Part of Your World

by Abby Jimenez

Genres: Humor & Satire; Small Town & Rural; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling author of Life's Too Short delivers a refreshingly modern fairy tale perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Emily Henry.After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

Release date: April 19, 2022

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Print pages: 400

Sample

Chapter 1

Alexis

Moths fluttered in my headlights over the long grass of the ditch. I was still clutching the wheel, my heart pounding.

I’d swerved to miss a raccoon in the fog and careened into a shallow embankment on the side of the road. I was okay. Shaken, but okay.

I tried putting the car in reverse, and my tires spun uselessly. Probably mud. Ugh. I should have bought the SUV instead of the sedan.

I turned off the engine, put on the hazards, and called roadside assistance. They told me it’d be an hour wait.

Perfect. Just perfect.

I was still a two-hour drive from home, stuck on some lonely stretch between the funeral home I’d just left in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and my house in Minneapolis. I was starving, I had to use the bathroom, and I was in shapewear. Basically the grand finale to the worst week ever.

I called my best friend, Bri. She answered on the first ring. “So? How was hell week?”

“Well, I can tell you how it ended,” I said, reclining my seat. “I just drove my car into a ditch.”

“Ouch. Are you okay?”

“I am.”

“Did you call a tow truck?”

“I did. An hour wait. And I’m in Spanx.”

She sucked air through her teeth. “Satan’s underwear? You didn’t change before you left? You must have run out of there like you were being chased. Where are you?” she asked.

I peered out the windshield. “I have no idea. Literally the middle of nowhere. I don’t even see streetlamps.”

“Did you mess up your car?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t had a chance to get out to check. I don’t think so.” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “You know what? Hold on. I’m taking these off.”

I got unbuckled and reclined the seat as far as it would go. I took off my heels and tossed them on the passenger side, then reached around to unzip myself. I wiggled out of the attached bra straps and leaned all the way back and pulled my black cocktail dress up around my hips, hooking my thumbs into the top of my Spanx.

There was nobody out here. I hadn’t seen another car on this road in a half hour. But just as I started to wrestle the nylons down, headlights poured through my back windshield—because of course they did.

“Shoot,” I breathed, moving faster.

It was like trying to get out of a full-body compression sock while being timed for speed. I heard a car door slam and I got frantic, fighting my Spandex restraints down to my knees under the steering wheel and then kicking out of them just as someone came up to the window.

A large shaggy dog popped out of nowhere and jumped up on my door to look in at me. Then a bearded white guy in a denim jacket with a wool collar came up behind him. “Hunter, down.” He pulled the dog off my car and tapped on the glass with a knuckle. “Hey, you okay in there?”

My zipper was still half undone, and my dress was hiked almost to my underwear. “I’m fine,” I said, tugging my dress over my thighs, pivoting to put my bare back to the passenger side. “Raccoon.”

He put a hand to his ear. “I’m sorry, I can’t really hear you.”

I cracked the window an inch. “I swerved for a raccoon. I’m fine,” I said again, louder.

He looked amused. “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of those around here. Want me to tow you out?”

“I called a tow truck. Thank you though.”

“If you called a tow truck, you’re waiting on Carl,” he said. “You might be waiting awhile.” He nodded down the road. “He’s six beers deep at the VFW.”

I closed my eyes and let out a tired breath. When I opened them, the man was smiling. “Give me a sec, I’ll tow you out.”

He didn’t wait for me to reply, just walked back behind my car.

I hurriedly zipped myself up. Then I picked up my phone again. “Some guy is towing me out,” I whispered to Bri.

I angled my rearview to try to see his plates, but his headlights were in my eyes. I heard metallic clanking from outside. The dog jumped back up to look at me through the window. His nubby tail began wagging, and he barked.

“Is that a dog?” Bri asked.

“Yeah. He belongs to the guy,” I said, shaking my head at the dog. He was licking the glass.

“Why are you so out of breath?”

“I was in the middle of trying to get my Spanx off when he showed up,” I said, grabbing them from the floor and balling them into my purse. “I was half naked when he walked up to the window.”

She laughed so hard I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

“It’s not funny,” I whispered.

