Lean on Me (The Mackay Sisters) (3 page)

Tommy was a man Lori respected,
mainly because he minded his own business and went his own way.  But he was
normally a man who exuded contentment.  Tonight he was anything but, because
truth be told, he was as far from content as a man could get.  He looked angry,
frustrated, his big fists clenching and unclenching, the veins on his forearms
popping up.

That brought to her attention the
fact that Tommy was only wearing a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to
his elbows.  Man, he had to be cold.

Returning her attention to the
fuel gun, Lori chewed the inside of her bottom lip.  Part of her wanted to ask
if he was all right but it seemed a moot point when he was obviously anything
but all right.  Still, if he was in trouble…“Tommy?”

“Yeah?” he growled.

She kept her gaze on the fuel
gun.  “You okay?”

There was a telling few seconds of
silence before he replied, “Fine.”

“Okay.”  Not about to push the
subject, Lori heard the fuel gun click off and after slowly squeezing the
trigger to fill the tank as full as it could go, she re-hooked the fuel gun on
the bowser and re-screwed the cap back on.  “That’s thirty two dollars, Tommy.”

He handed her a credit card and
followed her back to the service office.

Shaun took one look over his
newspaper as they came in, his gaze sweeping over Tommy’s face.  “Bad night,
mate?”

“You could say that.”  In no mood
to chat, Tommy kept his gaze trained on Lori.

Shaun simply shrugged and
disappeared back behind his newspaper, the big chair squeaking as he stretched
out his legs and crossed them at the ankles, his oil-stained boots scrapping
along the lino.

Feeling Tommy’s gaze on her, Lori
couldn’t stop the faint flush warming her cheeks.  People looking at her for
too long produced that reaction, and she quickly rang up the sale, handing him
the EFTPOS so he could slot his card in and key in the PIN number.

When she handed him his receipt
and card, she gave the usual, “Thanks.  Have a good night.”

“Yeah.”  Tommy hesitated,
something he never did, and she lifted her gaze to meet his eyes.

He looked troubled, a touch
uncertain, but then with a small jerk of his head his disgruntled expression slid
back into place and he swung on his heel and walked out the door, the cold
whirling in before it shut behind him.

“Wonder what got up his arse?” Shaun
turned a page.

Lori shrugged.

“He say anything to you?”

“Nope.”

“Huh.”  Shaun didn’t say anything
further.

Giving the floor another quick
mop, Lori went through the staff entrance into the back of the small café that
catered to travellers and locals just wanting to pick up a bite to eat while fuelling
up.

Tracy looked up from where she sat
at a table reading a magazine.  “Wild night out there, Lori.”

“Sure is.”  Walking into the
little kitchen behind the food counter, Lori poured a cup of hot coffee and
returned to the table, sitting down to sip at the welcome heat.  “Quiet here,
too.”

“No one in their right mind comes
out on a night like this.”  Tracy tapped the magazine.  “See this dress? 
Totally awesome.  I need it.”

“Want it,” Lori corrected.

“Need it.”

“How could you possibly need it? 
You have a wardrobe full of clothes you
needed
but hardly wear.”

“When I catch myself a rich
farmer, I’ll need those clothes.”

“Farmers are rich one year, dirt
poor the next, depending on the weather and crops and prices,” Lori pointed
out, not for the first time.  “Besides, marrying a farmer will require jeans
and boots, not frilly dresses and high heels.”

“So I’ll just marry a man who
manages farms from his mansion in the city.”

“Big plans.”

“A girl needs big plans if she’s
going to get away from this pit of a town.”  Tracy took a bite out of the pie
sitting on a small plate by her elbow.  “Lori.”  Bits of pastry sprayed out. 
“You need to plan for the future.”

“I’m happy as I am.”  Lori brushed
a bit of pastry off the sleeve of her red jumper.

“You want to stay in this pit?”

“Peeron is a nice town.”

“You tell me what it’s got going
for it.”

“Quiet.  Small.  Nice.”

“Pits, pits, pits.”

“Tell me how you really feel,”
Lori said drily.

“You’ll never find a bloke in a
place like this.”

“I don’t want a bloke.”

