“Where are we going for dinner?” Daisy asked as she showered. “I’m treating tonight.”

 

“I thought you said you don’t have any money,” Dix replied as he nosed through her open suitcase. It was full of jeans and shirts, all well-worn. The nicest clothes she had with her were the ones he bought her.

 

“I don’t have much,” she admitted as the water shut off. “A few hundred dollars. But I think the least I can do is treat my hero to a decent meal. Just not too expensive, okay?”

 

“Tell you what, I’ll put it on your tab with your clothes. How’s that?”

 

Her head peeked out of the bathroom. “Turn your back.” When he did, she opened the door more fully and picked up the clothes before stepping back into the room. “Okay, you can turn around now. As far as the meal…okay. But I’m paying you back every penny, I swear, as soon as I get a job. For the clothes, too.”

 

“If it makes you feel better.”

 

“It does. I already owe you, and the Cutthroats, so much. More than I can ever repay. But I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage.”

 

“You’re not. You’ve helped us in a big way. If it weren’t for you, we’d be blindsided by what was coming. Now we have a fighting chance.”

 

She stepped out dressed in the clothes she’d put on after getting wet. “Sorry, but this is the best I have with me.”

 

“You look fine. Better than fine.”

 

“Even my shoes are dry so I don’t squeak when I walk anymore.”

 

He chuckled as she applied her makeup, a bit of blush, eye shadow and lip gloss, and she was done. She turned to him again. “Am I presentable?”

 

Dressed in her jeans, white men’s style shirt, and a dusting of makeup to enhance her beauty but not hide it, she was far more than presentable. “You look great. I still need to go home and change, though. We can leave from there. I know a seafood place in Douglas that has great salmon steaks. And it’s not too expensive,” he added with a teasing smile.

 

He was a bit rumpled looking now from being soaked earlier, but thinking back, she rather liked the way the wet shirt clung to him like a second skin. “Okay, sounds like a plan. Do you live near hear?”

 

“Not far,” he said, intentionally not telling her he lived in the same place he worked, wanting to see her reaction. It was the unusual woman who wasn’t immediately put off by his trailer and where it was located.

 

He opened the door to pouring rain, and chuckled as she slumped. “We’ll take your car.”

 

“Thank you,” she breathed, pulling her keys out of her purse. They dashed to the car and slammed the doors after piling inside. “Oy, this seems familiar,” she said as she wiped water from her face. She put the key in the ignition and gave it a twist. Dix kept his comments to himself as she cranked the car over while pumping the accelerator furiously. She gave the car a rest, still pumping the pedal, then tried again. “It’s hard to start sometimes when it’s raining.”

 

The little car shuddered, coughed, then spluttered to life roaring loudly, before dying again. “Come on, baby,” she cooed to the car as she turned the key again. The Beetle spun over, tried to start, but never quite got there. She tried again and again, muttering encouragement to the car, until the battery began to weaken.

 

He could tell by listening to the car turning over it was well past its prime and had almost no compression. He reached over and covered her hand with his, stopping her from turning the key again. “Save the battery. I’ll go get the yard truck while you wait here, okay?”

 

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, staring at the dash in defeat. “It’ll probably start when it stops raining.”

 

He took her chin and turned her head to face him. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll be less than hour. Then we’ll go. It’s no problem, okay?”

 

“Okay,” she said and gave him a small smile. They hurried back inside and as she watched, he picked up his helmet and stepped into the rain. “Less than an hour,” he said just as the Harley rumbled to life.

 

***

 

While she waited for Dix to return, she picked up the motel phone and, reading the directions, called home. “Hello?” Lizzie said.

 

“Mom, can you call me back at this number?”

 

“Daisy! Thank God! Where are you?”

 

“Just call me back. Room 118.” She hung up the phone and waited. Less than a minute later, the phone rang.

 

“Daisy! Where in God’s name are you? We’ve been so worried!”

 

“I’m in Douglas.”

 

“Douglas! What are you doing there?”

 

“Leo’s here. I’m trying to track him down and get Riley back.”

 

“Why don’t you go to the police? Let them find him.”

 

“I can’t. I have no proof. I just…saw him on the street,” she lied.

 

“Daisy, just stay there. Your dad and I will come get you. Let the police handle it.”

 

“No! Stay there. As soon as I can get Riley I’m coming home.”

 

“Daisy, listen to me young lady. I want you to come home right this instant. Your mother has been worried sick,” her dad said.

 

“Sorry, Dad, I can’t. Not without Riley. The police can’t do anything until I have proof. So I’m going to get it, or maybe just grab him and run if I can. I don’t know. I’m playing this by ear as I go.”