“Maybe not to you,” she said, still laughing. “So what’s that guy look like? Some creepy old dude?”

“No. He’s kind of cute, actually,” I said, trying to see the activity behind me in the side mirror.

“Ahhhhh. And what do you look like?”

I glanced down at myself. “Hair and makeup done, black funeral dress—”

“The Dolce one?”

“Yeah.”

“So lookin’ hot. I’m gonna stay on the phone with you in case you get murdered.”

“Ha. Thanks.” I leaned back in my seat.

“So did the funeral suck?” Bri asked.

I let out a long breath. “It sucked so bad. Everyone kept asking where Neil was.”

“What’d you tell them?”

“Nothing. That we broke up and I didn’t want to talk about it. I wasn’t getting into it. And of course Derek was a no-show.”

“What a time to be in Cambodia. He’s missing alllll the fun,” Bri said.

My twin brother had a penchant for avoiding the family drama. I couldn’t say he knew Great-Aunt Lil was going to die suddenly in her nursing home, and that I was going to be thrust alone into the lion’s den at the three-day family reunion/funeral that followed—but it was very on brand for him nonetheless.

I rolled the window down another few inches so I could pet the dog. He had bushy old-man eyebrows and wide golden eyes that made him look startled to see me.

“Mom did a really nice job with the eulogy,” I said, giving the dog’s ear a scratch.

“Doesn’t surprise me.”

“And Neil texted me the whole time.”

“Also doesn’t surprise me. That man has nothing but the audacity. Did you reply?”

“Uh, no,” I said.

“Good.”

More clanking from outside.

“All right, so listen,” Bri said. “I was thinking we could do a double date thing when you get back.”

I groaned.

“Hear me out. It’s not at all convoluted.”

This was going to be convoluted.

“Both of us pick the hottest guys we can find on Tinder. Probably someone posing with a fish, but that’s not important. We take them to the café outside of Nick’s office, the one where he gets his lunch every day at eleven-thirty? And then when Nick shows up, we act totally surprised to see him there. You pretend to trip and spill some red wine down his shirt by accident while I make out with my date.”

I choked on my laugh.

“As much as I’d like to help you destroy your soon-to-be ex-husband’s clothes,” I said, still tittering, “I’m not dating for the foreseeable future. I don’t need any men in my life right now. Or ever.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, well, we’re all strong-ass women until a smoke alarm starts chirping at three a.m. on a high ceiling and there’s no one to hit it with a broom but you.”

I snorted.

“Seriously though,” she said, “we’ve never been single together before. We should embrace this. Hot girl summer. It could be so fun.”

“I think I’m more in the mood for Golden Girls summer…”

She seemed to mull this over. “This could work too.”

I heard more clanking from outside and felt the car move, like something was being attached to the bumper.

“Wanna get drinks tomorrow?” Bri asked.

“What time? I have Pilates.”

“After.”

“Okay, sure.”

I noticed movement in the side mirror. The man had started to walk back over. I stopped petting the dog and rolled my window back up to almost closed.

“Hey,” I whispered to Bri. “The guy’s coming. Hold on.”

The man pulled his dog off my car again and leaned down to talk to me through the glass. “Can you put the car in neutral?” he asked through the one-inch crack.

I nodded.

“When I pull you out, put it in park and turn off the engine until I get the chains off.”

I nodded again and watched him walk to his truck. A door slammed, and his engine started. Then my car lurched, and I slowly rolled out of the embankment and back to the road. He came around the car with a flashlight and looked at the fender.

A dragonfly landed on my hood. It sat there completely motionless while the man crouched to examine my tires. Then he clicked off the light and went back behind the car. More clanking chain noises and a minute later he returned to the window. “I looked the car over. I don’t see any damage. You should be fine to drive.”

“Thank you,” I said, sliding two twenty-dollar bills through the crack.

He smiled. “This is a freebie. Drive safe.”

He went back to his truck and honked, putting up a friendly hand as he drove past me into the fog.

Chapter 2

Daniel

A hundred bucks if you get her to leave with you,” Doug said, nodding at the redhead sitting at the bar.

