Page 69 of Mechanic’s Christmas Match

“This hasn’t been the best couple of weeks,” Rory said. “I guess I know what my New Year’s resolution will be.”

“What?” Ana asked him.

“I’m going to be crystal clear,” he promised. “About everything to do with you. I like to joke and flirt, but I can’t risk things going wrong between us, Ana.”

“We’ll always be friends,” she told him, looking away.

He felt like a door had been slammed in his face.

“What do you mean?” he asked, hoping she meant friends and more.

“You and Maggie weren’t into each other,” she said, her eyes still on the view out the window, where the snow was beginning to fall faster. “And it wound up putting a bit of a wedge between us.”

“Okay,” Rory said.

“I don’t want that to happen again,” Ana said quietly. “And I think I like your resolution. So I’m going to have the same one. And I’m starting it early.”

Rory nodded, waiting for whatever it was she wanted to be clear about.

“I always have so much fun with you, Rory,” she said, looking up at him with pain in her eyes. “And I really do like you. You’re not wrong about that.”

“Good,” he said, though he knew that something more must be coming.

“But I can’t be with you,” she said simply.

The words cut like knives.

“I know I’m a little rough around the edges, Ana,” he said, fighting back the pain and fury that was rising in his chest. “But I would do anything for you. And… I heard you said I was the best kind of man.”

Ana pushed her food away and placed her hands on her lap, as if things were about to get serious.

“I do think you’re the best kind of man, Rory,” she told him. “Truly.”

“So why can’t you be with me?” he asked.

“I have a family already,” she said softly. “And they need me.”

“Of course they do,” he retorted. “Why would that be a problem?”

“Rory,” she said pleadingly.

“I love your mom,” he said simply. “And Theo is the best. You know I have my sister and Leo and Grayson too, right?”

“It’s not the same,” Ana said. “That’s family like everyone has, people you love, people you would help if they needed it, no matter what.”

“No questions asked,” Rory said, nodding.

“It’s different with my family,” Ana said. “They already need me all the time, and I can’t leave them. My commitment to them isn’t just to help out sometimes, it’s to be there, day in and day out, and it’s for life.”

“I know that,” he said, struggling to understand why she thought this was a problem.

“This lunch was a bad idea,” she said, getting up and pulling money from her pocket. “I need to get back to my mom.”

“Ana, please,” he said, getting to his feet. “Put that away, and stay. If I don’t understand, then help me.”

“When Theo came to live with us, I saw how you backed away,” she said, her eyes flashing to his. “I get it, and I don’t blame you. Taking on a toddler is a lot. But I just… I don’t want to break my own heart over someone who isn’t a hundred-percent sure about me, about us.”

She grabbed her coat, then turned and walked away, slipping between the tables and back to the door without even putting it on.