The woman she addressed marched toward her, ponytail swinging, looking all business. Were these the sisters?
“And just leave the van here?”
“I’ll stay with it and go back with the driver.” She looked back at Javi. “I can do that, right?”
“Up to you,” Javi replied.
She turned back to Angelica. “You go, take them to town, get them something to eat.” Again she looked at Javi to verify, and he nodded.
“Three restaurants to choose from.”
She widened her eyes dramatically. “As many as three!” Then she addressed Angelica again. “I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.
“I don’t like leaving you here in the middle of nowhere.” Angelica gave Javi a look, up and down, her nostrils pinched. “You know about cops.”
A little color crept to the little mechanic’s cheeks. “I will be fine.”
“Who knows how long it will take, and you’ll be out here alone and hot?”
“Sis. Better me being alone and hot than our passengers.” She gave Angelica a meaningful look. “We don’t want bad reviews. Now take them and go, and I’ll meet you in town.”
“I’ll make sure she’s okay,” Javi felt compelled to reassure the women.
Again, Angelica gave him that look, and said to the shorter woman, “You have your pepper spray though, right?”
“On the keyring,” the little mechanic said, as if she’d reassured her a hundred times.
So yes, sisters.
“Don’t be afraid to use it just because he’s a cop.” Angelica pointed an I’m-warning-you finger at him before she marched back to the second van and started ordering the passengers inside.
“Sorry about my sister.”
“The Twister Sisters?” He motioned to the name on the door.
That bright grin again, like she was being asked about her favorite topic. “Ah, yeah, we grew up enamored by the movie Twister, and we wanted to be storm chasers, but then we found out about storm chaser vacation tours, and that seemed like more fun. We both went to school for meteorology, but she finished and I didn’t, so I’m a driver.”
He had so many questions, because they didn’t look at all like he’d expect storm chasers to look, but he held onto them while he called for the tow truck and gave the location.
“Your sister’s right,” he said as the second van pulled away, reluctantly, he thought. “It’s going to be too hot to wait out here. Why don’t we wait in my cruiser?”
He hadn’t seen a marked resemblance between the two women until just now, when she gave him the same pinched nose look he’d seen on her sister’s face. He held his hands out, palms up.
“My mama raised me to be a gentleman. You can call her if you want.”
That drew a laugh from her, and she rubbed a hand over the back of her neck. “Yeah, okay, air conditioning will be good.”
He motioned for her to lead the way, and she waited by the car until he unlocked it for her.
“I’m Sergeant Javier Saldivar,” he said ash he held the door. “People call me Javi.”
“Sergeant,” she said. “I’m Espy Villegas.”
“Espy,” he repeated. “Unusual name.”
“Short for Esperanza, but that’s a mouthful.”
He thought it was pretty, but before he said so, he thought about the pepper spray on her keychain. “So you and your sister run these tours?”
