Page 75 of Mechanic’s Christmas Match

“Why on earth not?” she asked.

“How much do you know about my life before I came here?” he asked.

She opened her mouth and closed it again.

“I know you and Evangeline had to fend for yourselves after you lost your grandparents,” she said after a moment. “And I know you sacrificed your own education to make sure she got hers.”

He nodded. He was proud to have ensured his sister could have a good life. But that didn’t change who he was or what he’d done.

“I kept a roof over our heads,” he said. “Like any older sibling would do.”

“Not any older sibling,” Ana protested.

“Look at what you’re doing for Theo,” he said. “He’s your nephew and you took him in without a second thought, right? You’d do anything for him.”

She smiled and nodded slowly.

“My grandfather ran the shop in our basement for years,” Rory said. “He fixed up motorcycles and washing machines and lawn mowers for all our neighbors. And we got by just fine. He was a tough old guy, but he raised us so gently. I didn’t have to grow a thick skin until he was gone, and I saw what he’d been up against.”

“He loved you,” Ana said, nodding.

“There were a couple of guys from the neighborhood who were no good,” Rory said, frowning at the memory. “They joined the local motorcycle gang and when my grandad died, they started coming around, trying to get me to fix their bikes.”

Ana nodded, her eyes wide and solemn.

“I tried telling them no,” Rory said. “But they started talking about how my pretty little sister and the shop needed protection. I basically knew that if I didn’t fix their bikes, Evangeline wouldn’t be safe and neither would our home—which was also my only way to feed us.”

“You didn’t have a choice,” Ana said softly.

“You always have a choice,” Rory said. “And I made the wrong one. I thought it was just another sacrifice, that I’d let those guys push me around, that I’d do some free work on their bikes in exchange for what they called protection, and that would be the end of it. I thought Evangeline could keep living her life, and I could keep running the fix-it shop.”

“I guess it’s never that easy with those kinds of people,” Ana guessed.

“Evangeline came here because the police busted into the shop,” Rory told her, feeling shame bubble up in his chest all over again. “The bike I had sitting in there, one the gang was making me fix, was stolen.”

“Oh, Rory,” Ana sighed.

“If one of the guys from the neighborhood hadn’t been on the force and spoken up for me, I’d be in jail right now,” Rory admitted. “But the gang was ready to string me up for the loss of that bike. Evangeline had to leave town to stay safe while I hid in the city with a friend.”

“Wow,” Ana breathed, her eyes wide.

“And if Grayson hadn’t paid them off and helped me get my shop training, I wouldn’t be here,” Rory admitted.

Ana nodded.

“I’ve paid him back now,” Rory said. “But it doesn’t make me feel any better. My sister says I’m bad at receiving.”

Ana made a funny little sound and he realized she was trying not to giggle.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But I think I agree with her.”

Somehow in spite of the heaviness of the conversation, Rory’s heart felt a whole lot lighter.

“And I’m sorry for what you went through, but I’m glad you did what you did,” she said. “You’re a good person, Rory Dunn. The kind of man who puts the people you love first, always. You work hard, you’re kind and generous. If you’re not a quality person, then no one is. And I can’t think of anyone who would set a better example for Theo than you.”

Rory felt tears prickle his eyes, and he frowned in his effort not to let them fall. He knew he was just a high school dropout who had been fixing up a stolen motorcycle when his luck had suddenly changed.

But if Ana could see him as the best kind of man, then he was going to have to try to see himself that way too. He was going to have to live up to her expectations, every single day.