 

“I’m coming to get you.”

 

“No! Don’t do that. I’m fine. I’m in a motel and will be home as soon as I can.”

 

“Daisy, damnit, I want you to—”

 

“I’m not a child anymore, Dad,” she said firmly, cutting him off. “I’m twenty-six years old and can make my own decisions. I have to do this and nothing you can say will change my mind. I tried this with the police and nothing was happening. So now I’m going to try it my way. Just stay there. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

 

“Daisy, we’re worried about you,” Lizzie said, taking over the phone again.

 

“I know. I’m not going to do anything stupid, but I’ve already done more in two days than the cops have in five. I found out where Leo was the day I left, then saw him today. I just need another couple days then I can come home.”

 

“Do you need money?”

 

“I’m okay at the moment. I have to go, Mom. I love you. Tell Dad I love him, too.”

 

“Wait! Before you go, a letter came today from your lawyer. I didn’t open it.”

 

She felt her heart speed up. “Open it. Is it the divorce papers?”

 

There was a pause then the sound of ripping papers. “Yes. You have to sign it.” There was another pause. “The letter from the lawyer says you have been awarded sole custody but Leo has supervised visitation rights every other weekend. Uh…no spousal support and, let’s see, four hundred dollars a month in child support.”

 

She whimpered. “Thank you, Mom. I just have to find Riley and get home, then I can start my life over again.”

 

“Just be careful.”

 

“I will, Mom. Love you. Bye.” She slowly placed the handset slow in the cradle. She didn’t know if she wanted to jump for joy or cry in relief…so she did both.

 

***

 

Good to his word, Dix rapped on her door forty-seven minutes later. “You ready?”

 

She was still bummed about her car, wondering how she was going to get back to Prineville if it wouldn’t start, but the news her divorce was final as soon as she signed the order and had it approved by a judge buoyed her spirits. “Ready,” she said as they stepped out.

 

She expected some rattletrap truck, much like her car, or perhaps a heavy-duty work truck, but what Leo was driving was sparkling new Ford with the words McGhee Recycling surrounded by the three arrow triangle of the recycling symbol on the doors.

 

He hurried out ahead of her and opened the door just as she arrived, shutting it behind her before trotting around to his side and crawling in. “I love Oregon weather,” he said as he squeezed the water from his hair.

 

“It doesn’t rain all the time like this in Prineville.”

 

“Well it does here. So, what are you in the mood for?”

 

“You mentioned salmon.”

 

“Salmon it is,” he said as the truck burbled to life.

 

As they splashed through the rain, she wondered what it would be like to have a new vehicle like the Ford, one where the wipers and defrosters actually cleared the windshield so she didn’t have to use a towel.

 

He let her off at the door of Anglers then parked the truck before joining her inside. “Did I mention how much I enjoyed Oregon weather?” he asked as he stepped inside and shook the water off himself.

 

“You did,” she said, liking how the shirt clung to his back, shoulders and arms. “The hostess said about ten minutes.”

 

“I should be finished dripping by then.”

 

“Right his way, please,” the hostess said as she picked up two menus and two sets of green napkin wrapped utensils.

 

“Or less,” Daisy amended as they followed her.

 

“Your waitress will be right out,” she said as she laid the menus on the table.

 

“You said the salmon steaks are good?” Daisy asked as she scanned the menu.

 

“Best in town. I suggest the asparagus with lemon butter.”

 

“Asparagus? Blecch.”

 

He chuckled. “What is it with you and green vegetables? Just try them.”

 

She giggled. “You sound like me talking to Riley. Okay, fine. But if I don’t like them I’m not eating them,” she said as she leaned back and crossed her arms across her chest in defiance, but her grin softened the words.

 

“Fine. More for me,” he said as their waiter arrived. “We’ll both have the pan-grilled salmon steaks, the steamed asparagus, and the Boneyard RPM IPA.” The waiter nodded and moved off.

 

“You really seem to know your food.”

 

He shrugged. “When you eat out all the time, you learn what’s good.”

 

“I’m going to get fat if we don’t find Riley soon.” He raised an eyebrow in questioning. “Riley and I rarely eat out, and when we do, it’s someplace kid friendly, like McDonalds. This is a real treat, eating someplace that doesn’t serve French fries,” she explained.

 

“Been tough?”