It was the woman I’d pulled from the ditch half an hour ago. Fifteen minutes later, she’d walked into the VFW.

It was nine o’clock on a Tuesday night in April, which meant the whole town was crammed into the bar. The snow had melted, and it was officially the off-season. Everything except for Jane’s Diner and this place was shut down until the river heated up, and Jane’s had closed at eight o’clock. The tourists were gone, so this poor unsuspecting woman was not only sticking out like a sore thumb, but she was also one of the only women in this tiny town who wasn’t either related to us or had grown up with us. She was going to be relentlessly pursued.

I scoffed at my best friend, chalking the end of my cue stick. “Since when do you have a hundred bucks?”

Brian laughed from his barstool. “Since when do you have five bucks? And if you do, you better give it to me. You still owe me from drinks the other night.”

“Good luck with that,” I muttered.

Doug flipped us off. “I have it. And I have your five bucks too, dick,” he said to Brian. “Besides, I’m not paying the whole bet. Losers each put in fifty, and whoever gets her to go home with you takes all.”

“Leave her alone,” I said, taking my shot. The balls bounced around the table, and the six ball went into the corner pocket. “That woman is not going home with anyone in this bar. Trust me.”

Women like her wanted nothing to do with guys like us.

The car I’d pulled from the ditch was a Mercedes. It was worth more than all three of us probably made in a year. Not to mention she was dressed like she was headed to a cocktail party on a yacht. Fancy dress, huge diamond studs in her ears, diamond tennis bracelet—she was clearly on her way through town and had no intention of stopping for a layover. In fact, I was surprised she’d stopped here at all instead of driving the forty-five more minutes to Rochester to eat. The VFW wasn’t exactly fine dining.

Doug was already fishing money out of his wallet.

“I’m not interested,” I said, putting the eight ball cleanly into the side pocket. “I don’t like betting on other human beings. She’s not an object.”

Doug shook his head at me. “At least try to have fun.”

“I’m having fun.”

“Oh yeah? When’s the last time you hooked up with someone?” Doug asked. “It’s been what? Four months since Megan?”

“I’m not looking to hook up. Thanks though.”

Seeing he wasn’t getting anywhere with me, Doug turned his attention to Brian. “What about you? Hundred bucks.”

Brian almost immediately glanced to Liz, working behind the bar.

Doug rolled his eyes. “She’s married. Married. You need to get over it. It’s getting depressing. Get on a dating app or something.” Doug tipped his glass of Sprite at Brian. “I met twins on Tinder last week. Twins.” He bounced his eyebrows.

I took my shot. “Oh yeah? You got to disappoint two women at once?”

Brian laughed.

Doug ignored me. “I’m serious, man. She’s not gonna leave her husband. Do your thing.”

Brian peered back at Liz. Then, almost on cue, the door to the VFW opened, and Jake sauntered in wearing his police uniform.

We all stopped to watch him walk to the bar. He made his way through, slapping backs and saying hello louder than necessary, just to make sure we all knew he’d graced us with his presence.

He went around the counter like he owned the place, strode over to Liz, and pulled her into a dramatic kiss. Hooting erupted in the bar, and Doug and I shared a glance. What an asshole.

I looked back at Brian, just in time to see the hurt move across his face.

Hell, maybe Doug was right. I wasn’t saying that betting on women was the answer, but Brian did need to get over this shit. Liz wasn’t leaving Jake—even though she should.

Mike walked by on his way to the bathroom, and Doug nodded at him. “Hey, Mike! Hundred bucks if you get her to leave with you.” He pointed to the woman at the bar.

Mike stopped and peered over at her in his glasses. He must have liked what he saw because he fished out his wallet. “Almost doesn’t seem fair. I get a hundred bucks and a beautiful woman.”

I laughed and checked my watch. “I have to go. I need to feed the kid,” I said, putting my stick away.

Doug groaned. “Every damn time.” He waved me off. “Fine. Get the hell outta here then.” Then he looked over my shoulder at the bar and nodded at the woman. “Hey, put in a good word for me on the way out, yeah?”

“So you want me to lie to her?” I asked, shrugging on my jacket.

Brian and Mike laughed.

