Where I Belong (Pine Valley Book 2) Page 9

  The following morning, Jane’s alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. She forced herself to climb out of bed, took a quick shower, then pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She dressed in ratty jeans and an old T-shirt. Sparks liked to drool and shed, so Jane didn’t want to wear anything nice.

  Before she left the house, she set out instructions for her dad and his breakfast. He’d be annoyed, but it made her feel better.

  Jane jumped in her car and threw an old blanket in the back seat. Her mom refused to put Sparks in a dog carrier, so he’d be lounging all over Jane’s upholstery if she didn’t have a blanket to protect it. Yawning, she backed out of the driveway, then noticed that her gas tank was only a quarter full. If she filled it up now, she could make the round-trip without filling up again.

  So Jane drove to a gas station to fill up. A silver Audi pulled into a parking place in front of the convenience store a couple of minutes later. Jane glanced over, wondering who else in Pine Valley was up so early on a Saturday, and the name VANCE on the license plate caught her attention. Cameron had an Audi. As Jane was trying to comprehend the coincidence, the driver’s door opened, and Cameron climbed out.

  Jane didn’t know why she did it, but she ducked her head, avoiding eye contact. She probably looked worse than she had at the hospital. From the corner of her eye, she saw him go into the store. Great. She could hurry and leave before he came out.

  Jane pulled out the gas nozzle, even though the tank wasn’t all the way full, and jumped into her car. She turned the ignition. Instead of firing up, the engine just clicked, then went silent. Jane made sure the car was in park, then turned the ignition again. No, no, no. Her car couldn’t die now. Her dad’s old truck wouldn’t make it out of town, and if she didn’t get Sparks this morning, she’d have to reschedule her cleaning appointments—which would be a ripple effect on everything else.

  Jane tried the ignition again. No luck. She wanted to scream. She dropped her head onto the steering wheel. She’d had the lube and oil done two weeks ago, and the car had passed state emissions last month. Wouldn’t something have been found if there was anything wrong?

  A knock on her window made her jump.

  She looked up, her pulse racing, and saw Cameron standing there, a cup of coffee in his hand.

  Because the car was off, she couldn’t roll down the window, so she cracked open the door.

  “Hi,” she said. “You scared me.”

  “Sorry about that,” Cameron said, looking at her with concern. “I wasn’t sure if it was you. Then I saw the decal on the side of your car.” He leaned down. “Are you okay?”

  “Uh, yeah, I mean, no.” Jane exhaled. “My car won’t start.”

  His eyebrows shot up.

  “The oil is fine, I just had it done.”

  “Can you pop open the hood?”

  Jane pulled the lever, then climbed out of the car and joined Cameron as he bent over the front end. “Your power steering fluid is low.”

  “They should have checked that at my last oil change.”

  “You should still be able to start the car, though,” Cameron said. “Hang on. The gas station might have some. I’ll go check.”

  So Jane waited while he went inside. A few minutes later, he came out with a young man wearing a uniform shirt—probably the cashier in the gas station. “David” was embroidered on his shirt pocket. David pulled off his baseball cap and scratched at his red hair. He checked a couple of things, then said, “It’s probably the starter. You’ll have to tow it to a shop.”

  “Okay, thanks, bud,” Cameron said, and the guy walked back into the gas station. “They don’t have a power steering fluid that I trust.”

  “That you trust?” Jane asked. “Are you like a mechanic, or something?”

  “Hardly.” Cameron flashed a smile. “We can call Aaron’s Mechanic Shop and get them to tow it to their place.”

  “Okay,” Jane said. “When do they open?”

  “I think the tow service is twenty-four hours, but the shop’s not open on the weekends,” he said. “Do you need a ride home?”

  She exhaled. “I was on my way to my mom’s to pick up her dog for the week. She’s going on a trip. If I wasn’t trying to get a dog here, I’d just find a bus. Well, I can actually take one to her house, then maybe drive her car back here since she’s traveling by—”

  “Jane,” Cameron cut in. “I can drive you.”

