Page 55 of Perfectly Naïve
Hayes follows my pointed finger, spoon full of soup. “My dad and his friend Ryan.” He slurps up the soup with a groan. “God, Wilder is a good cook.”
“You both are. Who taught you?”
“Our mom. She was always in the kitchen.” He smiles, lost in a memory. “Christmas was always the best. She’d bake a dozen different cookies, pies. More food than any of us could eat.”
“She sounds nice.”
“She is, my dads are great too. Our parents are pretty supportive.”
I frown. What is that like?
He notices. “You know you don’t need her approval, right?”
Sighing, I push the sandwich toward him. “Yes. It would be nice to have it, though. What got you into cars?”
The subject change doesn’t go unnoticed, but he lets it slide. Hayes always seems to understand what I need, and I love that about him. “I took shop class in high school, and something clicked. Math and English were never really interesting. Changing oil and tires? That was cool. Eventually, that led to building engines, and when graduation came around, I knew I wanted to go into the industry. My dads convinced me to get a degree in automotive technology, and good thing I did, because I don’t know how I’d manage a shop without it.”
“There were business courses built in?”
He nods. “Enough for me to understand what I was getting into when I decided it was time to start my own place. Wild and I had a great aunt, well, we didn’t really know her, but she left us a very small fortune. I used mine to start Restoration & Autocare.”
Humming, I let him take a few bites, mulling over hishistory and trying to picture him as a greasy teenage boy in auto shop, living his dream. The visual fits my big guy. Wilder has a bit of a bad boy aura wrapped around his golden retriever personality, but Hayes? He’s steady in the storm. A little stoic and hard to read when you first meet him, but now that I know him better, I realize he’s as witty as his brother. Wilder is only more vocal with his quips.
“Why are you smiling?” Hayes takes a bite of his sandwich, leaning back and searching my face.
“I was trying to picture you and Wilder as kids.”
“Oh?”
How can I pass up that invitation to explain? “Well, you two are fraternal twins, but even identical twins can have different personalities. Based on everything I know about you two so far, Wilder must’ve either been the quarterback or the goofball that the girls all wanted to date.”
“He never loved football, but you’re right on the second count. What about me?”
I study him, the neutral expression he wears as he waits for me to finish. “You lived in his shadow. Not because he forced you there, but because you preferred it. Wilder could do all the socializing while you observed everyone. I’m betting you tried the same extracurriculars for a bit, then like you said, you took shop and you found yourself. Or at least, a piece of what makes Hayes, Hayes.”
Silence stretches between us, and for a heartbeat, I’m worried I’ve offended him, but the corners of his lips kick up.
“I tried drawing.” He drinks a big gulp of water.
“How did that go?”
He chuckles. “Not well. Wilder definitely got all the creative skills.”
“Maybe, or maybe yours came in a different form. Restoring cars takes creativity.”
“I guess you’re right.” He shrugs. “Wilder worries thatother people look down on him because he didn’t go to college, but sometimes I think he got it right. He knew what his passion was early on, and he went for it. He wasn’t going to let student loans hold him back.”
I watch him take another spoonful of soup. “What about Hayes? What does Hayes worry about?”
Clearing his throat, he sets the utensil down. “That no one will ever really notice me.”
Reaching across the table, I link my hand with his. “I notice you.”
His answering grin is warm and gentle. “I know, vixen.” He holds my hand while he finishes eating, which is a little funny, considering he only has one to hold the sandwich with, but he manages. He finishes with a soft exhale. “Thank you for feeding me.”
“You’re welcome. Are you ready to go home?”
He shakes his head. “I have one more thing to do, and I need your help.”
