A Love of Her Own Read Free Page A

the deep-pocketed executive types are taken.”
    *****
    Ava didn’t stay much longer after that. She had to work the next day, and slow days at the salon were more tiresome than busy ones; probably because they seemed to drag out forever.
    As she drove she noticed that her car, a sporty royal blue Hyundai Genesis she’d bought four years ago, seemed sluggish. She instantly knew she would have to put it in the shop; something was clearly wrong. She’d do it in the morning. Her mechanic would probably be glad to get the business during what was undoubtedly a slow time of year for them as well.
    As she approached downtown, the car had slowed down to a crawl. Still, she was sure she’d be able to get home. It wasn’t like she had to drive ten miles.
    Then she saw the smoke rising from under the hood.

 
    Chapter 2
    S he hastily pulled over, uttering a curse in the dark silence of the car. She automatically reached for her purse, and from the moment her fingers closed around the small clutch she’d switched to, a recall of an earlier, unfortunate action set in. The purse was only large enough for her wallet, keys, and a lipstick. Normally she removed some cash, a credit card, and her license and zipped them inside a side pocket to make room for her cell phone, but she’d been in a hurry. She’d meant to bring her cell and leave it in the car so she’d at least have it with her, and she now remembered she’d forgotten to do that.
    Great. Here it was, after ten o’clock on a Friday night, and she’d broken down on a dark residential street.
    She put on her blinkers, hoping to catch a police cruiser. Even if a taxi went by, she’d hail it and just go home. But after ten minutes with only a few stray private vehicles going by, she knew her only choice would be to get out and walk. Main Street wasn’t far. Her friend Kendall Lucas and Kendall’s husband, Spencer Barnes, had both been restaurateurs before they met. They had combined their professional interests with their personal relationship and now owned Robinson’s, a neighborhood bar and grill at Main and Georgia Streets. Although Kendall and Spencer would probably be at their other establishment, a supper club in Nile Beach, the site of many a holiday celebration for various groups, she was bound to see enough familiar faces at the bar to feel safe. Once she got there she could easily get someone to drop her off at home.
    The problem was getting there. It was awfully dark outside. Maybe she should wait a little longer for a police car or a cab to go past…
    This is silly, she thought after another fifteen minutes. The only thing happening was that it was getting later and later. She’d simply have to make a run for it. It was only…she calculated on her fingers…two blocks over and then two blocks up. Four blocks was a long way, especially in heels. Hell, if she was going to do all that, she might as well try to run all the way home; it wasn’t much further.
    “ Damn it!” she muttered, as she reluctantly got out of the car. Inadvertently she shivered—it was dark, foreboding, and downright spooky. The street lights gave off little illumination, probably because they were covered with the accumulation of years of street dust. Ava made a mental note to speak to Catherine about getting the council to arrange to have the street lamp surfaces cleaned—a lone match would give off more light than these dim bulbs.
    She tensed when she noticed that a truck that had just drive n by was now backing up. She reached for her keys to unlock the door to return to the relative safety of the car, but in her nervousness she fumbled and dropped them. For heaven’s sake, this was just like all those scenes in the movies she always scoffed at where women being pursued always did something silly, like slipping and twisting an ankle; and here she was doing the same dumb thing. Because of her clumsiness, if someone in the truck—it was actually an SUV rather than a