The Price of Trust (15 page)

She shook her head vigorously. "Oh no, I wouldn't want to break it."

"Come on and try. If you break it, I'll fix it. Here…" He took her hand and showed her how the controls worked, allowing her to try. He drove slowly, giving her plenty of time to figure out the turns. She squealed in delight.

"Are we done?" she asked, disappointed when all the snow was cleared in the parking area.

"Yep. I'll shovel the walkway, and we'll be out of here in ten minutes," he answered, opening the door and grabbing a snow shovel out of the back of the truck. "Stay here. I'll be right back." He grinned, winking at her.

She watched him start shoveling the walkway and quietly opened the door, closing it behind her. She bent down, made a few snowballs, and snuck up behind him. When she was close enough to hit him, she hurled a couple at his back, enjoying the smacking sound as it hit him. Surprised, he turned around as she ducked behind one of the bushes, laughing hysterically.

"That's it! You're going down," he hollered, grabbing snow and making a gigantic snowball. He ran toward her, dodging the barrage of snowballs she hurled at him. She ran toward the truck as he got closer, slipping and falling on the freshly plowed parking lot, tripping him as well. They were both laughing uncontrollably as they continued to pummel each other with snow.

"Uncle! Uncle!" he shouted, falling back to the ground out of breath. She tossed more snow on him, then gave up and lay down next to him, giggling.

"That felt good," she said breathlessly, watching her breath float up to the stars.

He chuckled, reaching over and punching her arm lightly. "You cheated."

She grinned, her eyes twinkling. "There's no such thing as a fair fight."

"Let me help you up," Joe said, standing and offering her his hand.

"Thank you," she said. "You aren't done with that walkway yet? I thought you said it would take you about ten minutes." She grinned impishly, walking with him.

"I was attacked by a runaway snowball," he said, putting his arm around her waist.

"I hate to argue with you, but you're wrong." She batted her eyes innocently. "It wasn't a runaway. It hit exactly where I wanted it to!"

He scooped up some snow and tossed it on her playfully. "You're soaking," he said, looking at her in amusement. "Don't you have any gloves or boots?"

"Gloves? Boots? I had a pair once when I was young."

"You sit here on the porch while I finish up the walkway, and we'll go. This way, I can watch you and make sure you don't attack me again." He grinned. "Here, wear my gloves."

"Thank you," she said, taking them gratefully, rubbing her hands together and stomping her feet to get warm. She watched him admiringly as he quickly finished up.

"Done," he said, offering her his arm. "Are you ready, or do you want to stay and have another snowball fight?"

"Do I get to keep your gloves?" she asked mischievously, stooping down to gather more snow.

He laughed. "No way!" He opened the door for her, put the shovel in the back, got in, and started the truck. "Thanks for coming with me. That's the most fun I've had shoveling snow in a long time."

"Thank you for coming into town." He turned to her. "Are you hungry?"

"Mmm," she said, evading his question.

"Sure you are. You're starved," he said, driving past her apartment and taking her to the diner.

"Joe, I can't go in there! We're all soaking wet! I look awful." She ran her fingers through her wet hair.

"You look great," he said, pulling into a parking spot and turning the truck off.

"Do you have a comb or anything?" she asked anxiously.

He grinned at her discomfort. "Sure don't."

She grumbled as she got out of the truck resignedly. "That's just mean." He laughed and held the door open for her.

They picked an empty booth in the back and sat down across from each other, looking over the menu. Sandy came up to take their drink order.

"Sandy, do you ever go home?" Carly asked pleasantly.

"Me? Oh yeah, I'll be off in about an hour. I'm working the evening shift for someone else. So, Joe," she asked, looking at him with raised eyebrows. "I haven't seen you in here in a long time." She looked over at Carly and winked. "I see you're keeping Carly company."

He grinned while Carly blushed. "And enjoying every minute of it."

"Oh really? Sounds fascinating. Carly, we'll have to get together sometime so you can tell me all the juicy details," Sandy said with a wink.

"What's there to tell?" Carly asked naïvely.

Sandy snorted. "Are you two a couple?" she asked pointedly.

Carly gave Joe an awkward look. He just smiled in return, waiting for her answer. "Uh, well, I guess it depends on what you mean by 'couple,'" she said feebly.

"How many different things can the word 'couple' mean?" she asked.

"Joe?"

Joe was studying the menu. She kicked him lightly under the table.

He looked at her, extremely amused. "What?"

"Do you want to answer her?" she asked, looking at him intently.

"She asked you, not me."

Sandy stood by the table with her hands on her hips, waiting inflexibly for a reply.

"You want to know if we're a couple," she said, tearing tiny strips off her napkin.

"That's all I want to know."

She looked down at her menu, refusing to meet her gaze. "Yes. We are a couple." Joe laughed quietly, his head down, his shoulders heaving.

"Well finally! You would've thought I'd asked if you were getting married." Sandy grinned mercilessly. Carly squirmed uncomfortably, still not looking up from her menu. "I don't think I'd get much of an answer to that one, but it would be a very interesting question to ask, don't you think?" she said, while Joe laughed heartily at Carly's red face. "But I'll just stick to taking your orders. What'll you have?"

Carly managed to squeak out her order, while Joe had no trouble at all telling her his.

"I can't believe you did that to me," she said, flustered as Sandy walked away to fill their order.

"What?" Joe tried to look innocent. "I didn't do anything."

"You could have stepped in anytime you know. It would have been okay. I'm going to need a new napkin. Mine looks shredded." She looked forlornly at her pile of napkin pieces. Joe passed her his, trying hard to suppress his smile. It didn't work.

