Norah was beautiful; there was no doubt about it.The full lips, the hazel eyes like their father’s, the dark, wavy hair that fell midway down her back… the slender build… the long legs.The clothing that hugged every curve.The perfect makeup and accessories.No sweat stains or grimy jeans, no dirt on her hands.Nothing but model perfection that gave her a natural, alluring presence, even though it took hours to achieve.
“Stay away from him.He’s too old for you and no doubt too experienced, and there’s no–”
“You don’t know anything about him.Why don’t you just stop and work on your own life and let me work on mine?”Another huff, an exasperated, “If I weren’t heading to the Grand Canyon with the Knights, I’d get him to Renova before the end of the week.”
Thankfully, Norah was leaving with Sam and Leslie Knight and their twin seven-year-old daughters and wouldn’t be back for three weeks.Then she was off to cheerleading camp and then…maybe Katie could find somewhere else to send her until Ian Finnegan left town.
“I’ve still got two days here, so… I think I’ll see how it goes.”She ignored Katie’s warnings, gave her a wink.“At the very least, I’ll get his phone number so we can chat while I’m gone, and I’ll see him when I get back.Just watch me.”
Katie finished snapping a colander of green beans and grabbed two quarts of minestrone soup for Jack and Dolly.She’d use the soup as an excuse to see Ian Finnegan.Did the guy know Norah was still in high school?Probably not, and that’s exactly why Katie had to see him and convince him to stay away from her little sister.
Forty minutes later, she dropped off the soup, spent a few minutes chatting with Dolly before she casually asked about Ian.The smile that spread across Dolly’s face indicated she thought the inquiry had to do with attraction.Better the woman believe Katie was interested in him than Norah.
“He’s in Jack’s garage, fiddling with an old lawnmower that hasn’t started in five years.Why my husband insists on keeping pieces of things that don’t serve a purpose anymore is beyond my comprehension.”A shrug, followed by a soft sigh.“He might come across as hard and unbending, but the man just does not give up on anything.When Ian heard about the lawnmower, he wanted to take a look.He’s been out there almost two hours.I took his lunch to him so he could keep working.The boy said figuring things out, relaxed him.”A gentle laugh followed by “Said machines were a lot easier to understand than people.”
Interesting.He’d probably said that because he had so many women falling over him that he didn’t have to work at a relationshiporunderstand how people felt or why.Still, she shouldn’t judge him.Her job was to make sure he understood Norah wasn’t available, and to apologize for whatever her sister may have said to indicate she was.
Katie headed out the back door and toward the old garage that Uncle Jack called his “sanctuary”.The low hum of a base reached her first, followed by singing.Reallybadsinging.She would not have thought him capable of doinganythingpoorly, but he killed Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion”, and not in a good way.
She stood at the entrance of the garage, spotted him seated on an old stool, back to her, dark head bent over the lawnmower Dolly had told her about…parts spread out on the workbench.He wore an old T-shirt rimmed with sweat stains, and when he turned to grab a cloth, he saw her.His mouth clamped shut, and a dull red crept over his tanned face.Katie moved into the garage, offered a smile and a wave.
He didn’t return the smile.She watched as he wiped a smudge from his jeans—not designer ones, but faded, grease-stained denim, worn at the thighs and knees.The throat clearing came next, as he reached for his phone and flipped off the music.“Did you need something?”
Those blue eyes pierced her, the voice dripping annoyance.“Actually, I’d like a word with you, but…” Those eyes shifted from blue to ice.The jaw clenched, unclenched, but he remained silent.“I think we didn’t get off to a good start the other day, and I’d like to apologize for that.”She worked up a smile, held it in place.“You caught me at a bad time.”
A raised brow.“You came all this way to tell me that?”When she hesitated, he shook his head, turned back to the lawnmower.
“Okay, I came to apologize.”Thatgot his attention.She moved so she could see his face, waited for him to say something, but no, he just picked up a wrench and started fiddling with the carburetor.“I came to apologize for my sister.”
He paused, shot her a look.“Your sister?”
Katie bit her bottom lip, dreading the next words.“Her name is Norah.She invited you to go for pizza in Renova?”The stare grew more intense, the brackets around his mouth deeper.“I’m sorry she bothered you, but I want to make sure that you understand…”
The lips flipped to a scowl.“Understand what?She’s a kid.What is she…fifteen?What kind of person do you think I am?I was just being nice, but she would not stop.”A loud sigh as he turned back to the mower.
Why couldn’t her sister be shy and introverted, and not show her emotions?Why couldn’t she be more like someone Katie could understand and relate to…?“She’s sixteen, but she thinks she’s twenty-six.”
He laughed at that comment.“Right.Still a kid.”
“Exactly, but she doesn’t think she is.”Katie took a breath, let the truth fall out.“She thinks she’s an adult who knows how to attract a guy who’s older than she is.Someone with more experience.Someone who…”
“Ah.Someone like me?”He straightened, the wrench still in his right hand.“A sex hound who sleeps with three different women a week and only knows the names of two?First names, not last?Experienced.Irresponsible and conniving…manipulative.Sound about right?Because for all of the five minutes we’ve spent together, you’ve already judged and calculated who I am and what I’m capable of doing.”He clutched the wrench, studied her.“You might be right, but you might be wrong, because while you’re doing your assessing and calculating, I’m also doing mine.And from my position and the nanoseconds we’ve spent together, I’m not impressed.You’re too uptight.Too closed off.You want to live your life in the wild?Sure.Have fun.But don’t judge those who prefer cashmere and BMWs.”
“I’m not,” she blurted out.“I don’t judge.”
A full-out laugh followed the smirk.“Right.No worries.I don’t judge either, and yet…here I am judging.Guess I do.”
This was definitelynotgoing as she’d hoped.Redirection was key.This was about Norah, not what they thought of each other.“So, if my sister approaches you again, you’ll take care of it?Not be mean to her or cruel, but just direct.Say you have a girlfriend.”
“You mean lie?That would be your recommendation for your little sister?”
“Yes.No, not exactly.Then say something like you’re leaving in a few weeks and you don’t want a relationship right now.”
“Another lie.Not about the relationship, but about the leaving part.”Anger and frustration coated his words.“I was supposed to be leaving, or at least that’s what my old man told me.‘Fourteen days is all you have to do’, he said, but guess what?He lied.Maybe not straight-up, but he didn’t tell me I was here for the summer.The whole friggin’ sentence until I head back to college.Imagine that?Just avoid the truth so you don’t have to deal with the fallout.And my mother?She says nothing.She insults me with a few hundred dollars on the side, so it doesn’t appear on the old man’s credit card.That’s the answer.Money.That’s always the answer, right?”
The tone said it had been his parents’ solution for everything, but maybe it wasn’t his.“I’m sorry I didn’t know, and I’m sorry about the factory job.”
Another laugh, this one cold, harsh.“Guess you heard some pretty interesting stories about how I didn’t know how to operate a time clock and got blisters from the steel-toed shoes.Or maybe they told you about the broken drill bits?”
