Where Would I Be Without You (31 page)

Things were looking up, and I was bound and determined to get back on my feet.

If I had not known better, I would think that I had found the male version of the chattiest and friendliest man on the face of the earth.  With only two hundred or so questions under his belt firing off like a machine gun, I had to smile.

T
he way he greeted me by name, I could only assume that Julie had reached Mr. Walker, proud owner of Walker Towing and Walker Café with a small cattle ranch at the end of town.

His round face and balding head matched his round body and chubby hands holding on to the steering wheel of his towing truck as
we drove slowly into town.

I
was not sure how many of his questions I wanted to answer but the man seemed rather inquisitive.  I hoped the rest of the town was not as nosey, as I really wanted to get over my recent failure and setback as I was internally calling it.  Trying to figure out the next step in my career was rather foggy as I didn’t see myself moving back to Utah to live with my mom and working in Denver, in property lawsuits, might run me into Mr. Hugh Finley, the hoodwink.

Nope
, pulling out the US map after drinking the two hundred bottle of wine, I snuck out of Finley’s finest liquor cabinet, held only for his best paying clients, felt like the right thing to do.  When I covered my hand over my eyes and used my other hand to roll circles over the map, I counted to ten with a pointed finger and landed on Hope Springs Falls, WY.  After several minutes of drunken giggles, I pulled the city up on-line and found a real estate agent that lived in the next town over.  Now I was miles from nowhere and renting from the local prom queen.  Somehow, I felt more alive than I had in a long time.

With the rapid succession of Mr. Walker’s questions,
I answered as few as possible with the least amount of information.  I had better spend some time getting a story together while I was here otherwise my stay might be the talk of the town.

‘Newcomer to Hope Springs Falls finds her boss bopping his secretary just after he promised her partnership when he last bopped her, more at nine.’ 
I could envision the local news now.  My friggin life, for all to chat about, while I wallow in tears of pity.

I
never imagined I would be in this type of predicament, but hightailing it away from Hugh was my best option.  Because something about him made me feel secure and comfortable until he dropped the bombshell idea that he marries miss quite contrary, but that I stay on and make partner, and be his mistress.  At some point, I even considered myself in love with that man.  However, at the drop of his offer that all changed.  I was just afraid that if I stayed anywhere close to him; I might actually consider committing a crime I might not want to pay for.

Three days of packing and planning and
I started to see the light.  How I always fell for the smooth talkers, the handsome men who could lead me astray from my independent ways.  Now I was not going to make that mistake again.  At the early age of thirty, I could easily rebuild my career elsewhere and think about marriage and kids much later.  A lot of women my age were doing it more and more.  For me, it only made sense.

I
wanted kids, but I wanted a career first and having kids without a good-paying career under foot was not an option for me.  I watched my mom, scrimp, save and work three jobs to make ends meet.  As far as my father went, I only knew him as a man who made a mistake.  It was not until my thirtieth birthday that my mother took the time to explain the rape and physical damage the man left on my mom.  That what kept my mom alive all those days in the hospital recovering, was the fact that she found out she was pregnant.  With that fact, my mother told me that hope had sprung within her, and that she had decided from the moment she found out, if her baby was a girl, she would name her Hope.  Knowing this was a sign from an angel that sometimes good can come from the bad.

Right now, I was hoping the fact that my fancy manicured nail landed right on this Mayberry town and sharing its name meant one thing, there was hope for my future.

Now I could only put all the facts of my hard-lived life together six months ago and oddly enough, that was when my affair with my boss began.  I wondered if it was a way for me to escape the horror that my biological father was a monster, or if I felt the need to create some roots of my own.  In either case, I now knew that Hugh Finley was definitely not fathering material, and I was going to heal my soul and make the best of a bad situation by creating a plan to move on.

With a cheery voice breaking
my thought of past mistakes, I turned and smiled at the jovial man.  “Well Hope, welcome to Hope Springs Falls, WY.  I’m sure you’ll like it here.  We all do.”

