Angels Fall

sticking out of his back pocket, a similarly stained gimme cap on his head and a chaw tucked into his cheek.
    He pursed his lips, tipped back the bill of his cap as Reece stepped out of the car.
    "Got yourself some trouble?"
    "Seems like it." When she realized her teeth were clenched, she deliberately relaxed them. "The steering's funny, dragging."
    "Not surprised, seeing as you got your two back tires next to flat."
    "Flat?" She turned to look. "Damn it. They were fine yesterday."
    "Could be you drove over something." He crouched down to take a look at the right rear tire. "Probably got a slow leak. See what I can do."
    "I have a spare in the trunk." God, was she going to have to replace two tires?
    "I'll get to it as soon as I finish these brake pads. You need a lift somewhere?"
    "No. No. I could use the walk." She got her laptop out of the backseat, then took her house keys off the keychain and stuffed them in her pocket. "If I have to get new tires, how much do you think?"
    "Let's just worry about that when we have to worry about it." He took her car key. "I'll give you a call."
    "Thanks." She hitched her purse on one shoulder, her laptop on the other. It was a nice day for a walk, and she reminded herself of that in an attempt to chase depression away. She had a job and she had a roof over her head. And it she was in love with a jackass, she'd just have to start working on getting over it.
    If she needed new tires, she'd walk until she could afford the damn rubber. She didn't  have  to have a car right this minute. She didn't have  to have a lover. She didn't have to have anything but herself. That had been the whole point of leaving Boston, leaving everything. She'd proved she could function, she could heal, she could build a new lite.
    And it Brody thought she was trying to drag him into that life with her, he was not only a jackass, lie was a conceited one.
    She needed some time by herself anyway to catch up on her journal, to get serious about writing that cookbook. Not that she was going to pass that through Brody now. Insulting son of a bitch. But she wanted to organize the recipes, take a more focused stab at writing an introduction to them. Something like…  You don't have to be an expert chef to cook gourmet meals. Not when you have   an expert guiding you  .
    "And that sounds pompous and patronizing."  Tired of trying to come up with a new answer to
    "What's for dinner?" Desperate to find something exciting and fresh for that Sunday brunch?
    Panicked that the chair of that fundraiser assigned you to make the canapes  ?
    "A little lame," Reece said aloud, "but you have to start somewhere."
    "Hey! Hey!"
    Reece jerked to a stop and saw Linda-gail kneeling in her tiny front yard with marigolds and pansies tucked into a black plastic flat beside her.
    "Too busy talking to yourself to talk to me?"
    "Was I? I was going over something in my head. Too often it runs out of my mouth. They're so pretty. Your flowers."
    "Should've put the pansies in before." She tipped the straw cowboy hat back on her head. "They don't mind the cold. But with one thing and another. What are you doing over this way?"
    "Flat tire, or tires. I had to take the car to Lynt."
    "Bummer. You're out early. I figured you'd be hanging at Brody's today."
    "Clearly, he didn't. All I did was make the bed and offer to toss some of his laundry in with mine. You'd think I pulled a shotgun out of one pocket and a minister out of the other."
    "Men suck. I booted Lo out the other night. He got surly when I wouldn't let him into my pants." 
    "Men suck."
    "So, the hell with them. Want to plant some pansies and curse Y chromosomes? '
    "I really would, but I have things I need to do this morning."
    "Then we'll go to Clancy's after work tonight, drink a few beers and karaoke all the down-with-men songs on the menu."
    Who needed a jackass when you had a girlfriend? "I can get behind that. I'll see you at work." There, Reece thought as she walked toward home, she could add something else to her list of haves. She had Linda-gail Case.
    Then there was the lake, she thought as her direction angled toward it. So blue and beautiful with the greening willows dipping down like dancers, the tender buds of cottonwood leaves unfurling. On impulse she crossed to the water instead of continuing home. She-set her bags down, pulled off her shoes and socks. She rolled up her pant legs. Sitting on the bank, she dangled her feet in the water. Freezing! But she