Desert Danger

Sample Chapter from Book two in the El Paso Summer Series

1

Better With A Bike

Summer was better with a bike. Tyler was reminded of this every time he headed down the driveway of Aunt Becky and Uncle Ryan’s house in El Paso. This was his home for the summer, and a bike made things a little better. Kyle, his cousin Mackenzie’s older brother, was in the navy now and his old BMX bike had been left in the backyard shed for years. Mac said once Kyle got his pickup truck, the bike was history. Tyler had been thrilled to find it. Who cared if it had several years of dust, grime, and spider webs, plus two flat tires? It was a bike! Getting to know Mac and her friend Alex had made it a little easier to get used to living in El Paso and the bike was icing on the cake.

His mom had called last month to say she and her new hubby—who Tyler referred to as Doug-the-jerk—were staying longer in Nevada. Three months longer, in fact. She and Dougie were going to get an apartment in Reno and get settled in before they came to pick him up. This was the new plan, but it really hadn’t been much of a surprise.

Tyler didn’t like Doug and Doug didn’t like Tyler. No amount of coaxing by his mom was going to change that. As far as he was concerned, his mom had traded his real dad for a little weasel, and that little weasel didn’t like him one little bit. Doug made his life miserable. Period. Slowly, it occurred to him that sooner or later one of them had to go. Unfortunately, he was the one who got thrown under the bus . . . so to speak.

That’s when El Paso came up.

With no easy way to fix things, Tyler’s mom had called her brother to arrange a “visit.” And then when they got here, his mom talked Ryan and Becky into keeping Tyler while she and Doug drove out to Las Vegas to start their new life together. He’d rather be with his dad, Martin. But that wasn’t going to happen—he was in Singapore for a two-year overseas business assignment. He missed him. And he missed his mom, too, but mainly he missed the way his mom used to be—even after she and his dad split, back before Doug-the-jerk cam between them.

Lucky for him, Aunt Becky and Uncle Ryan were cool with his situation. But now instead of staying for a few weeks, it looked like he’d be here in El Paso for several more months or more. He liked his aunt. And not just because she gave him an allowance. Since Tyler was going to be staying most f the summer, she’d decided to give him $10 every week, just like his cousin Mac! And that’s how he was able to resurrect the old bike for his summer wheels in El Paso.

He turned to laugh at Mac as he got a quick start out of the driveway. Mac loved her board as much as Tyler liked his bike. Summer would have been a killer without some wheels.

Their friend Alex lived down the street and around the corner. Just as Tyler turned into the driveway, Mac flew in, rolling past him before he could hop off. Jumping off, she tail-glipped her skateboard and grabbed it in midair. “Race you for the door!” Tyler dropped the bike on the lawn and tried to catch up but it was too late. Mac grabbed the handle of the storm door and let herself in, beating him by a full two feet.

“Hey, Miss Angie!” She dropped her shoes, breezed past the front dining room, and on down the hallway to Alex’s room. She and Tyler had become regulars around this time every day this summer.

“Hey, Miss Angie!” Tyler echoed, stopping to poke his head into the dining room where Alex’s mom sat at her desk. The old maple dining table and chairs and matching china hutch were in storage somewhere now because the dining room had become Angie’s office. [Chapter One continues…]