Page 38 of The Charm of You

“Play some jazz every and now then,” Judd grumbles. “I have a doctor’s appointment, so I’ll be back later. Bo will be in this afternoon. Call if you need anything.”

It’s not long after he’s left that my phone dings three times through the speaker with new messages.

ADDIE

Did Caroline make it home okay last night?

You gave her a ride, didn’t you??

Please don’t tell me you just left her at the bar with the likes of Owen.

I gave her a ride and held up my end of the bargain, but you flaked. You were supposed to be nice to Owen.

She sends several emojis rolling their eyes.

ADDIE

RE: Owen. I gave it the old college try, but unlike actual college, it proved to be one thing I just couldn’t excel at.

He sits too far outside the realm of worthiness of my kindness.

And here I thought you had low standards, considering how kind you are to me.

You’re on thin ice.

I toss my phone aside again and resume working. I nearly pull a muscle in my back trying to throw myself into each task in order to distract myself until Bo arrives.

We’re a small shop, with only three of us on Judd’s payroll, one of whom is Rose. She never leaves the front desk on the other side of the garage wall. Bo has dropped down to part-time since he started taking college courses in Savannah last month.

There’s plenty of work to do around here. It should be more than enough to stop me from thinking about a certain pair of long, golden legs and a hypnotizing smile.

Thirty minutes later, I’ve just finished replacing an alternator when the door to the garage screeches.

Silky blonde hair flashes across my periphery, and I almost smell her floral perfume over the motor oil and gas.

My exasperated exhale is instinctive, and suddenly, I wish I were with Judd at the doctor’s office.

“Listen…” Caroline approaches, and her heels slowly click and clack across the stained and dusty cement floor, interrupting my country music. “I’m sorry about last night. I’m so embarrassed. Edward was just trying to be polite, in his own way.”

I nearly bite my tongue from clamping my teeth together so hard in resistance to this intrusion. Instead of fully facing her, I stay far too focused on wiping the grease off my hands with a red towel, and I pretend to be fascinated by the black splotches left behind on the material.

“He’s not my fiancé, either. He was just… overly optimistic that I’d accept his proposal, but I didn’t. I just hadn’t told him yet. I did tell him last night, though. He stayed in Savannah, and he’s flying back to New York today. We broke up, which in hindsight, was long overdue, because I don’t think my heart was ever really in it. I know I was unfair?—”

“What’re you doing?” I drop the towel onto the stool next to my water and finally meet her gaze head-on. She’s in fitted jeans today, with a shirt that barely reaches the waistband. A sliver of velvety skin winks at me as she tugs the oversized cardigan around her.

And I fucking despise how my body reacts so instinctively to this woman. She’s the exact opposite of me and everything I need, and yet, my blood instantly buzzes when she’s around.

It’s why I had the insane idea of kissing her last night. It was the briefest onset of insanity, but it was there.

The craziest thing is that I actually thought she would kiss me back, even though she knew she had a fiancé, or whatever he was to her before last night.

I can’t get mixed up with her. She’s fucking trouble.

“I’m just trying to explain,” she says softly, then wraps her arms around herself. “I know I’m not making any sense, though. I’ve been really scattered lately.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, have you?” I shake my head.

“I don’t follow.”

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