Page 3 of Cookie

“Oh god, don’t remind me.” My family were all very close. We owned and all worked at the auto shop. My mom ran the office, while Dad tried to keep us all on schedule in the shop. My two brothers worked here too, but luckily, we all got along. I looked over to where the two of them were working. Caspian was leaning into the engine compartment of a truck while Clarence rolled out from under a sedan, but both were looking at me with those knowing looks that told of many hours of harassment for weeks to come.

“Oh my god, remember how bad he was?” Caspian started with a smirk.

“Not as bad as you were with your first girlfriend,” Mom said as she walked into the shop just in time to shut it all down.

“Yeah, but I married her,” Caspian mumbled before going back to the engine he was currently dismantling.

“That you did,” Mom said. “Charlie, can I have a minute?” She turned and walked back to the office without any explanation.

“What is it? Did I do something wrong?” I asked. Immediately thinking the worst because Mom usually stayed out of the shop and left us to it unless we fucked up.

“Not at all. I was trying to save you from yourself. Since you got back from lunch you’ve been strung tighter than a drum. What’s going on?” She slid in behind the desk and shuffled around some papers she’d been working on.

“There’s a new guy in town that’s working at the bookstore,” I huffed out, tired of trying to avoid the conversation.

“Oh Ryan? I’ve met him. He’s going to buy the bookstore from Millie.”

“How do you know that? I just recently noticed him.” I shouldn’t have been shocked. My mom usually knew everything that was going on around town.

“Millie was in last month for an oil change and we chatted while she was here.”

“Of course you did,” I mumbled.

“I know her nephew is new in town, maybe you should go ask him to dinner?”

And there it was, my mother was trying to play matchmaker. Even if this was the one time I was willing to go along with it, there was no way I was telling her that. “He’s probably very busy.”

“You won’t know unless you ask. Oh, and maybe he needs an oil change?” She grinned at me, and I knew she wasn’t going to stop until I finally agreed to whatever it was she wanted me to do. In this case, to take the new guy to dinner.

Which is how I ended up standing out in front of said bookstore and hoping like hell he’d already left for the day. When I peeked inside, Avery Schwartz immediately saw me. Her eyes widened so much it would have been funny if I wasn’t so fucking nervous. Ryan turned to me and smiled, and I blushed so hard I knew for a fact he could see it through the window.

Fuck this.I hurried back to the shop and was almost to the open bay door when a hand on my shoulder stopped me. “Hey, was there something you wanted?” Cookie—Ryan asked. “I just happened to see you through the window and thought you were coming to the bookstore.”

“I am, I mean I was. I just—fuck,” I stammered. God, I thought he was shy, but apparently it was me that was flustered just trying to talk to him. He smiled and waited patiently while I tooka deep breath. “Sorry. I wanted to ask if you’d like to go to dinner with me sometime.”

“I’d love to,” he said. “When did you want to go?”

I was so shocked he’d agreed, for a moment I couldn’t speak. What the hell was wrong with me? “How is tonight? We can just go someplace casual if that works for you?”

“That sounds perfect. Oh, and I brought you something.” He handed me one of the pink cookies he’d been eating every time I’d seen him so far. “I want your opinion on those. What time and where do you want me to meet you later?”

I shook my head to force myself to pay attention and answer. “How is six o’clock? I can meet you at the bookstore if you want, and we can walk over to the café?”

“It’s a date. I’ll see you at six and you can tell me what you think of that cookie.” He hurried back to his store without a second glance while I stood in front of the garage gaping after him. When I finally got myself together enough to turn around, it was to find Mom, Caspian, and Clarence staring at me, obviously amused.

“What?” I asked and tried to sound stern, but it was hard to hide how happy I was. They all laughed at me before going back to work. Mom winked at me, and I hurried back to my station and tried to focus on the oil change I was doing, not on the cute boy who had asked me to ask him for a date.

Four

Ryan

Iwasn’t sure what it was about Charlie that drew me to him. Maybe it was the fact he was a huge muscular man that was confident, but also very shy. Or maybe it was that he’d watched me eat every day for weeks before he finally worked up the courage to speak to me. Either way, I was intrigued. He was easy to talk to, and very good-looking.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” Avery had said when I’d told her what I’d done.

“If you want something you gotta go for it,” I’d said and hoped she believed me, because I had no clue what I was doing. Before working at the bookstore, I typically kept to myself and would never have put myself out there with a stranger. But I found I liked how it made me feel. It was exciting, and I really was looking forward to going to dinner with him even if it was just the café down the street.

When Avery left and I put the closed sign up for the day, my stomach rolled with nerves and my earlier confidence fled.What if we have nothing to talk about? Or if he’s really a horrible person that I don’t like at all?I shoved all my nerves down and hurried upstairs to the small apartment I’d been staying in. At first, I didn’t like the idea of living above where I’d be working, but now found I loved it.

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