“Don’t be silly.  We’ve been
through this before.  You get a bloke with money and you won’t have to work
ever again.”  Tracy waved one hand around to encompass the room.  “You want to
stay at this servo forever?”

“It’s not a bad place.”

“It’s not a good place, either.” 
Tracy shook her head.  “I despair of you, Lori, I really do.”

Smiling, Lori swallowed a mouthful
of coffee.

“So.” Tracy studied her face. 
“Saw Tommy’s ute out there.”

“Yep.”

“What’s going on with him?”

“Not a clue.”

Tracy’s eyes gleamed.  “Think he’s
getting it on with some woman?”

Not minding hearing a bit of
gossip but refusing to enter into it, Lori shrugged.

“Or with some man?”

Lori shrugged again.

“I bet your sister knows
something.”

Ali did know something.  Lori had seen
Tommy talking to her sister with quiet intensity one afternoon as she walked
passed Tommy’s café and seen the two of them inside at one of the tables.  Ali
was good at keeping secrets, she knew a lot of things about a lot of people in
Peeron, but she’d never breathe a word to anyone, never break a confidence.

With another shrug, Lori swirled
the coffee in the cup.

“Has she said anything to you?”
Tracy probed.

“Nope.”

“I bet you haven’t asked her,
either.”

“Nope.”

Disgusted, Tracy slouched back in
her chair.  “You’re hopeless.”

Smiling, Lori drank the last of
the coffee and stood up.  “That I am.”

With a sigh, Tracy returned her
attention to the magazine.

Pouring another cup of coffee,
this one much stronger, Lori returned to the service office and set it on the
bench beside her boss’s elbow.

“Ta.”  One hand reached out and
grasped the handle, little pinkie extended comically for such a big ham of a
hand, and the cup disappeared behind the newspaper.

Only one other car pulled into the
service station in the next two hours as the rain continued to beat down.  Lori
spent her time cleaning the service office before returning to the café to help
Tracy wipe down the shelves of snack foods and restock.

Shaun stayed in the office until
midnight before retreating to the little room off his office to do paperwork,
his version of having a nap, which he’d do on and off all night.

Lori watched a few old shows on
the television that was situated in the far corner.  Tracy left not long after
midnight, which meant that Lori would be in charge of both handing out the food
in the café as well as pumping fuel for anyone who pulled in.  If things got
too busy, she could wake up Shaun to help.

The one concession that Shaun made
was to make his employees wear an alarm that was connected to one in his
office.  If they got into trouble, they could press it, alerting him. 
Thankfully, they’d never had to use it.

Pulling it over her head, Lori
tucked it under her jumper and prepared herself for a long night.  Peeron could
get busy when tourists and trucks went through, but on nights like tonight
nothing further stirred.  No doubt once the rain let up, the occasional truck
or car would appear or pull in.

She was just fighting to keep her
eyes open when the bell from the driveway dinged to alert her that someone had
pulled up for fuel.  Pulling on a heavy jacket, she rounded the bench and
opened the door, stepping out to find that the rain had settled to a drizzle
and the wind had grown colder.

At the sight of the ambulance
parked at the bowser she shivered, telling herself it was the cold and not the
possibility of seeing Matt.

Drawing closer, she saw Sally, the
ambulance volunteer, sitting in the passenger seat.  Sally waved at her but
didn’t get out.  Lori couldn’t blame her, not with the wind cutting like a
knife.

Coming around the ambulance, she
found a man dressed in the green overalls and heavy jacket of the St John Ambulance,
the words ‘Paramedic’ in silver thread across his back.  She didn’t have to
guess to know who it was, even before he straightened with the fuel gun in his
hand, that killer smile lighting up his handsome face.

“Hey, Lori,” Matt greeted.

Almost instantly she felt her
cheeks flush, but thankfully she could blame it on the cold wind.  “Matt.” 
Automatically, she held her hand out for the gun.

“I can do this, love,” he said. 
“You go inside and wait in the warmth.”

“Honestly, Matt, it’s fine.”  She
wrapped her hand around the gun.  “You go and wait in the ambulance or the
service office.”

Wrapping her hand around the gun
probably wasn’t her best move, not when he didn’t relinquish it, instead
keeping his big hand firmly wrapped around the handle.  His skin was warm
against her fingers.

