Chapter 1

I received a call from Randy Smith of the sheriff's department, "Hey Jack, I've got a crash for you just beyond three mile curve. Some stupid ass woman hit the guard rails when the tire blew. All four tires are bald so no wonder. Anyway I cited her and told her you would be picking up the car. She is sitting in it. There are other things I'm sure I could find wrong with the vehicle, but I feel a little sorry for her. I have another call so she gets off this time."

I could hear him accelerate since his radio was still on. "She hurt?"

"Nope."

"She have any money?"

"I didn't ask." Randy laughed. He was a friend, but thought it a joke if I got stuck with someone not paying the towing charge. This was possibly one of these times. He poured it on. "You and those two other guys with wreckers take turns. That's in your contract. Your turn to pick up this one."

"How bad is the car? Is it worth anything?"

"It's junk. You might get $50 salvage out of it."

"Great, my charge is $115."

"Hey, you have a wrecker and you wanted the business. You had better use the car carrier or you'll be scattering pieces all the way home."

I was a widower, losing my wife two years ago. I owned a junk yard and wrecking service and hired three full time workers in the business. I was tall, good looking and kept myself well. Jamie, my wife, and I had purchased the business from my father the year I turned twenty-five. At that time we lived in a little cottage behind the junk yard. When my folks moved out west, I bought their house and Jamie and I moved into it.

I had always worked at the yard. It paid well and there were always interesting vehicles coming in from the wide area that we serviced. Sometimes a car would come in that was totaled for insurance purposes, but was fixable. I partnered with an auto body shop to fix these up. Some of the older muscle cars, if they weren't in too bad shape, I put them up on blocks and threw a canvas over them. They were lined up along the fences that surrounded the property. The property consisted of a little over twenty-five acres. This was a sizable operation.

With the wrecking service you could be called out all hours of the night to go pick up a vehicle that was in an accident or broken down. Thankfully this one was daytime and didn't have anyone injured. I had seen some horrible sights over the years from deaths and destruction of these accidents. Many accidents were so preventable, if people had just used their brains and paid attention.

I didn't hurry. I had seven miles to go up and three back before I could get into the lane the vehicle was in. Then it was four miles back to my yard. I pulled around the car and tilted the flatbed. I went about hooking up the winch to pull it up onto the carrier. The woman sat in the driver's seat and didn't get out. She looked resigned to what happened as if she couldn't expect otherwise so I went about the chore just glancing the woman's way. I had to move the car quickly as Randy had left cones in front and back as a warning there was an obstacle on the side of the road.

When I was hooked up, but before I winched it, I told her she had to get out of her car. "No passenger can ride in the car while on the bed. Get in the cab. This won't take long." She still didn't say anything. I just knew she didn't have any money.

I was right. When I was all set to go, I climbed into the cab. She sat way over next to the door. Her first words were, "I don't have any money to pay you. That damned sheriff cited me and I'm supposed to appear to pay by Friday morning. I guess I'm headed to jail."

"Where are you staying?"

"I'm sleeping in the car."

"You might have been up until now, but I lock up the yard at night. You can't stay there. Too late to hitch-hike from here today, too. Where were you headed anyway?"

"I have an Aunt Mary, who lives about thirty miles south of here. I was hoping I had enough gas to get there. If I ran out, I would have coasted to the side of the road and left the damned piece of junk. Oh well, I almost made it."

"Where are you from?"

"A hundred miles back up the highway."

I named a small city of twenty thousand about that far away. She nodded that was where she was from. I had watched her when she walked around her car and got into the wrecker. She looked to be about my age of thirty-five. Her clothes weren't that bad as they fit pretty well and weren't too worn out. I would guess she was five feet, five inches tall. She had brown hair, a decent shape, nothing spectacular, but attractive. Maybe she was just a person down on her luck.

"What's your name?"

"Nora, Nora Roberts."

"Oh yeah, you write novels."

"Not that Nora. I'm the broke, the just divorced, just lost my kids and my home, Nora Roberts."

"That's probably more than I need to know."

"All men are curious when they meet a woman down on her luck. You've been asking one question after another since you came. I doubt you will stop."

"Against men too, I take it?"

"I knew it, another question, but that I can answer. Yes, I am against some men. My former husband especially. He didn't leave me with anything. No money, I'm barred from seeing my two boys, and he called me a prostitute. I'm not and I believe I was set up, but I couldn't prove that I am innocent. He would never listen to me." She paused, and then continued, "But then you are a man and you have no reason to believe me."

"All of us aren't like that." I had to defend my gender.

"May be, but I was married to one who was."

We pulled into my wrecking yard. I got my clip board and filled out the bill for picking up Nora's car. I handed it to her, $115.00. She looked at it and started taking off her blouse. "What are you doing?"

"I told you I don't have any money. The only thing I have is my body so you'll have to use it until the bill is paid."

She looked at me. I could tell she was hoping I would refuse her offer. "You are quite attractive, and I'd probably enjoy getting paid that way, but I'd rather have you pay me in some other form."

"Like how?"

"Let's make a business deal out of this. I need my house cleaned. It will take you a week or longer. I'll pay you $60 a day and room and board and I'll allow you $40 for your junk car. If we go forward with this deal, I'll take you to a nice restaurant for dinner tonight."

"Does that go on my bill as well?" I shook my head, no. "How many rooms are in your house?"

"Eight not including the two bathrooms. There are things in the yard that you could do too if you are so inclined."

"Will you pay my citation on Friday?"

"Sure, but that comes out of your pay."

