Page 19 of Take My Heart
‘You’ll have to, eventually.’
‘I know, but I’d rather put it off.’
‘And stand here freezing in my garage while I work on the plow?’
‘That sounds better than sitting by myself in the house.’
I shrug. ‘Okay, well, as long as you’re here, would you mind grabbing the pliers? They’re on the workbench.’
She goes over to it, almost tripping as she tries to walk in my coat. She yanks the sleeve way up to find her hand so she can grab the pliers.
As she walks back to me, I laugh. ‘Nice coat.’
‘Thanks.’ She hands me the pliers, then spins around, like she’s modeling for me. ‘I think it has a chic industrial look, although it’d look better with jeans than gym shorts.’
‘Or on someone twice your size,’ I kid.
She laughs as she looks at herself in the coat. ‘Yeah, it’s kind of big, but it’s really warm.’
‘It is. That’s why I bought it. It’s great when I’m snowblowing sidewalks.’
She nods at the truck. ‘So what do you think’s wrong with it?’
‘Probably a loose wire. The blade isn’t moving.’ I use the pliers to check if any of the wire connections are loose. As I’m doing that, my phone rings and I realize I left it on the workbench. ‘Could you grab that?’ I say to Kate.
‘Sure.’
I glance up and see her picking up my phone. ‘Go ahead and answer it.’ I give her the password.
She hesitates, giving me a confused look.
‘What are you waiting for?’ I call out from the truck. ‘Just answer it.’
‘Hello?’ she says to whoever’s calling. ‘Um, no, I’m just here waiting out the storm. I got stranded in the snow and Brody gave me a ride.’
‘Who is it?’ I yell from the truck as I reach down to tighten a bolt.
‘Sure, I’ll give him the phone,’ I hear Kate say.
Looking up from the dash, I see Kate coming toward me. She stops next to the truck and hands me the phone.
‘It’s Talia,’ Kate whispers.
Talia. Shit, I forgot about her. We were supposed to go out tonight. I was going to take her to Sawyer’s brewery, where we could drink for free since I don’t have money to take her on a real date.
‘Hey, this is Brody,’ I say.
‘Hey, it’s Talia. Are we still on for tonight?’
Is she serious? Has she not looked out the window? It’s a freaking blizzard. And when it stops snowing, I’ll be working nonstop to clear driveways. I can’t risk losing another customer. I’ll have to work day and night until I finish.
‘We’ll have to do it some other time,’ I tell her. ‘My plow isn’t working. I’m trying to fix it.’
‘Could you come over and get me later? We could just hang out at your house.’
‘I can’t. I’ve got too much to do. If it stops snowing later, I’ll be out plowing.’
‘Okay, well, let me know when you want to meet up.’
