Tyler listened. Really listened. He wasn’t waiting for a pause or steering the conversation somewhere else. He just stayed with her, like he was happy to let her talk and wanted to hear all of it.
“What about you?” Brooke asked. “Tell me about the garage. What’s it like working there?”
“Satisfying,” Tyler said after a moment. “Something’s broken, you figure out why, you fix it. It makes sense in a way most things don’t.”
“Robert seems like a good boss.”
“He is. He and Sue both. They took a chance on me by keeping me on.” Tyler’s expression shifted. “Robert’s known about my history from the beginning. I insisted he know about...about what people might say.”
“Boverman seems to think they’d cover for you. Lie for you.”
“Why would they? Because they need a mechanic?” He shook his head. “That makes little sense. They’ve got two others.”
“But they’re only part-timers, right?”
“For now. Andre shows a lot of promise. He’s taking some classes at the college. Robert’s even paying for those. He’s a good kid, and both Robert and Sue know it.”
Brooke smiled. She knew Andre as an awkward teen who used to come into the coffee shop with a group of other awkward teens, part of their homeschoolcommunity. He started working at the auto shop under Stan Morgan for an on-the-job training program. She hadn’t seen Andre in a few years and was glad to hear he was doing well. She shared how she knew him and asked, “How old is Andre now?”
“About twenty, I guess. He doesn’t seem too bothered to be working with an accused killer either.”
“He probably realizes it’s nothing but a rumor.”
Tyler shrugged. “Maybe. I haven’t asked. It’s not the kind of conversation we have in the break room. At least it wasn’t. Now the whole Sheila mess makes break room chitchat weird.”
Brooke reached for his hand. “But they believe in you. They know you didn’t do any of the things Adam is accusing you of.”
His fingers laced with hers. “I hope not. I mean, they say they believe me. But sometimes...I know I’m expecting a lot of them. Of you.”
“You’re not expecting that much,” she whispered, her eyes meeting his with steady resolve. “I believe you.”
“Thanks,” he said.
After an awkward few beats, she said, “Mind if we move to the couch? I’m pretty sore, and this chair isn’t doing my aching body any good.”
“Sorry, of course. I should’ve thought about that. Do you need some painkillers?”
“I took some when I got up, so I guess I’m set for another couple of hours.”
They moved to the living room and settled on the couch, close enough that Brooke could feel the heat radiating off him.
There were a few minutes of uncomfortable silence until Tyler cleared his throat. “Yesterday’s run, was it partof your actual Moose Range Run 100 training, or are you still in what you called your building phase?”
She shrugged. “Still base building. I took a few weeks off after doing the fifty-two-mile version of the Moose Range Run back in June. My body and mind needed time to rest and recover. I’ll start my actual training plan in January.” She paused. “Probably.”
“Probably?”
“I don’t know for certain,” Brooke admitted. “I’ve been thinking, after everything that’s happened...maybe I’m not cut out for it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I tried the 100 before, and I had to drop at the turnaround because I timed out. I was a few minutes late for the cutoff, and they wouldn’t let me continue.”
“That had to sting.”
“You have no idea. I mean, I knew the rules going in, of course, but I’m not going to lie, I thought maybe I’d get there and they’d let me slide. So anyway, my name is listed under the DNF section. Did not finish. Right there for everyone to see until the end of time.” She forced a smile, though the reality of it still bothered her.
“But you came back this year. You knew you could do it, and you signed up again.”
