Page 8 of Hot Summer Nights

“Good. I’m grabbing something to eat,” he says, turning but Lyla stops him and hands him a muffin that she must have taken from Madelyn’s house.

“Was thinking of you,” she says, batting her eyes at him and he just grunts out a thanks before he heads out of a side door.

The gift shop door opens and a black and white dog sprints in.

“Bandit!” Sutton calls and the dog skids to a stop and turns to head behind the counter.

“Sorry, he’s got so much energy in the morning,” Sutton says but I just smile.

“It’s no problem. I love dogs. I just wasn’t expecting one to come bursting through the door,” I say with a laugh.

“Sorry, that was my fault. I didn’t know that we had guests already,” a tall guy in a backward baseball hat says as he comes inside.

“Record, this is my boyfriend and the Mystery Cabin’s handyman, Teller. Teller, this is Record. She’s Madelyn and Flynn’s friend from college and she’s here for a visit,” Sutton says.

“Nice to meet you,” he says, shaking my hand before he heads behind the counter to drop a kiss on Sutton’s lips.

“Ready for that tour?” Lyla asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me and I grin.

“Let’s do it.”

FOUR

Record

Lyla and Suttoninvited me out to dinner with them, but I told them another time. We’ve been hanging out all day and while nothing bad has happened, that doesn’t mean that it’s not coming.

I figured that it wasn’t worth tempting fate.

I’m pretty sure that they wanted to spend some time alone with their boyfriends anyway, so that’s how I end up driving down the half-deserted streets toward Gavin’s Mechanic Shop.

I told myself that I’m only going to go and check on my car’s progress, but I can’t deny that there are butterflies in my stomach at the thought of seeing Gavin again.

I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but it’s like ever since I met him, I can’t help but try to find new ways or excuses to be around him.

It’s getting late, the sun is just starting to set, and I wonder if he’ll even still be at the shop. Maybe he had a date tonight or was planning on hanging out with friends or something. Hell, he could even be out picking up someone else’s car that stalled out.

My stomach drops at the thought of him out on a date and I try to ignore the feeling as I turn off of Main Street and head toward his shop. His place isn’t far but now that it’s starting to get dark, I’m wondering if I should have driven instead of walked. It was just so nice out and I didn’t think that it would take me long but I got distracted by some of the shops downtown and now I’m wondering if they have an Uber or anything here. I probably shouldn’t be walking around at night.

It doesn’t take long to get there and a smile tips my lips when I spot his tow truck out front. One of the bays is still open and there are lights on inside so I head in that direction.

“Hey,” I call as I reach the door and he glances over at me.

It’s the same as every other time those bright blue eyes land on me and I suck in a breath as my heart takes off like a shot.

He’s wearing his usual dark blue overalls but they’re unzipped and hanging at his waist. He’s got a white shirt on that’s covered in grease stains and I don’t know where to look first.

My fingers itch for a paintbrush and canvas, but I doubt that I could ever truly capture this scene onto canvas. It would always be missing something.

“Careful,” he says, nodding toward some car parts at my feet.

“Thanks,” I say as I tiptoe around them.

“I found the belt for your car a few towns over and I ordered that today so it should be in tomorrow or the day after, but I’m still looking for distributor cap,” he tells me as he bends over the hood of some old pickup truck.

“Any luck finding one online?”

He shrugs, his big shoulder lifting and falling distractedly as he finishes tightening something under the hood. I move closer, looking down into the depths of the engine but it’s all just the same metal pieces or rubber tubes.

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