Chapter 7 Secrets
After Dark
By the time a week had passed since the county fair, Jax had developed a habit he refused to examine too closely.
It always began with a perfectly reasonable excuse.
A loose trailer light.
A truck that needed its tires rotated.
A tractor making a noise only he seemed able to hear.
A chain that probably didn’t need replacing but might someday.
Every explanation sounded practical enough that no one questioned it.
At least, not at first.
As the sun dipped below the horizon one Thursday evening, Jax backed his pickup into the gravel lot outside Navarro Auto Repair. The neon OPEN sign still glowed in the office window, casting a warm blue light across the cracked concrete.
He shut off the engine and looked at the truck.
Nothing was wrong with it.
He knew that.
The oil had been changed less than two weeks ago. The engine sounded smooth. The brakes worked perfectly.
He had driven twenty minutes into town because he wanted to see Eli.
The realization settled uneasily in his chest.
“You’ve officially lost your mind,” he muttered to himself.
The bell above the office door jingled as he stepped inside.
Eli looked up from beneath the raised hood of an old ranch truck.
“I was wondering how long it’d take.”
Jax frowned.
“You were expecting me?”
Eli grinned.
“I’ve started recognizing your excuses.”
“I don’t make excuses.”
“You’ve visited four times this week.”
“I’ve had work.”
“Mhm.”
“And the ranch equipment keeps breaking.”
“Conveniently after sunset.”
Jax laughed despite himself.
“You’re getting cocky.”
“I’m getting observant.”
Eli lowered the hood and wiped his hands on a shop rag.
“So.”
“So?”
“What emergency brings Harlan Ranch to my humble garage tonight?”
Jax glanced toward his truck through the open bay door.
“The left headlight looked dim.”
Eli stared at him for a long second.
“It did?”
“I think so.”
“You think.”
“Maybe.”
Eli walked outside with him.
The evening air was cooler than usual, carrying the scent of dry earth after several days without rain. Crickets had already begun their nightly chorus, and the last traces of sunlight painted the western sky in deep shades of orange and purple.
Eli switched on the headlights.
Both beams shone brightly against the garage wall.
“Hm.”
“What?”
“They seem alive to me.”
Jax folded his arms.
“I guess they fixed themselves.”
“Miraculous.”
“I’ve heard stranger stories.”
Eli laughed and shut the lights off.
“You know...”
“What?”
“If you wanted to stop by just to talk, you could.”
Jax looked away.
“I was already in town.”
“Liar.”
“I needed feed.”
“You bought feed yesterday.”
“You keeping track of my schedule now?”
“I own the only garage in town.”
Eli smiled.
“People tell mechanics everything.”
Jax shook his head.
“I walked right into that.”
“You usually do.”
They returned inside the garage.
Eli pulled two folding chairs from the office and placed them near the open bay doors where the evening breeze drifted through.
“You want coffee?”
“It’s almost nine.”
“So?”
“I’ll never sleep.”
“You’ll survive.”
Jax accepted the mug anyway.
They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, watching the empty street outside.
Main Street looked entirely different after dark.
The hardware store was closed.
The diner across the road had only a handful of customers left inside.
A stray dog wandered lazily beneath a streetlamp before disappearing into an alley.
“You ever miss Dallas?” Jax asked.
Eli thought about it before answering.
“Sometimes.”
“What do you miss?”
“The anonymity.”
Jax nodded.
“I figured.”
“In Dallas I could walk into a grocery store and nobody knew my name.”
“Here everyone knows your grandparents.”
“They know my uncle.”
“They know every mistake I’ve ever made.”
Jax smiled knowingly.
“I understand that.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You ever think about leaving?”
The question lingered.
“I used to.”
“And now?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
He looked toward the dark outline of his truck.
“When Dad died, leaving didn’t feel like an option.”
“You stayed because of the ranch.”
“I stayed because somebody had to.”
Eli nodded quietly.
“I understand that too.”
Another comfortable silence settled between them.
The kind that no longer needed filling.
Eventually Eli leaned back in his chair.
“When I was sixteen, I wanted to build race cars.”
Jax looked surprised.
“Really?”
“I had posters covering every wall in my room.”
“I would’ve guessed trucks.”
“I liked anything with an engine.”
“What changed?”
“Life.”
Eli shrugged lightly.
“My uncle got older.”
“The garage needed help.”
“Dreams got postponed.”
Jax smiled faintly.
“I wanted to become a rodeo rider.”
“You?”
“I was eighteen.”
“What happened?”
“My father reminded me somebody had to run the ranch.”
“You never tried?”
“For one season.”
“How’d it go?”
“I lasted exactly three rides.”
Eli laughed.
“That bad?”
“I spent two weeks barely able to sit down.”
“I probably shouldn’t laugh.”
“You definitely should.”
