“Afghanistan,” I offered, filling in the blanks for him. “Yeah.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head. “I bet you’ve seen some shit, huh?”
I cleared my throat, not wanting to think about the shit I’d seen over the last fifteen months. Not during my waking hours. Not here, not ever.
“Yeah. So, um … my truck.”
“Oh, right, sorry. Yeah, I’ll just grab the tow truck and bring it down here. You can wait inside the shop, and I’ll come in to get you after I take a look. Sound good?”
The truth was, it didn’t sound good at all. I didn’t know what this guy’s credentials were or what this shop’s reputation was. For all I knew, I was about to blow a wholelot of money on a piss-poor job. But what choice did I have? I knew even less about the area I was in, and who the hell knew where the next closest auto shop was?
So, I nodded reluctantly and handed the guy—Luke—my keys. Then I turned and headed toward the shop front with the neonOPENsign in the window, where I was welcomed by the scent of cheap, stale coffee and rubber tires as soon as I pushed open the glass door.
I was already heading toward one of the worn-looking metal chairs pushed against the wood-paneled wall when a sweet, melodic voice greeted me from behind.
“Hi. Can I help you with something?”
With a look over my shoulder, I saw her sitting at a desk in front of an ancient computer monitor. Long, reddish-blonde hair. Big blue eyes. The fullest, softest-looking lips I’d ever seen in the flesh.
Wow.
While Laura was pretty, this woman was the type of drop-dead gorgeous you only saw in magazines, and I immediately berated myself for even making that comparison. But it was impossible not to notice the way the air was sucked out of this tiny room the moment my eyes landed on her and the way she seemed to bite her plump bottom lip for the most fleeting moment at the sight of me.
“Uh … no,” I finally said, finding my voice. “The guy in the garage … Luke … he told me to wait in here while he looked at my truck.”
Her chin dipped with a slight nod. “Oh,” she said. “Okay. Well then, um …” She cleared her throat and gestured toward the row of vacant chairs, as if I hadn’t already been on my way toward them. “Take a seat.”
“Yeah.” The side of my mouth tipped upward as I mirrored her barely there nod. “I’ll do that.”
I turned away and exhaled, my sights once again on a chair and not on the woman who had no business looking that beautiful in little makeup and a shirt the color of shit. I sat and leaned my head back against the wall, closing my eyes to take a few deep breaths andnotlook at her.
I should call Grace and Lucy.
I didn’t need Luke to look at my truck and give me an estimated time to know it wasn’t good. The wheel well was dented, the tire looked like it’d exploded, and I was willing to bet the axel wasn’t looking too hot either. My sisters were expecting me to come home today. They had talked our father into letting me stay the night until I could find another place to sleep—at Laura’s preferably, especially since I wasn’t on the best of speaking terms with Ricky yet—and they’d need to know I was going to be a little longer than anticipated.
I pulled out my phone, keeping my eyes down and away from the beautiful woman behind the desk as I ran through my few contacts until I found Grace’s name.
It rang twice before she answered, “Are you home?!”
I huffed a humorless laugh. “I wish. I hit a pothole in Connecticut the size of a freakin’ moon crater.”
“Oh God,” she groaned. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, scrubbing a hand over the scruff along my jaw. “My truck, not so much. I’m at amechanic’s, waiting to find out how long it’s going to take to fix it.”
“Do you want me to come pick you up?”
I considered it for a second, then shook my head. “Nah, not yet. Wait until I find out how much time I’m looking at. If it’s gonna be longer than a night, I’ll probably take you up on that offer.”
She sighed. “Okay. We’re just excited to see you.”
“Yeah,” I said, my chest pinching with a homesickness I only ever got when talking to my sisters. “I’m excited to see you too.”
“Ricky’s looking forward to seeing you too.”
I rolled my eyes, thrusting myself forward to plonk my elbows against my knees. “Now, why’d you have to go and bring him—"
“Oh, were you seriously planning on coming home andnotseeing him? Because news flash, Max: he’s dating Lucy whether you like it or not.”
