Didn’t matter how she contorted her body, she wasn’t going to find any reception out here. No telling how long she’d have had to wait until one of the residents of Turkey Grove happened to cross her path. Even with their limited resources with modern conveniences, the people of Turkey Grove were pretty self-sufficient and didn’t venture out into the bigger cities all that often. Miss Holt could have ended up waiting for ages before anyone stumbled upon her. Truthfully, Levi was surprised she’d managed to find any reception to call him in the first place. Surprised, but mostly grateful as well.
“Hopefully no one is worried about me.” She tilted her head. “Then again, no one knows about the rockslide, so why would they be? I wish I could’ve called and let them know what was happening when I still had signal.”
Mostlygrateful. The woman could talk the ears off a whole field of corn. A few more hours of being spared her idle chitchat wouldn’t have hurt anybody. Especially Levi.
“Would you mind if I used your landline once we get intotown?” She placed her phone screen down on her lap and turned toward Levi.
“No.”
Her mouth pursed to the side. “No, you won’t mind, or no, I can’t use the phone?”
Levi sighed. This woman was going to plunge to the bottom depths of his well of patience. “No, I don’t mind.”
“Thank you.” She returned her gaze out the windshield.
The next sigh out of Levi’s mouth was one of relief. Finally, a moment of reprieve. Well, as much as he was going to get with the constant hum of the engine and the high-pitched whistle from the passenger window not being rolled up all the way. There was never complete silence around him, but controlling the noise input to functioning levels was something he’d learned to be constantly vigilant with.
“So, what’s your story?” Hayley pivoted in her seat so her hips faced him.
For all that was good and right, he did not want this woman’s full attention on him.
“I don’t have a story,” he gritted out. Could she not go without speaking for longer than three seconds?
She laughed, a musical sound that, surprisingly, didn’t instantly grate on his nerves. He noted the anomaly, then reflexively flinched anyway. His sister, Nova, tittered when she laughed. The sound was like ice shards pricking at his brain. He’d determined never to do anything that could be construed as funny whenever she was around just to spare himself the torture.
Now that he thought of it, he made sure not to be humorous around anyone. To be on the safe side.
When was the last time he’d truly heard laughter, even his own?
Hayley smiled at him as if he’d told an award-winning joke. He hadn’t. Although he kind of wanted to now. Just to hearher laugh again. See if the sound and his reaction stayed consistent. If the soothing warmth that had filled him with the rich tones would come again.
He pressed his lips together instead.
“Everyone has a story,” Hayley insisted.
Did they? Debatable. Even if they did, were they all worth telling? He doubted his was. “No.”
She hummed, unconvinced. “If you don’t tell me, then you’re going to leave me no choice but to make one up about you, and I might get some facts wrong.” Her pause was poignant as she waited for him to jump in.
Let her make up whatever story she wanted about him. People had been doing it his whole life, so what did he care? She’d probably come up with something more interesting than the truth anyway.
He glanced down at his watch. They still had at least ten minutes before he could leap out of this cab and bury himself under the bookmobile’s hood. She could use the phone in the garage’s office, and he could close the door on her voice and finally get some peace.
Even if hers was probably the nicest voice he’d ever heard in his life.
“Once upon a time there was a mechanic named Levi Redding...” She let her words drift at the end, again offering the conversation to him to pick up and carry on.
She waited.
His jaw ticked like a metronome counting the seconds. The engine rumbled. The air through the cracked window whistled.
She huffed a breath, whether from exasperation or amusement he had no idea. “You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to wait for you to tell me yourself.”
You’re going tobe waiting a long time.
“Okay, changing the subject. Would you mind stopping bythe general store when we get to town? I didn’t exactly plan to be stranded, so I didn’t pack an overnight bag. I need to get essential things like a toothbrush, soap, shampoo and conditioner, that sort of stuff.”
He still hadn’t felt any fingers of a headache clench into his skull even with Hayley being only a foot away, but he knew the kind of products that Jack MacDonald stocked in his store. Like soap with actual flowers crushed inside. Just walking down the aisle where the artisan bars were shelved made his head immediately pound like a cartoon anvil had fallen on him. Levi had no reason not to assume the shampoos and conditioners would be any better.
