Body Work by Bonnie Edwards Page B

hair back today and covered herself in blue jeans and a fleece vest the color of daffodils.
    Jason carefully drove the Ford up onto the trailer and secured her for transport.
    “That’s it?” Lisa asked as she drew near. Up close she looked more fragile than she had since Franklin’s untimely visit the week before.
    “ The last one.”
    She nodded, folded her arms under her breasts. “It’s going to be strange around here. Too quiet.”
    Jason climbed down off the trailer and ambled over. He looked at Lisa, and then swung his gaze to Tyce’s. “You’re following, right?”
    “ I’ll be along soon. Stay with the truck and trailer.”
    Beside him, Lisa shifted then wandered over to the flowerbed that rimmed the courtyard. She knelt and touched some of the blooms.
    “Your mother phoned,” Tyce said. “The cousin she went to see get married got jilted at the altar.”
    “ Too bad. What’d Teri do?”
    “ Took off this morning on her honeymoon. Alone.”
    Jason snorted. “Makes sense.”
    “ I guess so. Take it easy on the interstate. Your mother doesn’t know I’m letting you ride your bike. She thinks it’s going in the back of the pickup.” He gave Jason a couple of other instructions and clapped him on the back. “Safe ride.”
    Lisa stood and waved goodbye as Jason donned his helmet and started his bike. The transport driver cautiously turned the truck and trailer , carrying the Ford around in the courtyard. With a heavy sigh of brakes, rubber, and metal on metal, the truck and trailer pulled out. 
    Tyce walked over to her but she turned her face away, and pretended interest in the hedge. Her shoulders looked stiff and straight. He put a hand out to touch her, but let it fall to his side.
    He ’d loved her last night with all that he had, all that he was, and still she’d said nothing about today’s leave-taking.
    “ Will you be at the auction?” he asked.
    She shook her head once, quickly, but didn ’t look at him. He wanted to ask her to come with him, but it didn’t feel right. He kept getting waylaid by the memory of her scrubbing his mark off her arm on that damn bus. Stupid, but there it was. She’d walked out once and he couldn’t go through it again.
    Hell, he ’d been a kid then, with his whole life fresh and stretched out ahead of him. She’d been broke and he’d been golden and she still hadn’t wanted him.
    Now, she was rich. Independent. She didn ’t need him. Not for security, stability, nothing. He’d seen that clearly when she’d stood up to Franklin Delaney’s poison last week.
    There was no reason Lisa Delaney needed Tyce Branton. She had what she wanted. Her car collection was ready to sell. She ’d get top dollar, take the money and run to Europe like she planned.
    “ Franklin called off his dogs,” she said. “I made a preemptive strike and had my lawyer mention some jewelry the boys took while Harris was ill. I never would have kept it, but they didn’t know that. They assumed that I’d want their mother’s rubies.” She made a bitter sound in her throat.
    “ Was that what you whispered to him in the garage last week?”
    “ No.” She turned and looked up at him, her eyes wide and still. Calm. “I told him I was auctioning off the cars and giving the money to a charitable foundation Harris set up.”
    “ What?” He was floored by the confession. “None of this work was for you?”
    She shrugged. “No. Harris left me comfortable without the money from the cars and he knew if Franklin got them he’d sell them all and keep the money. Harris and I agreed the proceeds should go toward something meaningful.”
    “ Which is?”
    “ A high school in the inner city will get a course on mechanics and body work added to the curriculum. The auction dollars should build a whole garage and paint shop.”
    “ Sounds like a school I’d have loved when I was a kid.”
    “ I know.” She looked at him and smiled so sweetly that his heart jumped into his