“Thanks. Again.”

“It’s no problem.” He signaled the waitress for their check. “I know you want to get back to your mom.”

He was being so accommodating, so nice to her. She supposed she was going to have to deal with Carter being in her life, at least part-time.

And it wasn’t like there was anything personal between them.

Her running days were over and so was avoidance. At least temporarily. She had to stop thinking of him as the boy who’d broken her heart all those years ago. It was time to grow up and get past it, at least for now. For the sake of her mother. And when everything was back to normal, she’d leave again.

Just like always.

But for now, Hope was going to be home, for at least the next few months.

Chapter 10

THE LAST PERSON Carter expected to see in his shop on a Saturday morning was Molly.

He’d caught up on his paperwork at the two Tulsa locations, and was going to spend the day there. But Molly drove that clunker of a car into the bay and he happened to notice—how could he not? So he walked out to the garage.

“I thought you’d be heading to Austin by now.”

She pursed her lips before answering. “So did I. But George is making an awful sputtering noise. And it took me a half hour to start him up this morning. My dad told me there was no way George was going to make it all the way back to Austin.”

“I’m surprised you made it here. He looks—and sounds—like he needs a decent burial, not another road trip.”

“Funny. But he’s all I have.”

“Can’t you borrow one of your parents’ cars?”

“Dad’s truck is in just as bad shape as George. And anyway, in case of an emergency with Mom, he’d need her car since it’s lower to the ground and easier to get her in and out of. I’d never leave him without it, even for just a weekend.” She sighed.

“Go get yourself a cup of coffee in the office. I’ll go check on the status of George and let you know the verdict.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Carter went into the garage and had a talk with Chad, who was under the hood of the car.

About fifteen minutes later, he washed his hands and found Molly eating a donut in the lounge.

She stood and swiped her hands back and forth. “You were gone awhile. That can’t be a good sign.”

“George’s fuel pump is shot and so is the injector. They both need to be replaced.”

“Crap. I don’t suppose that’s going to happen in, like, the next hour.”

“No. It’s going to take at least a day, and we need to get parts. So a few days.”

“Double crap. I need to figure out what to do. I suppose I could maybe rent a car . . . or a truck.” She chewed her bottom lip, then grabbed her checkbook out of her purse and studied it.

He could see that was a problem. And he’d already figured out a solution. “I’ll take you to Austin.”

She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “That’s not necessary.”

“It’s no big deal. I’m done here for the day.”

“I don’t think my stuff will fit in Rhonda.”

“I also have a truck.”

“Oh.” She was fidgeting, and he knew it wasn’t a good idea, but it wasn’t like she had a lot of options at this point.

“Let me help you with this, Molly. Rather than spending several hours trying to figure out a solution, let’s just go. The sooner you get there and back, the sooner you get home to your mom.”

She closed her checkbook and tucked it back in her purse. “Fine.”

“I’ll just go tell Chad I’m leaving so he can lock up.”

He went into the shop and let Chad know he was going to be gone the rest of the day, then locked up his office and grabbed his keys.

Molly was waiting for him, her purse slung over her shoulder.

“Do we need to stop by your house?”

“No. My bag is in the car.”

He nodded and went back inside and grabbed her overnight bag from her car, then put it in his car. “We’ll stop by my house so I can switch over to my truck.”

“Okay.”

It took about ten minutes to get there. He pulled Rhonda into the garage.

“Come on inside. I’ll need to pack a few things. It won’t take me a minute.”

She hesitated, but then followed him in. He hung his keys on the rack and went into the bedroom.

“Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.”

Molly didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be halfway to Austin by now. She’d intended to get up early and hit the road. Instead, George had been decidedly uncooperative. Her dad had tried to help her get him started, and when they did, he’d insisted she take the car to Carter’s shop. She really hadn’t wanted to do that, either, but she didn’t have much of a choice since she hadn’t wanted to end up stranded on the side of the highway.

She couldn’t believe Carter was going to drive her to Austin. She’d tried to think up an excuse as to why this wasn’t going to work, but in the end, she wanted a quick solution, and he’d offered. They could make this work. They knew each other, and it wasn’t like he was some stranger offering up a road trip in his truck, right?

For her mother, she’d endure anything. Besides, it was nice of him to offer. She was certain he had better things to do this weekend than drive her all the way to Austin and back.

So why had he offered? Especially after the way she’d been treating him, the way she’d yelled at him at the wedding.

She wasn’t even going to ask, because right now, she needed him. So when he came back with a small duffel bag in his hand, she smiled.

“Thanks for doing this.”

“Not a problem. I was going to clean the house this weekend. I’d rather take a road trip.”

She looked around. The place was spotless. And nicely decorated, too. For a guy, he had pretty good taste in furnishing and décor. She almost wished they could take a moment so he could show her his place.

But that would be a really bad idea, and again, there was the lack of time thing.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

She nodded, so he led her out through the garage and to the driveway. He had a nice black Chevy truck she hadn’t even noticed when they’d pulled up. “Is this new?”