“That’s what I thought. Morning,” he said to Lu. “Oh, and boss?” Ray said, turning the latch.
“What?”
“I think Jo’s pretty great. You would be smart to tell her you haven’t stopped talking about her since the moment she stepped into the shop.”
“I don’t pay you for your advice,” Sunshine said.
“You should. Because I’m right. Aren’t I? The very idea that Jo is leaving without you having a chance to explain things to her and see her again is killing you.”
“Go away. We’re no longer related.”
“Just say, I’m gonna miss the hell outta that Jo when she’s gone.”
Lu crossed her arms over her chest and waited. Ray waited, the door almost free of the frame.
“You are the worst brother-in-law ever.”
“Spit it out, brother.”
“I’m gonna miss her like hell,” Sunshine said, every inch of him miserable. “Even though we just met, and I’ve made a fool out of myself. I just… I wish it had all been different.”
Ray jerked open the door.
Jo stood there, two cups of coffee in her hands. She stared at Sunshine. He stared at her.
I groaned. “No. No way. One confession doesn’t fix the fact that you two were about to goWWEoutside just ten minutes ago.”
“Hey, so, I got coffee.” Jo walked over to Lu and handed her a huge mug in the shape of a stack of tires with “Starter Fluid” written across it.
“Thanks.” Lu sounded smug. Way too smug.
“Oh, this isn’t over yet,” I said. “Just because she overheard a forced admission doesn’t mean she’s going to stay.”
Jo handed Calvin his coffee next. He took it from her, and for a moment, they were both holding the mug.
“So are you two going to talk this out?” Lu asked. She pulled out the chair in front of the desk and lowered herself carefully into it. Hosting Stella had been hard on her, even though Lu had a much stronger constitution than a human. “Because I have the biggest cup of coffee in this room and more time to waste than the both of you put together.”
“Your truck’s done,” Sunshine offered to throw her off the trail.
“That won’t work,” I said.
“Lorde and I could both use a few minutes of downtime before we hit the road. And since I’m the reason you two started off on the wrong foot— Don’t give me that look. You were distracted the day you first opened the door and found her here. Saying things that you probably wouldn’t have said. I was there. So,” Lu pointed at Jo, then at the chair on the other side of the desk, “how about you both say what needs to be said.”
I saw the exact second they both realized they could not outwait Lula Gauge.
Sunshine stepped away from the desk and leaned his hip against the window sill.
Jo dragged the chair out and away so she could see both Sunshine and Lu at the same time.
“You should know I am not in your corner, Sunshine,” I said. “But if you’re gonna have any kind of a shot with a person like Jo, you’re going to have to talk honest.”
“If I’d met you anywhere in the world,” Sunshine said, “I’d say to myself: that’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I’d find some way to try to catch your attention. I’d hope against all God-given sense that you’d see me. That you’d talk to me. Even once.”
Jo blinked. She clasped her hands in her lap and nodded once.
Sunshine tipped his head to the ceiling, took a breath, then talked honest.
“I think you’re out of my reach. You’ve lived in big cities. You’ve made your own path in the world, and you don’t take shit from anyone. There’s no reason you’d want to date me. I’m working in the town where I was born, in the business my father and grandfather ran. My employees are family, or friends who might as well be.
