Page 1 of Fall Favor
Chapter 1
The first week of August
Manny
“Manny, we have to talk.” Jolie, my girlfriend, who’s also a coworker, hops into my truck just as I’m shifting into gear to leave work for the day.
“Don’t slam—”Bang!
The door.I grit my teeth. Why can’t she remember? It drives me crazy when anyone slams a vehicle’s door with more force than is necessary. I take a deep breath and try to relax the tension in my jaw.
“Sorry. I need to get this off my chest right away.” She glances toward the office with an irritated moue pinching at her lips. She offers a weak grimace when she faces me.
Uh-oh, here it comes—the ultimatum.
Seriously, I’ve been expecting it for a couple of months. I honestly don’t know why I’ve been dragging my feet on making things… permanent between us. Jolie is a nice woman. She’s smart and funny. She’s also stylish and always smells nice. She’s good company and a good friend, even though we don’t have anything in common, and the sex is okay, I guess. But maybe that’s the problem.
I love Jolie like I love her twin Jorie—as a friend and coworker—but… there just isn’t any spark between us. No fireworks or crazy out-of-control feelings. No desperate need to be with her or get back to her when we’re apart. I love her, I just don’tloveher…
“Manny. Let me start by saying, you’re a great guy. You’re smart and funny. I like your company even though we don’t have much in common. You’re a good friend, and you usually smell nice when you aren’t covered in motor oil or engine fluids.” Her nose wrinkles as she spies my rough hands resting on the steering wheel. “The sex is nice, not great but not terrible either… Really, this is not you, it’s me.”
I wince. Not exactly what a guy wants to hear. My stomach sinks.
“God, I’m screwing this up, but even you have to admit there isn’t one drop of passion between us. We’re easy like a pair ofthose ugly shoes you see on TV. You know the ones you don’t have to bend over to put on? And Manny, I want to bend over, you know? Life’s too short to wear the fucking ugly shoes! Ah, hell, that came out wrong. Don’t think I’m comparing you to ugly shoes… It’s just that there aren’t any sparks. No fireworks or out-of-control feelings, and honestly, I think it’s this place. I’m in the wrong place. Living in Wintervale is slowly leaching the life and fun right out of me. I need action! I need adventure!I needpassion!What I’m trying to say is I’m leaving.”She opens the door and hops out as quickly as she got in.
“You’re leaving? But…”
“I love you, Manny, but I just don’tloveyou, you know?”
“Jolie, wait. Don’t slam… Fuck.”
Chapter 2
The last week of September
Leah
How could I have forgotten? I pause a step inside the open bay door as memories flood in like it was only yesterday, not six years gone by in the blink of an eye. It’s kind of silly to think after all this time it wouldn’t affect me, but just like that early nineties ballad about a song remembering when, so do the sounds and odors of the past.
The high-pitched burr of the air wrench, the rumble of the compressor kicking in, the aromas of engine fluids and vehicle exhaust mingling in the air with the burnt tang from welding rods and metallic-flavored smoke from a cutting torch bombard my senses, as memories and images flicker through my mind.I reach out to steady myself against the door frame, closing my eyes, trying to come to grips with the riot of memories converging with the present.
“Miss, are you okay?”
Miss. Not ma’am or the exasperated masculine bark of my name, but a silky honey-butter question that is neither bass nor tenor but a lovely timber falling somewhere in between. Raising my eyelids, I stare into the darkest brown eyes I’ve ever seen, with irises so dark they appear black. I fidget beneath the intensity of his gaze. As I shift, the late-day sun shining over my shoulder illuminates the rich chocolate orbs, causing them to glow with an amber fire. It isn’t the color that causes my breath to catch, it’s the warm concern and the sparkle of curiosity shining like a beacon.
Wow.
“Uh… hi… umm…” What the hell is wrong with me? I shake my head.
Get it together, Leah, you’re too old to be acting like a teen with her first crush. Do you want him to think you’re an idiot?
“The camp host out at the campground said you repair more than cars and trucks. I was wondering if you had a fuse kit for RVs or fifth-wheels?”
There, that sounded intelligent and straightforward as I take in the coveralls tied at the waist of his lean build.
He isn’t overly tall, but his bare forearms are sculpted perfection with raised veins disappearing beneath the sleeves of his thermal shirt like routes on a roadmap leading to sloped shoulders and the defined muscles of his chest.
I lick my lips. “Um, and I need maintenance, too…” I hear a snort from the next bay over. Oh, lordy, that sounded like a come-on. “Uh… for my truck, I mean. I don’t need maintenance.” I point to my chest and shake my head. “I mean, I do…”
