“You don’t have to,” Laurie told him.
“I need to run to the hardware store anyway. Come on.”
Laurie caught Mia’s eye across the yard and signed,I’ll be right back.
OK!Mia ran to catch up with ‘Olena’s girls.
Kekoa opened the passenger-side door for her and gave her a hand up into the cab of his truck. When he climbed in behind the wheel, he didn’t start it up right away. They were parked in the shade of the carport with the windows open, so the cab wasn’t the death trap it might have been otherwise.
Kekoa turned to face her and asked, “You don’t have a car?”
Laurie shook her head.
“You need a car.”
She shrugged. “My family’s not far away, and I work online. I can get by.”
“You need a car. I’ll help you find one.”
He drove down the road and turned onto Paradise, then drove towards town at an easy pace. Just before they hit MainStreet, he pulled to the side and parked… right in front of the old dance studio.
Laurie looked at him in surprise. “Kekoa…”
He grinned big, showing off his perfect teeth. “Just come see.”
Before she could say anything else, he was out the door. He circled around the front of the truck, opened her door, and offered her a hand. She hesitated, then put her hand in his and accepted help down from the truck.
Laurie was not a small woman. She was slender, but taller than most men. Her fine-boned fingers were usually longer than theirs.
Kekoa’s hand absolutely dwarfed hers, and she marveled at how safe she felt alone with a man who could snap her like a sapling. She so rarely felt at ease around men, regardless of their size. But with Kekoa, she felt… protected.
She brushed the feeling away. He was a decent guy, and she had known him all her life. It was the same with her dad and with Uncle Mano. She had forgotten what real community felt like, living alone with Chris for so many years.
Laurie followed Kekoa into the shade of the building, and she was shocked when he pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door.
“Where did you get that?” she exclaimed.
“I told you, it’s owned by an old auntie here in town. I told her that I wanted to take a look at the place. She grinned so big when I suggested a bookshop. Come on.”
Inside, the place was dismal. Behind the boards, the old window was just a few shards of jagged glass. The mirrors were broken too, and pieces of them still littered the floor. They glinted and glared in the light that came in through the door.
She looked up at the water stains on the ceiling, and Kekoa tapped her shoulder.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said when she looked at him. “Me and my dad can fix all that.”
Laurie nodded and looked around the space again.
It was a decent size – big enough to fit a reasonably large selection of well-curated books. The wooden floor was scratched and stained, but it looked solid enough. They probablycouldfix the space up without breaking the bank.
“Noah could help,” she murmured thoughtfully.
Kekoa tilted his head. “Are you two pretty tight?”
She nodded. “He’s like a big brother to me. Always has been.”
“Right. Good.” He looked away, but looked straight at her before speaking again. “He’s a good worker. He’d make quick work of this too, if you don’t want our help.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
