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got it done quicker than I thought.
Just the tire is all she owes.” He glanced up and shot me a
quick smile before dropping his head back to the clipboard.
    “ Oh, no, that's
okay. I'm using my mom's credit card to pay for it so it's okay to
charge me for the labor.” I pulled my purse off of my shoulder
and sat it on the counter to search for my wallet that was buried
somewhere amongst the mess of receipts. It took a few seconds but I
finally found it and pulled out my mom's card.
    Lou sat his magazine
down and took it from me, looking over his bifocals and holding it at
a distance to read the print more clearly. “Do you have an
I.D.?” he asked.
    “ Yeah, hold on
I'll get it.” I slid my license out from underneath the plastic
sheath and handed it to him. My license picture wasn't the greatest
in the world, but it wasn't too embarrassing.
    “ Okay, let me see
here,” he grunted, holding it up as if he were looking at a
hundred dollar bill to find its watermark.
    My breath caught in my
throat as I saw Jonah look up from his clipboard and peer at it.
    Please don't look at
my age!
    “ It's
your birthday tomorrow; Happy Birthday,” Jonah said cheerfully.
He was looking
at my age.
    “ Yeah, I'll be
seventeen.” I felt a little embarrassed that I was so young. I
knew that Jonah was older than me, and I had the feeling that my age
had blown any chances that I had with him.
    Lou gave me a delighted
smile. “Well, let's celebrate early.” He pulled a pink
half empty box of donuts from underneath the counter and rested it in
front of me. “There's not too much to choose from, but you can
have your pick.”
    I smiled at him and
looked down at the box. The only ones that were left were a bear
claw, a small round glazed one, and a chocolate bar with sprinkles. I
chose the sprinkles. Yeah, pretty much the same one a little kid
would have chosen . . .
    “ Thank you so
much,” I said, speaking to both of them.
    “ No problem at
all,” Lou replied. “And here's your license back. Your
last name matches the one on the card, so that's good enough for me.”
He handed it over and I gently took it, sliding it back into its
usual place in my wallet.
    “ Well, have a
nice day, Summer,” Jonah said as he breathed out a deep sigh;
he must have read my name on my license as well. He gave me one last
attractive smile and then headed back through the door, disappearing
from view.
    And that was it.
    After Lou charged my
mom's card and gave it back to me I threw it in my purse and thanked
him again. I left the office and went back out to the car, taking a
moment to look at the new tire before getting in.
    He
did a good job. Maybe I should run over a few nails so I can bring it back in for him to
fix again.
    I laughed at my thought
as I opened the door and flung my purse inside. When I sat down on
the seat I could smell the faintness of Jonah's cologne: a masculine,
woodsy scent. I started the engine and laid my head against the
headrest, taking a moment to breathe him in before heading back home.

    * * *

    When I got to my house
I found my mom paying the bills at the kitchen table. I sat down next
to her and explained about the pothole and that I used her credit
card to get a new tire. She panicked at first, naturally, but after I
told her how I handled it she calmed down.
    “ You are such a
mature young lady,” she said with satisfaction. “You
handled that better than I would have.” She raised a cup of hot
tea to her mouth for a sip, while simultaneously moving her reading
glasses from her face to the top of her head. “Now, tell me how
your first day at work went.”
    “ It was fine,”
I said shortly. I honestly didn't want to discuss it at the moment; I
preferred to go upstairs to my room and swoon over Jonah.
    She looked at me
blankly. “Just fine?”
    “ Yeah mom . . . I
didn't do much. I stocked stuff and helped some people who needed
more ketchup; it was pretty boring.” Her faint look of
disappointment at my