Page 17 of Finding Hayes
Hayes.
Of course, he did.
Maybe it was guilt from the way our friendship had ended.
I sighed. “Where did you get a key?”
“He said you always kept your spare in your glove box, and I’ll be damned if he wasn’t right.” Warner laughed. “But in the future, it’s not the best idea to leave a key in the car. It’s an easyway to get it stolen.”
“No one is exactly trying to steal Big Red,” I said, trying to hide my laughter and feign irritation. They’d fixed my car and that meant I wouldn’t need to call Uber for a ride and risk another awkward drive with Scotty.
“Fair point.” He chuckled.
“How much do I owe you?”
“It’s already been taken care of,” Warner said as he and Carter climbed into his blue pickup and waved.
Of course, it was. This was such a Hayes move. He didn’t ask; he just did it.
And yes, it was nice that he’d had my car fixed.
The problem was, I didn’t want Hayes Woodson to do me any favors.
That hadn’t been helpful to me in the past.
And I’d learned that lesson the hard way.
five
. . .
Hayes
I stirredthe chili on the stovetop and peeked out to see Cutler working on a puzzle, with a large glass of chocolate milk beside him. Cutler Heart was the coolest little dude I’d ever known. His father had all these rules about chocolate milk and when he was allowed to have it, but that’s what uncles are for. Today it would be chocolate milk, and in high school, I’m sure we’d be buying him his first beer.
“You good, buddy? Dinner’s almost ready.”
“I love your house, Uncle Hayes. And you make the best chocolate milk.”
I chuckled. “It’s all about the chocolate, Beefcake. I double it up. I know how my boy likes his milk.”
He glanced over when the flames in the fireplace crackled. It was cold as hell outside, and the snow was still coming down hard. I was grateful for a night off to hang with Cutler. Nash and Emerson were having a date night, so he’d be sleeping over here tonight.
We’d already built a snowman out back, and I’d taken himcross-country skiing before it got dark.
There was a knock on my door, and I told Cutler to keep working on his puzzle.
I pulled the door open to see Savannah Abbott standing on my front porch with snow falling down all around her, looking like she wanted to murder me.
“Hey, Shortcake. What brings you out in this lovely weather?” I smirked. I’d gotten a call from Warner letting me know she wasn’t happy that I’d had her car fixed and delivered to her. I figured as much.
I just didn’t care.
She needed a car to live out there by herself.
She could be pissed if she wanted to. She wasn’t speaking to me anyway, so this wouldn’t really change anything.
“I came to see how much I owe you. You really shouldn’t have had my car fixed without talking to me.” There were puffs of white steam coming from her mouth when she spoke.
