Juliana pushed out a frustrated-sounding sigh. She dropped her arms from him and moved toward the door, grumbling under her breath words he couldn’t hear, but that made him smile nonetheless.
The thought of the apple in the trash made him move quickly to step in front of the door and keep her from opening it. He should take that apple back to the labs downstairs at the truck stop just to see if anyone had been foolish enough to leave behind DNA.
“Wait,” he said, peeking out the peephole to discover the ding-donger’s identity. He saw graying hair. He mentally reached out through the door, hoping to ascertain the thoughts of the person outside and any possible threat they might pose, but got nothing.
He stood beside Juliana as she opened the door.
“Miss Penny?” Juliana sounded shocked. Diesel eyed the wizened old woman on her doorstep suspiciously. “What are you doing here?”
Miss Penny gave Diesel a long, hard look from head to boots. “I wanted to see what the young man who’d caught your eye looked like, that’s all,” she said with a wan, tired smile. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“Sure.” Juliana stood aside. The older woman crossed the threshold slowly, taking small steps and seeming to look even more tired than when she stood outside.
Once Juliana had closed her front door, Diesel extended his hand to Miss Penny. “Hi. I’m Diesel Grey.”
She had a surprisingly firm grip. “Hi yourself. You can call me Miss Penny.” She nodded once at Juliana. “She and I look after each other.”
“Good for you.” Diesel tried to read the older woman’s thoughts again. He got the sense she didn’t mean any harm or have any disconcerting agenda toward either of them. Miss Penny was even more difficult to read than the woman he was falling in love with. Maybe Diesel was losing what little mind-reading skill he had as he aged. A depressing thought he tucked away for a much later time.
He cleared his throat as thefalling in love withnotion soaked back into his brain. He promptly looked in Juliana’s direction as if he’d see that sentiment written in a cartoon bubble over their heads, giving away his latest secret.
“He’s handsome, I’ll give you that,” Miss Penny murmured to Juliana, as he contemplated what future—if any—they could have together. Was a life together possible on Earth? Maybe. If Diesel could have his way, he wanted the rest of his life to be entwined with Juliana’s. She was special and he was smart enough to know it.
“Thank you,” Diesel said. “Where are you from, Miss Penny?”
“Oh, here and there. Been lots of places in my long life, that’s for sure,” she said with a wink. “I understand you’re the manager of a truck stop. Is that true?” Her tone had shifted to one sounding more like a father asking a suitor about his intentions rather than a neighbor casually asking after his career goals.
“Yes. I run the Big Bang Truck Stop in Alienn, Arkansas. Have you heard of it?”
She nodded. “Lots of rumors associated with Alienn. Little green men and the like running around causing all kinds of trouble and chaos. But I guess you already know all about that.”
Diesel chuckled good-naturedly. “I do. It’s hard not to get attention when we put up so many billboards with cartoon aliens along Route 88 to bring folks into the truck stop.”
“Oh, now, Ilikethose billboards. Very clever. Very funny.”
“Thank you,” Diesel said for a second time.
“Is that how you and Juliana met? Is she investigating you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, that’s exactly how we met.”
“Is she going to get you to reveal any secrets with her feminine wiles?” Her gaze traveled from the two of them to the hallway they’d just been moseying down toward Juliana’s bedroom. The implication was clear.
“Miss Penny!” Juliana said. “Feminine wiles, really? What is up with you?” She blushed profusely and Diesel fell a little bit more in love with her. Hard not to.
“I guessthatstruck a nerve,” Miss Penny said. “I suppose my work here is done then.” She turned to leave. “Are you still going to be able to take me grocery shopping this afternoon?”
“Was that today?” Juliana asked. An expression of guilt crossed her features. “I’m sorry. I must have forgotten.”
“That’s okay, dear. I know you’ve had a lot on your mind lately.” She gave Diesel a onceover from head to boots again. “I’ll just get a taxi or something.”
“No!” Juliana exclaimed. “I’ll take you. When do you want to go?”
“Half an hour? Will that be enough…I mean, will that be okay?” Diesel read between the lines of her short question. What she really meant to say was, “Is that time enough for the two of you to say goodbye but not enough time to mosey down to the bedroom?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you, dear. I’ll come back and knock on your door after I fetch my list.” Miss Penny hurried to the entrance, popped it open and was crossing the threshold at a clip faster than Diesel could have imagined her moving that shriveled, frail-looking little body of hers. The door closed with a hearty thump, belying the woman’s fragile strength.
