“Makes sense.”
“Leo,” Grease bellowed from over by the bays.
“Shit, kid,” he said, glancing at his daughter. He dropped some keys into her palm. “I’ll be back. Check ’em out and see which one you wanna take.”
He jogged back around the corner, leaving me and Harper staring at each other. After the conversation I’d just had, the sight of her was like a breath of fresh air.
“I should probably just buy my own car,” she said with an uncomfortable laugh, flapping her arms a little. “But I’m not sure if my new job will provide one, so—”
“You got a new job already?”
“Well, no, not yet.” She shrugged. “But I will. I mean, it’s only a matter of time, and I don’t want to be stuck with a payment if I don’t need to.”
“Understandable.”
She pulled off her glasses to dry the rain off with the bottom of her sweater and huffed a little in frustration.
God, she was beautiful. Her hair was damp, and she was wearing a dress that hung past her knees. The wind blew it around a little bit as she stood there struggling with her glasses, and the longer it went on, the redder her cheeks got.
“Here, let me,” I ordered, moving closer. I put my hand out for her glasses and waited. When she handed them over, she barely looked at me, but the moment I pulled my shirt out from under my hoodie, her gaze zeroed in on the sliver of skin at my waistband. I handed them back slowly.
“Thanks,” she said, staring at her glasses before sliding them back on her face.
“You gonna look at me?” I asked, leaning down a little to try and catch her eye.
“I am,” she shot back, her eyes finally meeting mine.
“What’s up?” I asked, searching her face.
“Just looking for a car,” she replied, her voice thin. “What’s up with you?”
“Called you this weekend.”
“You did?”
“A few times. Yeah.”
“Oh, uh.” She looked away and then back at me. “My phone’s dead.”
Well, that was clear enough. It wasn’t the first time I’d gotten the brush-off, but I had to say, it was the most surprising. I hadn’t been by myself on Titus’s porch. I knew she’d been just as pulled in as I was.
“Got it.” I nodded and took a step back. “The Toyota is the nicest of the three. Plus, it’s got heated seats. I’d choose that one.”
I turned to leave but stopped when she reached out to grab my arm.
“No, really,” she said, lifting her eyebrows. “My phone is dead. I haven’t turned it on since I got home.”
“You need to go get a charger.”
Harper let out a dry laugh as her hand fell away. “Yeah, I know. I have one—I just didn’t use it. I planned on plugging back in as soon as we finished with this car stuff. I just didn’t want to deal with any of it yet.”
“Still hidin’ out, huh?”
“Nope, that stops today,” she said ruefully. “Getting a car. Turning on my phone. Who knows what I’ll do next. Maybe start reaching out to my contacts about jobs.”
“Look at you go.”
“Woo hoo,” she said with a sigh. “Fuck, it’s cold out here. I need to borrow a coat from my mom or something.”
