bike or a car.”
Hmm. “And you think it’s safe for you to be working on your own? What if there’s a night market?”
Her expression softened a little. “I’ll have Gwen with me. And seriously, when was the last time something bad happened around here? I was reading the local bulletin last week and the biggest news story was that Mrs. Hylander called the police on an ‘intruder’ which turned out to be a hungry possum.”
Good point.
“I… I don’t want you to make another mistake,” he added, hoping she understood that his concern came from a good place.
“Ouch. What’s one more mistake flung onto the huge pile of all the other mistakes I’ve made?” she said, handing the tablet back to him and not meeting his eye.
He felt like a dick for hurting her feelings. He needed to watch his mouth more, but years working on construction sites had whittled down his ability for nuance and finesse. Funnily enough, those things weren’t too effective with tradies.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said.
“Yeah, you did.” She swallowed. “And that’s fine, it’s why I came to you. I know you’ll give it to me straight.”
Too straight, perhaps.
Wasn’t that what his ex-girlfriend had said to him? That his honesty was like being beaten over the head with a club? That he had a tendency to bulldoze people, even when he was trying to help? Shit. He didn’t want to do that to Zoey.
“Why don’t we head inside for a bit and I can run you through some rough costs for everything on the list, and then you can decide whether the investment is within your budget,” he suggested.
“Thank you.” She placed a hand on his arm. “I would appreciate that.”
She turned and headed towards the house, leaving him to watch the way her pretty mermaid hair tumbled down her back and the enticing way her hips swung with each step she took. Was he projecting? Or was he trying so hard to learn from the mistakes his family had made that he was piling his baggage onto her shoulders?
He’d seen the disaster brewing with his sister a mile off—the bad decisions she was making, the way she tended to act before thinking, the way she was able to convince their parents to give her anything because they loved her passion and zest for life. He didn’t want Zoey to suffer the same consequences his sister had. He didn’t want her to ruin her life the way his sister had.
She’s not your person to protect.
But it didn’t seem to matter how many times he said that to himself, the urge was still there.
Chapter Five
An hour later Zoey’s head was spinning like a top. She and Mack were sitting at her kitchen table, while he went through the list of things she need to fix in order to get the Westfalia up to scratch. It was… a lot.
But a long list wasn’t going to stop her. People around here might still see her as the rebellious teenage girl with the rainbow hair, Doc Martens, and nose ring who was always skipping school or getting sent to the principal’s office. But that wasn’t who she was anymore. Okay, sure, she still had the colourful hair that changed whenever a whim took hold of her and yeah, she still loved adding to her collection of Docs. But she’d lost the nose ring along with most of the pent-up anger that had driven her to rebel.
In fact, the best thing she’d ever done in her life was making peace with her childhood not being perfect. She’d also made peace with the fact that her mother wasn’t interested in a relationship with her and that getting along with her father was going to take some work.
That was all fine.
Because Zoey knew the power of focusing on now. On rising above criticism and learning to forgive and being the best you that you could be. That’s how she lived her life—focusing on the positive.
“How’s your head feeling?” Mack asked with a hint of a smile on his lips.
He was standing in her kitchen, putting the coffee cups in the sink and looking like the snack he was. Yesterday he’d had that sexy, dirty look going on with stubble and a clingy T-shirt and grimy work boots. Zoey was a fan of that look. Chef’s kiss, A+ and gold stars all ’round. Yet she was equally a fan of Mack’s cleaned-up look, too—worn-in jeans, clean-shaven jaw, citrus shampoo scent mixed with