Esperanza’s eyebrows arched at that.
“We?”
He met Esperanza’s gaze, silently asking if she was on board with the plan. “The young lady who was driving the van. She really needs this van by tomorrow, man.”
“I mean, sure, if you could go get one, but I don’t know if you could get to the store before it closes.”
Javi reached a hand toward Esperanza and was already backing toward the door. “You call and make sure they have one, let them know we’re on our way, and we’ll head out now. Call me back.”
Esperanza was following him as he hung up.
“Javi, your dinner!” Hailey called after him.
“Box it up and I’ll pay you for it later.” He looked back at Esperanza. “This okay?”
“Sure, of course.” She glanced back at her sister, who was half-off the stool. “You pay for his dinner. We’ll be back later. I’ll see you at the motel.”
Angelica gave Javi a look that he could only interpret as a warning as he pushed the door open and let Esperanza lead the way out.
“I feel bad you didn’t get something to eat,” she said as he guided her toward his pick-up.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I have some snacks in my bag.”
He’d seen what was in her bag and he didn’t think anything was low-carb. “Thanks, but I’ll be okay.”
“This is really kind of you,” she said as she climbed into his truck. “Do you know where the auto parts store is?”
“We can look it up, as soon as we get an answer from Tommy about whether or not they have it in stock.”
She nodded and buckled in, and he took off, spitting gravel from beneath his tires as he headed for the main road leading to San Angelo.
They’d driven a few minutes in tense silence before his phone rang, and Javi motioned for Esperanza to answer it. She hesitated, but then tapped the screen. “Hello?”
He could see her whole body relax, and she looked over at him. “He found one in San Angelo. They’re holding it for us.”
He grinned over at her. “See? It’s going to be all right.”
“We’ll get it to you as soon as possible,” she said to Tommy, and disconnected, putting Javi’s phone back in the mount on the dash and folding her hands in her lap.
“Which store is it at? Can you look it up on my phone and get the directions?”
She took his phone back and tapped in the location, then set the phone back in the bracket again.
“What time does it say we’ll get there?”
She looked, and grimaced. “Seven fifty-two.”
“Cutting it close,” he said, and applied more pressure to the accelerator.
“I really appreciate you doing this,” she said. “I guess I could have taken the other van, but I’d hate leaving everyone stranded, and it would probably take me longer to find the place on my own.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“It is. I mean, you’ve been driving all day, you probably just wanted to go home, and here I present you with this quest.”
He chuckled. “You make it sound like a game.”
