limits on the highway.

      “Well, then, I guess we’ll have to make up for that rude introduction. I’m Adam Hunter, the owner here.” He glanced at Raeanne and winked. “Were you the one driving when you had the accident?”

      Rae shook her head and buried her face in Janelle’s hip.

      Chuckling, Janelle introduced herself. “This is my daughter, Raeanne. Fortunately, we’ve got a while before she’s old enough to drive. I was the guilty party behind the wheel, although most of the blame falls on the poor frightened animal that dashed out in front of me. I managed to swerve and miss him, but I rammed into a tree instead.”

      “Nice to meet you both. Those deer can be a real hazard around here. Seems like they spook and jump out at you for no reason.” He nodded toward her car. “Let’s take a look and see what we’ve got.”

      She followed him across the garage to the crumpled car. The front end looked as though it had been accordioned on the right side by some giant hand. Spiderwebs crisscrossed the windshield. What a mess! She’d come all this way from Seattle hoping to find a place to start over, and now what she had was a car that had been nearly totaled by a tree.

      Things were not looking good for her goal of beginning a new life.

      He forced open the wrenched hood of the car. Peering inside, he touched and jiggled this and that like a blind man reading Braille, humming a slightly off-key tune as he worked.

      “The radiator’s cracked and so is the radiator hose,” he announced. “And a couple of braces are bent. Let’s see underneath.”

      He dropped to the floor and rolled over onto his back. “The axle looks fine.” Agilely, he came to his feet, all six feet of lean, muscled body. “Lots of bodywork to do, plus the windshield and the air bag will need to be replaced. I’ll get you an estimate on that. The rest doesn’t look too bad.”

      “That’s a relief. How long do you think it will take to repair?”

      “I’ve got braces and the radiator hose on hand, but I need to order the radiator and a new air bag. This being Friday and the start of the weekend, I can’t get parts here until Monday. But that’s okay because the bodywork is going to take several days. I use a guy in Missoula who does really fine work.”

      Clear back in Missoula? That had to be at least seventy miles, maybe more. She and Raeanne had stayed there last night. It was the newspaper ad for Bear Lake she’d read in the motel lobby that had brought her in this direction.

      “Let me go call my body guy, and I’ll get you an estimate. There’re some chairs over there.” He indicated a cluster of folding chairs by the far wall. “And a soda machine. Don’t put any money in. Just open the door and take your pick.”

      “Thank you.”

      A car pulled up in front of the garage. A young girl who looked to be about ten hopped out. She was wearing a two-piece swimsuit that she was a few years away from filling out and had a beach towel wrapped around her shoulders. She thanked the driver and hurried inside the garage. Her blond hair hung in limp strands down her back.

      “Hey, Dad, I’m home.”

      “I see that.” Adam gave her a quick hug. “You have fun?”

      “Sure. I beat some guys in my class in a race out to the swimming float.”

      “Good for you, Peanut.” He turned toward Janelle. “Hailey, meet Mrs. Townsend and her daughter, Raeanne.”

      The girl had the same friendly smile as her father and sun-pinked cheeks. “Hello. Are you staying in town for a while?”

      “It’s looking that way,” Janelle said.

      “Well, if you want to go swimming, there’s a beach right near the municipal dock. Lots of kids go there.”

      “I’ll remember that. Thank you.” The July day had been more than warm under a cobalt-blue sky. Now, however, clouds were building over the mountains, threatening a summer shower.

      The youngster glanced toward Janelle’s battered car. “Boy, you sure hit something hard.”

      “It was a big tree, I’m afraid.”

      “I’m glad you weren’t hurt bad. My dad can fix cars up like new.” She shrugged as though her statement was the obvious truth, and she grinned. “He’s the best.”

      “Hailey, you’d better go get yourself cleaned up and changed.” Adam gave her a little nudge.

      “Okay. See you later.” She waved to Janelle and Raeanne, then jogged off, her flip-flops smacking the concrete floor with every step.

      “Your daughter is cute and very outgoing,” Janelle commented when the girl was out of sight.

      “Yeah, I don’t think she’s ever met a stranger.” He was still looking in the direction his daughter had vanished around the side of the garage. “Her mother was the same way up until she got sick and passed on.” Residual grief laced his words.

      “Oh, I’m sorry for you loss.” Her own spasm of grief mixed with residual anger arrowed through her. She gritted her teeth to block the sensation.

      He shrugged off her sympathy. “I’ll go get that estimate now.”

      Janelle watched him walk away until Rae tugged on her hand. “What is it, honey?”

      Raeanne pointed toward the soda machine.

      “Ah, of course. Let’s see what kind of sodas he has.” Although she tried to watch Rae’s sugar intake, today was not the day to make an issue of it. Janelle could use a little sugar boost herself. Caffeine would help, too.

      Rae picked an orange soda, and Janelle selected a cola.

      They settled onto the chairs, Raeanne still clasping Ruff in her arms. Cars streamed by on the road out front. The garage was a mile north of the small town of Bear Lake they had driven through

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