“Do you?” I shot back.
“It looks to me like we both have some things to figure out in the coming months, don’t we?”
“Yep.” I slid in behind the steering wheel. “Thanks again for everything.”
“You are welcome.” He closed my door and walked over to his big white truck.
Knight in shining white truck,I thought as I started the engine and headed back north. “But I am not a damsel in distress who needs saving. Never have been. Never will be.”
Before I’d driven five miles, clouds began to roll in from the south, giving everything a gloomy feeling, and that silly song came back to my mind. One of the lyrics talked about not having a place to put your head because someone came along and took your bed. I laughed at how true that was.
Listen to the words, and don’t worry about a year from now or next week. Be happy where you are right now.Ada Lou was in my head now.
“Yes, ma’am. I will try to do that,” I promised with a smile on my face.
The first big drops of rain fell as I cleared the mountains and got back on flat land. The temperature on the dashboard said that it was forty-five degrees, so I didn’t have to worry about the roads icing over. However, the roadswerewet, which meant I couldn’t use the cruise control. Since I tended toward a lead foot, I had to keep watch on the speedometer the whole way back to the trailer.
Rosie’s truck was parked close to the porch. Scarlett’s vehicle was beside hers, leaving me to have to dash quite a way to the trailer in the pouring-down rain. I tucked the bank bag under my coat, made sure my purse was zipped up tight, and ran from my SUV to the trailer. I was still soaking wet when I got inside. I shed my boots and jacket atthe door, threw the bank bag on the counter, and headed back to my bedroom to change into dry clothes. I heard two doors open while I was putting on a pair of flannel pajamas and a dry T-shirt.
“Bag with all the deposit slips is on the counter,” I yelled down the hallway.
“We found it, and thank you,” Rosalie hollered back. “Are you coming out?”
“On my way.” I smelled Italian food the minute I stepped back out into the hallway.
After feeling like I would starve to death on the trip from Tucson to the Tumbleweed, I’d vowed I would never pass up food when it was offered. Not even when I had eaten two hours before.
“Want us to heat up some food for you?” Rosalie asked. “You didn’t have time to eat before you had to go to the bank.”
“Yes, please,” I answered, but I didn’t tell them about dinner with Jackson, or that we were going to drive down together when he needed to go to the bank again. I wanted to hold that nice moment close to my heart.
“We’ve been talking about it, and we decided since we take turns with the shower, then we should do the same with that boring drive to Sierra Blanca,” Rosalie said as she filled a bowl with spaghetti and meatballs. “So after next week, you will only have to go every third time.”
“Why after next week?” I asked.
“I have plans on Monday afternoon with Grady. But if you don’t want to go, I can change them,” Scarlett answered.
“And I promised Father Luis that I would help with the books since his secretary is out on maternity leave for a couple of weeks.” Rosalie slid the bowl of pasta into the microwave.
“No problem. I’ll be glad to go next week, and any other time that y’all need a day off.”
“You are a good friend,” Scarlett said.
When she said that, I remembered a greeting card I saw in a shop a few years before. What had caught my eye was the picture of an old couple on the outside. The sentiment on the inside read “It was only me, until it wasn’t.”
Chapter Seven
Talk about a role reversal.
That saying about being the statue one day and the pigeon the next came to mind as I picked up two menus and carried them to the elderly couple at the corner table. The day before, I’d been the important statue, having dinner with Jackson. Today I was just a waitress with a stained apron tied around my waist. But like a wise woman once said, “Life is not all rainbows and unicorns. On bad days, laugh about them, remember the good ones, and move on.”
“What can I get you folks to drink?” I asked.
“We’ll have coffee,” the woman answered. “I’m so glad that the Tumbleweed is still here.”
“Me too,” I said under my breath and hurried off to the next table to deliver menus and see what the pair wanted to drink.
“Do you have herbal tea?” the lady asked without looking up from her phone’s screen.
