There was no sense pretending the stories hadn’t reached her, but so had the other ones, and she had to admit that as well.“I heard you’re fixing machinery and people’s cars and helping them out.”What she wanted to ask was why?
“Yeah, that’s me.A real do-gooder.Can’t figure that one out, can you?”He squared his shoulders, pointed to his chest.“When I’m working on a machine, no matter what kind it is, nothing else matters.I get lost in the process.It’s not because it helps Albert’s wife get to work or because Hank can’t afford a new dishwasher.It’s about me and whatIneed.Pretty selfish, but then Iamselfish, you already know that.”
Katie studied him, tried to pull fact from fiction.“Why do you do that?”
A cold, full-on stare.“Do what?Tell the truth?”
“No, why do you make yourself look like a jerk?You can pretend you don’t care about these people or helping them, but I’ve heard the stories about what you’ve been doing and how many hours you spend after work trying to get things fixed.I even heard Nate Desantro wants you to look at his table saw, and Nate doesn’t let anybody in his woodworking shop.So, I’m not buying the ‘I don’t care’ part, even though you might tell yourself that’s all that matters.Youdocare, and that probably drives you crazy and confuses you.”
“Nice try, Miss Psychology.You don’t know anything about me.”
A nod, a shrug.“True, but I’m very good at observation and deductions.”
“Aha.Because you’ve observed me in so many situations.”
She hadn’t, but what she’d seen and what she’d inferred were eerily familiar.It reminded Katie of herself.Careful, afraid to show her true feelings…letting others draw conclusions that may not be true but were nonetheless easier than sharing feelings.Close enough.What would happen if she admitted she wanted to go away to school rather than attend community college?Or that waitressing at Lina’s Café wasn’t on her list of must-have jobs but was necessary to help pay bills?And if she really dove down to buried feelings, she might have to also admit that sometimes she downright resented Norah’s selfishness andthatmade her feel guilty.And then–
“What’s going on in that brain?More observations and deductions?”
She didn’t like the way he was studying her, as though he could see right into her brain and what she was thinking.Katie fixed her gaze on the wrench in his hand.“I’m not thinking anything.”
“I call BS on that one.”
Katie dragged her gaze to his.“I came to apologize for my sister’s behavior and thank you for not being mean to her.”His stare grew darker, fiercer.“I also want to thank you for staying away from her, because she can be very persuasive.”
“I have a feeling you can be just as persuasive.How about we call a truce?I’ll stop drawing conclusions about you, if you stop drawing them about me.”
“Fair enough.”
His expression softened, his voice shifted.“Good.Now, is the pizza in Renova as good as your sister says?”
Why was he asking about pizza?“No idea.People rave about it, but I haven’t tried it.”
“I see.Well, maybe youshould.”
5
Ian spent the next few days dissecting his conversation with Katie Layton.Why was the woman taking up so much of his brain space?It’s not like she was drop-dead gorgeous, or tall and leggy, and he usually preferred blondes.He thought of the first time he saw her in an old T-shirt that accentuated her breasts…breasts that weren’t manufactured or pushed up.He muttered a curse, annoyed that he’d noticedanythingabout her.
The woman was a distraction and a complication, neither of which he needed.She didn’t seem affected by him like her sister had, fawning over his looks, his smile, his presence.No, she wasn’t impressed with Ian Marcus Finnegan, and for him to admitthatabout a female?Definitely a first.
But there’d been a few moments when she’d looked at him as though she could wade through his past to the boy who had everything money could buy, and nothing that truly mattered; time from his parents, encouragement, teaching.Those areas had been passed off to nannies, tutors, and coaches.But his parents?No, they were too busy, too preoccupied, toodisinterestedto fill that role.Why have children if you weren’t going to be a parent?
His mother swore she loved him more than her very breath and wanted to spend time with him.Sure, right up until the next tennis lesson, committee meeting, luncheon.Maybe that’s why she’d never developed an understanding of relationships, definitely not the kind a man and woman shared.A partnership?What was that?What in the hell did that even mean?
He bet Katie Layton would have a few thoughts about his parents’ behavior.Maybe she’d pull out a notebook and read him the qualifications for good parenting and relationships.But maybe she didn’t know either, because he’d seen the way she talked about her sister as though she were desperate to show her love.It sounded like the sister was the one running the show, making the rules, even though she was only a kid.Dolly had shared the sad story about the Layton family.The father who died and left them nothing, not even a reason to believe they mattered more than anything to him.The mother tried to give them a home but never quite got over the heartache of losing her husband and depended too much on the eldest daughter.
He didn’t like the way Katie had pegged him as entitled and worthless, but while he might deny it, there was truth in her assessment.Nobody talked to him like that; not the girlfriends, not the quasi-girlfriends, not the guys he hung around with, and certainly not his mother.His father only tossed out those accusations when he was angry or trying to strong-arm Ian into doing something he didn’t want to do—like the trip to Magdalena.But Katie Layton had figured out his story after two very brief and volatile encounters.
How had she done that?Unless she wasn’t that different from him.That was a possibility, and while he should run from herandher assessment, nobody had intrigued him that much in years—if ever.There was something about her that made him want to dig around and ask questions.Once he found the answers, maybe he’d have more questions, or maybe he’d find a few answers about himself.
Dolly was a good source of information gathering, and she loved to talk, called it sharing history, sharing friends, making people feel welcome.No doubt, Jack would call it gossiping, but when a person wanted to know something, Dolly Finnegan was the one to ask.Sure, Ian might have to be patient and wait for her to get to the point, but if he listened, she usually shared enough for him to draw conclusions by the time he devoured a handful of cookies and a glass of iced tea.
It was the sharing and the curiosity that pointed Ian in the direction of Renova and the new pizza joint.The sister made the place sound like it had the best pizza ever.Doubtful, since he’d tasted New YorkandChicago pizza.If he were trying it out, there was no reason Katie Layton shouldn’t share a slice or two.She’d have an opinion, because in the short time he’d known her, the woman had an opinion about a lot of things—especially about him.
She didn’t find him fascinating or breathtaking.In fact, he guessed she found him overall annoying.Great, because he found her annoying as well, probably because she wasn’t afraid to tell him he wasn’t God’s gift to the world, and that he didn’t have the answer to everything.The woman didn’t care about his clothes, his speech patterns, or where he went to school.Before she left Jack’s garage, she’d looked at him as though she felt sorry for him, andthatwas not okay.
Ian drove to Renova, picked up a mushroom and spinach pizza with sausage on the side.She seemed the back-to-nature type, so maybe she was a vegetarian.For Ian, pizza wasn’t complete without sausage.When he pulled into Katie’s driveway, he wondered if he should have called first.But how would he have done that if he didn’t have her phone number?Sure, he could have asked Dolly, but he wasnotgoing to do that.The woman with the sweet smile and soft voice would have spread the news linking him and Katie Layton all over Magdalena.