"How else am I supposed to know what you think?" His eyes twinkled wickedly.

She glared, resisting the urge to smile. "You could try asking next time."

"I'm sorry." He was trying to look penitent. She threw her straw wrapper at him.

"Well, well, well. Lookee what we got here," a voice sneered.

Randy and Billy Pruit had come in unnoticed while they were talking and sauntered up to their table.

"Billy. Randy," Joe said, nodding at them curtly, all humor gone.

"Joe," Billy said quietly, staring at Carly, some sort of emotion clouding his face.

"Red, we haven't seen you in quite a while. Where've you been?" Randy asked, laying a filthy hand on her side of the table.

She looked at Joe. "Just working," she answered as politely as she could.

"We need to go to the hardware store more often, huh, Billy?" he said, jabbing Billy's side with his elbow.

"Is there something we can do for you two?" Joe asked coldly.

"I'm sure there's nothing you can do, but I was really talking to Red, if you don't mind," Randy answered dismissively.

"Knock it off, Randy," Billy said, suddenly coming out of his musing. "Come on, let's eat. Carly." He nodded at her and walked away, seating himself at the counter.

Randy scowled. "Red, I'll be seeing you. That's a promise." He laughed derisively and went to join his brother.

Carly watched them for a moment. "What was that all about?" she whispered, looking warily at Joe.

"I'm not sure," he answered thoughtfully. "But my guess is that Billy's a little jealous."

"What?" she asked incredulously. "Why would he be jealous?"

"Maybe he wishes it was him with you and not me." He looked at her peculiarly. "You know, you are quite pretty and any guy would like to be with you."

She blushed profusely. "I don't know why he would be jealous. I never led him to believe that I was interested in him," she said quietly, looking at her plate as Sandy placed it in front of her.

"A guy can still like a girl even if he knows she doesn't care for him," he answered after Sandy left. "I feel a little sorry for him, myself. He seems to make a lot of bad choices, but I don't think he's got much of a role model at home."

"I do too," she answered slowly, after a long pause. "You know, that's the first time he's used my real name."

"Now don't go feeling too sorry for him, you hear?" he answered, shaking his fork at her. "Let's pray." He reached over to hold her hand.

"Joe, can we pray for Billy and Randy too?" she asked hesitantly. "I just kind of feel bad for them, especially Billy. Do you mind?"

"Mind that you want to pray for another man? It depends on why you want me to pray for him." He grinned. She threw some napkin shreds at him. "Okay, okay. No need to get violent."

They prayed quietly. When they were through, Carly glanced toward Billy to find him watching her, his face gloomy. She smiled kindly at him. He looked away.

"Do you want some dessert?" Joe asked hopefully after they had finished their meal.

Carly laughed, holding her stomach. "Oh my goodness, I ate too much as it is!"

"Good! Sandy. We'd like two pieces of pecan pie."

"Sure thing, Joe," Sandy said, fixing their plates and bringing it to them right away.

"You didn't tell me anything about your day today," he said, starting to eat his pie.

"There's really not much to tell you. I don't think I'm going to be able to eat the whole thing," she said, eyeing the large slice in front of her.

"Sure you can. I have faith in you!"

"Well,"—she took a bite—"I think I made a guy nervous today. This is really good." She was a little surprised.

"Really? How'd you do that?"

"Well, this guy's been coming into the store for a while now, and all he ever buys is a box of nails. I've told you about him," she said between mouthfuls.

"Yeah, go on."

"Well, today I caught him behind the counter, and he said he was looking for a tissue. I thought that was a little weird, so I asked if he knew a guy named Ian Lane."

"What did he say?" Joe asked, fork poised over his remaining pie.

"Nothing really. He just got this nervous twitch. You should have seen the look on his face. It was funny." She paused to take a sip of water. "This is really good. Thank you," she said, wiping her mouth.

"My pleasure," he answered, polishing off his pie and leaning back in his seat. "Are you ready to go?"

She reached into her pocket for her money. "Whenever you are. I've just got to pay."

"Are you trying to pick a fight?" He glared at her. "You aren't paying."

"Me? Pick a fight with you? Why would I want to do that?" she asked, batting her eyes innocently.

He chuckled as he picked up the bill. "That's what I thought. Let's go." He led her past Billy and Randy, and over to the cash register.

"Bye, Red," Randy said tauntingly, his eyes fixed on her chest.

"Bye," she said uncomfortably.

Joe held open the door for her, staring coldly at Randy and Billy as she walked out to the truck.

"Joe," she asked as soon as they were both inside. "Let's pray for Billy every day and see what the Lord does, okay?"

"Well, it couldn't hurt him any," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Do I need to be worried?" She elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, pulling into a parking spot in front of the hardware store. "I've had a good time tonight," he said softly, his arm still around her shoulders. "Even though I'm going to have a bruised shin and side."

She glared up at him. "Me too." She leaned her head on his arm comfortably. "Thanks for coming to see me today."

"My pleasure. I can hardly wait for Thursday."

"Why? Do you like turkey that much?" she said, snuggling as close as she could to him.

He squeezed her tightly. "I like this turkey that much! Then I'll be able to have you all day long."

"What time did your mom want me to be over there? I don't think she told me," she asked, scooting toward the door to leave.

"The earlier the better," he said, holding her hand for a moment.

"What time do you want me to pick you up?"

"Is Kelly going to be there?"

"I think so. I'm pretty sure Mom asked her to come. Why?"

"I was just wondering," she said mysteriously. She squeezed his hand tightly then got out of the truck.

"So what time do you want me to pick you up?"