He needed to get out of there.
Pressing his thumb to the fob he held in his left hand, he unlocked his truck. Now that he was back in Whisper Lake, he knew that locking his truck wasn’t really a necessity, but old habits die hard. Growing up in New York City, it had been ingrained in him to always lock his doors. Also to keep his head down and mind his own business. He was struggling with that deeply embedded philosophy as he settled into the driver’s seat and placed his hands on the wheel.
Just drive away.
That’s what he knew he should do. The only problem was every impulse in his body was telling him to fill up the tires with air. Which was ridiculous. He didn’t know this woman or her children.
Well, that wasn’t totally true. He knew she had an ex who had most likely served in the Air Force. And that the man was either bat-shit crazy or a fucking idiot. Those were the only two logical explanations of how any man could not only walk away from two of the cutest kids on the planet, but also that woman.
Austin was having a hard time just driving away from the three of them.
Sitting in his truck, he tried to reason with himself. He’d told her about the issues with the back tires. She was aware, and he was sure she would take care of it. Austin had always trusted his instincts and his ability to read people and situations. Those instincts had saved lives—his included—more times than he could count. The woman he just met was intelligent and more than capable of taking care of the tires. That was what he knew logically. Emotionally was an entirely different story.
“Shit,” he mumbled under his breath in frustration as he grabbed his tire pressure gauge from behind the seat, got out of the truck, and walked to the air pump.
He dropped fifty cents into the machine and snatched the hose up. As he attached the nozzle to the valve on the side of the tire, he knew his behavior was insane. He had no right to be messing with this woman’s vehicle. Still, he couldn’t leave knowing if she drove out of this parking lot there was a very good chance the tire would blow out and she and her children could be in danger.
Austin had never been an impulsive person. All of his life, he’d made measured decisions based on logic, not emotion. This was a glaring exception.
He rounded the back to fill up the tire on the passenger side of the SUV. Questions were filling his mind faster than the air was filling the tire.
Why was he doing this?
Was it illegal?
What in the hell was he thinking?
He’d been in the city limits of Whisper Lake for less than ten minutes, and he was already behaving in ways that were seriously out of character for him. Growing up, he’d spent every summer visiting his grandparents here, but he hadn’t been back in over a decade. During that time, he’d lost both his grandparents. First, his grandpa, who’d had a heart attack, and then his grandma, who’d suffered from complications with pneumonia just three months after her husband’s death.
He’d been serving at the time, unable to return to the States when his grandparents had passed. A year ago, he’d been medically discharged after receiving a Purple Heart. He’d returned home to find that his fiancée was six months pregnant with his best friend’s baby. After that, he’d headed down to Texas to spend some time with the only family he had left—his uncle, aunt, and nine cousins.
The plan had been for him to stay in Wishing Well for a few weeks, but he’d ended up staying for months. Part of it was just because he’d missed his family and wanted to get his head on straight. But the true reason was he’d been putting off coming up here and dealing with his grandparents’ estate. Austin knew that when he arrived, he would be faced with the reality that they were truly gone. And that was too much to handle.
With both the tires filled, Austin returned the hose to the pump. He’d almost made it back to his truck when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the glass door open. Turning his head, he watched as the woman stepped into the sunlight, her son and daughter in tow.
Damn.
Only minutes had passed since he’d seen her, but her beauty struck him again like a bolt of lightning. She was really beautiful. It was the kind of beauty people wrote songs and poems about. That men waged war over. It was a timeless beauty he was sure had left a trail of broken hearts in its wake. His entire body ached just looking at her.
Get in the truck,the same inner voice that had told him to drive away piped up again. And again, Austin ignored it.
She was walking straight toward him with purposeful strides. Or maybe that was just his imagination. Maybe he was having a Fast Times at Ridgemont High fantasy moment; like the one Judge Reinhold had when he saw Phoebe Cates getting out of the pool.
“Did you put air in my back tires?” she asked pointedly, standing firm in front of him, her tone and face unreadable.
Okay, so probably not a fantasy.
“Yes,” he answered, bracing himself to get his ass handed to him. Not that he would blame her, his behavior had been creepy at best, illegal at worst.
Instead of getting angry, or even upset, she just narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
Shit.
Not knowing what else to say, he answered honestly, “I couldn’t drive away knowing they needed to be filled.”
He watched her carefully, studying her expression as she considered his answer. When he saw tears filling her bottom lids, he didn’t know what had caused it—but he was pretty sure he was going to be explaining his story to the police.
“Mommy, I’m hungry.” The little girl with the blonde ringlets pulled on her mom’s arm.
“Okay, we’re going, baby girl.” The woman wiped the moisture away and sniffed before her eyes met Austin’s. “Thank you,” she said with a soul-deep sincerity that shattered his heart.
All Austin could do was nod.
The following seconds flew by in a blur and, the next thing he knew, the three were packed into the silver SUV and headed out of the parking lot.
Damn.He didn’t even know her name, but after the way she’d just responded to his good deed, he did know she didn’t have anyone taking care of her. For some reason, every cell in his body was raising its hand and screaming for him to volunteer for the job.