I
had to smile.  The man was a walking, talking advertisement for this town with his robust voice and red cherry lip smile made me want to toss a white wig and beard on him followed by a red velvet hat.  “Where are we?”  I asked as it looked as if he had pulled in front of a café.  WALKER CAFÉ.  Big Roman print letters painted on the window along with the specials for $2.99.

“I figured you could use a hot meal and cup of coffee to warm you up.  This here is Cindy and mines café.  Owned and operated since we graduated high school together.  Married thirty-five years with three kids, five
grand kids and couple dogs.  Any hoot, Jerry, the mechanic is on one of his drinking binges so when he sobers up tomorrow he will just unhook your car from my tow truck and fix you right on up.  His shop is just across the street.”

“That’s alright I can change my own flat tire.  If you want to just lower my car off your tow
truck, I can change it.”  The last thing I wanted was to be without my car.  Besides, all my luggage was in the backseat.

“No can do.  Once I got your car out of the ditch, I noticed your axle was bent.  Nope.  Jerry is gonna need to straighten it out.  You go on in.  Cindy’s expecting
ya.  I’ll put all your belongings into our minivan over there and drive you on over to Julie’s place you're renting, after you’ve had a good meal.  No trouble at all.  You just go on in.”

I
smiled a sincere smile and figured the man was Chris Cringle or a descendent there of.  Nothing cuter than a grandparent with a minivan.

Taking a quick look up and down the street while seated in the front of the tow
truck, I noticed the small-town appeal.  Quaint shops and storefronts with benches and potted flowers out front, stretched up and down the street as far as I could see in the drizzling rain.  No fast food drive-through or quick-stop gas stations, at least not along the strip of Main Street, I was looking at.

The rain was slowing and the wind was not blowing as
hard, but if I was going to make it inside the café without getting soaked, I was going to have to make a mad dash for it in my denim skirt and white canvas tennis shoes.

Mr. Walker
already pulled his minivan up next to my car and was unloading my things.  I wanted to help or do it myself, but just from our short drive; I figured he was the type of man who would want to do it himself plus the fact he would have to bill me seventy dollars for the tow.  He probably wouldn't have felt right taking my money if I didn't let him set about to do his job.

With a quick open of his tow truck
door, I ran for the front door of the café and almost made it.

Chapter Two

I
didn’t get it.  Shouldn't it be typical gentleman behavior to ignore a woman’s mishap, or trip in the mud in my case, and ignore the obvious of my ill begotten ways.

The fact that the man in the café was eye appealing did nothing for his funny sense of humor or the fact that he knew more about
me and my ill-gotten career move than I cared for anyone to know about.  Now the Walkers and the few late dinner guest at Walker Café knew, which meant by weeks end most of the town knew, and that was what I was trying to avoid.

When I first was guided by Cindy Walker to sit down on a stool next to an attractive man, I didn't see the harm.  He was easy on the eyes with his soft brown hair that waved with a dire need of a cut with his piercing steel blue eyes.  His worn jeans and cowboy boots gave him the rustic farm boy look.  His dirty denim shirt told me he worked, hard, for a living and the way that denim shirt filled out with broad shoulders that tightened in that shirt I mentally wondered what he looked like naked.  So sue me.  I was still a woman.

However, as soon as the man started talking, my defenses went up.  It all started with comments about my fall and long skinny legs.  I was defensive about my tomboyish looks all my life.  I was tall and very lean; a padded bra was my best friend and with my professional legal work always came a simple professional cut.  I wasn't looking to be model of the year.  Then he started in with a few snip-bits about my mishap at the law firm, and I mentally cringed and wanted to crawl into a hole.  Nobody else in the cafe seemed to pay much attention, but I was sure their ears were glued and by tomorrow morning, I would be the town gossip.

