Sweet Blessings (Love Inspired) by Jillian Hart

she turned toward the sensation and there was a man’s dark form, a man dressed all in black, a shadow moving in the sun-bright alley.
    It was him.
    â€œHey, wait up!” She started toward him, but the wind snatched her words and she feared he hadn’t heard her. He kept on walking with his purposeful, leggy stride. She saw an older-model blue pickup, dusty and well used, parked at the motel’s alley-side lot.
    There. She had her answer. She firmly believed that the angels above wouldn’t have brought him to her diner twice if there hadn’t been a reason.
    Determined, she jogged after him, with the cap clutched tight in her hand. “Hey! Mister!”
    He had to have heard her this time. His brisk gait stiffened. His shoulders tensed to steel. His long athletic legs pumped noticeably faster as he bridged the last few yards to the driver’s door of his truck, unlocked the door and yanked it open. He was behaving as if he didn’t want to talk with her. As if he wanted to avoid her.
    She wasn’t about to let a little thing like that get in her way. “Is this your cap?”
    He turned, meeting her gaze through the window of the open cab door. His was a chilling look as he studied her from head to toe.
    She was intensely aware of her scuffed sneakers and the knot in the right shoelace keeping it together as she jogged closer. As if resigned, he left the door open and backed away from the truck. A dark look masked his face. She held out the cap so he could read it.
    He let out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, it’s mine.”
    â€œGood. Then I don’t look quite so silly running after you at six-forty-—” she glanced at her wristwatch “—seven in the morning.”
    â€œYou don’t look silly at all. Not at all. Just the opposite.”
    â€œGood. I try not to make a fool of myself before noon, at least.” She held out the cap.
    The sight of him in full light startled her. He’d looked solemn and mighty in the night. By day he seemed taller than she’d figured. Tall and lean—not skinny, but not bulky either.
    As he approached, she swore she saw a softening of his hard mouth, as if he almost remembered how to smile. She bet he had a nice smile but that softness vanished, leaving only the stark mask of his face.
    Somehow she had to get up her courage to talk to him. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you last night. You disappeared into the rain before I could.”
    He took the hat she offered, looking at it, then at the ground. At anything but her. “Just doing what anyone would do.”
    â€œNo, that’s not true.” Standing here went against every life lesson she’d learned, but somehow it felt as if she were doing more than returning the cap, more than thanking him. It felt personal. He couldn’t know how hard it was to slip from behind the hard shell she held up to men, and he’d already been gruff to her.
    But she kept going. It was the right thing to do.
    â€œA lot of people hate to get involved. My sister had our day’s earnings on her, and if there had been trouble, well, we could have lost more than that. It’s heartening to know there are men like you in this world. I just wanted to thank—”
    â€œC’mon, lady, you can’t be real.” He hardened before her eyes, his mouth twisting, his dark eyes flashing black. He grabbed the cap by the bill and lopped it onto his head. Gave it a yank to secure it in place. “I don’t want your thanks. I don’t need your thanks. Whatever it is you’re thinking you can get from me, forget it.”
    Amy’s jaw dropped. His fierceness shocked her. She reeled as if he’d slapped her, and she couldn’t think, couldn’t move. She could only stare after him as he about-faced and climbed into his truck.
    Without a look back, he gunned the engine and drove off with a roar, leaving her in his dust.

Chapter