“I don’t—”
“She’s just passing through.” Keith slapped his brother on the arm again. “But hey, never hurts to sample the flavors before you buy the cone.”
Sunshine frowned. “That’s not—”
Keith laughed. “Use your brain, bro. She’s big city. She’s aiming for a…life.” He waved his hands to indicate the world at large. “Something a hell of a lot bigger and better than this podunk town. Admit it. The way she is? She’s not like us.”
Calvin hardened in some way. It was in the set of his jaw, in the angle of his hands and chest.
“Yes. She’s…not like us.” The way he said it made me pause. It was flat, almost emotionless. As if this was the kind of non-agreeing agreement he’d been doing with his brother for years. A way not to start a fight. A way to keep the peace with someone who always got his own way.
I could hear that in his tone. But I was pretty sure from the look on Jo’s face, as she lingered there in the doorway, she couldn’t.
Keith strode off with a wave over his shoulder and a “Friday!”
He nodded just slightly to Jo as he passed her in the doorway.
Sunshine saw her and he knew she’d overheard at least some of their conversation.
She shook her head, her hands diving into her pockets as she strolled over to him.
“Not like you, how?”
“It’s not…he’s my brother. I just…”
“He gets to decide who’s good enough for this town?”
“No. You’ve got it wrong…You’re…”
“Do I? Can you imagine me trying to survive crappy internet? I’m just toodifferentto survive such a terrible hardship, just don’t have what it takes to handle hard things. Not like you special,normalpeople born in McLean.”
“You are blowing this out of proportion.”
“Or maybe I’m seeing this,” she waved one finger at him, then at his shop, and the world beyond, “for what it really is.”
“Jo.”
“If all you special people do in this town is judge others behind their backs, then I can’t wait to get out of here.”
That did it. Sunshine went red again. “Why? Because in the city everyone isniceto you?”
“I don’t expect everyone to be nice to me. But I don’t expect someone to judge me behind my back after they’ve asked me out to lunch. Twice. But hey, I’mdifferentthat way.”
Sunshine shut his mouth. The muscle at the corner of his jaw bulged as he ground down on his back teeth. He crossed his arms over his chest, and his nostrils flared.
His voice, when he spoke, was low and calm. “Maybe this is a bad idea from the start. I’ll take my share of the fault in that. But I thought you were different in all the best ways, Jo. Thought you wouldn’t judge me by what other people said.”
Jo had mimicked his stance, her arms crossed over her chest. She was looking at him like she’d heard this song and dance before and wasn’t buying it. Like someone had said these things before and it had been a lie.
“I don’t need your approval,” she said.
“That’s fair. I’ll need my computer and internet connection up and running before you go. Please.”
She bit at the inside of her bottom lip, looking like she was chewing back a yelling spree. I could tell she’d been burned by people before. Could tell she had learned not to trust.
“Fine,” she said.
He nodded and turned his attention back to the truck, hands busy with the wrench.
