A week in the trailer, and Valentina had almost convinced herself she’d made the right choice. The locks were fixed—Duke had seen to that, along with patching the worst of the roof leaks. He’d found her a job in his garage’s front office, answering phones and managing the schedule. The pay was better than the diner, and she didn’t have to deal with grabby customers.
She’d seen no sign of James. Maybe he’d given up. Maybe he’d never really been in town at all.
And Duke... Duke kept his distance. Professional at the garage. Checking in with brief texts on the burner phone he’d given her. Nothing more.
It should have been a relief. Instead, it left her restless, like an itch she couldn’t scratch.
“You look like you’re about to fall over,” Axel commented as he dropped a stack of invoices o
