Cassie probably meant for her response to be ominous, designed to make me rethink my interest in her, but that’s not the effect it has. Instead of being alarmed, I’m intrigued.

I hold the steering wheel steady as the truck bumps and jerks down the rutted lane that serves as a driveway.

Through the windshield I study the trailer at the other end of the drive. It’s nothing fancy, just a beat-up white house trailer with a broad turquoise stripe. The front door opens out onto a hardwood stoop that has a couple of lawn chairs set up on it. The most interesting feature is a long ramp that extends the entire length of the trailer and connects to the porch.

The yard is a patchy collection of weeds and grass. Several chickens peck through the weeds or lay in little hollows they dug into the sand.

“Son of a bitch,” Cassie swears, startling me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“My mom is supposed to be here, but her car’s gone.” Cassie rolls her head from side to side. “I bet she took off as soon as I told her I needed her car. I knew I shouldn’t have given her a heads up. How the hell am I supposed to get my sister to Lopeck’s without a vehicle? I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

I brake in front of the trailer and shift into park. “I can drive you and your sister wherever you need to go.”

“No.” Cassie shakes her head. “I really can’t do that. We were planning on spending the entire day at Lopeck’s. Even if you took us, I couldn’t ask you to bring us home again. You’ve already done so much.”

“It’s no problem.” I turn the truck off. “The only thing I have scheduled for today is working on your Buick, though I can see why you’d want that to be a priority.”

Cassie holds onto my truck’s door handle and chews on her lower lip. I don’t have any trouble reading her thoughts. She’s torn between wanting to go to this Lopeck’s, whatever that is, and not wanting to be dependent on me.

Unable to stop myself, I reach out and take her left hand in my right.

“Cassie, I’m not trying to step all over your sense of independence.” My thumb glides back and forth across the back of her hand. “But this is something I want to do. Are you willing to let me?”

Cassie’s eyes narrow. “Why are you willing to do this?”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” I lift her hand and drop a butterfly kiss on it. “I want to spend time with you. I want to get to know you.”

“You’re really fond of that word, aren’t you?”

“It serves its purpose,” I tell her. “Will you give me this chance?”

“I wish I could figure out what to do.”

The trailer’s screen door bangs open, startling both of us. A woman with dark hair and the widest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen wheels herself onto the wide porch. She stares at the truck for a long second before lifting one hand and waving frantically.

“Cassie,” she cries out.

Cassie pushes the truck’s passenger door open and launches herself out of the cab. While I work to unlatch my seatbelt, she rounds the front of the truck and rushes up the trailer’s stairs. I step out and follow at a more leisurely pace.

Cassie and the young woman embrace as I climb the stairs.

“Sally, this is Ronan, a friend, someone I work with.” Cassie straightens and turns to me. Her eyes meet mine. They’re more subdued than I’ve ever seen them. “My car broke down, so he agreed to give us a lift to Lopeck’s.”

I crouch in front of Sally’s wheelchair and extend my right hand to her.

“Howdy, ma’am,” I drawl. “Nice to meet you.”

Giggling hysterically, Sally shakes my hand. I notice several deep, old scars crisscrossing the back of her hand. The scars extend up to her wrist before disappearing under the cuff of the long-sleeved T-shirt she’s wearing.

“I’m Sally.” For a second her childlike expression changes, becomes a bit more adult like. Her gaze shifts from me to Cassie. Her nose wrinkles.

“Is he why you were sad and lonely yesterday?” Sally asks her sister.

I don’t dare move as I wait with bated breath for Cassie’s response. Maybe she missed me as much last night as I missed her.

Cassie sucks in a startled breath. “I told you, I wasn’t sad or lonely, just very tired.”

“You lied,” Sally says confidently. “We need to leave for Lopeck’s.”

Without waiting for either of us to respond, Sally wheels her chair down the ramp and bumps across the dusty yard and stops beside my truck.

For the first time, I realize the flaw with my offer to take them to whatever Lopeck’s is. There’s no way Sally’s chair is going to fit inside my truck.

Cassie reads my thoughts. “I can get her into the cab and strap her in while you put her chair into the bed of your truck.”

“Is that going to be safe?” Without her chair, Sally will be trapped, unable to move.

Cassie jogs down the stairs. “It’s not ideal, but it’s that or stay at home, and Sally won’t like that option. She rides in my Buick all the time while we keep the chair in the trunk. You’ll just have to drive carefully.”

“I think I can handle that.”

“I want to ride in the front seat,” Sally says when Cassie and I join her beside my truck.

A small smile softens Cassie’s strained expression. “I think that can be done.”

Cassie opens the passenger door before maneuvering her sister’s chair into position. She steps directly in front of it. “Here we go.”

She bends and Sally reaches up, looping her arms around the back of her neck. She holds on tightly as Cassie straightens and steps back, drawing Sally up and out of the chair. A few seconds later, after a great deal of shoving and grunting, Sally is sitting in the shotgun seat.

While Cassie gets Sally buckled in, I fold up the wheelchair and lift it into the bed of my truck.

By the time I let myself into the truck, Cassie is seated in the back seat and Sally is bouncing excitedly.

I turn the truck on. “Are you ready?” I direct the question at Sally, but my eyes find Cassie’s in the rearview mirror.

“Yes,” Sally yells.

“Okay.” As I guide the truck back down the driveway, I wish Cassie was as easy to understand as her sister.