Page 13 of Miss Understanding

Her chin went up a notch. “Yes.”

I’d just assumed she was a nervous flier and tried not to notice her gripping the armrest or closing her eyes when we took off and landed on the second leg from Chicago. Hell, during the entire flight I’d tried to ignore her—to no avail. I was way too tuned into her movements, soft sighs, and the damn smell of strawberry gloss.

I turned toward the guy at the counter. “Do you have any four-wheel drive vehicles available?” Although there was no snow currently, it didn’t mean there wouldn’t be. Especially two hours away, further into the mountains.

“Unfortunately, we’re running low on inventory, but we do have a pickup truck. You may want to put some weight back in the bed, though. Sand bags or wood normally works for when you don’t have it in four-wheel drive.”

The rules of snow driving in a truck were all coming back to me. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We’ll take it. Does it have a club cab at least?” Frankly, I didn’t want to put the suitcases with all of my precious files in the back of a truck exposed to the elements.

“Sure does. And heated seats for the lady.” The guy smiled at Kendall, and I noticed she returned it.

Having never been on the receiving end of one of her genuine smiles, I felt an unexpected pang of jealousy. Weird.

As we got into the Dodge Ram four-wheel drive pickup truck, me in the driver’s seat while her in the passenger, I noticed for the second time she was shivering. “Do you have a jacket in your suitcase I can grab you?” I’d already taken my winter coat out of my luggage. I put on the heat, but even so, it was below freezing outside, and the temperature would only drop overnight.

“No.”

“No, you don’t want me to get it for you, or no, you don’t have one?” If she hadn’t thought of a four-wheel drive or what winter was like outside of Southern California, she might not be prepared with her clothing.

“I’ll go by a store tomorrow to get a warmer one.”

“Unless you’re planning to get it at the Dollar Store or Food Lion, you’re out of luck once we get to town.”

She blew out a breath. “Could I trouble you to stop at a Walmart or Target, then, while we’re here in Roanoke?”

“You’re okay with shopping at Walmart?”

“What’s wrong with Walmart?” Her tone was defensive.

“I didn’t say anything was wrong with it, but you’re sitting there in designer clothes and shoes, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m surprised you’re okay with shopping at Target or Walmart.”

Her lips flattened into a scowl as if she was biting her tongue.

“It’s none of my business.” I typed into the GPS app on my phone, hating to admit I’d noticed her clothing. “Looks like Walmart is closest.”

“Fine. Thank you.”

* * *

Patience was not one of my better traits. So waiting on my assistant in the parking lot of Walmart, knowing we still had a two-hour drive to go, put me in a mood. I felt annoyed even though she’d only been gone twenty minutes so far, and I’d been busy part of that time myself—purchasing several bundles of wood to weigh down the back of the truck. There was nothing worse than a pickup with no weight in the back on a slippery road.

I was perusing the email on my phone when Kendall came out. She looked as though she’d been swallowed by the ugliest, puffiest coat known to man.

I climbed out to come around and take her shopping bags. “What the hell is that?” I was sure even the Army would reject this particular shade of green.

She opened her door while I put her bags in the back. “It’s the only winter coat they had in my size.”

“Being your size is debatable.” It was way too big. “Did you get boots, too?”

“Yeah, they’re in the bag. Don’t worry. Those are a wonderful lavender color with sparkles.”

I couldn’t help the chuckle. And when she attempted to climb into the truck in her cocoon of a coat, I nearly doubled over with laughter. Because she couldn’t bend her body in order to do it. It was a big puffy straitjacket. And she was like a green caterpillar trying to bend and wiggle her way in. I wiped my eyes as I watched her attempt it twice.

Finally, she unsnapped the front and jumped in with a huff. She sat there with her hands on her lap. “If you’re quite through laughing at me, we can go now. Thank you.”

I was still grinning when I got back into the driver’s side. God, I’d needed that. Humor had been in short supply lately for sure.

“Did you get gloves?”