Page 33 of One Chance to Stay
At least I had my excuse to head to the hardware store.
With every breath, a plume of white appeared between me and the door to Logan’s hardware store. I had dodged Evelyn as I ran out of Valhalla, letting Mabel’s pep talk drive me forward. Before, there had been no stakes, just an insistence on pestering him until he caved. Now, my nerves tingled.
“Do it.”
I pulled at the door, stepping inside. With every step down the middle aisle, the chill of winter vanished. When I reached the counter, I expected him to be standing there, waiting for my grand entrance. I should have checked to see if his truck was parked outside.
“What do you need?”
I turned around to see Seamus holding a chainsaw. If the overalls and flannel didn’t ooze manliness, holding a neon orange chainsaw did the trick. In any other town, I might be concerned my advances would turn into a horror story. In Firefly, the closest thing they had to horror was the bakery running out of chocolate frosting.
I wanted a whoopie pie.
“Door. Broke. Knob.” Suave? Me? Reaching into my pockets, I pulled out the parts of the door, holding them up. “Evelyn’s going to kill me.” She’d kill me twice if she knew I did it on purpose.
Seamus walked past me and set the chainsaw on the counter. He waved me over, and he stepped on the far side of the table, holding out his hand for the door handle. I wanted to curse the counter for creating a divide between us. It’d be a bit too thirsty to climb over it, though, the thought crossed my mind.
“I must have tugged a bit too hard.” Tugging. The smirk couldn’t be avoided.
When I set the handle in his hand, he continued staring at me. I let my fingers drag along his, savoring the sensation of rough skin. His eyes closed, followed by a long sigh. I wanted to ask if his body reacted like mine did every time we made contact.
“Your plate screws came loose.”
Just like that, he solved my dilemma. Impressed as I was, he slashed down my reason for visiting. I hoped for witty banter and some light teasing, but he cut to the chase. Now, anything I said wouldn’t be hidden behind the guise of a hardware emergency.
“Did you have a good time last night?” Of course, he didn’t respond as he returned the handle to my hand. “I have to admit, I expected strippers, maybe a few rounds of keg stands. It might have been the tamest bachelor party I’ve worked at.”
He leaned back, arms crossing his chest.
“Though I’m sure before the dancer started, we’d be dealing with failing pacemakers. Can’t have Walter dropping dead before the big day.” When Seamus didn’t budge, I decided I’d fill the space until he caved. “Do you hang out with them often? They seem like a great group of guys. Do you go to the American Legion after work?”
He sighed, dropping his arms. I’d wear him down.
“I can’t believe you would. A man with a refined palette isn’t going to drink cheap beer with his chums.”
“I was there for Walter.”
He walked around the counter, past me, and down the aisle. I wouldn’t let him go that easily. I had a hazy memory of Walter encouraging me to connect with Seamus. When I tried to focus on the tone, my head throbbed.
“Have you known him long?”
“Long enough.”
Oh. So, the big guycouldtalk. “Would you say you’re friends? When I’m not around, are you like him and Harvey?”
He paused at the aisle filled with nuts and bolts. I recognized the exasperated sigh. If he thought that’d detour me, he had another thing coming.
“Okay, so nobody is as friendly as those two. That really is a bromance. It’s cute. Are you going to attend the wedding?”
“Perhaps.”
“Are you going to take Grace?”
His entire body stiffened. Seamus wasted no words, but his body told another story. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a handle on what it said. Did the mention of Grace set off alarms? Did my knowing her make him worry? I wanted to give him a hug and assure him that what happened between us stayed between us. Hugging in the hardware store seemed a bad idea.
“You don’t socialize with the locals much, do you?”
He stepped into the aisle, scanning a wall covered in tiny drawers filled with hardware. “I work here.”