  She opened her mouth, then shut it. “No,” she said. “My mom lives two hours away, and her dog is... unpleasant.”

  He folded his arms. “It’s no problem.”

  She stared at him. He was wearing a golf shirt and khakis. Was he going golfing somewhere?

  “That’s really nice of you,” she said, keeping her determination strong. “I can’t let you change your whole day to drive me. I’ll just rearrange a few things and figure it out.”

  “Jane.”

  She swallowed.

  “Let me help you,” he said.

  “But, you obviously have plans,” Jane said. “I mean, you’re getting coffee at a gas station at 6:30 on a Saturday morning.”

  “I was going golfing with a couple friends, but they won’t miss me.” Cameron stepped up to the car and closed the hood. Then he turned to face her again. “Let me drive you. We’ll bring Sparky back. You won’t have to change your schedule.”

  “Sparks,” Jane said, hiding a smile.

  “Sparks. Sparkly. Whoever. Besides. I like dogs.”

  Jane released a sigh. “Okay, but I’m paying for gas and for any snacks you might want.”

  Cameron chuckled. “Deal.”

  The tow truck arrived in about ten minutes, and Jane handed over her keys to Aaron himself. She was impressed to be helped by the owner of the shop, but she didn’t miss the fact that Cameron gave him a couple of bills. More fifty-dollar bills?

  When she climbed into his car, she groaned. “I forgot the blanket for Sparky.”

  “He needs a blanket?” Cameron said, starting his car.

  “He sheds a lot and drools,” she explained.

  “We can grab one from your mom.” Cameron steered his car out of the parking lot.

  “Good idea,” she said. “I must be more tired than I thought. Of course we can get one of my mom’s blankets. I just hate to see anything happen to your car.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t worry, really. The car will be fine.”

  Jane leaned her head back as Cameron accelerated. She didn’t know much about Audis, but she could feel the power of the car as it picked up speed.

  “Call Jeff Finch,” Cameron said suddenly.

  It took Jane a second to realize he was using voice recognition in his car. The call was answered, and a man’s voice came through the speakers. “Hey, Jeff, it’s Cameron. I can’t make the tee time after all. Something’s come up.”

  “Are you serious?” Jeff said. “This is the only time I have for weeks. Can you just come for nine holes?”

  “No,” Cameron said. “I’m driving a friend out of town. I won’t be back until this afternoon.”

  “Friend?” Jeff asked.

  “We’ll catch up later,” Cameron said.

  “Wait,” Jeff said. “Who’s this friend? Sounds like a woman.”

  “You’re on speaker phone, Jeff,” Cameron said in a pointed voice. “And she can hear everything you say.”

  “I knew it!”

  “Bye, Jeff,” Cameron said, then pushed an icon on the dashboard screen. He glanced over at Jane. “Sorry about that.”

  “I wanted to hear what he was going to say next,” she said, holding back a laugh.

  Cameron scoffed. “Jeff needs to mind his own business.”

  She smiled. “Do you two hang out much?”

  “Not like we used to.” He shrugged. “I was engaged to a pretty high-maintenance woman, remember?”

  “How could I forget?” Jane said. She didn’t know if it was any of her business, but she was curious. “How is that all going?�
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  “Everything’s finally canceled, at least on my end.” He sighed. “My mom had Selena send out notices both by mail and email. Even though the official invitations hadn’t gone out, I wanted everyone who knows me or my family to stop speculating.”

  “Good idea.” The highway came out of the slopes of pine trees and opened into a wide valley. The sun had just broken over the eastern horizon, and the morning looked fresh and new. Jane pulled out her phone and took some pictures of the sunrise.

  “You’ll have to send me a couple of those,” Cameron said.

  “Sure.” She texted some of the pictures to his phone. Then she settled back into the seat, wondering what was going on with the man beside her and why he was being so nice to her. She was trying hard not to like him more and more, but it was wasn’t easy.

  If Cameron had taken time to think of how he was about to meet Jane’s mom, he might have second-guessed his invitation to drive Jane. Yet, he wasn’t too worried about it—and why should he be? It wasn’t like they were dating or anything; she wasn’t his girlfriend. They were just fetching her mom’s dog, and then he’d drive Jane back to Pine Valley.

