“The diet, or the drive? The drive is nothing anymore, not to me. And the diet? I don’t usually think about it. Mom adjusted, and she actually started losing weight, too, because she wasn’t cooking for a family of four like she used to.”
She shifted in her seat, drawing one leg up as she did, gripping her ankle. “Oh, my gosh, my mom is the same way. Add to that, she is one of those clean-your-plate parents, and she, you like you said, always made double the food that anyone could eat.”
“Is she—is she still—?”
Espy waved her hand. “Oh. Oh yeah, she’s around. We just don’t live with her anymore. Actually Angelica and I live together, which a lot of people think is weird, we live together and work together but we really couldn’t be more different.”
“I mean, you have the same goals, right, so you couldn’t be that different. I bet people who aren’t as close to the situation see a lot more similarities than you do.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Maybe. A lot of it would be shared experiences though.”
“Sure, but isn’t that most siblings? I don’t know, being an only child.”
“I don’t know, because I’ve always had a sister,” she countered.
He lifted a hand from the wheel in concession. “So when you’re not chasing storms, do you hang out? Go out together or anything like that?”
She shook her head. “My sister is an introvert who would be happy being at the apartment all the time. I go out with my friends, we do trivia nights and karaoke, at least once a week.” She turned to look at him. “What about you? Introvert or extrovert?”
“I mean.” He pressed his lips together, his focus on the road. “I think I have extrovert tendencies. I buried them, a lot, when I was in high school, and after. But now that the town is a little more lively, I guess I get to indulge in them a bit more. We do weekly games at The Wheel House, playing washers. I guess you saw the game boxes when you were there.”
“I saw the boxes but I didn’t know what they were for. How do you play washers?”
He looked sideways at her. “I guess you probably won’t be around by Sunday, so I could show you.”
“No offense, but hopefully we will be on our way back home to get ready for our next tour group.”
“And unlikely that tour would bring you back to town.”
“Not likely. We’ve never been this far south before.” Her heart did a little lift that he seemed to want her to return this way. “We usually are up in the panhandle, Oklahoma and Kansas, sometimes over to Missouri and Arkansas. The years we’ve been doing this, this is the only time we’ve been in this area. We’ve been north and east of Dallas, more.”
Javi pressed his lips together again, and she wondered what that meant.
“I know they get a lot of storms that way. We do, too, but not usually tornados.” He looked over at her. “What kind of storms are we looking at? Fast moving? Flooding?”
“I really don’t think it will stay in one place long enough to flood. Definitely looks like they’d develop the height for hail, which probably is more likely to reach town than the tornado.”
“What time are you expecting it?”
“Afternoon, for sure, with the heat of the day, and the timing of the front coming down from Colorado.”
His jaw was tight, and his nod matched it. “Once we drop your part off with Tommy, I need to go let my mom know.”
Javi hated storms.Just knowing a storm was coming put his nerves on edge. He wished his mom had agreed to move into his house. At least it was brick and built on a solid foundation, but she had not wanted to move in with him, saying no one would want to marry a man who lived with his mother. He’d even offered to swap with her, but she wouldn’t agree to that either. Still, she had a key and took care of his house for him.
So now he worried about her all the time, though she assured him he didn’t need to, because she was near her friends, and they all looked out for each other.
One thing he could say about Broken Wheel. The crime rate was pretty low, mostly because most of the people in Broken Wheel had about as many possessions as their neighbors.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Javi asked Esperanza for a second time when he dropped her off at Tommy’s. Tommy lived in Austin’s old house, which was in a neighborhood just off the square, but it had a long driveway suitable for the cars Tommy worked on, and his tow truck. “Getting back to the motel?”
“It’s just there,” she said with a toss of her curls, pointing in the right direction, down the street and across the square. “I’ll be fine.”
He clenched his jaw a moment. The town was safe enough, but not very well-lit. He hated leaving a young woman alone, unfamiliar with the town. His mom could wait a little while.
“I’ll wait until you get Tommy the parts, then I’ll take you to the motel.”
She gave him a look that he couldn’t quite read. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I’ve been taking care of myself for years.”
