Page 4 of Finding You

Confusion hit him first. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Can you quit calling me ma’am? I’m not that old, for crying out loud.”

A bark of laughter came out before he could stop it. The look of indignation on her face kept him laughing a bit longer before he forced himself to stop.

One perfectly shaped brow arched at him. “If this is your way of helping someone out, you can leave.”

And for some reason, he laughed just a little more.

Which only seemed to irritate her more. “Seriously, are you done?” she asked.

Devin cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed like that, but you kind of caught me off guard.” When she crossed her arms over her chest and simply stared at him, he knew she clearly wasn’t quick to forgive. “So…um…what’s the problem with the car?”

Shrugging, she looked over her shoulder at it. “No idea. It sort of sputtered a bit and then I noticed the smoke, so I pulled over.”

Probably overheated, he thought, and then noticed her shiver. “Listen, why don’t you go wait in my truck where it’s dry and I’ll take a quick look under the hood.”

Now she eyed him warily. “Thanks but…I’ll stay out here.”

“Why?” he asked, confused. “Why stand out here any longer than you have to? Do you have an umbrella in your car?”

“If I did, don’t you think I’d be using it?” Her tone was weary and she slowly wiped some of the rain off of her face and attempted to comb her hair back.

He could have argued with her–or simply wished her luck as he drove away–but he was raised with better manners than that. “Okay, why don’t you pop the hood and let me take a look?”

“Do you know anything about cars?”

He grinned and reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, then one of his business cards. Handing it to her, he said, “Devin Maxwell. I own my own garage back in Sweetbriar Ridge.”

“MacKenzie Holland.” She looked it over and then handed it back to him with a nod before she spun on her heel and reached into the car to pop the hood as he’d asked.

Devin didn’t waste any time. Securing the hood, he looked around and noticed the engine wasn’t in the greatest shape. At a first glance, he saw the hoses were cracked and worn; there was some corrosion on the battery and in general, it was just dirty. A car like this should be babied and it was clear no one had truly loved this car the way it deserved.

“So?” she asked, coming back to stand beside him. “What do you see?”

He opened the radiator cap, looked down, and then took a whiff of the engine. Without a word, he stepped back and closed the hood.

“Do I just need to let it cool down before driving it again?” she asked hopefully.

“Afraid not. Without proper lighting and getting it up on a lift, I wouldn’t recommend you driving it at all.”

She groaned and leaned against the car and cursed. “Great,” she murmured. “Any idea where the nearest town is?”

“So you’re not from around here?”

MacKenzie shook her head.

“Where were you heading?”

“West,” was her only response.

“Ah,” he said with a nod. “I’ve heard of it.”

He couldn’t help but grin when he noticed her lips twitching with the urge to do the same.

“Look…Devin,” she began, “I appreciate you stopping and all, but for all I know, you could be some sort of serial killer or something. Do you really think I’m going to tell you where I’m going?”

Devin had to hand it to her, she certainly had a knack for speaking her mind. “Fair enough. But in my defense, do you really think a serial killer would stop and offer to look at your car?”

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