Doug ignored me and put his pool stick on the table. “’Bout to get my secret weapon.”

I chuckled and headed to the bar, shaking my head.

Chapter 3

Alexis

Whatcha thinking?” asked the bartender, wiping down the counter.

She had blond hair, a tattoo of a rose on her wrist, and hot-pink lipstick. Pretty. Her name was Liz.

I looked over the menu she’d handed me. “What’s good?” I asked, not loving the options. Almost everything was fried.

“The chili’s homemade,” she offered.

I twisted my lips. “I don’t really love chili.”

The fog outside had gotten so bad, I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it home before the need to eat and use a restroom got desperate. The only gas station in town had been closed, so I couldn’t use the bathroom or grab a snack. Google kindly directed me to the one open place within fifty miles—the VFW that Truck Guy had mentioned.

The place was—worn. The tables were mismatched with cheap chairs. There were broken vintage-looking beer signs on the walls, along with framed medals and black-and-white pictures of veterans. “Bennie and the Jets” blared from an old jukebox against the wall. A huge deer head was mounted over the bar with rainbow Christmas lights strung through its antlers. It was all very tired and junky. I couldn’t imagine being in here under any other circumstances, not in a million years.

A very pregnant young woman came up next to Liz and swiped a key card into the register with a hand on her lower back.

“Heading out, Hannah?” Liz asked, pouring an IPA from the tap.

“Yeah.” She grimaced. “The baby’s got a foot right on my bladder.”

“I’ll put your tips in the office,” Liz said. Then she looked back at me. “It’s too bad you didn’t drive through before the diner closed up for the night. Pickings are kinda slim until it’s summer and the tourists come back.”

“Tourists?” I asked.

“Yeah. We’re on the Root River. Plus, we’re only a two-hour drive from the Twin Cities, so we get a lot of weekend warriors. Right now, though, it’s just the townies. And they’re all here. Alllll three hundred and fifty of us.” She laughed, nodding at the packed bar.

I pivoted on my stool. It was true. There wasn’t an empty seat in the whole place.

As I scanned the crowd, I spotted the guy who’d towed me out, over by the pool table.

He really was cute.

Now that his jacket was off, I could see he had a nice body too. He had that rugged lumberjack thing going on. Beard, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, dimples. Tall. He wore a flannel and jeans. His sleeves were rolled up and he had colorful tattoos on both forearms.

I turned away before he noticed me looking.

A bell chimed, and Liz looked up over my head. Something nervous flickered across her face, but she smiled. I turned to follow her gaze. A police officer was coming in—a handsome one. He was tall, well over six feet. Brown eyes, thick brown hair. A fit body pressed against his tan sheriff’s uniform. A gun sat holstered on his hip, and a gold badge was pinned to his chest. He wore a wedding band.

“Hey, baby.” Liz smiled at him as he came around the counter.

He leaned in and planted a kiss on her. A few people whistled.

He tipped up her chin. “I brought your sweater,” he said, speaking to her eyes. He put a bundle of white fabric into her hands. “You left it in the cruiser.”

“That’s so sweet.” Liz looked down at it. “Oh, Jake, this is…” She stopped, realizing I’d never told her my name. Jake turned to me and seemed to notice me for the first time.

“Alexis,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”

“Welcome to Wakan.” He pronounced it wah-kahn. “I gotta get going,” he said to his wife. “I’ll be here to get you at midnight.” He kissed her and tipped his head at me before leaving.

I puffed air from my cheeks and looked back at the menu. I was considering leaving without ordering. Nothing looked good. “So besides the chili, what else should I try?” I asked.

“Hey,” a male voice said, coming up behind me, talking to Liz. “I need to close out my tab.”

I glanced up. It was Truck Guy.

Liz smiled at him. “Turning in early, huh?”

“I have to feed the kid,” he said. Then he turned to me and smiled. “Hi.”

“Hello,” I said, moving to face him. “We meet again.”

“And under much better circumstances,” he said.

I smiled. “Thank you for earlier. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I think I did.” He nodded at a man at the end of the bar, looking red-eyed and disheveled with seven empty beer glasses in front of him. “That was your knight in shining tow truck.”