Their laughter echoed through the quiet garage before fading into another easy silence.
It struck Jax how rarely he laughed anymore.
Life had become so consumed by responsibilities that he’d almost forgotten how simple conversation could make a difficult day feel lighter.
“You know something?” Eli said.
“What?”
“I don’t think either of us ended up where we expected.”
“No.”
“But maybe that’s not always a bad thing.”
Jax studied him for a moment.
“Do you regret coming home?”
Eli looked around the old garage.
The faded signs.
The worn workbench.
The framed photograph of his uncle.
“I regret losing people.”
He spoke softly.
“I don’t regret coming back.”
Jax nodded.
“I think that’s the difference.”
“What is?”
“You came home because of love.”
“And you?”
“I stayed because of responsibility.”
Eli didn’t answer immediately.
“I think you’ve got both.”
The words stayed with Jax.
Nobody had ever described his life that way before.
The office clock chimed ten.
“I should probably let you close.”
“You probably should.”
Neither stood.
Instead they remained where they were, talking about childhood fishing trips, favorite country songs, embarrassing high school memories, and the strange little traditions that somehow survived in every small town.
Time slipped away unnoticed.
Eventually Eli glanced toward the clock again.
“It’s almost eleven.”
Jax blinked.
“Seriously?”
“You’ve been keeping me from paperwork.”
“I’ll apologize.”
“You can buy breakfast tomorrow.”
“I thought my truck was fixed.”
“It is.”
“So now I owe breakfast?”
“Absolutely.”
Jax laughed as he stood.
“I’ve somehow been tricked.”
“I prefer ‘persuaded.’”
They walked outside together.
The night air had cooled considerably.
Above them, thousands of stars stretched across the Texas sky.
Jax climbed into his truck before rolling the window down.
“Same time tomorrow?”
Eli smiled.
“Only if your headlights start acting up again.”
“I’ll keep an eye on them.”
“I have no doubt.”
Jax started the engine and slowly pulled away from the garage.
He drove through the quiet streets of Red Hollow with an unfamiliar lightness in his chest.
For the first time in years, there was somewhere he genuinely looked forward to going after the workday ended.
Someone who expected nothing from him except honesty.
The thought stayed with him all the way back to the ranch.
As he turned onto the long gravel driveway leading toward the house, he noticed another pickup parked beside the equipment shed.
A figure stepped out as his headlights swept across the yard.
Sam Cooper.
The foreman waited until Jax climbed out before speaking.
“You’re out late.”
Jax forced a casual smile.
“Truck needed looking at.”
Sam glanced toward the perfectly smooth engine.
“Again?”
“I wanted to make sure everything was alright.”
“Mhm.”
The older man didn’t sound convinced.
“I happened to drive through town.”
Jax’s stomach tightened.
“Oh?”
“Saw your truck outside Navarro Auto Repair.”
Silence settled between them.
Sam wasn’t accusing him.
He was simply observing.
“You boys must’ve had a lot to talk about.”
Jax looked away toward the dark silhouette of the barn.
“We did.”
Sam studied him for another moment before giving a slow nod.
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
He climbed back into his own pickup and drove away without another word.
Jax remained standing in the quiet yard long after the taillights disappeared.
For the first time, he realized someone had noticed how often he visited the garage.
If Sam had noticed...
It wouldn’t be long before others started asking questions too.
Almost Caught
The next morning, Red Hollow woke beneath a blanket of low clouds that softened the early sunlight into a pale gray glow. Eli unlocked the front door of Navarro Auto Repair, flipped the sign from CLOSED to OPEN, and stood for a moment in the quiet garage.
The familiar routine usually settled his mind.
Coffee first.
Work orders second.
Tools laid out before the first customer arrived.
Today, however, something felt different.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Jax’s face when they had finally said goodnight. It hadn’t been dramatic or uncertain. It had been comfortable, as though spending hours talking together had become the most natural thing in the world.
That comfort worried him.
Not because of Jax.
Because of everyone else.
The bell above the office door rang.
Mrs. Walker stepped inside carrying the keys to her aging sedan.
“Morning, Eli.”
“Morning, Mrs. Walker. What brings you in?”
“My brakes are making a terrible noise.”
“I’ll take a look.”
She handed him the keys but didn’t immediately let go.
“I saw you talking with Jax Harlan at the fair.”
Eli kept his expression calm.
“We were discussing his truck.”
“Behind the livestock barns?”
He smiled politely.
“We found a quieter place to talk.”
Mrs. Walker nodded, though her curiosity remained obvious.
“I suppose that’s one way to escape the crowds.”
“I suppose it is.”
She finally released the keys.
“Just be careful.”
The comment caught him off guard.
“Careful?”
“This town enjoys stories.”
Before Eli could ask what she meant, she offered a pleasant smile and walked toward the waiting area.