“So why was that guy with you last night?” Josh asked and she looked up sharply to find him staring at her with curious eyes.

“You mean Luke.”

“Yeah. Why was he here?”

“He rescued me when the car broke down.” The toaster popped. Quickly, as she slathered the bagel halves with cream cheese, she ran down the details of the night before and only left out the fact that Luke Gates had kissed her. That was one little fact that no one would ever know. It had been a mistake. A big one. She wouldn’t be surprised if Luke was as embarrassed about it as she was—if he even remembered.

She placed the bagel halves and a glass of orange juice on the table in front of Josh.

“So why did he hang out? Why didn’t you call Uncle Jarrod or Uncle Trevor or—”

“I offered,” she interrupted. “But I guess Luke just wanted to see it through and make sure I was okay.”

“Humph.” Josh bit into his bagel and she let the subject drop.

The telephone rang sharply. Katie snagged the receiver before it had a chance to jangle again.

“Ms. Kinkaid?” a gravelly voice asked.

“Yes.”

“This is Len down at the service station. I took a look at your car and I’ve got some bad news.”

“What?” she asked, feeling a headache starting to pound at the base of her skull.

“You really need a new engine, or at least to have this one rebuilt.”

“No.” She felt a sudden weight on her shoulders. Even though she’d told herself she was prepared to hear the worst about her car, she’d held out a slim hope that the old convertible could somehow be resuscitated.

“’Fraid so. The rings are shot, the distributor cap needs to be replaced, the cylinders are only working at about thirty percent of capacity. . . .” Len rattled off a list of repairs that made her tired. In her mind’s eye she envisioned hundreds of dollars flying out of her wallet just the way they did on cartoon shows. “So,” he said, and she imagined him scratching the silver stubble that forever decorated his chin, “looks to me like you might want to scrap her out and start over. For the same amount of money you could get a car a few years newer and probably a helluva lot more dependable.”

“I—I’ll think about it,” she said and hung up slowly.

Josh’s eyebrows lifted with an unspoken question.

“That was Len at the service station,” she said, deciding not to let this one last piece of bad news bring her down. “Looks like we’re going to have a funeral.”

“What?”

“The car’s officially dead.”

Josh’s face split into a wide grin. “So we’re gonna get a new one?”

“Maybe,” she said. “Yeah, probably.” How, she wasn’t quite sure.

“All-l-l-l ri-i-i-ight!”