The Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold

✖ Chapter 26 ✖

The end of that week saw us through to the last days of October. There was a bit of a chill in the air, which in Central Florida meant that compared to the summertime it felt like absolute heaven. Friday afternoon found me at the main shop, helping papa with the accounting for the month. Normally I'd have rather spent the evening hanging out with my friends or watching movies with Toni, but duty called.

And by duty I didn't mean the accounting books, I meant that from papa's office I could see Sawyer working hard over the hood of a car. I was thankful that he never wore the overalls up, preferring to don a white wife beater that was soaked through with sweat and clung to his body like a second skin. I blinked slow, committing the details to memory so that I could draw them after dinner. He was a living work of art as he turned a heavy wrench that worked the muscles of his arm and shoulder. The repetitive motion made me break into a sweat despite the air conditioning.

"Mija?"

I snapped out of the trance and looked at papa. He appeared to be waiting for an answer that I didn't know how to give.

"Sorry, papa. What did you say?"

He turned, about to see what else had me more engrossed than the numbers, but I reached out and pulled at his sleeve, which unfocused him before he was able to connect the dots.

"Did you add the new equipment for the second shop in the calculation?"

"Yes, absolutely," I said.

I cleared my throat and looked down at the numbers, pretending to be fully immersed in them. The truth was that I'd been so distracted looking at Sawyer that I completely forgot about the thousands of dollars worth of equipment purchases for the second shop. I made sure to add them and made a side list of all the other things I had to account for. I did end up focusing on the matter, and it chafed on my nerves when someone knocked on the door and interrupted. Except that through the glass I could see that it was He Who I Couldn't Stop Thinking About.

"May I interrupt for a quick moment?" he asked at the same time as a cacophony of noises filtered through the open door.

Papa motioned him in. "Yes, yes. Come on in."

Sawyer came in and closed the door behind him. Grey eyes met my brown ones, and I didn't imagine the way they held.

"What's going on, mijo?" papa asked.

I figured that by the way Sawyer was dragging his feet on getting to the topic, it meant he didn't want me here for the conversation. I rearranged the accounting books on the table so they were shut and neatly on top of each other and stood up.

"I'll leave you both to-"

Sawyer raised a hand. "No, you don't have to go. It's just-" He ran a hand over his tied up hair that left a dark streak. He addressed papa as he continued, "Well, I know I already asked you for the same favor before, but I was wondering if there's any overtime coming up."

Papa frowned. "Did you have any issues with the mortgage again?"

Again?

"No," Sawyer looked down and put his hands in the pockets of his overall. "I just thought there'd be more leftover to start November with, but..."

He drifted off, but the meaning was clear. He and his dad were in trouble. Seeing what I'd seen, I figured that it was more like Sawyer was the one in trouble, really. That Jack Logan demanded that his son pay for the household expenses either with green or with the red of blood. Sawyer's nose was healing okay enough and he looked a lot less like a Halloween costume had been permanently glued onto his face, but it was still obvious that his side hurt.