Page 32 (2/2)

"The thing I said about being stupid" She gazed past hi by "You’ve been very kind, and I’nored her reine"

"I can’t believe this is happening now, on top of everything else"

"Everything else?" Linc wondered if he was going to regret asking

"My fiancé Geoff Ex-fiancé, I should say He’s a thief" She bit down hard on her lower lip "I broke off the engagement, andbut because I didn’t have the sense to know that the man I loved is completely unsuitable as a husband and a failure as a huize None of this has to do with my car Frankly I have no idea what I would’ve done if you hadn’t stopped Calling my father wasn’t an option"

This was the first tiood look at her…and he saw that she was even lovelier than he’d realized

"You think you know someone and you think you love him and then you learn the truth and it’s just so…so heart-wrenching to discover that the person you loved isn’t the person you thought he was"

Linc started to assed up?"

Her brow furrowed "You think I et in and see" The woht Linc slid into the driver’s seat and turned the key Sure enough, the needle pointed to eh some sort of emotional breakdown Lucky hiot for playing the Good Saoes unpunished, and all that

The woer seat next to hian to tremble hat he assu kind and I’ hysterical How stupid of as" She closed her eyes and lowered her head

"It happens to the best of us," Linc said in what he hoped was a co tone

She turned to hi with tears "Do you ever feel that nothing you do is right?" she asked him

Despite the fact that he felt as if he’d stepped into the middle of a soap opera, Linc nodded

"Me, too"

This was becoas can in the back of er now to be on his way "I’ll drive to a gas station--pick up a couple of gallons That should be enough to get you wherever you’re going"

"You’re leaving me here?"

"Uh…Do you want to come with me?"

"Could I?"

Linc’s mind darted in ten different directions at once He couldn’t believe he’d offered, anydown her battery, he turned off the ignition and passed her the car keys

"My name is Lori Bellamy," she said and held out her hand

He shook it, alainst his calloused fingers "Linc Wyse"

"Hi, Linc"

"Hi" The aardness returned, the same unease he experienced whenever he was around women, especially petite ones S Lincto overwhelot out of her car, hurried to his truck and cleared off the passenger seat

Once she’d clambered inside--with his assistance--she snapped the seat belt into place and smiled over at him "Are you always this kind?"

"I have a sister," he said "If her car had broken down I’d want soine and ed with the traffic They sat in silence as he drove, but it wasn’t uncomfortable anymore, nor did he feel the need to make conversation After a couple of minutes, she murmured, "You’re very easy to talk to"

"Me?" he asked, startled

She nodded "You listened patiently even though I was saying the rimaced "About Geoff You stopped to help with my car--not to hear about the shaood to talk to a stranger" Linc didn’t know that for a fact, but it made sense

"Well, I certainly didn’tdetails ofout of gas just seeed despondently "I guess Geoff proved that I don’t have very good judgrinned "Then we’re equal Because when it comes toe to take a chance, he took his eyes froh to look in her direction "Would you like to have dinner with ht would be fine with him It wasn’t as if he had a calendar craht would work," he said in an offhand way

"Okay, but only if you let one to on my behalf"

He hesitated, afraid he was about to ruin thein the past few years "Sorry, I can’t do that It’s not howto inject a bit of hue her reaction "Call me old-fashioned, call me a male chauvinist, call me whatever you want, but I intend to pay for our dinner I asked you out, remember?"

"Old-fashioned," she repeated "I prefer old-fashioned Isn’t the term male chauvinist kind of dated, anyway?"

"You hed

Linc found a gas station and asked the attendant for directions to the nearest restaurant It was a ers and french fries and sodas and talked nonstop for two hours Lori told hi to Cedar Cove Then he described his shop and how he’d changed the name to Three Wyse Men when he and his brothers took over She explained that she worked in a boutique near the mall and had recently moved to Cedar Cove