I lean my palms on the fender, trying to breathe.
“Was it a mistake?” I ask the car.
The car does not confirm or deny.
“It complicates everything,” I add.
Still nothing.
“And she deserves better.”
The Mustang stares at me with judgmental headlights.
I scrub a hand over my face. “Don’t look at me like that.”
The sound of boots on concrete makes me jump. The door swings open, and George steps in, burying a yawn in her sleeve.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Why are you here early again?”
“Why are you?” I deflect. “It’s not even 6 AM.”
She shrugs. “Beckett couldn’t sleep. Which means I couldn’t sleep.”
I move to the small kitchen and pour us both a mug of coffee from the pot I scrubbed clean several times.
“Thanks,” she says as I hand it to her. She watches me over the rim as she takes her first sip. “You look like you got hit by a truck.”
“Thanks.”
“Or spent the night with a certain blonde Mustang owner,” she adds casually.
The coffee I’m swallowing nearly exits through my nose.
“George,” I warn.
She leans against the workbench. “I passed her on my way here, Nolan. Pretty obvious she spent the night.”
I tighten my grip on the cup. “It was one night.”
“Uh-huh. And you haven’t been watching Sally like a man who’s been falling in love in slow motion from the moment she pulled up with that Mustang,” she says. “A man doesn’t obsess about an engine rebuild unless a special woman is involved.”
I don’t reply, mainly because she’s right.
George softens. “Nolan. I know how it feels to think you aren’t allowed good things after what happened.”
I freeze. Damn, why did I ever confess why I left Tangle Creek to George when I took this lease? She won’t let this lie.
She steps closer. “You’ve been alone and lonely for so damn long. You’re allowed to want someone who wants you back, faults and all.”
“I’m not—” My voice fractures like a hairline crack in a glass. “I’m not built for this.”
“Yes, you are.” She touches my arm lightly. “You just forgot how.”
I shake my head. “I’m not the man I was before the accident.”
George nods. “And that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, Nolan.”
She lets that sit a beat, then sighs, stepping back like she knows she’s reached the end of what she can say.
