Page 18 of Peach Blossom Hollow

But dinner was over now, another home game tomorrow night. Time to turn in and get some rest.

He found he didn’t want to return to his sad, empty apartment. The atmosphere around the table had made him miss his family back in Montana. He’d be visiting next month, for the party his parents were throwing for their anniversary—something they’d never celebrated before. But at the moment he wished that date was coming sooner.

He also didn’t want to say goodbye to Violet.He’d barely seen her since she’d agreed to help him woo Christine, almost two months ago. He got it, though. Her friend Daisy-Mae was dating Maverick, by the look of things, so Violet was commuting on her own. She may have even given up on her Dragon Babes idea, seeing as she was likely now flying solo.

As he walked across Maverick’s yard, the late-November twilight having already settled in around them, he heard an engine click and struggle to start. After a moment of silence, the engine struggled again, not starting.

He turned, looking over his shoulder. An old car was parked a ways down from his, along the edge of the driveway. The dome light shed weak light over Violet and her dark curtain of hair resting against the steering wheel. As Leo walked over, she lifted her head as though sensing his arrival, and let down her window which whined and crawled.

“Car problems?”

She nodded.

“Pop the hood.”

She obeyed, calling, “It’s the battery. Clint told me I needed a new one, but I put it off.”

“Who’s Clint?” She’d already found a man and got him situated in her life? She hadn’t mentioned that at dinner. But the woman was determined, that was for certain. He was surprised at the stab of disappointment he felt at the idea that she might now be taken.

“The local mechanic.”

He smiled, tapping her car door. “I’ll grab my cables and we’ll get you going again.”

He jogged to his old Toyota, started it and thendrove across the grass, stopping his car so it was nose-to-nose with Violet’s.

He popped his trunk, found his cables and waved them in the air. “Never leave home without ‘em.”

Violet got out and stood in the stream of light from his headlights, obviously uncertain how to make herself helpful.

“There we are,” he said, after connecting the two vehicles. “You can start it up.”

“Why do you drive such an old car?” she asked, not moving from his side.

“You expected a truck?”

“Yeah. You’re a cowboy turned hockey player. I thought trucks would be part of your man card.”

He laughed at how serious she sounded.

He’d sold his big truck when he’d started working toward his NHL goal. He’d needed the private coaching time the extra cash could buy him, in order to catch up with players who’d been on the ice since birth.

“Why doyoudrive such an old car?” he countered.

“Because I hate car shopping.”

“That’s a silly reason.”

“It’s scary and foreign. I don’t understand cars, or what salespeople are saying. I’m so afraid of getting ripped off that I just keep driving this one.”

Leo considered the problem. “What’s your budget?”

“For a car?”

“Yeah. I’m going to have to take you shopping.”

She laughed. “Um, you promised you’d find me a guy on the team and you haven’t done that yet.”

“You’ve been avoiding me!”

---