The Hero (Thunder Point #3)(21)

He turned to grab his coffee. “I reckon I can imagine.”

“I should...ah...look around for a place of my own,” she said.

He lifted an eyebrow and gave her a half smile. “That so? Last time I looked, you didn’t have no truck full o’ furniture.”

“Maybe there’s something furnished,” she said. “We don’t need much.”

“You do that if you want to, but it ain’t necessary. I got used to the two of you. If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were cousins. Family. Ain’t hardly had any family. My mother, she passed when I was barely a man. I had no brothers or sisters and, don’t tell anyone, but there ain’t never been cousins. And there sure weren’t no woman who could stand a crazy old vet like me.”

Devon just laughed. She put a hand on his arm, bringing a slight blush to his cheeks. “You’re the furthest thing from crazy I know.”

“Is ’at right? Well, don’t tell Cooper. He thinks he’s doing me a good deed, keeping me in the bar like this, giving me work because I’m an odd one.”

“You’re not,” she said. “And I think Mercy loves you a little bit. I should pay you rent at least,” Devon said.

Rawley sipped his coffee then put down his cup. He leveled old blue eyes at her. “Here’s the deal, missy. I know how important it is to you to be independent—you wasted no time telling me. What I’d like most of all is for you to find your way. You had a trial or two getting this far, you have a kid...it’s high time your luck changes a little bit. It would do me good, being part of someone’s luck changing. It’ll probably do me more good than you. That old house is paid off. If you want to help with food, you go on ahead.”

“That’s not very much help,” she said.

“You should prolly help with electric while you’re at it—you burn lights reading half the night or watching that TV or chargin’ up that laptop...”

She laughed at him. She tilted her head toward Mercy. “You’re not having any issues with a three-year-old taking over your house?”

He thought for a moment. He sucked a little on his teeth. Then he said, “If I’d a had a normal life, I mighta had grandchildren. Maybe a little one like this here who wants to make green bread. Nah, she don’t bother me at all. I get a big kick outta her. You about ready to go home?”

“Yes, please,” she said. “I have to get ready for tomorrow. My first day.”

He wiped his hands on a towel and reached in his pocket. He pulled out some keys. “You can take the truck. You got a seat for Mercy. You should have a ride so you can get back and forth—my hours just ain’t the same as yours. But you’re gonna have to take care of your own gas, and it eats a bunch.”

She was stunned silent for a moment. “But how will you get around?”

“I told you—I have an old truck I’m workin’ on that runs fine. Loud and ugly, but fine.”

“Then if I use anything, it should be the old one!” Devon said.

“Nah, that won’t work. I need that truck. When my work’s done here and things get quiet, I work on that truck out back. I use Ben’s old tools—he left ’em along with the truck. It’s the most sensible way.”

“Rawley,” she said, stepping toward him. “This is too much. I could ride into Thunder Point with you in the morning and come home with you at night. I can stay busy till work starts or till you finish. And quiet—I can stay quiet. We won’t make any trouble or fuss. Or get in the way.”

He pushed the keys at her. “It’s a stick. Can you drive a stick?”

“Rawley...”

“Mercy needs her sleep and I get up at five. And she needs a meal, a bath and bed at night. She needs cartoons or some kid show. Let’s think about her right now. And when you get a little money saved and get used to this place, maybe you’ll find just what you need. For now? It’s a ride.”

“Oh, Rawley....”

“That truck’s a hundred years old. It’ll work another few. I’m done talking about this now.”

* * *

Devon was a little hard on Rawley’s transmission going up the hill on her way to Elmore. She didn’t dare look in the rearview mirror—she didn’t want to see him wince or cringe. But once she got going, once she was on the highway, she not only did fine, she found it exhilarating. She felt so free, driving herself and Mercy, headed to a safe and secure place.

Once she got back to Rawley’s, after giving Mercy some lunch and settling her with thirty minutes of cartoons before her afternoon rest, Devon was back on the computer. She was researching Oregon driver’s licenses and laws concerning custody to see if Dr. Grant was right. She also looked at the Washington State records of birth and her college transcripts. Although she had a Washington driver’s license somewhere, now that she was in Oregon, that license wouldn’t work for long. To get her driver’s license in this state she’d have to take a test and provide documentation. And she was thrilled to find that all she had to do was apply to receive a copy of her birth certificate, which she could do online, if she could get a credit card.

Then she read about custody and found Dr. Grant had it right. Certainly as an E.R. doc he would have run into domestic situations from time to time, so he’d learned all about this.