He stood there for a long moment while Jolene clasped her hands to keep them from shaking. Finally, he nodded. “Very well.” He sat down and swiveled his chair to his computer screen.
Jolene was so stunned it took her a second to move. Had she just defied her father and won? It certainly seemed that way. A smile spread across her face and she wanted to pump her fist in the air. Instead, she turned to the door and celebrated her victory in silence. But before she could open it, her father spoke.
“Go home and pack your bags, Jolene. I can’t fire you. But like I told your sister, I won’t have a disobedient daughter living under my roof.”
Chapter Ten
Cal whistledas he finished replacing the oil filter and slammed the hood of the old pickup closed. He had one more oil change and his day would be done. He glanced at the clock on the wall, and his heart rate increased. Just a few more hours and he would be with a gorgeous banker he couldn’t seem to get off his mind. He woke up thinking about Jolene. He went to bed thinking about her. And he thought of her at least a thousand times in between. Some of his thoughts were sexual—Jolene had completely surprised him with her lusty nature and willingness to try different things—but a lot of his thoughts had nothing to do with sex.
Jolene was an interesting, intelligent woman with a quick wit that made him laugh. He enjoyed her company just as much as he enjoyed her body. Talking with her was like drinking a cold beer after a long hard day of working in the sun. She refreshed him. Relaxed him. And intoxicated him. He counted down the minutes to their designated meeting times like a kid waiting for the last school bell to ring.
“Are we good, Mr. Daily?” Nathan called up from beneath the car, pulling Cal from his thoughts. The kid had turned out to be a fast learner and a hard worker.
“Yeah, we’re good, Nathan. You can take a break, then we’ll start changing the oil on the Toyota.”
“Yes, sir.” Nathan rolled the cart out from under the pickup. He was a gangly kid who reminded Cal of himself at that age. Although Cal couldn’t remember ever having Nate’s innocence. Cal had to grow up fast after his father passed away. Maybe that was why he was enjoying his secret affair with Jolene so much. It had been a long time since he’d done something just for the fun of it. Nathan had given him even more time for his secret rendezvous.
“I wanted to thank you for driving Cheyenne to rehearsals,” Cal said.
“No problem, sir.” Nathan ducked his head and blushed. It was obvious that he liked Cheyenne. Surprisingly, Cal wasn’t too annoyed about that. Of course, they were much too young to date. But playing Joseph and Mary in a Christmas pageant was as innocent as you could get.
“How are rehearsals going?” he asked. “Cheyenne doesn’t say much about them.”
Nathan cleared his throat. “They’re going good, sir. I think I’ll skip a break and just start on the next oil change.” Using his feet, he rolled the cart beneath the car in the next bay.
The oil change took longer than it should have because Cal couldn’t stop glancing at the clockevery two seconds. When they finally finished, he told Nathan to head on home and then proceeded to close up shop. He whistled as he quickly put up his tools and sprayed out the bays. He stopped whistling when Miss Gertie appeared in the open door of one of the bays.
He quickly turned off the water and started rolling up the hose. “Good afternoon, Miss Gertie. Can I help you?”
“My dad was a whistler.” She pushed her walker into the garage. “What song were you whistling?”
He knew exactly what song he’d been whistling. He’d been whistling Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” for the last two weeks. But he wasn’t about to tell a clever old gal who would have no trouble putting two and two together.
“I don’t really know. I was just whistling. What can I do for you?”
“You can’t do anything for me. Reba took away my driving privileges when I almost ran over her precious Roo.” She snorted. “The dang rabbit should’ve stayed in the garden where it belongs, instead of hopping around in the driveway when I was trying to back out.” She patted the cat on the head. “Butler knows to keep out of the path of cars. Don’t you, baby?” The cat purred its agreement and Miss Gertie lifted her sharp gaze to Cal. “So I hear you’ve been fixing up Emma’s pink house. That blabbermouth Raynelle says she sees your truck parked there almost every night.”
Cal cleared his throat. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I guess you’re close to getting it all fixed up?”
He hadn’t done one thing to the house, exceptmove the mattress downstairs, so he had to lie through his teeth. “Yes, ma’am.”
Miss Gertie studied him intently before she nodded. “That’s good. I don’t want Jolene buying a house that will fall down around her ears.”
Cal’s eyes widened. “Jolene is buying the pink house? But she hasn’t said a word to—” He cut off and hoped Miss Gertie hadn’t caught his slip. “To Boone or Emma about it.”
“Because she hadn’t decided to do it until today when her daddy kicked her out of his house.”
Every muscle in Cal’s body stiffened. “Her father kicked her out? Why?”
“The ornery cuss doesn’t need a reason to be mean. And I figure it’s more of a blessing than a curse. It’s about time Jolene got out from under that man’s thumb and lived on her own.” Miss Gertie paused. “Of course, change is hard. The poor thing was close to tears when I saw her at the bookstore talking with Emma about buying the house.”
Cal felt like someone had kicked him hard in the stomach at just the thought of Jolene crying. “I’m sorry, Miss Gertie. But I just remembered that I have an appointment. So if you’ll excuse me, I better get closed up.”
Miss Gertie’s lips moved as if she was getting ready to smile. Since he’d never seen her smile, he figured it was just a twitch. “I certainly wouldn’t want to make you late for an appointment.” She turned her walker around and shuffled toward Main Street.
As Cal pulled the bay doors closed behind her,he could’ve sworn he heard her whistling.
