“Lorde,” Lu called. “Lorde.”
The dog immediately trotted over from whatever she was sniffing at the side of the road.The driver killed the engine and dropped down with that easy grace of youth, like time hadn’t found a way to crack his shell and take bites out of the vital parts of him yet.
If sunlight could walk around in a pair of tan Dickies and a short-sleeve, button-up shop shirt withCalvinstitched in blue embroidery over the pocket, then this is what it would look like.
More than just straw-colored hair, bangs of which would be in his eyes if they weren’t finger-combed back, he had smooth, clean skin gone golden tan and blue eyes that gave the sky a run for its money.
He moved, every step warm sunshine and easy roads. There was something more in his smile. Something white and bright and clean and good.
I immediately didn’t like the guy. Too tall, too blond, too good looking.
“Afternoon,” he said, flashing the smile. “Everything okay? I heard you praying? Calling for the Lord?”
“I wasn’t praying.” Lu pointed down at our dog. “The Lorde is my shepherd.”
Sunshine paused, then he cackled. “Oh, that’s good. Really good. Lorde. Clever.”
“Give it a break, Sunshine,” I muttered. “She’s got decades of chewing up and spitting out pretty boys like you.”
Lorde, sitting so close to me by the front bumper she’d be leaning on my leg if I were solid, got to her feet and cut Sunshine off before he was close enough to extend a hand to Lu.
“Hey, there,” the guy said. “Lorde. Aren’t you a beauty?” He dropped his hand, let Lorde give it a sniff and stood still, watching as she circled him, sniffing his boots, pants, and anything else in her reach.
By the time she got around to the front of him again, her tail was slowly wagging and her black tongue was out. He reached down and scratched between her fuzzy black ears. “She part Akita?”
“Chow chow, German shepherd,” Lu said. There was caution in her voice, but there was also a lot of curiosity. Uh-oh. Lu’s curiosity got the both of us into more trouble than you could carry in a bucket. “You’re Calvin?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Calvin Fisher. Fisher’s Auto is my shop. You called in and talked to Ray. That is if you called for a tow?”
Lu tipped her sunglasses down so she could see over the top of them.
I leaned back on one elbow to watch his reaction.
“I hear ya, buddy,” I said, “those eyes, right? You want to fall all the way in and drink until you drown. ’Course the red hair ain’t doing her no damage.”
I pushed away from the front bumper to stand to one side of where Lu was still sitting on the hood and watch him try not to swallow his tongue.
“I did.” Lu held her hand out. “Lu,” she offered. “Lu Gauge.”
He took her hand, and if her skin was cooler than any person sitting on a truck hood baking in the sun in the middle of Illinois had the right to be, he didn’t say anything.
“Pleasure,” he said. “So I can take you up to Bloomington or down to Lincoln. Happy to get you out to your place if you’re staying in the area?”
“What makes you think I’m just driving through?”
He smiled, pouring on the charm, and it popped a dimple in one cheek.
“Oh, give me a break. You’re human, right?” I circled him just like the dog had before me, looking for any marks or signs that he was something supernatural. Maybe a siren or a god pretending to be human, or one of those gorgeous, dangerous Faefolk.
Nothing.
“Most people take the highway,” he said. “People on the Route are on it for the road itself. Getting their kicks on Route 66. That, or they’re locals who know the back roads. You aren’t local. I’d remember you if you lived around here.”
“That right?” she asked. The woman was not flirting. She hadn’t even smiled yet. But Lu usually ignored people any chance she got. Seeing her chatting it up with the boy was irritating. And interesting.
“What do you see in him, Lu? You like that look?” I tipped my head to do some calculations on if he was her type.
He was my opposite, that was for sure. If he was sunlight, I was the night sky. Dark hair, pale skin, eyes the color of stones. I’d been told by more than one woman that I was dangerously handsome, and maybe that was true.
