Chapter 9
Ipark behind the bookstore like Rhett said to.
He also said to look for Dollie, the older woman who owns the shop and apartment above it.
Sitting here in the sparsely filled parking lot, it crosses my mind how silly this all is.
Moving here for an entire summer? I almost throw the car in reverse and leave, but I think of Lauren’s pleading eyes, and how alike she and Winnie look when they’re trying to get what they want. I grab my bag and slide out of the van.
The brick backside of the bookstore is painted white and has a single door. I look up to see a little balcony with empty planter boxes on the banister, when a flash of dirty blond hair catches my eye.
Tanner.
The top half of his coveralls are dropped off his shoulders and hanging around his waist exposing his white sweat-stained T-shirt and that silver chain necklace I have dreamt about.
There’s a smear of grease across his forehead and deep smile lines around his eyes.
He wipes his hands on a dirty rag and uses his wrist to wipe the sweat from his brow.
Just beyond him is the auto shop which means this is the parking lot he where he parks every morning.
Where he walks to his car every night. The parking lot he has called me from on his breaks.
“Staying for the summer?” he asks nodding toward the bookstore’s door.
“I haven’t decided yet.”
He smiles at my lie and digs a key out of his pocket. “Dollie is on lunch and asked me to show you the place.” He beckons me with the tilt of his head. “Come on.”
I follow Tanner inside and past the backdoor to the bookstore then up the stairs to the apartment.
“Is this like a side gig for you?” I quip, feeling the need to fill the silence. “Showing vacation rentals to people while you should be working?”
This gets a laugh out of him. He puts the key into the lock and pushes the front door to the apartment open. “I may have ulterior motives here.”
I step past his smirking grin and into a little space with damn butterflies in my stomach. It’s a bit stuffy in the apartment with the fans off and windows shut, but the place seems untouched. I set my bag on the counter to my right and step past the kitchen and into the living room.
“The furnishings are included?”
“Yes ma’am.” He leans against the doorway with crossed arms.
He looks like he belongs here. This apartment. This room. Even with his greasy clothes. I force my eyes away from him with every ounce of self-control.
“What?” he laughs.
“Nothing,” I snap and look out the window to see the view of downtown.
A family walks along the sidewalk below and the wind blows the American flags hanging from the light posts.
If small-town America town had a poster child, this would be it.
I try to take it in, but I am all too aware of Tanner and I can’t blame the humid heat of this place as to why my cheeks burn under his watchful eye.
“Nothing?” he pushes.
“Nothing.”
“You’re a bad liar.”
I shrug and lean my head into a door off the living room. A twin-sized bed, a nightstand and a dresser are squeezed inside with a small window seat.
“The balcony is off your room,” Tanner tells me.
The cool I’m trying to play is quickly dissipating as he motions for me to follow him back across the living room and into what could be my room. A queen-sized bed, a small dresser and a matching nightstand.
“You get evening sun in here.” Tanner steps toward the double doors and swings them open. “Morning sun will be in Winnie’s room.”
“Do you get evening sun in your room too?”
His smile quirks at the question. One I have no business asking.
“Morning sun.” He steps onto the balcony, flicking the door frame as he passes through. “I usually wake up to the sun in the summer. You’ll need an alarm in here.”
When Winnie and I made our summer bucket list, watching Tanner Auclair walk around what could possibly be my small balcony and inspecting it, sure as hell was not on the list. I feel like I have stepped out of my life and into this little pretend one where handsome men check the flower planters and if there is too much wiggle in the banister.
Now it’s my turn to lean in the doorway and watch him move about.
“So?” He spins to me and leans back against the railing. “What do you think?”
I pull my eyes up from where the tiniest sliver of skin is exposed above his belt line. It’s the most unfair thing a man can do. Look this good in a T-shirt and dirty coveralls.
“If Winnie's in, I'm in,” I tell him.
A grin appears under that mustache, and I have to stop myself from walking across this balcony and into his arms. I have to remind myself of the truth here.
“We have to be just friends,” I tell us both. “I'm going home in a few months, and with Winnie, it just makes it—”
“Complicated,” he finishes for me.
“Exactly.”
He pushes off the banister and walks over, only to stop just shy of me.
His dark eyes and freckled nose are touchable.
His eyelashes flicker on his cheeks. “Just for the record, I'm not scared of complicated.
I'm not scared of baggage, or him, or kids.
Like you said. If we came down to it, and you wanted to try this out, if Winnie is in, I'm in.”
They are—until they aren’t. My dad was in, at one point. Ethan was in, at one point. Now both are gone. Despite being my blood, and despite our wedding vows, neither was truly in.
When I don’t respond, Tanner simply reaches into his pocket and pulls out the key. “Bring Winnie by. Dollie said she’s holding it for you, and if you sign Winnie up at the Y, give them my name. They’ll have a spot for her.”
“Thank you,” I tell him but he’s too busy studying me to smile.
“Anything for you.” He tips his head. “I should get back.”
And without another word, he slips past me and into the apartment. A moment later I see him down in the parking lot, rubbing the back of his neck as he strolls over to the shop. He shrugs his coveralls back on, then turns and looks at me over his shoulder, shooting me a wink.
It’s almost a surprise when I am lying in bed later and my phone begins to ring. Winnie barely stirs as I scramble to answer it.
“Tell me about your day.” His voice is soft and convoyed by wind chimes and a breeze.
“Even the boring parts?”
“Especially the boring parts.”