I watched her trip her way back up the steps, and I decided to make her a cup of coffee. She had such a caring soul when it came to those horses, but she wasn’t going to be happy about this tire. She felt relieved now, until she got out there and realized she didn’t have a spare or something like that, and even if she did, she’d still have to shell out money for a new spare whenever she could.
And something in the back of my mind kept nagging at me.
“Colt?” she called out, “I’m gonna go outside and take a look.”
“Have some coffee first.”
I held out the cup, and she reached for it, sighing with relief. When she took the cup from my hands, our fingers touched, and electricity shot deep into my bones. Never had a woman entranced me as much as this, and I knew I’d reached a point where I’d never be able to go back.
“Mmm, this is wonderful. Thank you,” she said with a smile.
“I saw you trippin’ up those steps earlier. Didn’t want you busting your nose on the driveway.”
“Hey now, no one is completely graceful in the mornings,” she said.
“Speak for yourself; I’m like a ninja.”
“Says the guy who ran into the wall and woke up half the block.”
“You heard that?” I asked.
“You cussed out the wall at four in the morning. Yes, I heard you.”
I stood there and enjoyed another cup of coffee with her, then we went to take a look at her truck. This delay would mean I would have to forego breakfast in order to get everything checked out at the restaurant before we reopened tonight, but if it meant Cheyenne would be safe while I was gone, then so be it.
She groaned as soon as we stepped out onto the porch and saw the tire. She picked up her pace and rushed over for a closer look.
“I can’t believe this. I just put a whole new set of tires on this truck! I’ve barely even used them yet.”
“Do you have a spare?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’ll put it on after chores, I guess.”
“I can do it for you real quick.”
“No, you can’t. You’ve got to get to work,” she said.
“Cheyenne, I’m not leaving you here with a flat tire. Where’s your spare?”
“Colt, seriously, it’s fine.
I walked around her and looked at her truck. Thankfully, the spare was in place underneath. I set to work getting it down, then looking for the jack. Cheyenne was walking around the truck and checking the other tires while I dug around in the cab behind the seats to find the jack.
As I got to working on the tire, I saw the exact issue I was afraid of the moment I got it off the ground.
“You know I’ve liked you since the moment I saw you, right?” I asked.
“The other tires look—what?”
“Yeah. First time I ever saw you. You were buzzing around like a busy little hornet, and it seemed to me like you stayed that way on purpose. But that didn’t deter me. Most men don’t like a busy woman, but I do. I think it’s the character trait of a strong woman.”
“Yeah, well. It’s pretty much what you gotta be when you’re on your own,” she said.
“He really did a number on you, didn’t he?”
“Who?” she asked.