 

“Sometimes.” She sighed. “I don’t like coming off as a shrew, and I didn’t mind Leo being in the Firechrome, at least not at first. But, you know, after a while, especially after you have a kid, you have to grow up. Leo never did. He still wanted to go out drinking and running with his buddies, but having a job and coming home to be with your son wasn’t fun for him, so he couldn’t be bothered. He kept saying it was going to get better, but it never did. It’s about to, though. My divorce papers arrived yesterday. All I have to do is sign them, have it approved by a judge, and Riley and I are free. We can start over again.”

 

The waiter had dropped their beers while she was speaking, so he picked his up and held it out in salute. “To new beginnings.”

 

She smiled and touched her glass to his. “Thank you,” she said after she took a sip.

 

“Are you going to stay in Prineville?”

 

“I don’t know. I want to stay away from Eugene for a while, that much I know. Portland, Salem and Medford for the same reason.”

 

“The Firechrome?”

 

“Yeah. I want to stay as far away from them as I can. No point in looking for trouble.”

 

They continued to talk, Dix piecing together Daisy’s life, asking questions while trying to not appear nosy. She fascinated him. She’d endured so much neglect and abuse at the hands of Leo, and the more he heard the more he wanted to kick the shit out him. The affairs, the knocking her around, the belittlement, the neglect of Riley and the refusal to help support his family, it made him smolder in anger.

 

“What did you ever see in him, and why did you stay?” he asked, unable to get his mind around why she was with him in the first place and why she stayed as long as she did.

 

She shrugged. “He’s handsome, and smooth, and talked a good game, plus I was young and stupid and attracted to bad boys in a big way. I guess it was because my mom and dad always seemed so boring. Now, boring looks pretty good. I stayed because I wanted to try to make it work. As I said, he kept telling me it was going to get better, and I had Riley to think about. I didn’t want him to grow up without a father.”

 

She saw Dix look down as if that stung, but she didn’t understand why. He was such an intriguing man. He was a walking wet dream but wasn’t vain. He was kind and seemed to be well respected and liked, and he had a quiet confidence about him as if he had nothing to prove. In short he was everything Leo wasn’t, and she had to admit, that was like catnip to her. She wanted to know more about the man helping her and was about to follow up and try to find out more about him when their plates arrived.

 

The arrival of the food snapped the darkening mood and their conversation became lighter and more playful. “What do you think of the asparagus?” he asked, pointing his fork at her plate as she took her first tentative bite.

 

“Well, it not blecchy,” she said as she chewed a bit more. “It’s pretty good, actually.”

 

“See?”

 

She began to giggle and couldn’t seem to stop.

 

“What?” he chuckled as her giggles began to infect him.

 

“I don’t know! It’s just the way you said that reminded me so much of me when I’m trying to get Riley to try something new. Are you sure you don’t have kids?”

 

Their giggles began to spiral out of control, feeding on each other, until they were both wiping their eyes. “Would you please stop!” he gasped, wiping at his eyes.

 

“I can’t!” she laughed into her napkin, starting him laughing all over again.

 

***

 

“Thank you. I had a lovely time,” she said as he stopped in front of her door. “I’d forgotten what having an adult conversation feels like.”

 

“I enjoyed it, too.” He looked into her eyes and felt drawn to her. He leaned over and placed a hand behind her head and drew her to him. She didn’t resist or turn away, so he kissed her, soft and slow, before he pulled back, his hand still on her head.

 

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he drew back. The kiss had been sweet, gentle, and oh-so pleasant. “That was nice,” she whispered as she opened her eyes and smiled. She moved toward him slightly, encouraging him, and he brought his mouth to hers again.

 

When he pulled back the second time she straightened. The second kiss had been more heated than the first, but was still slow and supremely satisfying. She looked at him a moment, yearning to ask him to stay, but she was afraid, afraid of the feelings stirring within her. It has been so long, so very long, since she’d wanted to feel the touch of a man, to feel his caresses and his lips.

 

“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” she said as she opened the door, “but I have to go.”

 

He watched as she opened the door to her room, pausing a moment as her eyes met his, before she looked down and closed the door.

 

As the door clicked shut and the deadbolt slid home, he turned and walked to the truck. He thought they were going someplace when she came back for the second kiss, but then she suddenly pulled away. He was sure it wasn’t anything he’d done. Perhaps it was the fact she was still, technically, married. He snorted as he put the truck in gear and backed out of the parking spot. He’d never sleep with another man’s woman, but if all Daisy had to do was sign a piece of paper to not be another man’s wife, that was close enough for him. As he thought about it, he decided her pulling away because she was married didn’t feel right either. She wanted him, just as he wanted her, but something held her back, almost as if being desired frightened her. He shook his head in resignation. If that was the cause, Leo had really fucked her up good. Another reason to kick the shit out of that asshole.