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“Man, you are a stubborn fool, you know that?”
“Takes one to know one,” I shot back.
My younger brother had been in love with his best friend—a former medic in the navy, just like him—for years now. But he’d never told her because he thought it’d be weird at work, and when they both got out of the military, he didn’t think she felt the same way judging from the number of boyfriends she’d had in the meantime.
But since I was the only one who knew about those deep dark secrets, he gave me a warning look and held up a finger. “That’s different, and you know it.”
With a shake of my head, I wiped my hands on the shop rag from my pocket and went over to a bench to pick up my water bottle. I took a drink, wondering how long he was gonna stand there and talk to me about my feelings like we were a couple of girls on a sleepover instead of two grown men at my place of business.
“Anyway, what are you gonna say to her?” he asked, leaning a hip on Mrs. McClusky’s car and sliding his hands into the front pockets of his blue jeans.
I put the bottle down with a thud and swiped my arm over my mouth to dry it. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Are you gonna tell her you’re still hung up on her?”
Hung up on her? Shoot. I wasn’t hung up on Laney Cole. The woman practically hung the stars in my dang sky, and every time I looked up, I was reminded of what a fool I’d been to let her get away. That wasn’t hung up. That was beaten down, plain and simple.
Glowering at him, I turned away to fiddle with some tools and act like I had a reason to. “I’m not.”
“Liar.”
“Are you gonna stand there all day talkin’ my ear off? Don’t you have lives to save?” I asked as I turned back to my paramedic brother.
He lifted one large shoulder in a casual shrug, looking like he had all the time in the world. “I’m off today.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not.” I jerked my chin toward the large open garage door. “Get on outta here.”
Jackson stared at me for a long moment as if he were trying to decide if he wanted to press me on this, and I sure hoped he wouldn’t. Then, thinking better of it, he let out a breath. “Fine, Everett. Suit yourself. I was just tryin’ to be a good brother.”
“Dad won’t think you’re a good brother if I tell him you came in here and distracted me so I didn’t get this car finished on schedule.”
He grinned and shook his head. “I’m fixin’ to tell him myself. Gonna see if he wants to have lunch since you’re the one who does all the real work around here now.”
“Don’t tell him that part. Have a burger for me.”
“Sure will.”
When he was gone, I lowered myself onto the wooden creeper with a sigh and slid back under McClusky’s car. I did my best to get my head on straight while I worked, but man if I couldn’t concentrate on a single thing. The news that Laney was coming back for the first time since the night I’d proposed had rattled me to my core yesterday, and this conversation with Jackson had only stalled my progress in shaking it off.
“Everett, you in here?” Dad asked.
“Yeah, Dad. One sec.”
I slid out and got to my feet, walking over to where he stood in the doorway to the office. “Where’s Jackson?”
“He wanted to have lunch, but I told him to come over for supper instead. Your momma’s makin’ hot chicken and you know how much he loves that.”
“We all do,” I said, even though the last thing in the world I felt like doing was inhaling some of that spicy goodness tonight. My gut was messed up enough as it was.
“Besides, I can’t take lunch today,” Dad went on. “There’s too much to do around here.”
“Anythin’ I can help with?”
My dad wasn’t old, but after last year’s health scare, the doctor had told him to take it easy from now on. I picked up as much of the slack as I could and knowing this place would be all mine someday made it feel like the easiest thing in the world.
“Yeah. Head on over to Shifty’s and take a look at his engine. Take the tow truck just in case you gotta bring ’er in.”
“Now?” I asked, thinking about the hours of work I still had ahead of me on my current project, especially considering how dang distracted I was thanks to a certain gorgeous country star.
