Marin Thomas - The Cowboy's Destiny

That was for damn sure.

“I’ve had my share of disappointments and it began early in my life.” Her fingers clenched the steering wheel. “Guess I’ve developed a thick skin.” She slowed the wrecker when she passed the Ford then checked her mirrors and made a U-turn before merging onto the shoulder of the road in front of his truck. “This will only take a minute.”

No way was he waiting in the cab. He had to see the pint-sized mechanic in action. “Can I help?”

“Sure.”

“Tell me what to do.”

“Stay out of my way.” She lowered the boom arm in the back of the wrecker then attached the wire cable from the tow winch to the front end of his pickup. In less than ten minutes she had his vehicle secured on the flatbed and ready to haul.

“I’m impressed.” And he meant it. “Where did you learn to drive a wrecker?”

“Simon Carter. He showed up one night to tow an abandoned car beneath an overpass in Phoenix and found me sleeping inside.”

“How old were you?”

“Thirteen.”

Holy smokes. “Why were you hiding in an abandoned car?”

Destiny started the engine, and after she pulled onto the road, she said, “I don’t like to talk about my childhood.”

“That makes two of us.” His comment drew a sharp look from her, but she didn’t prod him for details.

“Back to my original question, how—”

She glared at him.

“You don’t have to tell me about your childhood. I just want to know how you ended up in a broken-down car beneath an overpass.”

“I hitched a ride into Phoenix with a trucker and he dropped me off there. When Simon found me, he offered to call the police, but I refused, so he took me home with him and fed me.”

“How old was Simon?”

“Sixty. Sylvia, his wife, is a sweet lady. She insisted I sleep in their guest bedroom. The next morning I expected social services to pick me up, but Simon and Sylvia said I could live with them until I figured out what my next move was.”

“Generous people.”

“Sylvia offered to homeschool me, and when I had free time I went out on calls with Simon in the wrecker.” She shrugged. “After a few months they asked if they could adopt me and I said yes.”

“How long did you live with the couple?” Buck asked.

“I was nineteen when Simon died of a heart attack.”

Even though Destiny showed little emotion, he got the feeling Simon’s death had affected her deeply. “I’m sorry.”

“Sylvia sold the house and moved to Florida to live with her sister. She gave me Simon’s truck, his tools and a little money. I advertised on Craigslist and made enough cash towing to pay for an apartment and keep gas in the truck.”

“How did you end up in Lizard Gulch?”

“I’d been searching for a place to set down roots,” she said.

“And when you ran across Lizard Gulch, the town shouted Home Sweet Home?”

“It’s not such a bad place.”

Buck had a hunch Destiny was looking for another Simon to replace the one she’d lost, and there were plenty of geezers in the desert hideaway to fill the role. “How do you get enough tows in this area to stay in business?”

“I answer calls for car accidents between here, Kingman and Flagstaff. I average about three tows per month.”

“How many car repair jobs come along?”

“I’m lucky if I get one every sixty days and those usually come from referrals.”

Destiny’s towing business could bring in a lot more money in Tucson, Yuma or Phoenix. It didn’t make sense for her to live in Lizard Gulch.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“Ever heard of Stagecoach? It’s southeast of Yuma.”

“Sounds like another little town.”

“It is. My six siblings and I grew up on my grandfather’s pecan farm.”

“You have six siblings?”

“Five brothers and one sister.”

“Wow. You kept your mother busy.”

“Not really. Our grandparents raised us.” He guessed he and Destiny had that in common—depending on old people.

“So you chose rodeo instead of farming?”

“My brother Conway manages the pecan orchard. He and his wife and their twin sons moved into our grandparents’ house. My eldest brother, Johnny, recently married and had a daughter.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Kidding about what?” he asked.

“Your brother...Johnny Cash?”

Buck grinned. “My mother named my brothers and me after country-and-western legends.”

Destiny grinned. “Tell me the names.”

“I’m glad we amuse you.”

“C’mon...”

“In order of birth,” he said. “Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson Cash, me, Merle Haggard Cash, Conway Twitty Cash and Porter Wagoner Cash.”

“Wow. You guys must have taken a beating on the playground with those names.”

“I’ve had plenty experience defending my moniker.” He smiled grimly. “Johnny and his wife live on his father-in-law’s ranch, where he’s the foreman. Earlier this summer Will married the woman he got pregnant in high school and met his fourteen-year-old son for the first time.”

“She kept their baby a secret from your brother?” Destiny’s shock appeared genuine. “That’s not nice. Your brother had a right to know he was a father.”

Destiny’s statement made Buck feel all the more guilty that he hadn’t told Will right away about Ryan when he’d found out the truth.

“But I guess he forgave her and they worked things out if they got married,” Destiny said.

“They did. I didn’t go to the wedding.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated,” he said.

“You said you have a sister?”

“Dixie. She’s married and had a baby boy named Nathan. She’s a businesswoman like yourself. Runs a gift shop in Yuma and sells soap.”

“What kind of soap?”

“Fancy girl stuff. My grandmother’s relatives were soap makers in France, and Dixie uses the family recipes for her homemade suds.”

“Cool.”

Buck felt bad talking about his family when Destiny didn’t have one of her own. “Do you keep in touch with Sylvia?”

“We call each other once in a while and she sends me a keepsake of Simon’s every now and then. This past Christmas she gave me his military flag.”

“They never had any children of their own?” he asked.

“No. Are you real close to all your brothers?”

“I guess.” Then he’d gone and screwed things up with Will, and now they weren’t talking.

When they arrived in Lizard Gulch, Buck noticed the lights were on in the saloon. “The reception hasn’t died down.”

“Old people never sleep. They’ll party until they run out of liquor.”

She backed his Ford into the repair bay like a pro then hopped out and released the lift. While Buck waited inside the garage for her to park the wrecker behind the building, he examined the collection of auto parts stored on a utility shelf. She had three boxes of hoses and it took thirty minutes to swap out a hose. He’d be back on the road in an hour.

“There’s a chair in the office if you want to wait in there. The TV remote is on the counter.”

He’d rather watch Destiny change his hose. He went into the office and switched on the TV. After fifteen minutes he lost interest in the home improvement show and returned to the bay. Destiny lay on a creeper beneath his truck. “Almost finished?”

The clanking sounds stopped, and she rolled into the open then got to her feet. She avoided making eye contact with him. “You’ve got a bigger problem than a ruptured hose.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You must have driven over some debris, because the axel is broken.”

“What?”

Destiny wiped her hands on a rag. “I don’t have a spare axel. I’ll have to order one.”