  Besides, Cameron hadn’t even met her dad—the parent she did live with.

  The drive had been just under two hours, and because it was Saturday, they didn’t hit any California rush-hour traffic. Regardless, Cameron was surprised at how relaxed he felt around Jane. Whenever he had to drive Crystal just a short distance, it seemed they had to make multiple stops, and she was on her phone most of the time, either talking to a friend or texting.

  Jane had taken some pictures on the way but had otherwise stayed off her phone.

  She told him about the high school golf team she’d played on and how there were four coaches. “They just wanted to get out of teaching their last-period classes on tournament days,” she said.

  “Did you want to do more with golf? Like play in college?” he asked.

  “No,” Jane said. “Like I said, I wasn’t all that good. It was just a fun thing to do. When I was a senior, my art teacher helped me apply to one of those fancy art schools. But when the acceptance letter came, my mom flipped out over the tuition.”

  Cameron glanced over at her. “Art? You’re an artist too?”

  “I could sketch a mean flower,” Jane said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Nothing good enough to get me a scholarship—thus the tuition.”

  “Still, it sounds like you were accepted to a prestigious art school.”

  Jane shrugged. “It didn’t matter, because in the long run, I still had to make money to support myself. When you meet my mom, you’ll understand why I couldn’t keep living with her, and my dad had his own life with his new wife. Art school would have put me into a lot of student debt, and then who knows if I would have even been able to make a living as an artist.”

  “So what led you to starting a cleaning business?” Cameron asked.

  She told him about working as a receptionist at the office where her mom worked as a dental hygienist. “But when my step-mom died and I went to the funeral, I saw that my dad was in bad shape. So I decided to move. I got a job cleaning hotel rooms at the resort and picked up a few private clients that way. Eventually I had enough to quit the resort.” She pointed to a street sign up ahead. “Turn right at the corner.”

  Cameron obeyed. Jane’s mom lived on a quiet street in an older neighborhood. The yards were well kept, though, and he could tell that people took pride in their homes.

  “It’s been nice to have a break from my mom, to tell the truth,” Jane said. “I love her, but... She’s more stubborn than my dad, which is saying something. Just don’t, uh, tell her your last name. She knows plenty about Pine Valley.”

  “Okay,” Cameron said, raising his brows. “But what if she notices my license plates?”

  Jane’s eyes widened. “I forgot about those. Um, I guess we’ll just deal with the possibility of her flipping out.”

  Before Cameron could ask her to explain more, she leaned forward, pointing to a two-story stucco house. “It’s that house.”

  He slowed the Audi and pulled up to the curb. “Is this where you grew up?”

  “Not exactly,” Jane said. “My mom moves about every year. She always tried to stay in the same school district so I didn’t have to keep changing schools. This house has an apartment. That’s where she lives.”

  “She never remarried?”

  Jane laughed. “She’s had plenty of boyfriends, but none of them stick around long.” She sobered. “Oh, there she is now. I should have guessed she’d be watching for me.”

  Cameron looked past Jane to see a woman coming up out of the stairwell stairs at the side of the house, a vision in yellow. Her yellow sundress and yellow sandals were emphasized by a yellow headband and dangly red-and-yellow earrings. Her red lipstick completed her ensemble. The only thing in common that Cameron could see about Jane and her mom was their dark hair color.

  “Oh boy,” Jane said, opening her door and climbing out.

  Cameron did the same, and by the time he reached the sidewalk, Jane was hugging her mom.

  “What’s this?” her mom said, pulling away and eyeing the car. “The cleaning business must pay well.”

  Jane flushed. “Mom, this is my friend Cameron, and he drove me here because my car wouldn’t start.”

  Her mom glanced at Cameron. Then her dark eyes flashed to Jane. “I told you your car is junk. Tell your father to cough up some of his money and get you something decent.”

  “I’m twenty-seven,” Jane said. “Dad doesn’t owe me a car.”

