Page 65 of Feeding Hope
Wait?
Avery looked up at him and hated how handsome he was.Her brain was turning mushy just looking at him.
“I have,” his gaze looked off toward the front of her car for a moment before he looked back at her, “I have an idea. I have a great mechanic that I use and he’s a Jeep fanatic.”
By the way Wayne said the word ‘fanatic’ made her think he really meant it.She smiled at that.
“He’d probably get a little... giddy about your Grand Cherokee. If you want, I can call him and ask him to tow your car to his shop.”
Avery tensed a little.
“He’s got a kind of specialty shop?”
She heard the way her voice lifted up at the end. If her expression didn’t give away her reservations, she had a feeling that Wayne heard it in her voice.Wayne shifted on his feet and the movement drew her gaze down to his hips.A gaze she liftedup a half-second after.She really didn’t want him to know that she’d take a quick look at his-
“I can call Triple A,” she cleared her throat, “I don’t think I can afford a specialty shop.”
She turned to walk past him and drew up short when he put his hand on her arm.
“Avery-” He lifted his hand away like he’d been burned. “Can I call you, Avery?”
She nodded, loving the way his teeth grazed against the back of his bottom lip on the V of her name. “Sure.”
“He’s a friend. Would you let him take a look at it? He won’t force you to let him work on it before he gives you a quote.”
He held up his hand to promise her, and she smiled at the Boy Scout salute he’d made.
“If there’s anyone I’d trust to give you a real assessment of any problems it’s Ken. The man is magic when it comes to engines.”
She wanted to accept it.Who wouldn’t? But as nice as Wayne Reynolds seemed, she was worried that he’d end up having a flaw that she wouldn’t see coming.
“Were you really a Boy Scout?”
Wayne’s posture relaxed a little and the hand he’d held up in the salute moved to the back of his head. He looked a little uncomfortable before he answered. “I was, but I didn’t go all the way to Eagle.”
She smiled then, hearing the tension in his voice. “I bet you were busy with football.”
He lowered his hand to his side and looked up at her. “You guessed it.”
She shrugged. “Things change. Priorities change. Or maybe they’re just refocused.” She laid her hand on her car and let out a soft sigh. “I believe you.”
His expression changed then, relaxing and then lifting into an almost-smile. “So, I can call Ken to come and get the Jeep?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
She watched Wayne pull out his phone from his back pocket and while he was scrolling through something on his phone, she spoke again. “I can catch a ride with him to his shop, right?”
Before Wayne could answer, she continued.
“Aidan’s staying over at a friend’s house tonight so I don’t have to rush home to cook.”After she said the words, she wanted to snatch them out of the air and shove them back in her mouth.
He didn’t need to know that. No one needed to know that.
And, really, she was likely distracting him from what he had to do.
He lifted the phone near his ear, and she heard the sound of someone’s voice from the speaker.
“Hey, Wayne! What’s up?”
