Page 3 of Mechanic’s Christmas Match

Theo frowned for a moment in thought.

“Theo,” he decided triumphantly.

Of course it came out sounding more like See-oh. He still had a hard time pronouncing his own name, and Ana found it adorable.

“He’s called Theo?” she asked. “Just like you?”

The boy nodded, his eyes wide, like he also thought it was a cool coincidence.

“Write him,” he said, holding out the plastic magnet pen to Ana. “Write Theo.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll write his name.”

She carefully wrote it under the turkey as Theo observed with obvious satisfaction.

“What else would make Turkey Theo happy?” she asked.

“Food,” Theo said.

“That’s a good idea,” Ana told him. “Birds eat seeds and grains. You could give him some if you draw tiny little dots or circles.”

Theo applied himself to this task with great seriousness, and Ana watched him for a while. He had a pretty good attention span, but if they had to wait more than a few minutes, she wasn’t sure what she would do. It was a cold night.

Her two best friends, Valerie Leighton who owned the jewelry store, and Mal Fisher who owned the bakery, both lived in town. But asking for a ride that involved moving a car seat on a busy night didn’t seem fair. Valerie had been working nonstop at her shop making special-order items for Christmas for weeks now. And Mal was probably already at her dad’s place, preparing sides. Ana had been worrying about Mal since her mom passed, and she definitely didn’t want to interrupt her family time tonight.

But Ana also didn’t actually want to see Rory Dunn if she could help it.

If Rory can fix this old thing, then I should be glad to see him, she reminded herself as Theo drew another dozen circle-ish shapes.

Rory had moved to Trinity Falls last year after his little sister Evangeline married Grayson Ward, a local veteran who had made a fortune on investments. While Grayson was clean-cut and quiet, Rory was his opposite.

Big, broad-shouldered Rory was the life of every gathering. He had an infectious, booming laugh, and a smile that lit up his handsome face so beautifully that Ana could hardly look at him without blushing.

He also wore a black leather jacket, drove a motorcycle, and was so different from the mild-mannered local townsfolk that he stood out in any crowd.

And he always, always managed to find Ana right away during any social function.

He teased her just enough to coax her out of her shell, and then asked her endless questions about the shop and her mom and everything under the sun. Up until a few months ago, she had been trying to work up the courage not to keep changing the subject every time he seemed on the verge of asking her on a date.

But now that she had Theo, things were different, of course.

She’d been having a hard enough time thinking about telling a man she cared about that she and her mom were a package deal. But now that there were three of them… well, it was a lot. Especially because Rory Dunn could have any girl he wanted, and she was pretty sure he wouldn’t want a shopgirl with a kid.

As if to confirm that suspicion, Rory had backed way off once Theo came along. Ana hadn’t seen him at any of the parties or events in town lately. She was pretty sure he was avoiding her, and the only reason she could think of was that she was now practically a mother to little Theo.

The idea hurt her more than it should have. Not being ready for children was understandable, and it wasn’t like they had actually been dating or anything.

But it still stung.

Whenever the roar of his motorcycle announced that he had arrived in the village, Ana looked away, even as the other women in the shop, young and old, turned to the window to admire the big man going past.

“He only has eyes for you, you know,” her mother quietly remarked once as Ana tried and failed not to look out the window. “That’s why he parks outside the dress shop even when he’s going to the Co-op for groceries.”

But Ana knew that wasn’t true, at least not anymore.

That’s okay, she told herself for the hundredth time. I don’t want things in my life to change right now.

She felt so lucky every day to have her mom and Theo, and the shop and their little apartment, along with Mal Fisher and Valerie Leighton, the two best friends a person could have. She’d spent most of her adult life praying for her stable, happy life not to change. Why should she want to shake things up now?