  “You’re taking care of him,” her mom said, still basically ignoring Cameron.

  “I’m saving money on rent,” Jane said.

  Her mom’s eyes narrowed. “You are spoiling him. When you spoil a man, he treats you like dirt.” Her gaze cut to Cameron. “At least this one dresses nice.”

  “Mom,” Jane said. “He can hear you.”

  Cameron took it upon himself to step forward and extend his hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs....”

  She looked at his hand, then back up at him. “Morris. I still go by Morris so people don’t think Jane’s my stepdaughter or something.” She shook his hand slowly while she looked him over from head to toe. “What line of work are you in? It must pay well if you can afford to drive a nice car. Or do you have it on lease?”

  Cameron had been around bold people before, including Crystal, but Mrs. Morris might be at the top of the list. He didn’t know whether to laugh or take offense.

  “Mom,” Jane said. “It’s not polite to ask people about their incomes.”

  Her mom placed her hands on her hips, and yep, she had yellow nails too. “Fine. Whatever. Just make sure he takes you places that are nice, none of those fast-food joints. Make Audi Man treat you right.”

  “His name is Cameron,” Jane said, her face reddening. “We have to get going. Is Sparks ready?”

  Her mom’s expression softened. “I’m going to miss him so much.”

  Jane grasped her mom’s arm and started to tug her toward the house. Jane shot a look back at Cameron that said he didn’t have to come inside. So Cameron waited outside, leaning against his car. Less than five minutes later, Jane was coming outside again, carrying a dog that looked like he could easily tip Jane over.

  Over her shoulder was a bag, and behind her, her mom was bringing out another bag and a blanket.

  Cameron hurried to open his trunk.

  Jane’s mom sidled up to him and handed him the bag and blanket. “How old are you, Cameron?” she asked, emphasizing his name as if it was hard to pronounce.

  He shouldn’t have been surprised at the question, especially after the other things she’d said to him. “Thirty, ma’am.”

  “Oh, he called me ma’am, Jane. Did you hear that?”

  Jane shook her head. “Can you spread the blanket across the back seat?”

  Her mom promptly handed Cameron the blanket, so he walked aroun
d the car and spread the blanket across the back seat. Sparks looked at him as Jane settled the dog into place.

  “Stay, boy,” Jane said. When Sparks obeyed, she continued, “Good boy. Here’s a treat, but you’ve got to stay until I say so, okay?”

  Sparks happily ate a piece of what looked like beef jerky.

  Cameron moved to close the trunk of his car and turned to see Jane’s mom standing with her hands on her hips again.

  “You drive safe, you hear me?” she said. “I don’t want anything to happen to Sparks.”

  Or your daughter? Cameron almost added but thought better of it. “Will do. Jane can let you know when we get to Pine Valley.”

  Her gaze moved to Jane’s. “Did you hear him? He said you need to call me when you get to Pine Valley with Sparks.”

  “I will, Mom,” Jane said, giving her mom a quick hug. Then she climbed into the car, so Cameron did as well.

  He started the car and glanced back at Sparks. The old dog had put his head down, as if he’d already resigned himself to his fate for the next two hours of driving. Jane’s mom continued to watch them as they drove away, standing like a yellow sentinel on the sidewalk.

  “Sorry about my mom,” Jane said. “She has no filter.”

  Cameron laughed. “I think you handle it pretty well.”

  As they got back on the interstate, Jane’s phone rang. Even though Cameron could only hear Jane’s side of the conversation, he guessed immediately that it was her mom.

  “Hi, did we forget something?”

  “Um, yes... that’s his last name.” She paused. “A lot of people have vanity plates.”

  Jane held the phone away from her ear for a moment. Then she said, “I don’t think so. We’re friends, that’s all.” Another pause. “Yeah, well, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet.”

  “I’m going to hang up now,” she continued. “Have a nice trip, and I’ll keep you updated on Sparks.” She hung up, although it was clear her mom wasn’t finished talking.

  Jane sighed and leaned her head back on the headrest.

  Cameron glanced over at her to see that she’d closed her eyes. “Is everything okay?”