Zane: The Wild One by Bronwyn Jameson

Author:Bronwyn Jameson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2002-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

She didn’t intend to leave it at that, but he needed time to cool down, and she needed time to assemble her tumultuous thoughts. Her morning shift at Gracey’s seemed endless, and Bill’s shop was closed when Julia got there. The teenage pump attendant hadn’t seen Zane. “But I only started at eleven. Bill’s out back having lunch. He might’ve seen him.”

Julia picked her way up the path beside the garage and knocked on the door of the residence. Waited a few seconds, then knocked more loudly.

“Hold your horses. I hear you. No need to put—” Bill stopped complaining when he swung the door open and saw her on the stoop. “Julia.”

“I’m sorry to disturb you. Grant said I’d find you here.”

Bill waved her apology aside. “You got car trouble?”

“No. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else. If you don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind someone to talk to besides myself. Come on in.” He stepped aside and waved her past. “You want coffee? A cold drink?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you.” Julia followed him into a tiny living room crammed with mismatched furniture.

“Have a seat.”

Bill scooped an armful of newspapers and magazines from an ancient two-seater, and Julia sat. She shifted away from a protruding spring before sinking lopsidedly into the sofa’s depths.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Bill lowered his lanky frame into an armchair.

“I’m looking for Zane, actually. I don’t suppose you know where I’d find him?”

Bill checked the wall clock. “At the rate he drives, you’d find him ’round about two hundred thirty miles down the road.”

“He’s gone?”

“That he is. Called in on his way out of town, just so I’d know.”

“That was sudden.”

Bill humphed his agreement. “That’s Zane. Sudden.”

Oh, yes, Julia silently agreed. Suddenly there, turning her world upside down. Suddenly gone, without setting it right. Not that he hadn’t warned her. Twice he’d told her he was leaving. She simply hadn’t allowed the reality to sink in.

“My own fault, I suppose, for teaching him everything I know. Turned him into a damn fine grease monkey—almost as good as me,” Bill ruminated. “Stands to reason there’s always someone wanting to give him a job.”

“Is that why he left? For work?”

“Some mate had him lined up to fill in when he took leave. That’s how he came to have a week to fill here.”

“Oh.” And with that one soft sound Julia’s hopes dissolved. He hadn’t left suddenly because of an emergency, he’d left according to plans made before he arrived in town. He must have known that he was leaving today, yet he hadn’t bothered to say goodbye.

“Can’t say I won’t miss his help around here.”

“Perhaps you should offer him a job,” she suggested dryly.

“Don’t you think I haven’t tried? Boy won’t even consider it. Town’s got too many bad memories.”

“Because of the trouble he got into?”

“Which particular trouble?” Bill shook his head. “If you mean the vandalism thing, he got over that real quick when he started working here. Paid off the damage and never looked back.

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