Chapter 33

Tess was nearly into town when she hit a pothole and heard a sound no driver wants to hear. It was a tire blowing. She checked the time on her phone and sighed. She may not make it to Townhall in time. She pulled over and looked in Stevie's boot for the spare and the jack.

The boot was full of metal pieces and some car parts. Tess guessed they were for the Killarney demo derby car. She sighed and started pulling out the pieces so she could get to the compartment where the jack was.

Finn was headed back to his room after another station tour. Cornwall's Station was more than adequate, but it was not on the level of Drovers Run or Roger's Valley. He had written up a report as was required, but did not put them on the shortlist for the contract. As he was driving along the road, he saw a pick up truck pulled over and someone bent over, looking in the bed of the truck.

Finn pulled over to help the driver and was quite surprised when he saw it was none other than Tess McLeod. He was excited, embarrassed, and uncomfortable all at the same time. He wasn't ready to face her yet, but she had an obvious flat tire, so he put the truck in park and got out.

"Um, Hi Tess. Can I give you a hand?" Finn's heart was beating hard in his chest as he walked over to her.

"Finn, Hi. Um, I've got Stevie's ute and there is so much metal plating and auto parts in the back that I can't get to the jack to change this out," explained Tess.

"This is only a rental, but I'm pretty sure this truck came with a jack in the bed. Let's take a look," Finn responded. He felt like he wanted to apologize for the awkward situation they had found themselves in at dinner last night. There was so much he felt like he owed her to say since so many of her personal secrets had been revealed accidentally.

"Great. Thanks. I'm trying to make it to Townhall to file this permit request for my cousin before they close," explained Tess, avoiding the topic of last night's dinner.

Finn found the jack that was in a side compartment of his rental truck bed. He pulled it out and brought it over to where Tess was kneeling by the blown tire.

"I can do that for you, if you'd like." Finn said with a smile. Why don't you get the spare ready to go on?"

"Sounds good."

They worked without saying much else. Neither were sure if they should acknowledge the awkwardness of night before.

"Um, Finn? Uh, I'm really sorry about what happened at the pub last night," stammered Tess.

"No. I'm sorry. I obviously intruded on a family dinner I shouldn't have been at. I shouldn't have joined you," apologized Finn.

"No, Claire didn't give you much choice in the matter. I did have a long talk with her today. My daughter and my nephew, they get out of hand sometimes. They are actually wonderful kids, and I think their hearts were originally in the right place, but they stuffed up a bit. They are still kids after all. I'm so sorry that you had to sit through that and hear so much of our dirty laundry. I'm sure it was an uncomfortable situation for you. I apologize that you got put on the spot about your rodeo injury and your reasons for leaving Wyoming and coming here. It wasn't any of our business," apologized Tess.

"I'm sorry I heard about things that you obviously don't just tell everyone. We all have secrets we want to keep. I feel awful your secrets were exposed to me the way they were. I'm also sorry for the obvious hurt your ex husband caused you. You have a wonderful family and you have built an exceptional farm with them. I regret I learned about you and your personal secrets in that way that I did," explained Finn.

They put the last of the lug nuts on the spare tire and Finn lowered the jack.

"Well. It looks like I'm fit to go. Thank you for the help and for letting me use your jack. Good luck on finding the suppliers you need, and sorry again for putting you through a dinner from Hell," Tess said as she smiled at him.

"My wife died while she was pregnant with our baby. That's why I left Wyoming," blurted Finn.

"What? Why are you telling me this?" questioned Tess.

"I know your baggage. It only seemed fair to share some of mine. She was three and a half months pregnant. She was hit by a car while taking a walk. It was eight years ago. I would have had a child about Katie's age if it hadn't happened," said Finn.

"You don't have to do this, Finn," countered Tess.

"Yes I do. I like you, Tess. I haven't stopped thinking about you since the moment I met you. You don't even realize how beautiful you are. You dazzle me. I want to know all about you, but I want to know because you wanted to share with me, on your terms, not because somebody else told me your secrets. Could we try dinner again sometime? I figure we couldn't do much worse than the last time," asked Finn.

Tess was stunned, and touched. For Finn to share such a secret with her, something that obviously haunted him, it was a true act of trust.

"I'm not good at this. Not good at dating, I mean. You know some of my baggage. I've been hurt, badly. I don't really date. Like, ever, at all," Tess confessed.

"Okay, I understand, but I'm happy to go as slow as you want. Instead of dinner, let's just try a coffee instead. There's a place near the town hall? Hoyt's Truck Stop, I think? I'm going to have a leisurely coffee there when I get into town. Meet me there after you drop off your file at Townhall if you want to. If you don't want to, there's no hard feelings. I understand if you're not interested or not up for it and I won't bother you again. Now, if you leave right now, I think you can still just make Townhall before it closes. I'll be off. Goodbye Tess." Finn smiled at her and walked back to his ute.

"Thanks."

Tess got back in the ute and drove to Town Hall. She wasn't actually sure what she was going to do after that. She had never had someone just share one of their most painful secrets to her just to make her feel less vulnerable.