CHAPTER 21
maverick
Three days a week, I worked at WB Auto Care.
It was a good way to fill my time, and I liked working with my hands.
The challenge of figuring out cars was a nice reprieve, and I had a knack for it.
At least the owner, Frank, thought I did.
I was just grateful for the opportunity to learn a usable skill from him.
I was under a car when the nicest pair of shoes I’d seen in a long time stepped up next to me. Harley. What was he doing here?
“Now, what the hell did you have to pay Frank to get him to let you back here?” I asked without coming out.
“I said I was your friend,” he replied. “He looked like he didn’t believe me.”
I chuckled. Sounded about right. I wasn’t exactly known for my friendly demeanor around here. Mostly, I kept to myself. Frank probably let him in here just to prove Harley was lying.
“Yeah, that’s Frank for you.” Grunting, I tightened the last part I was working on.
The son of a bitch was testing my patience.
I slid out from under the car and paused as I stared up at Harley.
He was well put together for a guy who’d been drunk the night before—though, somehow, that didn’t surprise me.
Still, the soft gray cardigan and light jeans were a good combination on him.
It sure as hell beat the car grease and overalls I was wearing.
“Hi,” Harley whispered with a slight smile.
“Hi.” I sat up, scooting back on the board to keep some space between us. “How’d you find me, Harley?”
“I stopped by the bar, and they told me that sometimes you work here,” he said. That was a lot of effort to put into finding me.
“What’re you doing here?” I couldn’t imagine a good reason for why he was here, other than maybe to thank me for putting him in a cab.
“Uh… I have the afternoon off. At least for a little while. It’s just a few hours.” He awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets. Jesus fuck, he was cute when he was nervous. “Do you want to get a coffee?”
Did I want to… what? I stared at him—scrutinized him—as I tried to figure out what the motive was behind the question.
“As in…” I prompted for clarification.
“Not a date!” Harley exclaimed, his voice rising a notch and making me laugh. He cleared his throat before trying again. “It’s not a date. I just… I’m going to leave now. We’re going to forget this happened.”
Cheeks flushed bright, he made a beeline for the door.
“Hold up, now, princess,” I called after him as I got to my feet. When he turned, I said, “I can give you thirty minutes. That’s my lunch break. I usually go down the road to pick something up, but we can sit and eat. That okay?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “yeah, it is.”
“All right.” One lunch wouldn’t kill me. At least, I hoped it wouldn’t.
“He’s so old!” Harley hissed, leaning across the table to avoid being overheard.
“Did I not mention that he’s sixty-three?” I laughed as he shook his head. “Certainly changes the story, doesn’t it?”
Most days, I grabbed lunch at Sparrow & Sage just to catch up on town bullshit with Eduardo.
For a man raising twins alone and running a café, the man knew everything going on with everyone.
Gossiping with him had become something of a pastime, and I usually got free food out of it, too.
I always left a damn good tip in the jar on the counter instead.
“But Kathy has to be…”
“Forty-one,” I finished for him. “Love knows no boundaries.”
“I have so many questions,” he muttered.
“I could probably answer them for you.”
“Just… how?”
“I hear the little blue pill is a wondrous friend,” I said, making him laugh and turn red around the ears. Yeah, I still liked that sound. I shoved that thought aside real fast. It was a path I didn’t need to go down.
Just lunch. That’s all this was.
Our laughter died down when Eduardo brought over food, way more than either of us ordered.
That was a common issue with him. How he kept his business running was beyond me.
He stood there for a good five minutes just talking and asking Harley questions, which somehow led to a round of desserts being added to our order.
“Is he always this nice to everyone?” Harley asked when Eduardo finally left us alone. Not that I didn’t like the guy, but I also had a very short window in which to eat. And if I was being really honest, I did want to spend time with Harley.
“Ehh,” I said around a large bite from my sandwich. “He’s overall a nice guy. He and I go way back.”
Mostly, I was the only one who talked to him when shit hit the fan years ago.
It was easy to hang out with him. He was the only person who didn’t know my history and didn’t give a fuck when he learned a fraction of my bullshit.
He was the first real friend I’d had since Harley—if I could call our café gossip sessions as us being friends.
“You grew your hair out,” Harley commented to fill the quiet that settled between us.
“Mostly, I just don’t cut it,” I replied. I ran a hand over my unruly hair. It was out of control, but there wasn’t much time in my schedule to get it cut. Not that I had a driving urge to do so. Pulling it back in some sort of way was just easier. “I should probably cut it.”
“It looks good on you. I like it,” he said. I stopped mid-bite to stare at him. What? The words were barely audible, but I sure as hell knew I wasn’t dreaming it. I just didn’t have a clue how to handle a compliment from Harley.
“Thanks,” I muttered and took a sip from my water bottle, welcoming the familiar burn of the alcohol I kept in there.
I never drank much while I worked on cars—I couldn’t do that to Frank—but I kept it close in case I needed to take the edge off during the day.
And fuck me, I needed to take off the goddamn edge right now as something uncomfortable clawed its way through my chest.
As if the universe was throwing me a bone, Eduardo showed back up with more food and another story for Harley. I made every effort to keep him there until my time was up because that was a hell of a lot easier than facing whatever weird thing was going on between the two of us.