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“No!” she almost shouted.
I took that as an invitation and pulled the keys out of the ignition and quickly got out.
“Alexia, give me those!”
I walked toward Reno and heard her feet crunching on the dirt behind me.
“Give me the keys, Lexi. I have to go!”
“Reno, isn’t it a little hot out here for horseshoes? Where’s Austin?”
“Inside.”
Panic was coming up the rear and she snatched the back of my shirt.
“I’d like you to meet my friend, April Frost,” I said with a wide smile.
I stepped to the side so he could see her hiding behind me and April froze up like a statue, staring at the ground. She wasn’t overly tan, so the blush on her creamy cheeks was noticeable, but it could have been the heat.
“April, this is Reno Cole.”
God, that name really sounded horrible together. My brain was saying it ten times fast and it ended up sounding like a drug medication. I snickered and waited for them to start talking. But Reno folded his arms and kept intimidating her with his stare. The mirrored sunglasses weren’t helping.
“Hi,” she said in a small voice, kicking a pebble around with her jeweled flip-flop masquerading as a sandal. Her fingers twined around a frayed piece of her cutoff jean shorts and it was then I noticed her Billy Joel shirt. Maybe introducing her to Reno was a bad idea; he didn’t look like that type that jammed out to soft 80s piano rock.
“It’s pretty hot out here,” she said.
A lone drop of sweat rolled down his cheek and agreed with her assessment.
“Alexia, I really need to go. Can I have the keys?”
April—who could sell a condom to a nun—couldn’t talk to a man. I’d seen her work her magic in the shop buttering up customers, but it was always business related. She never had personal conversations with male customers, so I guess I just didn’t notice how uncomfortable she really was around them. But why? Something else was going on with her, but I decided to let her off the hook and tossed her the keys.
“Thanks for driving me home,” I said. “I’ll call you later when I get a chance to look over the documents.”
“Sounds good.” Her eyes skidded to Reno for a second before she walked backward and stumbled, almost falling on her ass. “I’ll talk to you later.”
April jogged back to the car and Reno didn’t stop staring.
“Could you look a little bit less intimidating?” I asked him. “You’re traumatizing my friend with your scowl.”
The engine revved and then April made a half-assed attempt to back up and circle around, but she wasn’t masterful with the clutch. She backed into a deep pothole and the rear tire got stuck.
That’s when Reno stalked forward with his heavy arms swinging at his side and I could see April inside the car, gripping the wheel and watching him with wide eyes. He moved to the rear of the car, bent over, and lifted it.
Actuallyliftedthe car and pushed it out of the pothole. Now, I knew VW’s weren’t very heavy compared to some cars, but I was pretty damn impressed. She zoomed away and he lingered in the road, staring at the hole.
Austin emerged from the house with Maizy holding his hand. It warmed my heart to see that image, and then she sleepily waved at me.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Reno lifted a shovel from the side of the house and was stalking toward the hole when something in the dirt snagged his attention. He bent over to pick it up and looked at the object in his hand.
“April’s in on the plan. She just dropped me off, but she agreed to take the promotion without a raise increase—for now. We’re going to work out the details later on.”
“That’s good news,” he said, looking down at Maizy. She was swinging their hands a little bit and her eyelids kept drooping.
“Has she had her nap?”
