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Mariposa wasn’t buying it. “But you don’t look like that when you think about your real boyfriend.”
Tildy rolled her eyes. “Stop.” She took an outdated ad for a yard sale down off the bulletin board and trashed it.
“When do you see him again?”
“In just a little while,” Tildy replied. “He’s running late.”
Mariposa frowned. “Too bad. I want to meet this boyfriend of yours. Make sure he’s well enough for you.”
“Good enough. And he is,” Tildy added dreamily but then caught herself. “But we’re not dating.”
“Hmm. Yet. What does he do?”
“He was in the Army. Now he’s a mechanic.”
Mariposa gave her a sly grin. “Nice. Strong man. Good with his hands.”
Tildy’s face turned red as she remembered Hawk’s hand in her panties.
“Ah!” Mari cried. “There! See? Not just a friend!”
Tildy, embarrassed, waved her hand dismissively.
“You’re a good girl, Matilda,” Mari cautioned.
“I still am!”
Mari nodded. “I meet this man, make sure you stay that way.”
Tildy groaned. “Don’t do that! I would die! Plus, he’s already on board with that.”
Mari frowned. “What board?”
Tildy shook her head. “Sorry. It’s a phrase. It means he agrees with you.”
Mari raised an eyebrow. “So he says.”
“No, really,” Tildy insisted. “I… ” She cleared her throat. “I kissed him. Like really kissed him.”
Mari’s face was stern as stone. “And?”
“Well, he did kiss me back.”
Mari’s eyebrows furrowed. “Mmm hmm.”
“But then he sent me home.”
The older woman considered this at length before she said, “Maybe I like him more than the other one. Maybe.”
Tildy bit her lip. She’d never confided in Mari, not at length, but she never really needed to. Having raised multiple daughters into adulthood, Mari easily picked up on when things were not going well in Tildy’s love life- or Tildy’s distinct lack of a love life.
“Even so, guard your heart,” she advised again. “A heart like yours is fragile, mija. It breaks once and you may never be able to put it together again.”
Tildy frowned as she packed up her things. Hawk was a good man, the best kind of man, but he completely threw her off course. He’d offered friendship, but his kisses said he wanted more, not as much as she wanted though. She sighed. He would never want as much as she wanted.
Tate would give her everything, yet nothing she actually wanted. Hawk would give her just a little, and then one day he would give her nothing at all. Maybe Mariposa was right; maybe it was worse to have loved and lost. Tildy couldn’t quite make herself believe it though.
The two women walked toward the front entrance when suddenly someone grabbed Tildy by the arm.
“Oh!” she cried, turning around.
“Oh, sorry!”
She came face to face with someone she recognized but couldn’t quite place. When he saw her trying to work it out he said, “I’m Garrett. Hawk’s cousin.”
“Right, right,” she said, trying to catch her breath.
“Sorry,” he said again. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Um, what are you… how-?” Tildy couldn’t form a question that didn’t seem rude.
“I just saw Hawk,” Garrett informed her. “At the garage. He’s running late.”
Tildy nodded. “Yeah, he just texted me.”
“It’s my fault,” he added with a sheepish grin. “I kept him too late at lunch. Anyway, he didn’t want you to be alone, but he didn’t really say why.”
Garrett let it hang between them, waiting for an explanation for being sent on this errand. Tildy looked nervously at Mari, who had an eyebrow raised. She was still waiting for Tildy to explain the cut on her lip; Mari had never believed the tripped and fell story.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Tildy told both of them, smiling reassuringly. “We were just supposed to hang out this afternoon. He probably just didn’t want me to think he was blowing me off.”
Mari smirked, and Garrett just shrugged at her answer. Tildy let loose a tiny sigh of relief when the older woman turned to head toward the bus stop at the end of the block. Tildy gave her a little wave, but Mari just huffed at her.
When they were alone, Tildy glanced at Garrett as they headed to the side parking lot. “Do you think he’d mind if I just drove to the garage and waited for him there?” she asked. It seemed rude to make Garrett wait with her for who knew how long.
Garrett shook his head and spat on the ground. Tildy grimaced, but tried to hide it. “Nah,” he said, his eyes darkening a little. “Don’t think he’d mind you at the garage at all.”
There was something to his tone that bothered Tildy. She knew Garrett and Hawk had problems. She was sure it was difficult to reconnect with someone who’d been away for so long, especially when your lives had gone in totally opposite directions. She felt sorry for both of them.
“Did you have a nice lunch?” she asked. It was a place to start anyway, she figured. She knew Hawk was desperate to keep Garrett on a better path this time.
