Page 32 of Operation Rescue
Blaine got out, then turned to look at the older-model sedan as she maneuvered into the spot Rafe had indicated.
“That thing sounds like crap,” he muttered.
“I noticed,” Rafe said as he got out and opened the back for Cutter to exit. Then he walked toward the other car, motioning to Erin to roll down the window. Blaine couldn’t hear what he said over the noise, but when she pulled in beside the Foxworth SUV, she left the car running. Rafe walked around and lifted the hood, and the clatter got louder. Blaine walked over to look himself.
“Fan belt,” he said.
Rafe nodded. “Plugs, too. And it sounds like the timing’s off.” He pulled out from under the hood and looked at Erin, who was looking worried. “How long has it been sounding like this?”
“A couple of weeks, maybe a month.”
“Okay. Probably hasn’t built up too much carbon yet.” He went back under the hood.
Blaine kept looking at Erin. “When did you have it serviced last?”
“I…it’s been a while.”
It wasn’t like Erin to let things pass like that. He studied her for a moment. Then deciding that he couldn’t make their relationship, such as it was, much worse, he went ahead. “Why?” When she didn’t answer and looked away, he had the answer. “What’d you spend money on instead?”
Her gaze shot back to his face, and this time stayed. Sometimes he almost forgot just how sky blue her eyes were. He could almost see her reading his suspicions. Could she blame him? He already sent her as much as he could, and more often than not did without so she could have more, to see to their son. She shouldn’t have—
“The new edition of Ethan’s game. They’re expensive.” Her expression shifted then, to something less worried and more defensive. “Yes, I bought him the game that got him into this trouble. So it’s all my fault. Happy now?”
“I’ll be happy when he’s home safe,” he said, a little sharply.
He heard a faint sound and looked down to see Cutter had stepped in between them again. The dog was looking up, from one of them to the other, with those dark, knowing eyes.
“Rafe said he’s sort of a peacekeeper, among a ton of other things,” he said.
“And it seems we need one,” she responded. “Or at least, I do.”
Blaine was startled by how sad she sounded. Cutter seemed to hear it, too, because he moved to nudge at her hand with his nose. Automatically she moved her fingers to stroke his dark head, while Blaine watched her face, curious. There was no mistaking the change when it came. Her expression went from tension and sadness to, if not happiness, at least calmness. And then, as he looked, it changed to nothing short of amazement. And she turned her head to meet his gaze.
“Crazy, isn’t it?” he asked.
She nodded, and looked back at the dog, shaking her head in wonder. It was a shared moment like those they’d always had before. A moment in the life he wished they could go back to.
Rafe dropped the car’s hood, startling him out of the useless reverie. Blaine looked over just as he started toward them.
“I’ll deal with the car later. Let’s get to that video.”
And that quickly Blaine was back in the present, dealing with a potentially disastrous situation that would blow up the present as thoroughly as Erin had blown up their past.
Chapter 17
As offices went, this one was very nice, Erin thought. With its comfortable gathering spot around an adobe fireplace it had a homey, welcoming feel to it, as if all the people who worked here would get along. Like a family. If she’d ever had the chance to work in a place like this, she might never have bailed on the corporate world. She tried not to dwell on the fact that the only reason she’d been able to do that at all, able to pursue the one vocation she truly loved, had been Blaine.
She watched as Rafe went over to the nearest desk, sat and pulled out the computer keyboard that was in a tray beneath the desk surface. She didn’t see an actual computer so assumed there was a central unit somewhere that powered all three of the workstations in the main room, and probably another in what looked like a more private office in the far corner, beyond what looked like a small meeting room with a large table and several chairs.
She walked over to watch, taking care to keep space between her and Blaine. The screen in front of the Foxworth man lit up. In the same moment she heard a faint musical chime that, she gathered from the way he reached for the phone in his pocket, signaled a call or a text. He started to put the phone face down on the desk, clearly intending to silence it. He glanced at the screen in the same motion, and suddenly stopped.
Erin watched his expression change, from all business to something different. Not softer, she doubted that word could ever be used about this man, but gentler. Even tender.
“I…have to take this,” he said, almost awkwardly, as if he were completely unused to having anything take priority over work.
And she knew who was on the other end of that call. The woman he’d put it back together with. The woman he’d been estranged from for years.
The woman he loved enough to put that look on his rugged face.
