“Please, hear me out. Please.”
I look at him again. Is he blushing?
“Gentry, I swear that is not what I meant. I’m not that kind of guy. I need a bookkeeper. We need a bookkeeper. Dad and I, for the business. You need a job. I thought maybe after Brody replaces your other two tires you could follow me back to our house or just meet us there. Dad and I could interview you and see if this could work for both of us.”
“What happened to your other bookkeeper?”
“That would be Dad. But since his heart attack… Well let’s just say the bookwork has never been his favorite thing to do. Things are behind.”
“Your dad had a heart attack?”
“Yeah, that was one of the reasons for me leaving active army. I’m a touch rusty, but I worked most of my life with Dad and I know the business. I just can’t do it all and Dad needs to ease away for his health.”
“What about your wife?”
He winces. “I don’t have a wife. It’s just my daughter and I.”
There’s more to his story he’s not saying. But the same could be said for me. Ayla starts to stir in her seat.
“Please. Let me change your tires then you can get the other two new ones put on with Brody. When you’re done meet me at our house. Just to talk. No guarantee for either of us. I’ll answer your questions, ask you some and we’ll see if this could work for both of us.”
I nod. “I’ll listen. No guarantees.”
CHAPTER 3
Sayer
What the hell is wrong with me? I almost blew that.Proposition? Knowing her past, her family, that was the dumbest thing I could have said.
I glance in my rearview mirror. Gentry Shaw is inmytruck. Damn how I use to want that in the past.
I first met her when I was ten and she was fourteen. I’d seen her around town and the school yards and thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world.
I learned her name and started following her when I could. A regular little stalker. I’d been in the throes of puberty, and she was the icing on my cake. And the hard-on in my hand.
I knew she lived in a trailer with her mom and older sister. One day I saw her crying on one of the park benches in town. It broke my heart. I couldn’t stand her tears, to see her so sad.
I stole some flowers from the park garden and took them to her. She smiled and thanked me for the beautiful gift.
“You hurt?” I asked.
“Someone hurt me, but I’ll be okay.”
“You want me to bust their nose?”
She gave me her smile. “No, but thank you for offering. Just the offer means a lot.”
Then we sat in silence. A long time later she stood and asked me my name.
“Sayer Reed.”
“Thank you for the flowers, Sayer Reed. No one’s given me flowers before. They’re beautiful. You’re quite the gentleman.”
Then she walked away. For the first time.
The years passed, my infatuation grew. I still always looked for her. She always smiled at me. It was the last year of junior high. I was already taller than my friends and built from the construction work with my dad and weight training for football try outs.
We were on the field. I’d just run the best forty-yard-dash of the day. Standing behind the seniors with some of my buddies my spirits were high. I was gonna make the team. Then I heard her name and everything in me stilled. One of the guys was pissed because she turned him down for a date.
