Catch a Falling Star by Beth K. Vogt Page A

was.
    As he tugged on his gloves and pulled the collar of his blue uniform jacket up around his neck, Griffin watched a red Jeep pass him on the highway, then ease over to the shoulderand back up. Offering a quick prayer of thanks that “real Jeeps never leave another Jeep stranded,” Griffin stepped back out into the cold night air and moved toward the Good Samaritan.
    The door to the Jeep CJ5 opened and a diminutive form bundled in a long coat stepped onto the silver nerf bar and then onto the gravel shoulder. A woman—but still a Jeep person. When Griffin recognized Dr. Kendall Haynes in the glare of the passing headlights, he almost turned around, sprinted back to his Jeep, climbed inside, and locked the door.
    â€œHi. I’m Kendall. Can I— you! ”
    The look on the woman’s face was so comical—her mouth forming a perfect O, her eyes widening as if Griffin pulled a gun on her—that Griffin burst out laughing.
    â€œGood evening, Dr. Haynes.”
    â€œColonel Walker.”
    They stood on the side of the highway, snow swirling between them. If she knew that he’d assumed she was a man coming to his aid, she would never forgive him.
    â€œWell, this is awkward.” Dr. Haynes moved toward him again. “But I stopped because I figured someone needed help.”
    â€œThat I do.” Griffin trudged beside her back to his disabled Jeep, the hood raised like a dented surrender flag.
    She stopped at the front, turned, and waited until he stood beside her. “Do you want me to take a look?”
    â€œWhat?”
    She motioned toward the engine. “Do you think you know what’s wrong or do you want me to take a look?”
    â€œIt’s the fuel pump. And this is a Jeep, Dr. Haynes, not a body.”
    â€œOh, good grief.” Kendall Haynes closed her eyes, her mouth twisting in frustration. “Are you really that chauvinistic?” Thewoman stomped her foot, crunching gravel with her heel. Again with the heels.
    â€œI’m just saying, there’s quite a difference between the human body and an engine—”
    â€œHave you checked your fuel filter? If it’s clogged, then it’s a quicker fix than a new fuel pump, which could also cause problems.” She pointed into the engine. “That’s the in-line filter right there, for your information.”
    Griffin did not like this woman. But she knew her Jeep engines. “Well done. You didn’t learn that in med school.”
    She waved a hand toward her CJ5. “I rebuilt my Jeep with my dad when I was in high school. He said if I was gonna own it, I was gonna know it.”
    â€œSounds like a great guy.”
    â€œHe was. The best.” Her smile wavered. “So, now that I’ve convinced you that I know something about engines, do you know what’s wrong?”
    â€œAs I said, fuel pump.”
    â€œDo you want a tow or a ride home?”
    The woman was offering to tow his Jeep?
    â€œI have a friend who can help tow this thing tomorrow. And I’d accept the offer of a ride, but it’s not quite that simple.” Yeah, he’d accept the offer if he had to, not because he wanted to. But he doubted the woman wanted to play surrogate mom and go pick up Ian, too.
    â€œLook, Colonel Walker, I realize you’ve decided not to like me. But that shouldn’t stop you from accepting common courtesy from me.” She pulled a pair of gloves out of her pocket and slipped them on. “We’re both Jeep lovers. You can trust me. I promise to get you home safely.”
    â€œIt’s not that.” Although the idea of being with Dr. Kendall Haynes for any length of time had as much appeal as his annualmedical exam. “I have to pick up Ian at a friend’s house a couple of miles from here. So maybe you could take me to the nearest gas station and I’ll call a taxi?”
    Snowflakes had settled in Kendall Haynes’s short brown hair