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Creepy Karl? Just forget about June. She’ll be gone again before you know it.”
    “What’s the harm in having a little fun while she’s here?”
    “A little fun ?” He glared at Trey, and the truck swerved wildly into the left lane before Luke jerked it back again.
    “Whoa, chill the hell out! What’s your problem? If she’s not like your sister, then why can’t—” Trey sucked in a quick breath and turned to face him. “You’re into her, aren’t you?”
    “No.”
    “Bullshit. You two have a history. What happened? Did you already…y’know?”
    Luke’s fist tightened against the wheel. Some things a man just kept private. “I want Jenkins’s roof finished before the next storm comes in. They deliver the shingles?”
    Trey hesitated a few seconds before he said, “Yeah.” His best friend wasn’t an idiot, so he let the subject drop, and they drove on in silence.

Chapter 4
    Randy Travis crooned through one half-busted speaker in June’s car, promising to love her forever and ever, amen. The air-conditioning only worked on special occasions, and today wasn’t one of them, so she rolled the window down a little farther and let the warm breeze stir her ponytail. June squinted at the digital clock on the cracked gray dashboard. The faded display read nine-fifteen. If the temperature now was any indication, fall hadn’t decided to make an appearance yet. Another scorcher. But not even the lure of air-conditioning could convince her to spend one minute inside the Holy Baptism by Hellfire Church. She’d had her fill of all that as a child, thank you very much.
    June glanced out her window at a parched irrigation ditch running alongside an even more parched, withered cornfield. The filmy brown ditch water couldn’t compare to Luquos’s clear, clean aquariums. She sighed, imagining herself relaxed against a velvet-cushioned booth while watching three hundred graceful jellyfish float delicately inside a pink backlit wall. Her jellies would arrive next week, and she wouldn’t be there to greet them. Esteban had phoned that morning, and aside from an argument with the building inspector, things were going more smoothly than either of them expected. She’d tried to sound pleased on the phone, but truthfully, she missed feeling needed.
    A dull thunk sounded from the engine, and June eased up on the accelerator. Time to keep it below fifty.
    “Come on, Bruiser,” she whispered. “You can make it.”
    With only three hundred fifty dollars in the bank and no means of earning cash during the next month, June couldn’t afford another repair. And she’d ride a rusted unicycle before she’d ask Gram for money.
    She read the directions Gram had written for her. Only one more mile until the Jenkins house. June held her breath and tried to calm the nervous flutter inside her belly. What did she know about fixing things? Hopefully she’d find a useful way to contribute without making an idiot of herself in the process. She also hoped Luke had exaggerated about the critters.
    An old, white colonial came into view, its roof half stripped of shingles and baring the faded plywood underneath. A shirtless man straddled the roof peak, pulling off tar sheets and tossing them behind the house. As June drove closer, she realized it was Trey. He must’ve recognized her too, because he paused to wave before returning to his work.
    Five other vehicles were parked in front of the house, including Luke’s big black Gallagher Contracting truck. Her heart gave a little quiver—what was he doing there? Taking a deep breath, June pulled Bruiser onto a shaded dirt path around the side. Her engine was more likely to start up again if it didn’t sit too long in direct sunlight.
    June smoothed her T-shirt, donned a wide-brimmed straw hat, and grabbed a bottle of water from her mini-cooler. Folding her community service time sheet, she pressed it between her lips while stepping out of the car.
    “Hey, I recognize that.” A