How (Not) to Fall in Love(86)

Most of the men at the counter looked like farmers, wearing denim and work boots, cowboy hats and baseball hats. A few of them nodded at me, and I smiled shyly.

Daisy bustled over. There was no question it was Daisy since everything on her was a daisy of some sort. Dangling daisy earrings, a huge daisy necklace, hairpins with tiny daisies, and a yellow apron patterned with rainbow-colored daisies.

“What can I do for you, sweetie?” She glanced out the window to my truck. “Are you eating here or getting food to go?”

“Actually, I just need directions to somewhere. But first, could I please use your bathroom?”

She pointed to a narrow hallway running parallel to the kitchen.

I slid off the stool and hurried down the hall. It was a one-holer, thank God. I locked the door and stared at myself in the mirror over the sink. I wondered how the motel lady had recognized me from Dad’s anniversary specials. I looked nothing like that girl. My skin was pale and dark shadows made me look like a raccoon.

After washing my hands, I returned to the counter and slid onto a stool. Daisy was talking to a large sheriff who looked like a sausage stuffed into a too-small uniform.

“What’s our favorite crime fighter up to today?” Daisy asked.

He sank onto a stool. “Oh, not much. Just heading up to Bill Paxton’s property. He wants me to run off a bunch of hippies camping on his land.”

Daisy clucked her tongue. “Well, it’s his own fault. If he hadn’t built that ridiculous Stonehenge, those crazy kids wouldn’t be camping there.”

I gripped the edge of the counter and turned my stool so I could hear better.

The sheriff laughed. “I know. That’s what I told him.” He took a long drink from the bright yellow coffee mug covered with daisies. “I’m not in a hurry to get out there. The kids aren’t causing any harm. Probably just smoking dope and howling at the moon.”

I peeked up at the sheriff, surprised at his laid-back attitude.

Daisy handed him a donut oozing red jelly. He took an enormous bite, then walked over to a table of farmers, who laughed boisterously at something he said.

“Excuse me,” I said to Daisy.

She turned to me, smiling as she wiped her hands on her apron.

“Um, about that Stonehenge? The one the sheriff was talking about. Is it far from here?”

Her smile faded. “Oh, sweetie. You don’t want to go out there. The sheriff might think those kids are harmless but you never know.”

She glanced out the window at my truck. Toby was licking the hand of a lanky man in a cowboy hat who’d reached through the cracked window to pet him.

“I don’t know how much protection that dog will be,” she said.

I thought of the gun pointed at me earlier. “You’d be surprised.”

She wiped the counter with a rag. “Where are you headed, honey? I know you’re not from around here.”

I dropped my gaze.

“I don’t mean to pry,” she continued. “But I worry about a young girl traveling alone.”

“I’m not alone. I’ve got my dog. And I’m heading home. I just need to…um…pick up my dad.”

She smiled again. “Oh good. I’m glad to hear that.” She glanced out the window again. “I’ve got a ham bone to get rid of. Let me get it for your dog. No charge.”

Blue Spruce wasn’t pretty, but it felt like I’d ended up in an old black-and-white TV show where everyone wanted to help out the pathetic stranger. Daisy came back with a bone wrapped in plastic.

“Thanks.” Toby was going to be in heaven. “So about the Stonehenge? I just like to take photos of interesting stuff I see on the road. You know, the world’s largest rubber band ball. Fake jackalope fossils. Stupid stuff like that.” I shrugged, hoping she’d buy it and give me directions.

She crossed her arms, her eyes searching mine. “All right,” she acquiesced. “It’s about a half-hour drive from here, off the county road.” She grabbed a paper placemat from the counter and drew a daisy flower to indicate her restaurant. She drew a straight north-south line and wrote I-25 next to it. Then she drew a squiggly line running parallel to the highway then jutting off to the west. She drew a star and slid the paper toward me.

“The ranch is right off the county road. You’ll see a sign for Paxton Ranch, but you can’t miss the Stonehenge. You’ll see it from the road. You can take a photo if you pull off the road, that way you don’t have to trespass.” She frowned a warning at me.

I folded the map in half and shoved it in my bag. “Thank you.” I smiled, lifting the ham bone to my forehead in a salute. “For everything.”

“You’re welcome. You be careful, honey.”

I tossed the ham bone into the truck bed so that Toby wouldn’t drive me crazy destroying it while I drove.

“If you had fingers, I’d tell you to cross them for luck,” I told Toby as we drove away.



Daisy was right. It was impossible to miss.

The sight took my breath away. This wasn’t a silly replica like the Carhenge I’d seen online. This was the real deal. I couldn’t believe that Clonemaniac hadn’t made a bigger deal of it on his website. I needed to post a comment on there. Maybe he’d seen so many replicas he was jaded. Yeah, the one up in Montana had been a lot bigger, but this one was every bit as impressive to me, especially since I could walk right up to it without getting electrocuted.