Into the Fire (First Responders 3)

It was odd that Ally hadn’t come outside, but perhaps she hadn’t heard the car. Or she wasn’t expecting him and was avoiding talking to him. After yesterday, he couldn’t possibly be surprised. She’d made her feelings pretty clear.

He straightened and realized the lights were on in his shop. What the…

He went in through the man door and his jaw nearly hit the floor.

Jean McPhee’s Toyota was jacked up and on stands, and a pair of legs he recognized as Ally’s—mostly because of the pink laces in the sneakers—stuck out from beneath.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

She rolled out from beneath the car as if it was the most natural thing in the world, as if their terrible words had never happened. She met his gaze with a cheeky grin. “Changing Jean’s oil and topping up her fluids. She called and asked if she needed to come get the car because of your accident, but I said to leave it here and it’d be done.”

“You’re not a mechanic.” Never mind she’d told him yesterday they were done. Now she was waltzing in here and messing about with cars?

“I can change someone’s oil. I can top up windshield-washer fluid and put in new spark plugs and an air filter.”

She boosted herself up so she was sitting on the rollaway. She was wearing one of his old sweatshirts that already had streaks of oil and grease on it, and her hair was back in a messy ponytail. She looked fantastic.

But this was his business, his livelihood, and she had no qualifications. “You were out here alone. What if it had slipped off the jack, huh?” His chest seemed to seize thinking about her crushed under the weight of the car.

“Which is why I used the stands,” she explained patiently. “I was careful, Chris. I’m not a total moron, although it must seem that way.”

He blinked. He realized that he was always careful too, but it didn’t stop her from worrying. “Ally, I appreciate the gesture, but—”

“I know I can’t do much, Chris, but you’re going to have to turn away business for a few months. She called and I was here. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

She got up and brushed off her hands. “Just let me put in the oil and we’re good to go.”

“And the fence supplies?”

“I found a couple of tarps to keep the damp off of them.”

“Why are you doing this?” He stepped farther inside and handed her a rag for her hands. They had black marks from grease and oil on them and she didn’t even seem to care.

She paused and looked up at him. “Because yesterday I made a terrible, terrible mistake. And I’m trying to make it up to you in the only way I know how.”

His heart clubbed. A mistake? Did that mean she’d changed her mind? “How?” he asked.

“By being the partner you need. First off, I can handle a drill, so we’ll build the fence together. I know someone with a post-hole digger, so once we get the ground marked, they offered to come dig the holes. I’ve got a cement mixer we can borrow too, to set the posts. And while I’m no mechanic, if you help me I know we can at least keep you going with winter appointments. Oil and fluid changes, putting on winter tires…I can help with that.”

“What about your job? The shelter?”

“Oh, right. I had a visitor this morning. Turns out the investigation put some pressure on the building owner and he confessed to everything. He wanted the insurance money and set the fire himself.”

Chris’s head snapped up as anger flared, hot and immediate. “He what? With you and the animals inside? Oh my God—”

Ally lifted a hand. “Because we were there, most of those animals got out.”

He swallowed. But they might not have. He understood her fear yesterday because he’d felt it when he’d seen her standing in the smoke. But it had only made him want to hold her tighter, not push her away.

“Anyway,” she continued, “Here’s the great thing. I quit at the drugstore. So while you’re recuperating, I’m going to take a little time to figure out what I want to do next.”

She grabbed a jug of oil from the workbench, but he stopped her, putting his hand around her forearm.

“Ally. What I said yesterday…I didn’t mean a business partner. I can hire some help around here for a while.”

She turned her face up at him, her blue eyes shining. “I know that. But a good partner is partners in everything, don’t you agree?”

“Everything?” He held his breath, not sure if he dare hope, but unable to help himself.