This too, had to be Eleanor’s fault.
Garrett was assessing his next moves on his lumpy project when the bell above the door rang its cheerful trill, letting him know that someone was entering Nut and Bolts. And there, as if he had conjured her with his thoughts, was Eleanor Ridley herself.
“Hey!” she said brightly. Her smile was warm and bright.
The itchy feeling vanished in a flash. Garrett did not have any thoughts or feelings aboutthat.
“Oh, hey there,” he said, cursing himself for his gruff awkwardness. Where hadthatthought come from? He was a gruff guy! It was his thing! He shouldn’t let it bother him!
He cleared his throat.
“Hey, Eleanor,” he tried again. “What can I do for you?”
She looked to the side, her smile growing the tiniest bit shy. She looked impossibly cute like that, with that hint of friendly nervousness in her expression. He’d bet his hat that she looked adorable when she blushed.
Not the time, Wilder.
“Well…” she hedged, shuffling her weight from foot to foot. “Remember when you told me that I should hire a professional for jobs that were a little bit out of my reach?”
“I do,” he confirmed, visions of disaster running through his mind. It only took about five seconds before, mentally, Eleanor’s house was ashes on the ground and she was injured in the calamity… never mind that she was clearly standing in front of him, safe and sound.
“Well…” she repeated. “I might, maybe, just be the teeniest,tiniestbit out of my depth with the oven. Electric!” she added hastily, correctly reading his expression of alarm. “Not gas. But it’s not working. And I am stuck.”
She looked so bashful, and not a little bit annoyed, to admit it that he had to suppress a smile.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Ridley… are you saying that I was right?”
She pursed her lips at him. “Oh, don’t be a sourpuss,” she scolded.
This time, his smile could not be vanquished.
“I don’t know that I’d call it sour,” he said. “Smug? Sure. Satisfied? Yeah. A person who was correct?—”
“Yes, yes, you own a dictionary, good for you,” she said. She rolled her eyes, but he had the sense that she was having a good time. “Are you going to help me or not?” She quickly described the problem. Garrett was not electrician, and, by rights, this was the kind of thing that he maybe, possibly should have referred over to Tyler Meadows.
He chose not to interrogate why he wasn’t going to do that.
“Yeah, of course I am. I would have to order some parts, so I can’t make it out there today, but I could put up the sign tomorrow or the next day, maybe?”
“You and that sign,” she said, shaking her head. “But thank you. I didn’t want my gratitude to get lost in the teasing.”
For some reason, he found that the gratitude rankled in a way that the teasing didn’t. He didn’t want this woman to feelbeholdento him… something that was, no doubt, a dangerous kind of feeling. He probably should call up Tyler, after all. He knew he wouldn’t, though.
“Yeah,” he said shortly instead. “You’re welcome. Of course.”
Eleanor tilted her head slightly, as if trying to read deep into his mind. It wasn’t the most comfortable feeling, being surveyed like that. But she only did it for a moment, then shook her head, and turned to go.
Garrett felt a pang of disappointment and then a swift, foolish surge of happiness when she turned back.
“You know,” she said, “I’d offer to pay you for the work but… you’re not going to let me, are you?”
He chuckled. “Not even a little bit.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay, well, in that case, I think that you should let me treat you to brunch as a thank you.”
There was a stubborn set to her jaw that made him think that she was as unlikely to be moved in this as he was to allow her to pay him for the aid that he planned to offer her.
Still, for the sake of his bruised heart, he had to give it a try.
