Luke was waiting to enjoy his meal and maybe some more flirting with the waitress Tina, when the hot little brunette in pink walked in. When she was outside, she never once turned around so he could see her face. She was out of view when the trooper drove away, so he assumed she had left as well. Nothing prepared him for when the beauty walked into the diner. She was prettier than he ever imagined she would be, and much to his disapproval, he wasn’t the only one that noticed.
The two workers at the counter were eying her too, and for some reason it angered him. He really had no right to be angry, since he was just as guilty for checking her out. All he could think was, back the fuck off, he’d seen her first.
She was dressed way too nice to be a lot lizard aka prostitute. He had run-ins with them on a daily basis, but was smart enough to stay away. Luke looked at the guys at the counter again, but this time they were smart and returned to eating instead of gawking.
He kept watching her; he was fascinated by more than just her good looks. Maybe it was the way she almost started walking toward him earlier. How did she know he wanted her to come to him?
He played it cool, as he always did, and continued to watch her. She would occasionally rub her temples and close her eyes, to relieve a headache he bet. When she wasn’t doing that, he would catch her staring at him. He got that a lot from women, so it wasn’t anything new. But this girl was different—the way she stared was different. He couldn’t put his finger on what that difference was, but he damn sure liked it.
They continued this flirtatious play of stealing glances at one another. A few times he would smile, hoping she would smile back, giving him the cue that is was okay to come introduce himself. But she would just quickly turn and look out the window again. A shy one, no doubt. He usually didn’t score well with the shy ones.
When he mulled things over in his head, he came to a disappointing conclusion—she had to be waiting for someone, probably a boyfriend or maybe even a husband. Someone as pretty as her, undoubtedly was taken.
Even though he might be disappointed, he still had the option of hooking up with Tina. She made it no secret that she was interested. Hell, he might even forget about hooking up with anyone and just hit the road. He would like to still try to make it to Louisiana before his driving time was up.
He was on his way to San Antonio to pick up a load heading to Sacramento. While in California, he would either take some time off and have a little fun, or head back home to check on his mama. His mama sure would love it if he brought home a nice pretty girl like the one across from him. He couldn’t say for sure if she was a nice girl, but she was damn sure beautiful.
Not only did Luke think she was beautiful, but he had a concern for her that he couldn’t quite explain. When he noticed her unsuccessfully trying to get the waitress’s attention, he quickly stopped flirting with Tina and told her to go tend to her. He didn’t even care that it pissed Tina off that his attentions were no longer focused on her anymore.
He was really worried when he saw the trooper come talk to her again. Was she in trouble? She seemed happy to see the trooper, until they started talking. He couldn’t hear exactly what was being said but the desperation in her sweet voice had him on edge. Her words, “how bad?” and her shaking her head meant that she was definitely having some trouble.
He sat there, trying to fight the urge to go to her and to comfort her. Where was this desire to be her hero coming from? She was a pretty girl, but so what? He met pretty girls all time. What made this one so special?
As his thoughts struggled to make sense of the overwhelming desire to help the girl, he watched as she left with the trooper. Well, that’s that, problem solved, he thought to himself. Now he could move forward, leaving a mental picture in his mind of the beauty that got away. Hell, she probably wasn’t his type, anyway. He smirked as he drank the rest of his sweet tea.
A feeling washed over him—maybe it was relief, or on second thought, could it be disappointment?
Luke couldn’t resist looking out the window, one last time. He just wanted one more glance. She was out of his view, standing behind the open trunk of the trooper’s vehicle. He continued to watch them as they exchanged words and finally the trooper took off. The girl walked toward the restaurant and stepped onto the sidewalk, right smack in front of his window. She just stood there, staring blankly. Luke could feel a knot forming in his throat.
She looked lost, and he swore he’d never seen a sadder face on anyone, except maybe his mama. It disturbed him how she just stood there, staring. And it appeared like she was staring at him, her eyes pleading him to help her.
He continued to watch her, there was no way could he look away from her now. He watched as one tear rolled down her cheek and then another. The scene was no longer entertaining. With each tear, the tightness grew in his chest. He was just about to say something to her through the window, when she turned and sat down. He had lost sight of her now.
Well, that was all he could stand. He had to at least know what was going on, what he could do to help her. If he didn’t, someone else would. Luke looked over to the counter at the two men—someone like possibly those two characters paying their bill right now and about to head outside. Their attentions may not be as honorable. Who was he kidding? His intentions were most likely not honorable either, but she was obviously in some kind of trouble. He had no clue what he could do to help, but the thought of just taking off and not even offering to help her, didn’t sit well with him. His mama brought him up better than that.
Standing up, Luke threw a couple of bills on the table as a tip before walking to the counter to pay his bill. Tina rushed from out of nowhere to the register to help him.
“Did you find everything okay?” Tina asked as she smiled and winked at him.
Luke watched as she bit her pencil suggestively, making it no secret what she wanted. Earlier, he would have been fine with discovering the talents she tried desperately to show him, but the crying beauty outside was his priority now.
“Yes, it was fine.” He handed her a twenty, waiting for his change.
“Are you here long? You’re Marla’s friend, right?” She held on to his bill and money, making no attempt to hurry along.
Well, that explained a lot, Luke thought to himself. “Yeah, I know Marla. Is she still around?” Luke tried to be patient and make small talk, but right now he couldn’t give a rat’s ass less about her or Marla.
“No, she took off with some rodeo cowboy last month. They got married, ya know? I think she’s somewhere in Texas now.” She spilled the story as she finally started ringing up his ticket.
So much for Marla not being the marrying type. Luke wanted to laugh. “Good for her. You have a nice day now.” He held his hand out, waiting for his change.
“So, you don’t want to … you know, get together later tonight and have a few drinks?” She held on to his money, not wanting him to rush off.
He hated being blunt with her, especially since he was the one who initiated the flirting earlier, but he didn’t have time to think up a subtler brush-off. “Nah, not today. I’m taking off as soon as I gas up,” he said.
Tina’s smile faded and was replaced by the frown of a scorned woman. Luke watched the pencil she had in her hand, in case she tried to stab him with it.
“Have a nice day, then.” Tina slapped his change down on the counter before walking toward the back, flipping him the bird as he watched her. Just as well, Luke thought. She was probably a gold digger, anyway. Besides, he was not happy hearing that Marla had kissed and told.
Aimee Jo bowed her head, not knowing what else to do at the moment. She was brought up to believe that in times of trouble, you pray on it, and God will show you the answer. The tears she had been fighting for hours, now came down uncontrollably as she asked for forgiveness and for help.
Her car was totaled, but Trooper Stephens said he would have it towed to the nearest junkyard. The bastard who stole her car and her money was long gone. Then, to add insult to injury, her belongings were thrown out and scattered along the highway. The trooper was kind enough to pick up what he could, but most of her things were lost. Either way, she was alone and nearly broke.
With only a hundred dollars, she could afford one night at a fairly decent hotel or maybe two nights at a dump. She was screwed. Why couldn’t she ever catch a break?
Why couldn’t she have been brave enough to have just bought a plane ticket and flown out to California? She’d been so excited to hit the open road. She had never been anywhere in her life except her hometown of Thomasville, Georgia. This was her dream that she’d worked so hard for and saved all her money for, and with the money her meemaw had left her, she thought that for once, her dream was finally coming true.
Now, even if she made it to California, she had no place to stay and no money to get a place to stay. She also had no one to call for help. She had to face it, her dream was over. Gripping her meemaw’s bible tightly in her hands, she bowed her head and started praying as she wept.