“Don’t just stand there. Come eat!” She grins and winks, walking over to put the container on the worktable. “I made your favorite, cheesy biscuits with sausage crumbles.”
The savory odor fills the garage, cancelling out the odor of grease and making my stomach growl. “Smells good.”
Billy hustles over, and she hands him one of the round pieces of bread. He thanks her and heads out to bring in the cars. I walk slowly to where she’s leaning against the counter. Her back is arched, and she’s giving me that look I remember.
“You don’t have to make us breakfast.” I take the small parcel she holds out to me.
“I’m going to take that as a thank you.” She winks at me, turning to dig something out of her purse. It points her round ass right at me. “It’s just my way of welcoming home a hero. Since I was left off the guest list for Mrs. B’s party.”
I rub the back of my neck. I’ve never been good with this kind of stuff. “Ruby said she was keeping it small.”
“It doesn’t matter. Ruby never liked me.” When she turns around again, she’s holding a set of keys. “I found this roll of film at the house. I’m not sure where you can get it developed, but I thought you’d want it.”
“Thanks.” I guess. I’m not sure I’m up to seeing what this small, black cylinder might contain. “Film is pretty old-school.”
“I thought for a while I might be a photographer.” Her eyes travel around the garage before meeting mine. “We don’t always get to do what we want, do we?”
“More like we never know where the road’s going to lead.”
She smiles and steps forward, placing her hand my forearm. “Maybe the road will lead you somewhere new.”
My eyes flicker to where her breasts almost touch my chest and back to her green eyes. Leslie never was one for subtlety. I’m about to ease my arm away when a high voice slices the air.
“Am I interrupting something?”
I pull away, turning to where Drew stands, arms crossed, looking feisty and gorgeous as ever. She’s wearing a short skirt, and her long legs are smooth and tempting. Her button-up shirt is cuffed, and her slim fingers tap on her upper arms.
She is not smiling.
“Drew. What a surprise.” Leslie returns to her bag and lifts it over her shoulder. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the clinic?”
My girl fires right back. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the salon?”
Leslie acts bored, pushing her hair off her shoulder as she walks slowly toward the door. “I set my own hours. See you later, Gray.”
Clearing my throat, I try to salvage this situation. “Thanks for the breakfast. You really don’t have to keep doing—”
“I told you, I’m happy to give you whatever you need.” She does a little wink and steps out the door.
Drew’s blue eyes are fire when she looks at me. “Whatever you need?”
“I don’t know why she keeps coming here.”
“I do.” Her tone is hard, but she shakes her head. “You know what? It’s not my business. I just brought the car back like you asked.”
I want to argue with her, tell her nothing is going on with Leslie, it is her business. But what am I thinking? We haven’t had the talk we need. I haven’t told her what she needs to know about me, about Danny, about all of it. I haven’t had a chance to make peace with my demons. I’m still all fucked up.
“What did your dad think?” The biggest demon of all.
Her slim brows pull together, and I can tell my question hurts her somehow. “He didn’t see it. He was… tired when I got home, so he went to bed.”
“He didn’t have any shrimp and grits?” I hope bringing up our text conversation lightens the mood.
It doesn’t.
“Will this be done by tonight? I’d like to use the car this weekend.”
“You have plans?”