Truck Stop
Allie McCormack
Publication date: December 11th 2018 (audio)
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Teri Campbell is on the run, on a bus ride to nowhere. An unscheduled stop on the wind-blown plains of Wyoming leaves her at M&J’s Truck Stop… and in the arms of Mike Gallagher, the young trucker who appoints himself her protector, who understands her as no one else could. But will her new life and her new-found love be enough when events take an unexpected turn? …and can even Mike keep her safe from the past that threatens to reclaim her?
Excerpt from Chapter 12
“I'm with Teri on this,” Chuck told Mike between bits of what he declared to be the best pancakes this side of the Mississippi.
The rustic cafe outside of Flagstaff was half deserted on a weekday morning. A few local ranchers hunched over coffee at the bar, and Mike had unerringly chosen one of the booths near the back. The lone waitress had come to coo over Amanda, set up in her carrier on the table, but after bringing their breakfasts, the woman had gone back to her other duties and they were free to talk. Chuck pointed his fork at Mike.
“She shouldn't be back in Wyoming, at least not for now. You can't stay off work indefinitely, and she's going to need to be somewhere safe while you're on the road.”
“But she'd be safe with Marsha and Joe!” Mike protested.
“Probably. But she wouldn't feel safe since she knows her pa will be able to find her there. You didn't see him, Mike. I did. I'm telling you, that is one ugly customer. There isn't much I'd put past him.”
Mike leaned forward, frowning. “I'm not doubting that at all. But I still think she and Amanda would be better off in Wyoming. I know I thought first to take her to the Parelli's, but there's all kinds of kids, always lots of activity and noise and bustle. She's just had surgery and she's barely begun to heal. It'd be quiet, more restful at Marsha's.”
Rocking the baby quietly, Teri leaned down to kiss Amanda's soft cheek. It wasn't a power trip, she thought to herself, hiding her smile. But after a whole lifetime of no one believing her, no one caring for her, she couldn't help but enjoy having two extremely large, very... well, very male men, argue over what was best for her. Enjoy? The fact was, she was getting a huge kick out of it. The testosterone flying around the room was almost palpable. She was having a hard time hiding her amusement, though. Especially when Chuck ordered her a large glass of ice-cold milk, and practically every time she turned around, either he or Mike attentively handed it to her, hovering, she thought, like a couple of hens with one chick. Her expression once more under control, she straightened, turning her attention once more to the conversation.
“Then think about this,” Chuck urged. “Both Marsha and Joe are in the truck stop working most of the day. Teri can't spend all her day with the baby in the restaurant. Most of the time she's going to be alone in that house. There are cars and people and trucks in and out of there all the time. Who'd notice if Sam slipped in there in the middle of dinner rush and spirited her away? Don't tell me neither of you would seriously worry about that, either, even if it never happened.”
He watched this sink in before continuing. “Up in Seattle, Joan stays home with the kids and would be there all the time. Shelly's baby is only a few months old, she and Teri'd have a blast exchanging baby stories. And if you don't think those kids at the Parelli's wouldn't be falling all over themselves to help with the new baby, you don't know kids as well as you think you do!”
Author Bio:
A career medical transcriptionist, Allie McCormack is now writing from home full-time. Allie has traveled quite a bit and lived many places all over the U.S., and also a year in Cairo, Egypt as an exchange student, and a year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia under contract to a hospital there, plus a short stint with NATO while she was in the Army. As a single mom, she raised a wonderful daughter who's recently married and there are plans afoot for grandchildren. A disabled veteran, Allie now lives in the beautiful Sorona Desert in southern Arizona with her two rescue cats and writes full-time.
Allie says: "A writer is who and what I am... a romance writer. I write what I know, and what I know is romance. Dozens of story lines and literally hundreds of characters live and breathe within the not-so-narrow confines of my imagination, and it is my joy and privilege to bring them to life, to share them with others by writing their stories."
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