Page 11 of Wild Texas Wind
But he knew how to fake it.
He walked through the gate of The Wheel House and looked around the yard, but he didn’t see her. Maybe she hadn’t been able to find it. The other van had been back on the town square, but if she’d asked where to find The Wheel House, someone would have told her.
Hands in his pockets, he walked toward the building. When he pushed open the door, Esperanza popped off the barstool to greet him.
He grinned. He couldn’t help himself. She was a force of nature. He wondered if she actually chased storms, or if she created them.
“Hey!” she said, her voice a little loud for the small space, even though they were the only people there aside from Hailey and Esperanza’s sister. “I, ah, I wondered if you’d come out.”
He resisted the urge to look at his watch. Was he late? He didn’t think so. He nodded toward Hailey. “Hey, Hailey.”
“The usual?”
He pressed his lips together and looked toward the bar in front of Esperanza. She had a half-empty bottle of beer and a half-eaten basket of mushrooms. “Yeah, I’ll take the usual.” He appreciated that Hailey looked out for him and his diet by keeping non-fried foods on hand for him, and light beer.
“What’s the usual?” Esperanza asked, sitting back on her barstool but fairly vibrating with energy despite folding her hands on the bar and pretending to sit still.
“I do the low-carb thing, so she helps me out by keeping skinless, unbranded wings on-hand for me.”
Something shifted in Esperanza’s face when he mentioned his diet. Something closed off. He thought maybe he understood. He had been judged by his weight often enough when he was younger. She was curvy, so she probably got a lot of the same comments he’d gotten, and she didn’t know if he was making that same judgement. But he had known the pain of having his weight the subject of someone’s speculation. He’d never do the same to someone else.
Going low-carb was a choice he’d made for himself, to keep himself fit after the accident that nearly killed him, that would have killed him if his friends hadn’t been able to get him out of the bus. Would have killed Sofia, too, because she wouldn’t have been able to get out either.
“So you really are a regular,” her sister said.
Javi turned his attention to the other woman at the counter, taller, with long straight hair and more make-up. “Who told you that?”
“Oh, we’ve been talking about you and I’ve told them all of your secrets,” Hailey said with a smile, placing a bottle of light beer and a bottled water in front of him.
“I’m Angelica, the other Twister Sister,” the taller woman said, thrusting a hand in his direction.
Hailey barked out a laugh. “Twister Sister? That’s hilarious!”
“Espy came up with it.” Angelica hooked a thumb in her sister’s direction when Javi released her hand. “She’s very good at coming up with things like that.”
“Any word from Tommy about what the problem could be with your other van?” Javi asked, lifting the bottle of water to his lips.
“No word yet. Do you think he’ll actually start working on it tonight?”
“You told him it was important, right?”
“I mean.” She lifted her hands, let the fall to her sides, her brow creasing. “I don’t remember. Do you think he has other projects? How busy can he be in a town this size?”
Javi held her gaze and drew out his phone from his back pocket. “I’ll give him a poke, make sure he gives it a look. You told him what you suspect was wrong?”
She nodded. “That I remember.”
“Hey, Tommy, this is Javi.”
“Javi, man, you’re wearing me out. Need another tow?”
“No, I don’t need another tow,” Javi repeated for Esperanza’s benefit. “I just wanted to see when you were going to get to that tourist van. The ladies need it by tomorrow, if possible.”
She nodded as he met her gaze.
“Sorry, man, but I don’t have a water pump on-hand. It will take me at least a day to go get one from San Angelo or Del Rio. I have to look and see who has one available.”
The idea came to him so fast, the words were out of his mouth before his brain had a chance to consider it. “Would it help if we went to pick it up for you tonight? Save you some time tomorrow?”
