Bracing himself, he opened the door and stepped out of his little sanctuary and into the fray. If he was lucky, he could catch Hayley for a quick word before anyone else stopped him to chitchat.
He’d only managed to take a few steps before Jack turned and noticed him. The other man’s eye lit, and a smile bloomed on the lower half of his face like it had been planted in Miracle-Gro.
Levi frowned. Why was Jack even still here? How could the man stay in business if he wasn’t behind the cash register of the General Store?
“It’s good to see you come out of hiding, my friend.” Jack grinned.
“I wasn’t hiding,” Levi grumbled.
“Sure, sure.” Jack turned and moved so that he blocked Levi’s path. “Hey, now that I have you here, I wanted to invite you to a meeting the other small business owners are hosting next week. We’re getting together to discuss ways to bring in more revenue. I don’t know how it is with your service station, but a lot of us are struggling to keep our doors open.”
“Hmm,” Levi replied noncommittally.
Jack chuckled. “As eloquent as ever, I see.” He let some of his jovial attitude slip. “Look, I get that you like to be left alone and all, but we need to band together if we’re going to survive in this economy. How do you stay afloat? There aren’t exactly a lot of us who need your services very often.”
Levi glanced at the vintage sports car up on the lift. “Supplemental income.”
Jack scratched his chin. “That’s not a bad idea.” He clapped Levi on the shoulder. “See, we need your wisdom at that meeting.”
“I’ll think about it,” Levi said. He had no inclination to givethe gathering a second of consideration, but Jack would continue to hound him if he didn’t at least promise to think about it.
“Good man.” He wagged a finger at Levi, his grin firmly back in place. “You’re a hard nut, but one of these days I’m going to crack you.”
“Okay.” Levi walked around Jack with a determined stride. The faster he got to Hayley, the sooner he could get out of there.
As if sensing him before he fully approached, Hayley turned from her spot at the open side door of the bookmobile, her soft smile in place. “Hey there, big guy.”
Tension drained from Levi’s shoulders. Just seeing her sweet smile and hearing the melodic cadence of her voice worked a small and immediate transformation in him. “Hi.”
“Your ears must have been burning because I was just talking about you to Robin here.” Hayley turned her attention to the woman in front of her.
Levi recognized her. She drove a Honda Odyssey that she brought in for regular maintenance. The engine was still running well with almost three hundred thousand miles on it.
Levi tipped his head. “Ma’am.”
“Thank you for opening the service station in this capacity, Mr. Redding. I’m an avid reader and already access the library through their lending apps, but nothing beats a physical copy in your hands, am I right?”
“Like having a friend right beside you,” Hayley concurred. “If you could see all the books on Levi’s own shelves, Robin, you’d know that he agrees with you.” She smirked at him as if they shared a secret.
“I thought I recognized a kindred spirit in you.” Robin turned her open, welcoming face to him.
Levi cleared his throat as he split his attention between Robin and Hayley. He didn’t want to be rude, but he was also itching to get away.
“Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?” Hayley asked, coming to his rescue.
Levi exhaled in relief. “I’m heading to the house. If you need me, that’s where I’ll be.”
“Thanks for letting me know. Do you want me to lock up here when I’m done?”
He pulled out his keys and showed her which one would lock the office. “There’s a padlock for the bay door as well.” The alarm system he could turn on from the app on his phone.
He managed to make it out of the garage with a few dips of his head in acknowledgement to people but fortunately wasn’t engaged in anymore conversation.
As much as he hated to admit it, his conscience pricked as he walked up the narrow trail to his house. Maybe he should put in a little more effort at being friendly. A smile wouldn’t kill him. A few nice words here and there with people was well within the bounds of things he could handle. After he’d moved away from home, he was self-aware enough to realize he’d swung to the other extreme side of the social pendulum. Living the way he did, alone and shutting everyone out, made his life easier. But easier wasn’t necessarily better. Maybe it was time to explore where a happy medium was. Where his true boundaries lay.
Once home, he beelined straight to his bedroom. The weather would hold for a little longer, but cooler nights were around the corner, and he needed to make headway on his winter supply of firewood. The house had central heat, but he used the fireplace for warmth and to cut down the cost of his electric bill. He’d already downed a few trees on his property and used the chainsaw to cut them, but the wooden stumps were still waiting to be chopped with an ax and stacked inside the woodshed. Which meant he needed to get out of his coveralls and into his well-worn pair of denim jeans and a breathable T-shirt.
He opened the door to his bedroom and walked in, stopping when his shoe made a weird crinkle sound that didn’t belong to the wood floors. Looking down, he spotted a folded piece of paper peeking out from under his sole. He bent down and picked it up, his pulse doing a little skip before settling again. Papers didn’t grow legs and walk to their destinations, and there hadn’t been any memos or notes he’d left lying around that would have fallen on the floor. Which meant Hayley must have slipped a letter under his door this morning before she’d left the house.
