Page 41 of His Wounded Heart

This time when they start laughing, I join in. “I’ll bring more wood for you after the storm,” Renzo promises, then he hangs up.

Simon gets up from the table and picks up my poofy jacket, scarf, gloves, hat, and his windbreaker. He helps me get everything on before we head for the door.

“Be careful when you get to the sisters’ place. They have that gulley about fifty yards before you get to the front of their house, and in this weather it could start to fill up. Keep your eye out for it.”

“Thanks, Azariah,” Simon says. “I appreciate the tip.”

“Call me Aza.” He turns and looks at me. “You too, little girl. Hope to see you again. You tell that old coot Bernie that he better get well fast. I’m still pissed about losing that buck fifty on our last game of backgammon.”

“I’ll do that.” Then, because I can’t help it, I go over to the man and give him a hug. He freezes for a minute, but then he returns it twofold.

“You turned out all right, Trenda Avery,” he whispers into my hair.

That means a lot coming from someone who knows the history of this town and this county.

“Next time I come, I’ll bring some chocolate chip cookies. I know it won’t be as good as Bertha’s chutney, but you might like them.”

“Absolutely. Bring your daughter too. I’ve heard tell about her. I’d like to meet her.”

I nod. I didn’t want to commit until I had a better feel on how he would greet her.

“Enough flirting, Aza. We’ve got to go,” Simon calls out. I head for the door and Simon goes over to Azariah and shakes hands with him. They speak for a moment, but too quietly for me to hear what they’re saying. Azariah ends up slapping Simon’s shoulder. Then Simon comes to the door and opens it for me.

The rain is really coming down, and the front yard is now mostly mud. Thank goodness I’m wearing my work boots.

Damn!

I feel myself slipping and know I’m going to land on my butt, when I suddenly feel Simon’s arms surrounding me.

“I’ve got you.”

I hear his calming voice above the rain. I take a moment to gather myself as he rights me onto my feet. “You okay?” he asks me.

“Yes.”

Lightning bursts across the sky. Simon slips his arm around my waist and takes most of my weight as he guides me across the muddy field to his truck. Before I can even think, he’s got the door open and me planted in the passenger seat. I fumble getting to my purse from the floor so I can get the handheld GPS.

“How many more stops?” he asks as soon as he has the truck started.

“Seven.”

“Okay, Trenda, it’s going to get a little hairy.”

Aza hadn’t been kidding about that gulley getting full. The only good thing is that Judy and Janice is our next stop. If they’d been our fourth or fifth stop it would have been game over, even with me driving this monster of a truck.

“I still say we were rude to the sisters,” Trenda says for the third time as we leave Loren’s place.

“They were the ones who said we needed to leave, Trenda. How was us leaving being rude?” I don’t understand why she’s being so insistent.

“Simon, didn’t you hear Judy say that I was the first woman visitor they’d had in a year? Janice still wanted to show me two more of the rugs they’d made. They might have agreed with you when you said we should get going, but they really wanted us to stay.”

Ah, that’s what’s going on, Trenda’s tender heart is at play. “I tell you what, when we’re not in the middle of a storm, I’ll take you back. How does that sound?”

There is silence. “That would be great. I never want to bother Zarek, and I have to say, driving these roads intimidates me, especially since Zarek’s truck is manual transmission. Bernie mostly likes to make these trips by himself,” she says wistfully.

“I’ll take you, problem solved.” Except it isn’t. We have three more stops, and now the rain has turned to sleet, and even with my all-weather tires, and driving this truck in the lowest gear, the damn thing is still trying to slip.

“Simon, in three hundred meters, you’re going to be veering left and up a hill.”