I wondered what I got myself into as I sat and practically ate like a starved person and listened to this man, Colton something or other, talk jokingly about how he saw me on the county road but passed me by.  Lucky for him, Cindy Walker added in that he did the proper thing by calling Mr. Walker, and they always appreciate the business.

At some point in the conversation, as Cindy shoved a second piece of blueberry pie under his nose, and I watched him try to turn it away as he patted his belly, I warmed to his obvious affection that he showed to the Walkers.  Then he did something mean and slid the pie to me saying I looked like I could polish it off with the way I was eating.  Had the man no manners.  I had not eaten anything this delicious or substantial in a forty-eight-hour period.

I stopped mid bite and left my plate to excuse myself to the restroom.  It was there that I saw how I looked like a drowned rat with mud-splattered shoes and a big mud spot on my ass.  I would not put me in the department of sexy more of homeless looking.  I took five minutes to gather my wits and clean up as best I could.  When I came out a changed man sat next to me.  I got the impression that both Mr. and Mrs. Walker had reminded him to mind his manners.  What I couldn't figure out was if he was done eating, why didn't he just go.

Well, that obvious question quickly was answered within the first five minutes of sitting back down.  I also saw the light of my mistakes.  Colton Charpel, was friends, not just casual friends, but we grew up together almost married friends with Julie Hoffman, my landlord.  The woman I chose to divulge a bit too much information to as I desperately needed a shoulder to cry on.  This is what I get for talking to a stranger about my life.

Colton, like me, also handled property law.  And like me, was in a sabbatical.  Julie told him all about me needing a break to write a book and re-evaluate my life.  Some truth there.  However, she told Colton about what led me to that point, and he divulged just enough info about Hugh and I, that any smart person could put two and two together, or worse.  They could jump to a million and one conclusions.

My much need hiatus might come with a price of a big mouth and small town.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to handle this.

Colton tried to politely talk on, all about himself and none about me, which was a nice relief.  I found out that he had moved back home to help his parents maintain their large cattle ranch on the edge of town.  That he owned several private planes, one of which was large enough to fly from coast to coast.  I found out he loved Cindy's cooking but could only visit here once or twice a week, or he would be 'fatter than a hog' as he put it.  That put a huge smile on Cindy's face as she took that as the ultimate compliment.

I knew what I just polished off along with Colton's leftover pie had put me well over the calorie intake limit for one day let alone two.  However, Julie's house had a nice garden ready for me to plant, and I had every intention of sulking my woes in her garden.  Along with the fact, she had mentioned that the jog through town, down the main street that wrapped around and brought me back to the other end of town and out a bit, was about the most incredible country view of small ponds and trees.  She told me it was a five-mile jog but that several folks in town jogged it every morning.  That jog would have to take place of my executive gym membership I would miss.

The folks in the cafe started talk about Julie's engagement as the lull in conversation between Colton Charpel and I, had stopped talking for a few minutes.  I hadn't really talked at all, mostly I ate and glared at Colton, then smiled at Mr. and Mrs. Walker as I instantly adored them.  Julie was engaged to some doctor out of the California area, and Colton flew her back and forth recently until I rented the place, and now she wasn't due back until the wedding reception planned for her.

Apparently, Julie Hoffman, hometown prom queen, Miss Wyoming and beauty pageant winner was the prized jewel of the town.  She was adored, copied in style, and not a person could say a bad thing about her.  So why did Colton let her slip away?  Perhaps she too found his manners that befitting of a pigsty.  However, he was improving as my meal was finishing, and I wasn't talking.

There were
a few things that Julie talked about I remembered.  One being, the closeness of the town and their willingness to help.  Two, that there wasn't much shopping in town.  The internet and long drive to the next big town was it.  Three, that I could ask just about anybody, anything, and they would steer me in the right direction.  I wasn't sure on that last comment.  Seeing as Cindy Walker made an obvious error in trying to steer Colton and I together.