He shuddered.  “Hells bells, Lori,
your hands are like ice.”

“Cold night.”  She shook the gun a
little.  “I’m fine here, Matt.”

Reluctantly, he relinquished the
gun into her hand.

Relieved, she slotted the nozzle
into the tank and squeezed the lever.

Matt shifted, walking around her,
and she gave a silent sigh of relief, thinking he was going to go to the
service office.  Instead, she felt a sudden warmth beside her, the cold wind
blocked marginally by his body as he settled against the ambulance, placing
himself between Lori and the biting wind.  “Miserable night.”

“Yep.”  She could practically feel
the heat oozing from his body, he stood so close to her.

Okay, to be fair, he stood on the
other side of the fuel hose, but she swore she could feel the heat of his body
reaching out to her.

Fantasy time was not now.  Refocussing
on the job, she kept her gaze on the fuel gun.

“Must be quiet tonight,” Matt
said.

“Yep.” 
Say something, dimwit! 
 “It is.”  
Oh yeah, because that’s so much better.

“Quiet nights make for long
nights,” he offered.

“Yep.”  Could she sound any more
inane?  In an attempt to at least sound like she had a bit of a brain, she
glanced up at him.  “Quiet night for you?”

“Good thing.  Certainly don’t want
to be racing to an emergency in weather like this.”  His eyes slid across her
face.  Startling her, he reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her
ear.  “Wind’s playing havoc with your plait.”

Oh God, his hand lingered at her
ear, pulling away briefly to caress along her jawline before he withdrew it
completely to tuck into his pocket.

Lori didn’t know whether to sigh
with relief or cry her eyes out.  What was the matter with her?  Normally her fantasies
played out in the safety of her bed, not out here in the freezing freakin’
wind.

Maybe because the object of her
fantasies had just touched her as though he really cared.  But then, Matt cared
about everyone.  It was his job.

Only she wasn’t his job.

Damn shame, that
.

Mentally telling herself off for
even thinking such foolish thoughts while on the job and with the object of her
fantasies right before her in all his life-saving glory, Lori felt the trigger
kick off and with relief she squeezed the trigger slowly, filling the tank
right up.  Re-hooking it onto the bowser, she went for the fuel cap but Matt beat
her to it, screwing it into place before snapping the latch shut.

Smiling at her, he stepped back. 
“After you.”

He was such a gentleman. 
Unfortunately, that meant she had to walk ahead of him and knowing he could see
the roll of her overly generous bum in the jeans she wore didn’t make that a
nice prospect.

After several seconds, Matt fell
into step beside her, not saying a word as he leaned forward to push the door
of the service office open before she could even reach for it, standing aside
so she could proceed him.

That produced the very pleasant
sensation of having to brush past him as he moved close with the door in his
hand.  His clean, male scent went straight to her senses, nearly bringing her
straight to her knees. 
Lord have mercy, the man was potent.

Moving around to the other side of
the bench, Lori took the card from him and finished the transaction.

Watching her, Matt asked, “Where’s
Shaun?”

“Doing paperwork out back.” She
handed him the receipt.

Taking the receipt and card, Matt
tucked it into the small folder he carried.  “At least a bloke is around in
case of problems.”

“Shaun looks after us,” Lori
replied, not offended in the least with the assumption that a man around was good
protection.

She’d worked nightshifts too long
to not realise that a male could be a deterrent when there was trouble.  Not
always, true, but undeniable.

“I’ll see you later.”  Matt smiled
and swung around.

She couldn’t remove her gaze from
him as he moved towards the door.  Part of her wanted him to stay, the sensible
side of her knew he had to go, and really, what was there to say to each
other?  It wasn’t as though she was very good with conversations, not with
people she hadn’t known well all her life.

It caught her by surprise when
Matt suddenly swung back and returned to the counter to look directly into her
eyes.  “Lori.”

“Yes?”  Did he want a snack?

His dark eyes searched her face,
bringing a blush to her cheeks.  “Lori, would you go-”

Whatever he was about to say was
cut short when the door slammed open and Sally appeared, windblown and
breathless.  “Gotta go, boss.  Emergency.”