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After several seconds, she risked a glance at him.
Unfolding his arms, Luke grabbed the shop tee from the counter and handed it to her. “Okay,” he said calmly. “I believe you.”
Chapter eight
WhileLukehadfinallyaccepted that Andy hadn’t known about Kyle’s connection to the Sand Spot, he still hadn’t entirely trusted her when he’d handed her that shirt. He’d had his doubts about whether the store would remain her “top priority” after she’d discovered the object of her affection and the man who signed her paychecks were one and the same. Especially considering Kyle also spent most of his nights partying at a club just down the street.
But a week later, Luke was forced to admit all the lofty words Andy had rattled off to his sister during their interview did seem to be backed up by action.
In between his backlog of work in the shop, Luke had found his gaze sliding with increasing regularity to the security monitor at the end of his workbench, his attention drawn to the woman who — unlike him at the moment — did appear to possess the ability to focus on a task. Just as she’d claimed.
He’d watched Andy during her first few shifts as she shadowed his sister around the store. Though she didn’t hold eye contact with Mary for long — a quirk Luke noticed even when she wasn’t scribbling furiously on a clipboard — he could tell Andy was paying close attention to everything she said.
He could also tell Andy was hyper-aware of his niece because if there was one thing that did seem to distract her from all the note-taking, it was when Baby Frankie did her body-surfing thing inside the bump. Then Andy’s gaze would lock on his sister’s belly, brow winging up in a look of horrified fascination.
Tuesday morning — curious to hear what words accompanied that look — Luke had cracked the door to the workshop just as the two approached the cashwrap.
“I didn’t realize you could see the outline so clearly at this stage,” Andy had observed of the footprint protruding from his sister’s stomach.
“Yeah,” Mary replied, “I can feel it pretty clearly too.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Eh, it’s not so bad if she’s just stretching like this. It’s theKarate Kidaction that sucks.” Mary chuckled at Andy’s skeptical look. “No kids, I take it?”
The question had caught Luke off guard because no way had he imagined Andy might be a mom. Hell, it wasn’t that long ago he’d thought she was a fourteen-year-old boy.
“No kids,” Andy had confirmed to Mary while bending to scoop up a crate of drinks before his sister could get to it.
Rather than bristle at her — as she would have done him — Mary simply plopped down on her stool. “Think you want some one day?”
“Probably.” Casting another amusing side-eye at Mary’s belly, Andy shrugged. “But, I don’t know, I might not want to actually give birth to them.”
“Trust me, I know the feeling.”
“Did you also know pregnant women are supposed to drink eight to ten glasses of water per day?” Andy plucked a vitamin water from the crate she’d set on the counter and glanced at its nutrition label. “I’m suddenly feeling quite parched. How about you?”
“Oh, you’re good, kid. Very good.”
At this, Andy’s lips turned up in a ghost of a grin. One that had his own widening in response.
If that moment with his sister wasn’t enough to chase away Luke’s lingering skepticism regarding Mary’s new assistant, the fact that Andy had been able to convince her to go home early on Thursday went even further in doing so.
When his sister called that afternoon from the hospital to tell Andy her lunch break ultrasound appointment was running late, Luke overheard Andy tell his frazzled sister not to worry about it. That Reggie had just come in, and they were getting along great. Then she’d suggested Mary take the rest of the day off.
Miraculously, Luke’s stubborn sister agreed, and only a couple minutes after hanging up with Andy, she’d texted Luke to say she was heading home. And to remind him to “be nice to Andy.”
Which at that point, he really hadn’t needed to be told. The girl was winning him over with her quiet, calming energy and the care she showed his sister.
She’d also largely won over Dylan, who’d sorted out on his own that Andy was their little stalker from the beach. The dude hadn’t missed the familiar electric bike she’d taken to locking up in the parking lot behind their workshop, or the familiar array of cargo pants she wore to work every day.
And while Luke’s friend had initially looked upon the girl with the usual level of suspicion he had for practically every skinny white blonde that crossed his path — Dylan’s fair-haired mother was a crack-whore; his words, not Luke’s — by Friday night, he seemed to have mellowed towards Andy considerably.
As Luke’s gaze wandered once again to the surveillance monitor, Dylan materialized at his shoulder. “Looks like someone has a crush.”
Luke glanced up sharply, initially thinking his friend was talking about him — which was, of course, ridiculous — but then he saw that Dylan’s gaze was glued to the action on the screen.
To where Reggie was hobbling after Andy on his crutches, a dopey smile plastered across his face. The two were walking from the dressing room, Andy’s arms laden with clothes. Every few feet, Andy would stop to re-hang something. Reggie, meanwhile, seemed to be keeping up his usual stream of chatter behind her. “Reg loves anyone who will put up with him talking bomb waves twenty-four seven.”
