Red Truck Rendezvous

greasy overalls wheeled out from under a car, grabbing a rag from his back pocket. “What on earth is wrong with you, Nita?” he grumbled, rising and wiping his hands on the rag. “I could have brained myself on that muffler with all this yelling.”
“You got a package, big brother,” the girl called Nita grinned. “It’s very pretty.” Nita’s dark eyes sparkled as she pulled the package out of her bag. “Maybe a special friend sent it to you.”
Pablo shook his head in disgust. As the only single member of the Jimenez family, he was constantly harassed by the others who all seemed to think that he should be happily wed by now. Didn’t they realize that he had to put every waking hour into the garage just to keep it going? He hadn’t spent all those years working and studying to be a mechanic just to work for someone else.
“Put it in the office. I’m too grubby to open it now.” The young man shook his head of closely cropped coal-black hair. “You could have waited until I got home, you know?” Glancing at the package, a small shiver ran down his back. The pretty box looked a little too familiar somehow.
Nita laughed. “What would be the fun in that? Besides, it looks like a Christmas present.”
Pablo looked up, his dark brown eyes, so like his sisters, narrowing. “It’s almost July, why would I be getting a Christmas present? It’s probably one of those promo gifts that manufactures are always sending, hoping to get you to carry their brand exclusively or something.”
Nita, whose real name was Anita, held the package up to the light, examining the bright red wrapping paper and giving it a gentle shake. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t even rattle.”
“Nita, I don’t have time for this, just put it in the office, and I’ll get to it later. Can’t you see I have work to do? Besides, won’t Devon be looking for you? He’s gotten very overprotective of you in your condition.” Pablo’s grin was bright and teasing as his eyes caught the slight rounding under Anita’s full blouse.
“Devon is working, and he is not overly protective,” she smiled, running her hands over the baby bump. “He just loves me.”
“He’s a doctor, and he fusses,” Pablo didn’t want to let it go. He could see he was getting to his little sister. “Ouch!”
“That’s what you get for teasing a pregnant woman,” Nita grinned, rubbing her knuckles that ached from punching her brother’s very muscular arm. “Now be nice, and I’ll put this in the office, but don’t forget about it.”
“Alright, alright!” Pablo promised as Nita walked toward the back of the old barn turned garage. Perhaps the place wasn’t much, but it was his, and he was even managing to hold his head above water in the business sense. Besides, he loved his job, what more could he need?
The sound of squealing brakes and the unmistakable scent of burnt rubber, made Pablo turn toward the open barn door. Someone was in trouble.
Still gripping the greasy rag, Pablo trotted out into the hard-packed dirt lot, squinting into the light, as an old red Ford pickup truck snaked toward him, the vintage camper hitched behind, wagging like the tail of a dog.

Chapter 2
Pablo dropped the rag from his hands and raced toward the entrance of his parking area. The old barn had been converted to a garage ages ago, and the defunct gas pumps were little more than a reminder of a by-gone era, but they could still do a lot of damage if the truck slammed into them.
“This way! This way!” the young mechanic yelled, racing forward, waving both hands toward the rise of the barn bridge on the near side of the wooden building. “Go up! Go up!”
If whoever was driving the antique rig could maneuver it toward the gentle rise of earth leading to the upper portion of the barn, perhaps they could slow down enough to pop the clutch and grind to a halt.
Pablo raced forward, nearly matching the speed of the old truck as it bounced over the tall grass of the slope, its nose jutting skyward as it rolled to a jittery stop before the engine died.
“Are you okay?” Pablo asked breathlessly as he peered through the window in time to see a manicured hand yank back hard on the emergency brake handle.
“I think so,” a rich, sultry voice echoed as the driver turned, brushing wild golden locks from her heart-shaped face. “I’m glad you pointed me in the right direction.” The pretty woman smiled shakily.
Pablo’s heart stuttered to a stop as he gazed into bright aqua eyes. A woman, a beautiful woman, was driving this dilapidated jalopy.
“Hi.” The young man’s lopsided grin seemed frozen on his face as his hand came to rest on the panel of the door.
“Hi.” A brilliant smile seemed to shame the sun. “Uhm, is this your place?”
Pablo blinked, giving himself a shake to clear his head as the woman reached out and grasped the handle of the door. Realizing that the door pull mechanism inside must not work, he reached to help, his fingers falling on a silky smooth hand that sent a cooling wave along his arm. “Here, let me get that for you,” he offered awkwardly.
As the woman withdrew her hand, Pablo wrenched the protesting door open, stepping back to let the driver, and hopefully, his new client out.
“Thanks, I’m Portia Princeton, and I hope you can help me.” Long denim-clad legs, followed by a deep blue silk blouse and red scarf, seemed to slide from the battered interior of the old truck. “I think I’m going to need a lot of work.” The woman turned to place both hands on the driver’s door and slamming it shut. “Do you think you’re up for the task?”
Pablo couldn’t seem to pull his eyes from the woman’s slender curves as he tried to chase the cobwebs from his brain. “What?”
“I said, do