I sucked air through my teeth. “I would have been there all night.”

“Nah, one of us would have stopped. Five or six hours, tops.”

I laughed, and he smiled at me. “I’m Daniel.” He offered me a hand.

“Alexis,” I said, taking it. His palm was rough and warm.

“I think I should give you a heads-up,” he said, giving me back my hand and leaning on the bar. “You see those guys over there?” He nodded to three men huddled around the pool table. “They have a bet going that they can get you to leave with one of them.”

Liz made a groaning noise from behind the register. “They’re such assholes,” she muttered, swiping his card. “Brian too?” she asked.

“Nah, just Mike and Doug.” He pointed. “You see the guy with the glasses?” he said to me.

I twisted in my stool to look over at the men. “Yeah…”

“Questionable rash.”

I snorted and Liz let out a laugh.

“The tall white guy in the Carhartt jacket lives in his mom’s basement,” he said, going on. The sandy blond man was grinning in our direction and waving. “In about five minutes he’s going to procure a guitar from somewhere.” He looked at me. “He’s going to play ‘More Than Words’ by Extreme and he’s going to do it very, very badly.”

Liz was laughing as she slid his charge draft in front of him. “It’s true. God, why is it true.”

While he signed his receipt, I glanced at it. It was only ten dollars, but he left a ten-dollar tip. He flipped it upside down and pushed away from the bar. “Anyway, good luck.” He started for the exit.

“Wait,” I said after him.

He stopped and looked back at me.

“How much are they betting?”

He shrugged, pulling out his keys. “A hundred bucks.”

“And what about you? You’re not in on this bet?”

He shook his head. “That’s not my thing.”

“No? Well, what if I left with you? Would you win the money?”

He wrinkled his forehead at me. “I don’t follow.”

“I think I’m going to leave anyway. You could walk out with me. Win the bet.”

He smiled. “You’d do that?”

I shrugged. “Sure.”

He glanced over at the men across the room.

Carhartt Jacket was holding a guitar.

Daniel’s eyes came back to mine, and a smile played at the corners of his lips. “If we do it, we split the money.”

I turned to Liz. “Liz, on a scale from one to serial killer, how dangerous is this man? Am I safe to walk out into a dark parking lot with him?”

She smiled. “Daniel is the only guy I’d leave this bar with.”

“I don’t know how I feel about that,” he said. “You’re my cousin.”

She laughed. “He’s harmless.”

“And he’ll keep up his end of the bargain and pay me?” I asked.

She dried a tumbler with a rag. “Even if those idiots don’t keep up their end of the bargain and pay him, he’ll pay you. It’s the kind of person he is.”

I looked back at Daniel, and he shrugged. “I’m not an asshole. It’s my favorite thing about myself.”

I felt my smile reach my eyes. He was funny.

“Okay,” I said. “We have a deal.” I nodded at the barstool next to me. “But sit and talk to me for a bit. Otherwise they won’t believe you wooed me.”

He looked at his watch. Then he seemed to decide he had time and took a seat.

“So, tell me about yourself,” I said. “What do you do?”

“I’m a property manager,” he said.

Liz laughed from behind the counter where she was pouring beer from the tap. “He’s the mayor.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Wow, the mayor?”

He gave her a look. “It’s more of an honorary title. This is a small town. My duties are very minimal.”

Liz shook her head. “He’s being humble. He’s sort of everything around here. Calls bingo on Saturday nights, volunteer firefighter. He’s even Santa.” She nodded to one of the framed articles above the cash register.

Santa Comes to Wakan.

The article was accompanied by a color photo of a fat Santa Claus with a little boy on his knee.

I looked back at him with a smile, and he changed the subject. “And what do you do?”

I shrugged. “Nothing worth mentioning.”

I didn’t like giving out my personal information to a stranger.

He didn’t push it.

“Okay,” he said. “And what brings you to Wakan?”

“I’m coming from a funeral.”

His face went serious. “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Aunt Lil was ninety-eight, and she had a very good life. Many lovers, as she liked to say.”

He smiled.

“I live in Minneapolis. I’m just driving through. Hey, is it always this foggy out here?”

