20. Warren #2
“Can I ask one question?”
“Sure.”
“That night I found you, and you said you ran out of gas…what really happened?”
He presses his lips together. “My gas gauge really was broken, but I also didn’t have gas because nobody left their vehicles unattended long enough for me to siphon from them.
So your assumption that I made it a habit was correct.
After mom quit her job, money was tight, and it was easy to take gas here and there to help.
I’m not proud of it, and I didn’t want your help that night.
But you truly saved me when you stopped. ”
He stands and brings his dishes to the sink, and I join him.
“I know I said you could sleep on the sofa, but I’d prefer it if you were with me.”
His lips quiver as he brushes a thumb across my cheek.
“Me too.”
The summer sun is hot, and the sweat beads on my back as we wait for our turn in team roping. Both of us slept like logs, and waking up with Dane next to me felt like the most right thing in forever.
I feel more connected to him as a roping partner today than I ever have.
He glances over at me as the team in front of us exits the chutes. Those blue eyes are steely and in full competitor mode, but they’re also warm. “We’re doing this, Burke. Win the flight and qualify for tomorrow.”
“Yeah, we are.”
He nods as we move into the chutes for our position.
Petey takes a moment to settle, and once we’re given the cue, I nod to the official.
The steer is fast, and Petey kicks up his speed to catch up with the steer while I release my rope.
Petey turns with one dig of a heel, and the steer’s back end swings towards Dane.
Petey hasn’t even come to a full stop before Dane has released his rope to catch the feet and tightens the line between us.
The official drops his flag before trotting over to release the ropes from the steer and guide him towards the exit. We both pull up our ropes and wait for the score.
A tie for first place with 3.4 seconds.
“As much as I hate to share money from the first go round, we’re onto the big money event at least,” Dane says as he pulls up alongside me on Trigger.
“We are. Plus, we still have tie-down this evening.”
“We do, but I was thinking…” Dane trails off and, for a moment, looks shy. “They have the fairgrounds here. Do you want to go check it out for a while?”
“Now or after our event?”
“Maybe after the event. It’ll be cooler, and I don’t want to rush through it.”
“Good idea. What do you want to do until tonight?”
“Sit naked in the air conditioning of the trailer?”
I throw my head back in a laugh. “Sounds good to me. Let’s get these two settled and do just that.”
After caring for the horses, I run the cord to the generator and flip the switch. It chugs a cycle, sputters, and shuts off. After checking the connection to the trailer, I try it again with the same result.
“Fuck.”
Dane comes out from the trailer, shirtless because he was likely already thinking of the naked part of this afternoon. “What’s going on?”
“The generator isn’t turning over. Dad said he had it looked at when they replaced the fridge and bathroom sink, but it’s doing the same thing it did before.”
Dane crouches beside the unit. “Do you have a toolbox with you?”
“Yeah. I have one where we store the generator. Give me a second.”
After pulling out the extra-large toolbox Dad makes us check every spring, I place it beside Dane. He immediately pops it open and plucks out a screwdriver. The cover on the side of the generator pops off, and Dane raises an eyebrow. “You sure they looked at this?”
“I wasn’t there, but Dad said they did.”
Dane shakes his head. “Well, they didn’t.
” He opens the socket set, chooses one, and after a few cranks, he reaches inside and pulls out…
something. Maybe a spark plug? “If they did a tune-up and charged him for it, tell him to get his money back. This spark plug should be shiny and new if they did. It’s not even clean.
” He rummages in the toolbox and pulls out a wire brush.
“Hopefully, I can get it cleaned up well enough for it to work for us tonight. I can fix it better with a new spark plug, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to check the ignition, but how it sounded earlier is usually a spark plug problem. ”
Dane scrubs away at this thing, a contented smile on his face. He uses the same socket set and hums as he returns the spark plug to its place. “It’ll probably guzzle a lot of gasoline, but fire it up and let’s see if that works.”
After plugging it back into the trailer, I give him a thumbs-up. Dane stands and hits the start button. It sputters, but not as much as before, and this time, the generator runs and stays running. It’s not smooth, but at least it’s running.
Dane whoops and bends down to lift the toolbox. After storing it, he has the biggest grin on his face. He’s so damn handsome when he smiles like this.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve puttered and fixed a problem like that.”
My thumb reaches up to wipe away the smudge of black on his cheek.
“You’re good at it. How do you know all that? It’s like you were born with a toolbox in your hand.”
His smile fades some. “Next to rodeo, it’s my favourite thing.
I wanted to own a small engine repair shop or maybe even a mechanic shop.
Something really mom and pop, you know? I wanted to have a shop in my garage and…
” He trails off, and his earlier contentment vanishes, leaving a sadness behind.
“Anyway, let’s crank that AC and cool off before our next event. ”
He steps into the camper, and once again, I’m left wondering what other secrets Dane might have.