Read The Voyeur Next Door for Free Online Page B

between you two.”
    I was only partially relieved when Ali looked as confounded as I felt.
    “There is nothing going on between us,” I told him.
    “I know!” Earl said with more than just a hint of exasperation. “That’s the problem. You two need to start getting along, especially since you’ll be working together.”
    Ali shifted uncomfortably. “Earl, I told you—”
    “I know what you told me,” Earl interrupted. “But I refuse to accept it. Now, the only thing standing in our way of moving forward is the two of you, so.” He glanced from me to Ali and back. “What are we going to do about it?” His bushy eyebrows lifted when neither of us responded. “Okay, well, why don’t we start with you, Gabriel? Why don’t you tell us your reservations?”
    I couldn’t make up my mind if this was an intervention, an interrogation, or a counseling session. Whichever it was, between it and the sun, I was ready to strangle a baby.
    “Grandpa, if you want to hire her, hire her. It’s your shop.”
    Earl sighed. “One day, it will be yours and you need to know how to do this stuff.”
    “What stuff?” I countered, a little too sharply. “I know how to run a business.”
    Earl gave me that look. It was a mix between pitying, sorrowful, and defeated. I hated it. I didn’t understand it. I was fine. Didn’t I look fine? Hadn’t I done all I could to be fine? I wasn’t going to fall to pieces damn it!
    “If you want her to work at the shop,” I started slowly, choosing my words carefully and calmly. “Then I will support that decision. I will even get her name stamped on the office door. Whatever you want. Just leave me out of it.”
    There was a reason I didn’t like women at my shop. There was a reason I didn’t like women period. Life was less complicated without them and it took me a long time to get to a place I was finally happy. I was ready to move on and maybe even live again. I wasn’t going to let Earl, or Ali ruin that for me.
    “Look, this really isn’t a problem,” Ali interrupted. “I’m not going to force myself into a place I’m not wanted. Besides, Jack’s right—” Who the fuck was Jack? “—I don’t belong there. I don’t know the first thing about automotive work.” She touched Earl’s hand lightly. “But thank you for caring so much.”
    Earl started to answer her when the waitress took that moment to appear. Green eyes spotted Ali and widened as big as the grin that blossomed across her face.
    “Ali!”
    Ali started, visibly surprised before she offered a smile back. “Hey Jen!”
    Jen darted a glance over the table at me and Earl, confusion and surprise tangling her thin eyebrows together.
    “You brought guests,” she observed, her tone suggesting this wasn’t a common thing. “Does this mean you’ll be eating in?”
    “Yeah.” Ali fidgeted slightly. “This is Earl and his grandson. I thought they’d like to try out the burgers.”
    Grandson. Not even Jack. It really shouldn’t have bothered me, yet I was irked that she refused to say my name.
    “Hi!” Jen said. “I’m Jen.” She produced leather bound menus from beneath her arm and set them down on the table. “I’m going to be your waitress. Can I start you guys off with drinks?”
    I ordered a beer. I needed a beer. Earl got coffee and Ali ordered an iced tea.
    Jen jotted it all down quickly. “Great. I’ll be right back with those. You guys go ahead and look over the menu.”
    She hurried off and we just sat in silence that felt extra heavy thanks to the heat. All I could think about was crawling on top of the table and napping.
    The shriek of Earl’s chair legs against the slabs of concrete making up the patio jolted me partially awake.
    “Going to hit the head,” he declared. “First thing to go when you get old, your bladder.”
    Ali chuckled, but no one said anything as he ambled away, leaving me alone with Ali.
    We didn’t speak. She seemed not to notice. Her focus had clung to the