There it is again. Not,where are you from?Not,what do you do?
Who has you?
“I have me.”
I say it lightly. Likeit’sa joke.
It isn’t.
Mae studies me for a beat too long, likeshe’sdeciding whether to push.
Before she can, a voice cuts in behind me.
“You got tools?”
A woman in coveralls has appeared at the end of the booth. She has tattoos down both forearms, purple streaks in dark hair, and grease in the creases of her fingers.She’sholding a coffee mug in one hand and a piece of bacon in the other. She is enormously pretty and looks like she would happily fight someone in a parking lot.
“I have a yoga mat, a handsaw, and a tack hammer.”
Mae laughsout loud,bigand surprised, as ifshe’sbeen waiting all morning to be entertained.“Sweetheart, you’re the best thing that’s happened to this café in weeks.”
“Agreed,”says the woman in coveralls.“June Vega.”She swipes the bacon under her arm to free up her hand.“Vega’s Auto. Up the street, past the firehouse. Youcan’tmiss it.It’sthe only building with a neon mountain. Heardyou wereup on Rosa’s ridge.”
“Oh my God, yes,”I say.“Hi. Sit. Sit, sit.”
She sits next to Mae. Mae passes her anapkinlike a relay baton.
“You met Mercer yet?”
And just like that, the air shifts.
I try for casual.“You mean Sullivan?”
“Mm-hmm,” Mae says gleefully.
“He fixed my porch step yesterday.”
Silence. The loaded kind.
June leans back. Mae leans forward.They look at each other.Then back at me.
“Huh,”they both say in unison.
I frown. “Don’t both ‘huh’ me at once. I’ve known you for what, nine minutes?”
Mae reaches across the table, quick andmatter-of-fact, and taps the back of my hand.
“That man has sat in my café three times a week since February and spokenmaybe adozen words total. I counted. He does not fix things for people.”
“He fixed yours,” June adds.
“With cedar,” I say, because that suddenly feels important.
Another look passes between them.Sharperthis time.
My cheeksheat.“He saw me fall through it,” Iaddquickly. “It wasn’t… He was just being?—”
“A neighbor?” June supplies, not even pretending to believe it.
