“Hello there. I’m Sarah.” She greeted us each in turn. She looked somewhat like a younger version of Simone, the counselor from the support group, with angular features and long dark hair neatly tucked into a twist held up with a silver clip with a turquoise center. “You car shopping today?”
“Yep.” Jude nodded back toward his truck parked in front of the dealership. “Looking to replace that ol’ guy with something newer, but not brand new.”
“And will this be a joint purchase?” Her smile warmed further as she glanced between us, a knowing glint in her eyes. “I’m happy to let you each test drive.”
Heck. It hadn’t occurred to me at all that we might get read as a couple at the dealership. Plenty of people brought a buddy or family member car shopping, right? No big deal. I jerked my head toward Jude.
“It’s for him.”
“It’s my work truck.” Jude was equally quick with the correction. “I’m a vet over in Disappointment County. I need something that can haul a decent-sized horse trailer, plenty of tie downs in the bed, possibly a storage box, and four-wheel drive.”
“Got it.” Despite a snicker from the clump of other salespeople, Sarah’s smile never dimmed as she pulled out her phone. “I’m checking our inventory now.”
“Hey, Sarah. These boys look like they know their trucks.” A guy with thick, gelled brown hair and a slick smile stepped toward us. “You sure you don’t want me to handle this one?”
“She’s sure.” Jude glared at him until he slunk back to the others.
“Thanks.” Sarah’s tone turned grateful. “Sorry about that. I’m new here. Just finished training a couple of days ago. Hoping for my first sale.”
“We all have to start somewhere.” Jude made easy conversation as Sarah clicked around on her phone. “And darn it. I was intending to only look, but now I kind of want to give you that first sale.”
His voice was more kind than flirtatious, but Sarah blushed briefly anyway.
“Excellent.” She strode toward the parking lot, leaving us to follow. “Let’s find you a truck. Your…”
She paused to consider me, clearly still trying to figure out mine and Jude’s relationship.
“Friend.” I hoped that was true. We seemed headed in that direction at least, and it was the simplest answer.
“Great. Your friend is welcome to join us on the test drive.” She made her way to a shiny red truck, likely two or three years old, kitted out with several upgrades from the basic trim line.
“Now that’s a red truck.” Jude whistled low.
“Chevy,” I noted as I circled the truck, taking in the heavy-duty metal storage box in the bed and sprayed-in bed liner with added tie downs. Sarah had done a great job of meeting Jude’s wish list on the first try. “Looking good already.”
“I usually go for Fords,” Jude hedged.
“Drive it.” I nudged his shoulder, the same sort of shove I’d give Colt or an army buddy, but the electric zing on my palm was hardly brotherly.
“Okay, okay. One test drive.” Jude grinned at me. “What could it hurt?”
Plenty.The test drive was harmless enough, but that jolt of awareness was anything but.
Chapter Eight
Jude
“Man,that took far longer than anticipated.”
I felt the need to apologize to Carson again as we ate our burgers. Same brewery. Same order. We were both creatures of habit, something that amused me more than it should have.
“Buying always does.” Carson shrugged like spending over two hours haggling at a car dealership on a perfectly lovely Friday night was no hardship. “Sarah got the sale.”
“She did.” I smiled. I’d enjoyed hearing about Sarah’s recent graduation from Gunnison and her boyfriend, who would be in law school in the fall. Giving her the first sale of her post-college career had been a nice bonus. “And it is a sweet truck. For a Chevy.”
“Major upgrade.” Carson waggled his eyebrows at me. His obvious enjoyment of the truck might have had a little to do with my ultimate purchase.Just a little.Making him and Sarah happy had been almost worth the heartache of turning over Sarge’s keys at the end.
“I am sorry, though, that we’re eating so late.” I’d learned a long time ago that a delayed dinner could taste twice as good, but not everyone was as accustomed to pushing meal times.
