Page 21 of A Room By the Sea

“Well, um…” Theo coughed, and Michelle noticed that he seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her. “I bought a new pair of shoes that I wanted to bring to work so I could wear them here tomorrow. They’re in my car, but I was planning on bringing them inside today so I would have them tomorrow.”

Hayden crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing at Theo. “You want to bring in your work shoes and leave them here?”

“Yeah.” Theo smiled innocently.

“Why not just wear them to work tomorrow?”

There was a moment of silence, and Michelle tried to keep the amused expression off her face.

“Well, uh—I don’t want to get my regular shoes full of grease, so I figured I’d just wear those shoes only at the shop here,” Theo said, stammering a little. “Hey, Michelle!” He turned to her with a grin, his tone overly bright. “How’s it going? How’s your car running?”

“It’s great,” Hayden said defensively. “Her car is running great. Why don’t you go get those shoes, Theo?”

“I will.” Theo pointed finger-guns at Hayden. “I’ll be right back.”

He hurried out of the auto repair shop, and Michelle felt suddenly awkward, wondering if she should wait for him to come back. Would it be rude to just leave?

You want to see him again, don’t you? she thought, feeling her stomach do a somersault. Good grief, get out of here.

Before she could leave, however, Theo burst back into the lobby, carrying his new pair of work shoes.

Michelle hid a smile, amused by the way Theo was breathing heavily. It was clear that he’d run to his car and run back. “Your place sure has a great price for oil changes,” she said to Theo. “It was only half the cost of what I paid in the city.”

“We usually charge more than what we charged you,” Hayden said. “Not that much more, but it’s usually a little more expensive. Your oil change price didn’t even totally cover the cost of the oil and the filter.”

“Really?” Michelle cocked her head to one side, feeling confused. “Why was it so cheap?”

“Uh, we have a promotion going on,” Theo said, reddening slightly.

“No,” Hayden said, choosing honesty over tact the way most teenagers did. “We don’t have a promotion going on.”

“It’s a special promotion,” Theo said. “Only certain customers get it.”

Hayden opened his mouth, about to ask a question, but Theo kept talking.

“Well, great to see you guys,” he said. He flashed a grin at both of them. “I’ll just be on my way then. Have a good day.” He waved cheerfully and stepped out of the shop, taking his new work shoes with him.

“Oh man, that guy,” Hayden said, shaking his head. “He must really like you.”

“What?” Michelle felt her whole face grow hot, and she felt worried that she was as red as a tomato.

Hayden shrugged. “There was only one pick-up on the schedule today, and it was you. Theo must have planned to come in exactly when you got here to pick up your car.”

“Oh my goodness, no,” Michelle said, pretending to laugh the suggestion off even though she still felt her cheeks flushing. “He wouldn’t do that. Well, thanks Hayden. I’d better run.”

Hayden shrugged. “Sure, your keys are in your car. Bye, Miss Lowe—I mean, Michelle.”

“Bye, Hayden,” she said, smiling and waving. She hurried out of the shop and across the parking lot to where her car was waiting. She climbed inside, frantically checking her reflection in the mirror. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that she wasn’t as red as a beet, although her cheeks did look a little pinker than usual.

Wow, that was awkward, she thought, resting her forehead on the steering wheel. There’s no way Theo dropped in when he did just to see me. Right?

She did find it odd that he’d shown up right at that moment—and for such a silly reason. She shook her head wryly when she thought about the way he’d raced in with his work shoes, only to leave with them still in his hands.

Maybe he did show up to see me so that he could give me a hard time, she thought wryly. I wouldn’t put it past him to take advantage of any excuse to tease me.

As soon as she’d had the thought, however, she paused. Theo hadn’t given her a hard time. He hadn’t teased her at all. Apparently, he’d even arranged for her to get a massive discount on her oil change.

She thought about it for a few more seconds and then shrugged. Maybe Theo had just accidentally put down the wrong price for her oil change, and maybe he really had just wanted to drop his shoes off. She wasn’t going to let herself read into it too much. If she read into it, it led her to speculations that she was absolutely not ready to contemplate.