“Suit yourself.” He disappeared into his truckand backed up.
Was he taking off?
Instead of driving away,he pulled deeper into the ditch and positioned his truck to light up the passenger side. I wanted to smack myself in the head for being so crazy and had to remind myself not every guy was an asshole. Just most.
A moment later, drill in hand, he stomped through the compact snow to the flat tire.
“Do you want a play by play?” A cheeky hint of a grin tugged on his lipsand dimpled the divot in his chin as he positioned the jack under the front end of my car.
“Sure, why not?” I stood on the other side of him so as to not block the bright light while he pumped the jack.
Surprisingly, without an ounce of talking down, he walked me through the easy star pattern of bolt removal and pulled off the shredded mess and the rim, which needed replacing. The dummy tire, as he called it, was pushed into place and the bolts re-fastened.
“All good, miss.”
Thejack hissed as it lowered my car, and Jesse slid it out.
“Wow, that’s it?” Ineeded to learn how to do that. It looked within my capabilities.
“That’s it.” He grabbed the shredded tire and setwhat was left of it back in my trunk. “You’ll need a new one, obviously. Where you headed?”
I swallowed and stared into his eyes. “Cheshire Bay.”
“Perfect. There’s a shop there, umm, something like Lenny’s Neighbourhood Mechanic.” He pulled off his cap and gave his head a scratch. “He’ll have a small selection of tires, but likely something that’ll fit your car.”
“Thanks. Itruly appreciate your help. What’s the charge, and I’ll e-transfer you right now.” I pulled out my phone, but first, quickly sent a text to Lily, letting her know I would be back on the road within a couple of minutes.
“Nothing, ma’am.”
“I have to give you something.”
He covered the tire with the matand closed the trunk lid. “Honestly, it’s all good. Pay it forward or something.”
I stood there, dumbfounded. “That doesn’t feel right.”
“What would’ve been right? Just leavingyou here on the side of the road?” He grabbed his jack and drill, setting them into the box of his truck.
Hmm, he got me there. “Well, thank you.” The idea of this being a purely sweet gesture wasn’t sitting right. “Are you sure?”
Maybe I had some cash in my wallet. It’s too bad I hadn’t baked anything; those always went over well.
He kepta respectable distance. “Absolutely. You have a Merry Christmas.”
“Thank you. You too.” I stood there, shivering.
“Get intoyour car before you freeze to death.”
“Thanks again, Jesse.”
I hung there on the side of the road until another semiblew past us, the kick up of wind further reducing my internal temperature. With a quick wave, I hopped into my vehicle and started it up, blasting the heat. After rubbing my hands together to return some warm blood into them, I sent another text to Lily and within a moment, I was on my way.
Slowly, I pulled off the side of the road.
Jesse seemed to be following me, but then again, thedesolate highway was the only one between Port Alberni and the turn off to Cheshire Bay. I didn’t pay it too much attention until he signaled left, like I did, onto the main road leading into the tiny seaside village.
Chapter Two
It had been a long time since I’d been in Cheshire Bay at Christmas.