“She wanted you bad,” she says.
“Did she?”
Harper snorts. “If she had leaned in any more, her tits would have been spilling out onto your arm, Cash. She was very into you. Why did you turn her down? I could have handled closing up and getting back if you wanted to spend time with her.”
I shrug a shoulder. “I’ve known Cathy since high school. She’s never been my type.”
“What, blonde and perky doesn’t do it for you?” Harper asks genuinely. “She’s really pretty.”
“Maybe. But some women just don’t hold my attention.” I look directly at her when I say it, and our eyes catch and hold.
Harper’s cheeks flush pink, and she nearly drops the bottle of gin in her hand. Another customer comes up to the bar then, and she hurries away to talk to them, leaving me grinning to myself at the end of the bar on my own.
Chapter 10
Harper
A few days of living with the three Alphas pass, and slowly but surely, it starts to feel at least a tiny bit less surreal. I fall into more of a routine with them, and I can’t help but be shocked at how easily they manage to incorporate me and Cora into their lives. They must have been used to the way they were living, but they just seem unbothered by the chaos that happens when you have a little kid around sometimes.
Cora isn’t a bad kid, but she’s young. And this is the first time in a while that she’s had space to play and regular meals. She leaves toys lying around everywhere, and needs attention at random moments. She communicates with gestures and tugs instead of words, and that can’t be easy to deal with all the time.
But none of them complain. They do their best to understand her, and when they can’t, they look to me. When Everett steps on a toy that has somehow rolled into the kitchen, he has a patient conversation with Cora about not leaving things where people could trip on them, and then deputizes her to make sure the house is ‘safe’ by checking every corner to make sure no other toys are in the way.
It holds her attention for two whole hours, and all her toys find their way back to her room.
When I apologize for the mess or for being in their way, all three of them wave it away.
“You’re not in the way,” Cash says.
“And you’re not any messier than Cash,” Lincoln adds without looking up from what he’s doing.
So it works somehow.
On the third day, Lincoln gives me a ride to the mechanic. Cora insists on coming too, so the three of us end up standing in the waiting room while we wait for Paul to finish up with another customer.
He comes over to me, wiping his hands on a towel before throwing it over his shoulder.
“I just wanted to check on the progress,” I tell him. “Any news?”
“None yet, I’m afraid,” he says.
Lincoln lifts an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Lots of reasons. It’s an old car that has a lot of miles on it. They don’t have the parts she needs for it sitting around the way they would with a newer car. And there’s not just one thing wrong. We have to wait for another part to come in so we can fix the main problem. Like I told you,” he looks at me. “It would be easier to just get a newer car because this isn’t going to be a quick or easy fix.”
“If we took it somewhere else would they have the same opinion?” Lincoln asks gruffly.
Paul gives him a look. “You’re welcome to, but I can’t see any city mechanic having better luck. And they’d upsell you on the parts.”
“How much are you charging?”
Paul responds, and the number makes my head spin a little. He explains that he’s not doing any mark ups for the parts, just charging at cost and for labor.
That seems to be good enough for Lincoln, who stands down.
“We’re just playing the waiting game,” Paul continues. “The main thing we need is backordered because it’s not really in use much anymore. Once we get that in, we can start working on it.”
I sigh, feeling a little defeated. It’s not like I can afford it yet anyway, but it’s not good to hear that I’m still a ways out from being able to get back on the road.