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“No, thanks.I think I’m going to find my friend.I feel a little guilty about leaving her with my brother.”
He lifted his near-empty beer glass in a toast.“If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
She made a quick trip to the ladies’ room before bee-lining to the pool table.Maddie stood there, leaning on the pool cue, surveying the table with balls strewn across it.
“Hey, stranger.”
Maddie’s face lit up.“Hey.What happened to beanie guy?Are you okay?”
Maddie’s concern touched Jenny.She’d forgotten quite how good it was to have female friends.“I’m fine.He was nice, really.And cute, which didn’t hurt.Thanks for the distraction, but I realized as he was talking about how many killer waves he’d ridden on his latest surfing vacay, that I’d planned to spend the evening withyou.”
Maddie grinned.“I’m knee deep in playing your brother at pool.Want to watch me kick his ass?”
Jenny laughed out loud.“So much.I’d even pay for it.Where is he— oh, getting drinks.I’ll see if I can charm one out of him for myself.”
“Good luck.”
Making her way to the bar, Jenny leant her elbows on it.“Hey, Ricky.”
He grunted at the nickname, and she grinned.“Got bored of that guy?”
She shrugged.“However exciting it was to talk to a boyunchaperoned,” she wiggled her eyebrows, “I came here with Maddie and it wasn’t fair to leave her with you.”
“Don’t worry.I’m takin’ good care of her.”
Jenny rolled her eyes.“I bet.Well, I’m back now.Buy me a drink?Please?”
“What do you want?”
“I’ll be good and just have a soda.Changing diapers is no fun with a hangover.Thank you.”She batted her lashes and laughed when he sighed.
Molly poured their drinks, and Rick paid with a folded bill.
“Great shirt, Mol.”
“Thanks, Jen!My ex-husband gave it to me when we met to file for divorce.Asshole.I decided, fuck it, I’m gonna own this, and now I love it.”
“Yeah.Fuck him!”Jenny lifted her glass in a toast and Molly clinked it with her bottle of water.She froze when she turned to find Maddie and Rick.The door of Molly’s swung open and, for a moment, all the air seemed to leave the space around her.
Jenny didn’t get out much beyond playdates and baby groups, and she almost never had cause to spendanytime at the mechanic’s on Salt Street.But once you’d seen him, Levi Russell was unforgettable.
It was impossible to miss his long-legged stride and riot of chocolate brown curls.Jenny had seen him slide out from under the hood of an old Corvette last week, hands and forearms covered in engine grease, white t-shirt sticking to him like a second skin, a sheen of sweat on his face.He’d been wearing old work boots, his pretty mouth scowling.Jenny thought about that for some time afterwards.
She jerked free from the reverie when he stopped a few feet from her, touching one finger to the brim of his faded old ballcap.“Evenin’,” he murmured.The deep register of his voice was at odds with his big brown eyes, just as his soft mouth contrasted with his stubborn jawline.
If he’d been sitting on a stool here when she and Maddie had arrived, she’d never even have noticed Charlie.
“Um.Evening.Hi, Levi,” Jenny uttered.“And bye.”
She turned around and squeezed her eyes shut in shame, feeling Rick’s gaze on her, then made a beeline for the pool table.When she chanced a glance back, Levi was leaning on the bar talking to Molly, his cap shoved in the back pocket of his jeans, thick curls gleaming under the overhead lights.A cigarette was tucked behind his right ear.
“Who wasthat?” Maddie asked.
Jenny jerked in surprise, almost spilling her drink.“Oh.He just works at the auto shop.”
“Uh huh.”Maddie sent her a look that said she wasn’t buying it, but by then Rick had joined them and set up for the next shot, so she bent into position.
Jenny firmly put Levi out of her mind.He was younger than her, she had Toby to focus on, and not many men were interested in a woman who already had a kid.She cheered on her new friend, knowing there was nothing more fun than watching her brother get his ass handed to him.
