Tonight was one of the nights I usually babysat for my friend Nora, and I only had thirty minutes to get home. Lucky for me, peak-hour traffic wasn’t a thing in Humptulips. I would have time to finish answering the last email that was titled urgent, then could rush home and still make it.
The workshop was busy, and the guys usually worked long hours. Landon came inside as I was packing up. “What are you still doing here?” he asked and stopped at the door with his brows raised.
“I’m on my way out, just had to finish up a few things.”
“Pretty much anything can wait until tomorrow. You don’t have to work late, you know.”
I liked to do a good job and that meant getting my work done. Despite what most people thought about me, I was not a ditzy idiot. I got a scholarship to college and I studied hard. None of the things I accomplished in my life were because of who my family was. The Connors were notorious in Humptulips; my mother owned a huge cattle ranch and half the businesses in town. Everyone thought I had it all, but nobody really knew how oppressive a life I had led.
I shouldered my bag and gave him a half-smile, which was all I had in me at the moment. “Didn’t want to mess up on my first day. The computer wasn’t working properly, so it took a bit longer. But I got it done.”
He nodded and walked closer. “If you ever need anything, come and find me.”
I guessed him to be around my age, and he had the boy-next-door look perfected. His light green eyes and curly dark brown hair would get him laid without a problem.
I made my way to the door. “Thanks, that’s a really nice offer. I will.”
The door to the garage opened again and Mason stepped inside, sucking all the air from the room. I guessed his big head needed the extra oxygen to function.
“What’s a nice offer?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes at his gruff voice and kept walking. “Nothing. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He didn’t respond, but judging by his narrowed eyes he wasn’t all that happy. But then again, I didn’t think I had ever seen him so much as smile at me. He was happy-go-lucky with everyone else, but as soon as he saw me he went all frostbite. He’d been around when I visited Willa at work before, and we’ve all gone out together a few times. He was hard to avoid; his brother was dating my best friend, yet for some reason we always seemed to disagree about something.
I ignored his angry scowl and waved good-bye to Landon. I really had to hurry up, or Nora would think I wasn’t gonna show.
The drive home was blissfully uneventful, and I made it with a few minutes to spare. I dropped all my stuff into Willa’s apartment before going next door.
I opened the door with the key Nora had given me and was greeted by her three-year-old boy, Luca. “Esteballa, you are here,” he yelled while dancing toward me wearing only his underwear and dinosaur slippers. His speech had been delayed, and he struggled to pronounce words. Regardless, I loved that he had a special name for me and secretly hoped he’d never be able to say my name properly.
Nora was a single mom who had been dealt a few blows in life, but she never let anything keep her down. I did what I could to help, especially since she had no support from her family or the kids’ dad and was raising them by herself. We met when I first moved in with Willa. I was heading out to meet my friend Maisie and ran into Nora, who was struggling up the stairs with two kids and a bag of groceries. I gave her a hand and we bonded over our mutual love of unpronounceable cheese.
“Hey, bud, how was your day?” I asked.
“I gots to play with Pete t’day.”
I kissed his chubby cheek and walked into the living room. “How exciting. Sounds like your day was more interesting than mine.”
“I sincerely doubt that. Don’t think I’ll let you get out of telling me how it was,” Nora called out from the bedroom. I plopped down on the couch and Luca threw himself next to me, a book already in his hand. He loved to read, and it was now our thing to read before we did anything else.
Nora worked nights at a bar, and I watched Luca and her baby Lena a few times a week. It wasn’t unusual for me to sleep on her couch because I was too tired to drag myself next door. We always joked that us meeting was fate.
“I might be a bit later tonight. We have a private function in one of the back rooms. Lena is already asleep. She only had one nap during the day, so she was pooped,” Nora said, dressed in her usual work outfit of black skinny jeans and a skintight corset. She refused to wear the short skirts that were part of the uniform, but she got away with it because she was a fantastic bartender and her boss loved her.
“You know I don’t mind. It doesn’t make a difference to me when you get home. I’ll most likely be asleep anyway,” I said.
She leaned over the back of the couch and kissed Luca’s head, then mine. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank you for watching my babies.”
“I love Luca and Lena more than anything, and you know there’s nowhere I’d rather be. Go to work already and leave us in peace. We have a few books to get through before bedtime.”
“All right,
