“No need,” Lu said as she made her way to the shop door. “I’ll stop in later.”
She walked outside with Lorde at her side. I lingered, watching the men.
“What brings you by?” Sunshine asked.
“Do I need an excuse to see my baby brother?”
“I’m not fixing your refrigerator, snaking your drain, or hanging your gutters.”
Keith grinned, and the resemblance was impossible to miss. “Would I ask you to do such a thing?”
“You asked me to do all those things.”
“I paid you for your time.”
“Pizza and beer doesn’t cover rent, bro.”
Keith laughed. “Well, this isn’t for me this time. Mom wants to pull up the carpet and have the floors redone. I thought we could save her the labor.”
“She’s gonna try to do it on her own?”
“Of course.”
Sunshine sighed. “Yeah, of course she is. When do we start?”
“I can keep a hammer out of her hands until maybe Friday.”
“How are you going to pull off that miracle?”
“I’ll tell her the Dumpster isn’t available for renting until then.”
Sunshine smiled. “That works. I can make an early day of it.”
“Good. Good.” He slapped his brother on the arm and turned to leave. But then he thought better of it and half turned back to him.
I heard voices outside. Lu and a woman. Took me a second to recognize the woman was Jo. She sounded happy, excited. Lu was already talking about lunch, and how she should have it with a certain mechanic who was interested in her.
Sunshine was oblivious to the conversation, going over the details of what they’d each need to bring to help with their mom’s renovation.
I pushed off the wall and started to walk out to Lu, but something Keith was saying caught my attention.
“She’s the tech girl, right? The one with the piercings?”
“Yeah. Her name’s Jo. Just…” He leaned in toward his brother, closing the space as if he didn’t want his employees hearing what he was about to say.
“…what do you think about her? Really?”
“I’ve only seen her once, at the gas station. Why?” Keith straightened a little, then a knowing grin spread across his face. “Oh, it’s likethat,is it?”
“Might be. Yeah. I think it is,” Sunshine said. “So what do you think about her?”
Keith leaned back to open the space up between them. This wasn’t something he thought needed to be private, his opinion, apparently, good enough for public airing.
“I think Jo’s…different.”
Sunshine scowled. “Different.”
“With those tattoos and piercings? That hair? Yeah, she’s different. She sure isn’t someone from around here, is she? I mean, can you imagine her mucking out a stall or putting up with the crappy internet reception when the storms roll through?”