“There’s fog outside?” Liz asked, looking surprised.

Daniel shook his head. “Never. It’s weird, actually.”

“Huh. So you have a kid?” I asked.

He looked at his watch again. “I do. Chloe.”

“How old?”

“One week.”

“Oh,” I said, pulling my face back in surprise. “She’s little.”

He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring—not that that meant anything. He could have a kid without being married.

“So you have a girlfriend?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have taken this wager if I did.”

“Well, you’re not actually taking me home,” I pointed out.

“But I’m pretending to. I wouldn’t disrespect my theoretical girlfriend.” He grinned.

I had to stifle a smile. “So you’re not with your baby’s mother?”

He looked amused. “Definitely not. I’m fostering.”

Liz smiled. “Chloe is soooo cute. He’s such a good daddy to her.” She nodded at him. “Show her a picture.”

He pulled out his phone and swiped. Then he held it out to me.

A laugh burst from my lips. “Your kid is a baby goat? In pajamas?”

“She is. She goes home in a few weeks. She belongs to Doug. The guitar guy. Mom has mastitis and Doug couldn’t do middle-of-the-night feedings, so I volunteered to help.”

“So let me get this straight,” I said, crossing my legs. “Doug is trying to seduce me with a poorly sung version of ‘More Than Words’ when he has an entire baby goat? If you have a baby goat, you always lead with ‘I have a baby goat.’”

He chuckled. “Technically I have the baby goat.”

Liz put ice into a tumbler. “I keep telling him his Tinder profile could be nothing but a picture of Chloe and an address.”

I laughed.

Daniel smiled and nodded over his shoulder. “Are they watching us?” he asked.

My eyes flickered over to the pool table. “Oh, yes.” I looked back at him. “Carhartt Jacket Doug is tuning his guitar. So how much time do you think we have until I’m serenaded?”

“I’d say another minute or two.”

“Okay.” I leaned forward. “I’m going to pretend that you just said something really funny and I’m going to laugh. Then we can wrap this up.”

He put a hand to his chin. “What kind of laugh?”

“What kind?”

“Yeah. In theory whatever I’m saying to you has to be good enough to make you leave with me after only knowing me for five minutes. It’s going to have to look pretty convincing. I’m thinking Julia Roberts?”

This actually did make me laugh, which made him laugh—and it was adorable. His warm golden-green eyes creased at the corners and it lit his whole face.

God, he had a nice smile. Really nice. Something about it darted me right in the heart, took a little of my breath away.

We sat there, still cracking up, and I found myself biting my lip and leaning into him a little, and I realized with shock that I was flirting. Like, actually flirting, not pretending.

I’d been with Neil seven years. I thought Neil would be the last man I’d ever be with. Then I’d broken up with him and I told myself that I was done. No more men. I didn’t need one. I didn’t need the hassle. I completely rejected the idea of dating ever again. I’d bought a very nice vibrator and I’d retired myself from the pool at thirty-seven. Zero interest.

And now I was flirting.

It was like finding out a plant you killed was alive after all and just needed water.

“Uh-oh, Doug’s coming,” Liz whispered.

I tore my gaze away from Daniel. Doug had begun weaving his way through high-top tables toward the bar, guitar in hand.

“Time to go,” Daniel said.

Then he took my hand, helped me down from the barstool, and walked me out.

Chapter 4

Daniel

I grabbed her hand. We were trying to look comfortable with each other. I figured it was in character. Brazen, but in character.

She didn’t pull away.

The guys watched me with slack jaws as we made our way out of the bar. I put my other hand low and flipped them off.

When we got out into the parking lot, I let go of her. I pulled the bills out of my wallet and handed them to her.

She took the cash, counted it, and then tucked it into my shirt pocket.

“Uh, the deal was fifty-fifty,” I said, digging for the money to give it back.

“I’m paying you for the tow service.”

“Nope. I don’t accept,” I said, handing her the wad of bills.

She crossed her arms.

“You did the lion’s share,” I said, holding it out. “You earned it.”

“I wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t hauled me out of the ditch. I would have paid Drunk Carl a . . .