"Thank you," she said, glancing at him with a shy look as she went by him to get in.
"My pleasure," he said. Meaning every word.
As he walked around, he remembered the envelope in his pocket and pulled it out.
As he got in the truck, he used the dome light to look at it before he slammed his door shut.
"I found this on the floor."
He twisted it around and saw there was writing on the outside.
"Do you mind if I turn the light on again?"
"No, go right ahead," she said, seeming to be interested, but not overly curious.
He flicked the switch, and the dome light shone dimly above them. "Furnace." He read aloud. He glanced at Grace, whose eyes were on the envelope he held in his hand.
"Furnace?" he said as he opened it up and pulled out a huge wad of cash.
"Maybe the Secret Saint found you after all," Grace said, and then her eyes got wide. "Except you are the Secret Saint."
"Yeah." He counted the money quickly and then said, "It's almost exactly enough to cover it. But I know there wasn't anything on the floor earlier. I was back and forth across it a good bit, and the only person to come in was... You." He glanced up at her, and then his eyes narrowed. "Did you rob a bank tonight?"
She snorted, and he had to grin.
"No. I promise you, I did not rob a bank."
He felt the wheels in his mind turn slowly, but they were turning. "But you brought this, didn't you?"
"Yes?" she said, and she seemed concerned. Maybe she thought he was going to be angry.
Was he?
"Why didn't you hand it to me?" he asked. And then he realizedwhat must've happened. She had dropped it when she had kissed him.
"Wait. Never mind about that. Did you only kiss me to distract me so I wouldn't notice that you brought money and dropped it on the floor?"
Oh boy. That made his chest feel empty and hot. He had thought she liked him. He had thought she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. But... She hadn't kissed his lips, she hadn't wanted to touch them. She had only been using the kiss as a decoy. He knew he should be happy about the money, but he had gone from excited that she might like him to devastated that she had only been kissing him so he wouldn't notice what she was doing on the side.
It had definitely worked.
"Noah?" she asked softly, her concerned eyes looking into his.
"You don't really like me like that, do you?" he asked, and he wished the words wouldn't have come out of his mouth. He already knew she didn't, and he had already embarrassed himself enough.
"I don't know," she said. "Yes?"
But she didn't sound sure. It sounded more like a question than a statement.
"So did you or didn't you kiss me to distract me so I wouldn't notice that you dropped money on the floor to pay for my furnace?"
Then he closed his eyes. Why wasn't he just being grateful? Why wasn't he on his knees thanking her? Why was he giving her a hard time because she didn't have the feelings he thought she should?
"I guess it was a distraction. I didn't plan it. But I wanted to. Kiss you, I mean. If that means anything. I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime. Only, I kind of would like it if you kissed me back."
He stared at her. That wasn't what he was expecting her to say. He'd already condemned her in his mind, and it took a little while for her words to pierce through, so he actually heard and understood.
"Really?" he said.
