Page 12 of Defining Us

She quickly explained the silent auction endeavor and asked, “Would you be interested in donating something? It can be anything, really. Free oil change or something like that.”

His alluring mouth twitched. “Did you suggest an oil change because it’s the only thing you know about car maintenance?”

“Guilty,” she joked, holding up her hands in surrender.

A soft laugh bubbled from his chest. “Put us down for a free tune-up.”

Mallory nodded despite not having the slightest inkling what constituted a tune-up. She made a note in her phone, adding the item to her donation list. “Thanks. We appreciate it.”

“Are you accepting books?”

“We are. The sale is on Saturday, so we’re collecting until the day before. Just so long as they aren’t musty and gross,” she added with a grin.

Joel returned her smile with a tentative one of his own. “I’ll bring some on Friday, then.”

Before she could respond, a lean man with a riot of curly dark hair emerged from the undercarriage of the lifted car. Mallory was instantly reminded of her surroundings and realized themen working nearby had stopped to watch them converse like they were goldfish in a bowl.

“It’s the librarian,” the man stage-whispered to Joel, nudging him in the ribs. Then he turned his attention to Mallory, removing his work gloves and shoving them in his back pocket. “How’s it going?”

“Fine, thanks.” Recognizing his voice, she asked, “It’s Tony, right?”

Tony raised his eyebrows and threw a shit-eating grin Joel’s way. “She knows my name.”

“Congratulations,” Joel replied dryly, giving his cousin the side-eye. “You want something?”

Tony ignored the question and threw an arm over Joel’s shoulder. “My cousin is a great guy, you know.”

There was a joke happening that she wasn’t privy to since Joel turned his head and threw Tony a thoroughly exasperated look. But, inexplicably, the silent communication made the hope she’d locked away this past weekend reemerge, knocking on her heart like a weary traveler.

She nodded in agreement and murmured, “I know.”

“Glad we’re all on the same page,” Tony replied as he patted Joel’s sculpted chest with his free hand, which Joel swatted away. The interaction brought a smile to her face; she could easily picture them as young boys roughhousing around Honeysuckle.

Joel shrugged his cousin’s arm off. “Tony, do me a favor and shut the fuck up.”

He said it so succinctly that Mallory giggled. An absurdly girlish sound, so she tucked her chin down against her collarbone, waiting for the unbearable embarrassment to commence. But Joel’s reaction to her laughter—how victory flashed in his eyes and his already noticeable chest puffed out—kept her irrational thoughts confined.

Tony released a barking laugh and signaled to the other mechanic nearby. “We’re going to lunch, boss.”

“Music to my ears,” Joel grumbled.

The men strolled off and headed down Main Street, undoubtedly bound for the deli or pizza joint. After witnessing the auto shop’s earlier commotion, the stillness was significant as she and Joel stood alone. She suppressed the desire to squirm, knowing she couldn’t ignore what had happened at this very location a few days prior, but the words still got caught in her throat.

He removed his work gloves and tossed them onto the hood of the sedan. As he cleaned his hands with a rag, he peered at her cautiously. “Everything okay otherwise?”

“Yes. Great. Really good, even.” There she went again, a nice, plentiful bunch of word vomit. She collected herself and said, “I want to apologize for the other day?—”

“Don’t.”

“But I?—”

He looked her dead in the eye, equal parts fierce and gentle. “Mallory. I think you apologize too much.” Then he cleared his throat and raised his hands in a diplomatic fashion. “Uh, respectfully, that is.”

The amendment was endearing, and the negative tension in her body faded bit by bit. “I guess I was conditioned to always apologize.”

“By the ex with shit taste in music?”

Typically, any reference to her ex-husband conjured a wide range of emotions. Mirth was never one of them, but Joel’s forthright question made her chuckle.

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