Kink in the Road (Men of Trinity Bay #1)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

“ W e have a woman problem.”

The words were so startling—especially coming from our pioneering, feminist mayor—that I dropped my ratchet.

“Indeed, we do,” my father agreed.

I jerked, clonking my head on the underside of the car I’d been repairing. Grunting back a curse, I rubbed the rising welt as I strained to hear their conversation.

“The census results don’t lie,” the mayor continued. “There are fifty men for every woman on this island. And while I’m sure there are a portion who aren’t interested in marriage, or the opposite sex, or having a family for that matter, there will be a portion who are.”

I glanced around the tire of the vehicle I was currently under to see my dad nodding. Dressed in an old and dirt-stained boiler suit not dissimilar to my own, he leaned against the office door, sharing a cup of coffee with our mayor.

Agatha Dorante, in contrast, looked ready to walk into the boardroom of a Fortune 500 company. While they both had a shock of silver hair, Mayor Dorante’s lay in a tightly contained bob, while Dad’s flew about in wispy tufts.

The mayor—dressed in a burgundy silk button-up dress that she’d paired with black heels and pearls—seemed immune to the chaos—and mess—of our workshop.

Our apprentice bustled in and out while our office manager handed over keys and issued invoices.

“If I know anything, Agatha, I know you have a plan.”

She nodded. “Singles weekends.”

I thumped the ratchet against the car’s undercarriage for effect, but all my attention had become hyper-focused on their conversation.