"I'll have a room of my own?"

"Yes."

"Do I cook for you?"

"Yes, especially that."

"Do I have to sleep with you?"

"No, you don't have to."

"So you say. I feel there is a 'but' in there somewhere isn't there?"

"I suppose there is, but it is more hope than anything. I wouldn't demand that you do." I was hoping, but this made me uncomfortable. "We can leave here now. I need a shower and we'll get changed to go out."

"Jack, I'm going to take the deal. It is the best I can do in the present situation. You just might restore my faith in men. Not all of them, but some. I'm at the point where I have to trust someone. I do pay my bills when I am able and this will be the way I can." She reached over and shook my hand.

"How did you know my name?"

"Jack Spangler, of Spangler Wrecking Company. It is on your bill and on the door of the wrecker."

"Nora, do you want to call someone to tell them where you are and who you are with?"

"No, for some reason I trust you and we shook on it. That's good enough for me." Nora had made a snap judgment about me. I would prove she wasn't mistaken.

My home was pretty unkempt. The lawn needed mowing and the flowers my wife took such pride in were grown up with weeds and the flowers had all but disappeared. One shutter had come loose on the house and I was going to fix that. That was six months ago, but I would get to it yet. When we went inside Nora walked around looking at everything. I did work at keeping the kitchen and one bathroom up because that is where I spent most of the time at home. I used one bedroom, but I used a sleeping bag on top of the spread to sleep in.

I informed Nora I was going to take my shower, "You may want to use this one after I get out. I don't know what shape the other one is in." I came out of the shower and stumbled over a pile of linen in the hallway. This included the sleeping bag. My bed must be made up and I was going to be sleeping between sheets tonight.

Nora came down the hall with a towel around her. "I found sheets. I made your bed. You didn't expect to sleep in that fart sack when there are clean sheets around and a woman to put them on your bed did you?" Hey, I think I am going to like this business deal I made. I had more out of it already than I expected. I wasn't going to press for more, not yet anyway. Who knows I might even get the house cleaned before Nora wanted to move on?

It had been two years since my wife of thirteen years had passed away. I had come to grips with the fact that I had one love and that would be my allotment in this lifetime. I didn't take life too seriously after I had arrived at that decision. I wondered if the woman I had picked up today hadn't come to a like decision and looked on life the same way I was. I hadn't seen any tears yet, but they might come.

Nora had on a different blouse and slacks when I next saw her. She looked really neat. This was going to be strange for me, but I was looking forward to be with this woman. I asked, "What and where for dinner? There is a beef house, and a fish house. You can get chicken in both."

"Fish I think. I used to serve it at home when my husband wasn't home. He didn't like it at all. I used to fish with my grandfather many years ago before he died. I miss him and I miss the fresh caught fish. A lot of people don't like to smell it cooking, but I do. I make a fish chowder to die for." In the back of my mind fresh caught fish was going to be on my plate some day.

In the restaurant while waiting for our meal, I asked, "Do you want to talk about your life? You must have taken a horrible hit from your husband to leave you in the situation I found you in today."

"I'll tell you all about it sometime. What happened has been a horrible experience and it kept getting worse as time went on. Let's just say I think that I was set up and my husband wanted to get rid of me so he could marry another woman. I think he set out to ruin me, my reputation, and take all the esteem a normal person needs to hold her head up. At least he didn't have the balls to kill me. The other woman possibly would have if she could have.

"Can we enjoy this meal now? I'm thinking so far, I don't mind being in debt to you."

When we got home, we watched a show on the History Channel and then I got ready for bed. "Go to bed, Jack. I'll make up the room across the hall."

It had been two years since I had a woman in my bed. It was pure laziness on my part. I wasn't that bad looking and I cleaned up good even if I did run a junk yard. My wife had insisted I change my work clothes every day and I continued even though she wasn't here to see that I did.

I liked my hair short and I had it trimmed every two weeks into a flat top. I did own my own business and I got hit on often enough, but no woman so far could compare to the wife I still missed. Not one in my bed tonight either, but I had a feeling.

Nora for some unknown reason, appealed to me. Maybe because she had it rough and needed a shoulder to cry on. She hadn't yet, cried I mean, but I felt she was right on the edge.

She was asleep when I woke at 5:30, my time to get up. I went down and made coffee. I came back upstairs and got dressed. I stepped into her room. Her eyes were now open looking at me. "Coffee is done or you can sleep in. I'm crunching cars this morning and have extra help so I have to be at the yard by seven. There is a car in the garage with the keys in it."

I dug out my wallet. "Here is a couple hundred dollars. Would you get some groceries and anything you need if you do cleaning? The store is two streets over and down a block on the left. I'll have lunch at the yard, but if you are still here I would look forward to a home cooked meal."

"What would you like?"

"Surprise me. I'll eat anything." I turned and went downstairs. Five minutes later she came down. She had on one of my wife's robes that had been hanging in the closet. She looked natural in it and I didn't mind at all. I said, "Sit and I'll take time for coffee with you."

"I should have been up and made the coffee."

"You can tomorrow morning. You will know where everything is by then."

"You didn't have a chance to eat this morning either."

"I'll catch something on the way in. We can eat together tomorrow morning unless you like sleeping in."

"No, I'm a morning person. I always needed to get my two boys ready for school."

Tears appeared suddenly. The first I had seen since I had met this woman. I just stuck out my arms and she came into them. She hid her face in my shoulder and sobbed a little. She reached up, wiped her eyes and backed away. "You must think I'm a baby?"