Page 467 of Love Bites

Her jeweled flip-flops clicked on the floor as she jingled the keys between her fingers. “I got that shy-girl problem. I don’t know how to talk to guys. You’ve seen me in action whenever a hot guy comes into our shop. I totally clam up and either can’t think of a thing to say, or I end up putting my foot in my mouth.” She locked the doors and a kid on a skateboard whirred by.

“You just need to relax and be yourself like you are with me. You’re over-thinking it too much, April. Just pretend the next hot guy you see is me.”

“No offense, Alexia, but I’d never have sex with him if my imagination workedthatwell.” She gave me a look and I shrugged. “I had a boyfriend once.”

Once? I thought. April wasn’t exactly a teenager; she was just out of college.

“And?”

“He cheated on me. With three other girls. I forgave him for the first two, but the third one was my best friend. All guys cheat; I guess I just didn’t know how to keep him from going through them like potato chips. One is never enough.”

“You are kidding me, right?”

Her VW felt like an oven and I cracked the window after she started up the engine.

April glared at the colored candy cane in my hand. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Can you throw your candy out? This is my sister’s car. Mine’s not running right now, so she let me borrow it.”

“Is this going to be a problem with you coming to work? I can lend you mine.”

“The cootiemobile?”

“Stop calling it that,” I grumbled. Yes, I wanted the car to burn, but I hated to be reminded of the events that earned it its new nickname. “If you need the car, it’s yours. I don’t want to worry about you taking the bus, walking, or hitchhiking.”

“Sure,” she said with a laugh. “Like I’d hitchhike wearing an apron and skintight shirt with Sweet Treats written on it.”

We both laughed as the car sputtered down the road.

“Maybe you should change it up,” she suggested. “It’s your baby now.”

Yeah, but there was something nostalgic about Charlie’s magic touch, and a part of me wanted to put on those cheesy earrings in his honor. “I’ll think about it, but keep enforcing the work gear. I want everything running the same until I determine what changes need to be implemented.”

“Yes, sir.”

April pulledup the driveway to Austin’s house and Reno was out front throwing horseshoes. The recent rain had cooled things down just a little, but not enough, apparently, since the heat had driven Reno to strip out of his shirt. I’d only seen him wearing long sleeves, but without the shirt, he looked even tougher. Like he’d been chopping wood for three hours a day.

A dark blue baseball cap and mirrored sunglasses obscured his face.

“Who’s that?” she asked in a short breath.

“Reno. Austin’s older brother. I think he’s the eldest in the family.”

“Was he in the military?”

Good question. Reno kind of gave off a military vibe. It wasn’t just the short hair, but something about the assertive way he held his shoulders back and carried himself. Maybe it was the combat boots that made him stand an inch taller than Austin, and I wondered if he had a complex about his baby brother being the leader of the pack.

I scribbled down a few numbers on a scratch piece of paper while April turned on the windshield wipers. It didn’t help, because the unpaved road had kicked up dirt all over the car.

“My sister’s going to kill me,” she said, staring at the hood. “She just took the car to the wash this morning and now I bet the tires are caked in mud.”

“Who washes their car in the morning?”

April shrugged and turned on the radio. “My OCD sister who is going to have a fit. I may need to borrow your car after all.”

“Not a problem,” I said, barely paying attention as I dropped the pen in my purse. When I looked up, Reno was facing the car, staring at us with a horseshoe in his right hand.

Then I looked at April and saw her cheeks turn blazing red. She looked at the radio again and started fidgeting with it.

I smiled. “Want to meet him?”

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