Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(41)

“We’ve got a couple of seat belt bruises that will be tender for a few days, but no broken bones or blood,” Toby answered.

“That’s good. Allie was about to have a heart attack the whole way here,” Blake said. “I brought chains but there ain’t no way we’re going to get that up out of there without a winch and a tractor. We’ll get y’all out and then we’ll bring back what we need to get the truck home,” Blake said. “Reckon the best way to do this is to throw a chain down and then haul you up with the truck.”

“Whatever you think,” Lizzy said.

“Okay then. I’ll hook things up and Allie can ease the truck down the road while I help get y’all up over this mess. If you’d been a mile or two down the road, you would have been on flat land.”

In a few minutes the chain dropped smack into the bed of the truck and Lizzy got a hold with both hands. He motioned with his arm and she started up, digging her toes into the bank for traction and praying that she didn’t wet her pants.

Blake held up a fist toward his truck moving very slowly down the road and extended her his other hand as soon as she cleared the top. “I got you. Go on and get in the truck with Allie and I’ll get my brother up out of there. What happened anyway?”

“Blowout is what Toby thinks.”

As luck would have it the other side of the road was as flat as a pancake with lots of bushes and mesquite trees. If a different tire had blown, they would have plowed down a few trees and cactus but would have probably been able to back the truck out, put on a spare, and limp home.

“You okay?” Allie yelled as she backed the truck up.

“I’m fine but…” Lizzy headed for the nearest place to hide behind a big clump of green broom weed and jerked her jeans down. She was almighty glad for the Dairy Queen napkin from her shirt pocket that she’d squirreled away when she finished her tacos. When she stood and zipped her jeans she took a step backward into a fresh pile of coyote crap. She groaned and trotted through the weeds, past a big cactus and to the truck.

“Feel better?” Allie grinned from the driver’s window.

Lizzy looked down at her stinky boot. “Much better but this is not my lucky day.”

“Move it out,” Blake yelled.

Allie eased the truck down the road at a snail’s pace.

Lizzy waited until the vehicle came to a stop and then carefully pulled off her boots. She tossed them into the bed before she got into the backseat and then she remembered her purse was in Toby’s wrecked truck.

“My purse!” she moaned.

“Will be fine until we can get back. It’s got a moat around it on three sides and a mountain on the other. I don’t think anyone is brave enough to go searching through things. Are you sure you are okay? I see a bruise on your forehead,” Allie said. “How long were you down there? The old guy who called said he had no idea if you’d been there an hour or two days.”

“From about nine last night until right now.”

Allie looked in the rearview mirror. “Without a bathroom?”

Lizzy caught her eye and nodded. “And it was not pleasant. Henrietta came by and wouldn’t even take the number to call you.”

“That’s what happens when you don’t abide by the church ladies’ rules.” Allie started forward a few feet at a time until she could see Toby standing on the road. “Looks like y’all took out a section of guardrail. The guys can call the county yard tomorrow and report the damage. But we might want to send some red bandannas to mark the place so folks will know it’s a dangerous area.”

Lizzy laid her head back on the seat. “It’s going to be a mess.”

“Gossip or fixing Toby’s truck?”

“Both. The radiator most likely is blown. A rock hit the back window and it’s cracked all to hell, and neither of the back doors will open. The front is filled with air bags and no telling what all that water has done to the undercarriage. As old as the truck is I imagine that it is totaled. And the gossip? It’ll be a nightmare.” Lizzy groaned.

“Look on the bright side. Everyone will know that you aren’t wallowing in misery after the Mitch ordeal, and what a story to tell your kids someday,” Allie said. “So now that you’ve slept with Toby, what’s your opinion of him?”

“I didn’t sleep with him,” Lizzy protested.

“Oh, really?” Allie turned around in the seat. “Did you stay awake all night?”

“I mean I didn’t have sex with him.” It wasn’t a lie. She had not had sex with him last night, and they weren’t talking about the previous times.

“Does he snore? Does he wake up in a good mood or all grouchy? Was he nice to you and let you have your share of that red blanket? And where did it come from anyway?” Allie bombarded her with questions.

“No, he does not snore. He woke up in a good mood. The blanket was a gift from his mama that he shoved into the toolbox because his backseat was full,” Lizzy answered.

Allie’s phone flew over the seat and landed in Lizzy’s lap. “Text Mama right now. She needs to know what’s going on before Henrietta and Dora June start spreading the news soon as the benediction is over.”

“Did you see that tower? We don’t have service here,” Lizzy said. “If we’d had any at all, I would have called or texted you last night.”