Page 30 of The Two Last Moments

“Enthusiasm makes up for a lot.” She glances over the tools on my workbench. “Your piston ring installer is broken, by the way.”

“Yeah, I ordered a new one. You know your stuff.”

“I’m as surprised as you are,” she says with a shrug.

“Want to give me a hand?”

Lark narrows her eyes like this is a trick of some kind. “You’d trust me?”

“Sure.” Besides, this car’s already been through hell and back. If she screws it up, I’ll fix it.

“You’re just thinking you’ll fix it if I mess up. Aren’t you?”

Shit. “How’d you know that?”

“Because I can tell when a guy is humoring me. I don’t like it. Or need it.”

Damn. Feisty thing, isn’t she? “Then I apologize. Hands off my baby. Don’t even think about trying to help.”

“Thank you.”

Laughing, I brush my sweaty hair from my forehead.

Lark points at me. “You just…”

“What?”

“You left an engine grease smudge. Right there.”

“Oh.” I lift the edge of my shirt to wipe my skin. “Did I get it?”

“No, you just made it worse. And got your shirt dirty.”

“It was already dirty.” I whip it off. It’s a long-sleeved tee, which was perfect this morning since it’s getting chilly at night these days. But after a couple hours out here in Nina’s garage, I’m starting to bake. I scrub the shirt over my face. “Better now?”

Her eyes are tracing over my bare torso. “Better.” Her voice cracked a little, and she clears her throat. “Nice tats.”

“Thanks.” Like her, I have sleeve tattoos, plus some larger designs on my chest. While Lark’s are all botanical, mine are more of a mishmash. References to my life at the time I got them, images that called to me. On my arms, my artist filled in some of the empty spaces with geometric patterns.

“You don’t have to show off for me, though,” she says. “I already told you that you were sexy. No need to go flaunting it.”

I snort. This girl, I swear. “I wasn’t showing off. It’s warm in here.”

“Wellnowit is.” She smirks as she peruses my workbench. “I was chatting with Nina earlier. She told me about your dad. How he owns the house, but you don’t get along.”

My back stiffens. “Yep, that’s all true.”

“Is it okay that she told me? Do you mind that we were talking about you?”

“Not at all.” I’m not an open book necessarily, but I don’t have a problem with Lark knowing things about me. If anything, I like that she’s interested. That’s what friends do, right? They get to know one another. “If you want to know anything else, you can ask me.”

“What about your uncle? Nina mentioned him, but when I asked her about him, she clammed up pretty fast.”

“She doesn’t talk about him much. Travis is my dad’s younger brother.”

“He left? That’s what she said.”

“Travis left when I was fourteen, not long after my grandpa died. He’d had some argument with Nina and my dad over money, stole some of my grandpa’s stuff, then took off and never came back.” Almost twenty years ago now. “He could’ve come home if he’d wanted to. Nina would’ve forgiven him. Actually, I’m surprised she mentioned anything about him to you at all.”

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