Page 22 of Small Town Secrets

“Sure thing.” He thumped the table lightly with an open hand, and then stood, taking empty bowls with him to the kitchen sink.

“Come on, kid.” He collected Laila’s car keys from the table beside her, patting her shoulder on his way past, Whit once again bouncing along behind him.

Her little face soon craned over the edge of Laila’s car and onto the space beneath the propped-up hood, her eyes lighting with wonder, before she lifted her hands for Adrian to pick her up for a closer look.

Laila’s heart squeezed as he did just that, the tension within her turning to a genuine laugh as Whitney tilted so far toward the car that Ramos had to wrangle her from falling out of his hold altogether. Whitney was so small, but comfortable in his arms, and he used his spare hand to point out different parts. Though Laila couldn’t discern any words, she did grasp the joy in her daughter’s tone.

She went back to work for a bit, until Adrian returned inside, Whitney still in his hold, before he lowered her to a spot just within the front door. “I need to stop by my house for something. Do you mind if I leave this one here for a minute?”

He pointed to Whit, and Laila shook her head. Her work was progressing well, and she could spare a quick moment. The entire time he was gone, Whitney peered out the door, her little body relaxing only when he jogged back from his house and took her hand, guiding her over to the car again. She watched as he put Whitney in the passenger seat and slid himself into the driver’s side, mere seconds passing before the car’s engine roared back to life.

Whitney’s pitchy cheers sailed in from outside and Laila launched to her feet. “No way!”

All-too-soon, Ramos sauntered back inside with Whit again at his side, a wide grin on his face. “You’ll never guess what the problem was.”

Fourteen

“The battery on your key was flat.”

Though Adrian did his best to maintain his smile, Laila kept blinking back, her feet taking her a few stumbling steps toward him.

“What?” The question fell from her lips limp and breathy, and she extended a hand, to which he dropped the key into.

“Easy mistake.” He gave a matching ‘easy’ shrug, largely because her open expression of disbelief sent him off-kilter. “I figured the ignition or car battery might have gone but thought to test the path of least resistance first.”

She shook her head and tapped the same hand clutching at her keys to her forehead. “Argh, all it took was replacing a tiny key battery? I feel like such an idiot.” She lowered her hand, brows squished together in an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry for taking over your night and not thinking to check the fudging key.”

He jutted his chin toward her open laptop. “You’ve got other things on your mind. It happens to the best of us.”

He peered over to the kitchen, where he’d just cooked another meal for this little family, then to Whitney at his side and still smiling up at him, as though she’d been the one to straighten out the key fiasco. An adorable rascal if ever there were one.

Gratitude washed over his skin in a soft, warm wave. That he got to experience Laila’s home and to help in her hour of need. Being a bit of a loner, he rarely felt needed. Not in any personal sense, anyway. And that she’d trusted him tonight. That meant something. At least to him. That she had faith in him around her daughter. That, on top of everything else, he’d had a real hoot just visiting in their little world…

Laila twisted around and her gaze aligned with her laptop on the table, her slowed movements hinting at an uncertainty he, too, shared.

In his hours here, she’d barely paused her tapping at her laptop long enough to pin much attention his way. Now that she turned back to him and held him in her scrutiny. Now that he’d served his purpose and fixed her car, his place here seemed suddenly less certain.

Not just in her home. In her life and perhaps in Harlow in general.

This wasn’t his town. This was his work. But this place and its people were everything to her, and each interaction with him begged a question. Something beyond any issues with Whitney and her potential to grow attached to him. Laila had taken a risk on another man, Whitney’s father, and to this day still carried the consequences of that bad bet.

And still, with every interaction, something grew between them.

But what exactly? Friendship? Respect? The beginning of something so much more? Whatever it was, he wanted to make taking a chance on him worth her risk. He wanted to prove he was more than a random stranger who’d barged into her life unannounced. And at the same time, he had little clue what his future entailed, so maybe he was exactly that.

Am I being unfair and hoping for too much?

She seemed more composed than moments ago, her gaze steady and a soft smile lifting the edges of her lips—an unexpected reminder of her small ambush-style kiss by the fence the other day.

I’m not the only guilty party here.

A quick chuckle broke from him at that realization, and he decided right then that this moment alone would be enough.

“It’s getting a bit late.” Laila extended her free hand out to her daughter, who gravitated closer to her mother as if by instinct. “Time for me to take a break and get Whit to bed, she needs help to fall asleep, so I’ll need to go with her for a bit. I can release you from our house if you’d like?”

Though she held a lighthearted smile, the tension around her eyes didn’t seem so sure; a doubt Ramos would leverage since her offered exit strategy made his stomach feel heavy and hollow. “I think I’ll stick around, if that’s okay with you?”

Her eyes extended off a small glint and she gave a small nod. Even as she pulled Whitney down the hall, Whitney peered over her shoulder to him with a frown, clearly not a fan of goodbyes or bedtime. Except, for a quick moment Laila peered back too, a wide smile on her face.

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