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His brows wrinkle in confusion, but the shit-eating grin he’s sporting tells me that he knows exactly why he’s here—and that’s concerning.
He holds his palms up innocently. “Because I own the shop and work here?”
“Yeah, I’m well the fuck aware, but it’s also after hours.” He looks me up and down with that old man glint in his eyes. I pick my wrench up off the ground and point it at him. “Alright, out with it.”
“Out with what?”
I roll my eyes and turn around, getting back to work on the tie rods on the minivan.
I hear his feet shuffle, followed by the stool rolling beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I find him tapping a finger to his chin. “You do look—oh, I don’t know—less shitty and mopey.”
“Great. Glad you’re so observant,” I grumble, focusing on my work.
“I bet this has something to do with you spending time with Josie.”
“What makes you think I’m spending time with Josie?”
He remains silent, and I turn to see him wearing an even wider grin, holding up his phone. “Security cameras.”
I drop the wrench again, and this time I don’t bother to see where it falls. “For the love of god, please tell me you didn’t—shit—I don’t know.”
I want to be anywhere but here right now. This moment can’t end soon enough. I’d say I wish that moment with her on the hood of my car never happened, but that would be a step too far and a bald-faced lie. It was worth it, even if karma is finally asking for its end of the bargain.
He laughs and slaps his thighs.
“I’m glad this is so funny to you,” I say.
He finally sits up and puts his phone away, wheezing one last drawn-out laugh. “Oh my god, your face. That was great.”
“Seriously, please tell me you didn’t—”
He barks out another laugh before holding up his hand in a stopping gesture. “Son, come on now. I do have some boundaries. I turned off the video the second I saw you two kiss.”
I breathe a sigh of relief before promising myself that as soon as I get a chance, I’m wiping that entire night from the security system’s memory. Well, maybe after I download the video for myself first—assuming Josie is okay with that because I still have no clue what the ethical and moral boundaries of our fucked up situation are—but then I’m making sure no one can ever see it.
“Did you just come here to, what, torment me or something?”
“Nah.” He scoffs, waving dismissively.
“Great. Then what do I really owe this pleasure to?”
“Your mom.”
“Come again?” I arch a brow at him skeptically. Knowing him, he might not have shown Mom—well, whatever it was he saw—but I’m not naïve enough to think that he and Sisi are keeping this gossip to themselves.
“She wants you to come over for dinner. She’s making stuffed hatch chiles.” He closes his eyes and rubs his belly, and I can’t blame him because that does sound good. It’s one of Grandma Gloria’s recipes that Mom managed to master.
“Maybe. I’m not sure what my plans are later.”
“Not sure, or don’t have them yet?” he questions, and by the way his eyes linger on my phone on the work stand—the one that he’s probably seen me checking incessantly for the last three days—he knows why I’m being noncommittal.
I glare back and sigh. “Both.”
He nods with a confident smirk before spinning on the stool toward the back wall of the garage. He stops the rotation, and I groan when I see what he’s looking at.
“How’d that happen?”
I scrub my hand through my beard, looking at the hood of my car. Clearly, I’m not going to get any work done tonight.
