Chapter 25

ANASTASIA MULBERRY

“Well, thanks for the ride.” She turned to smile at him as he parked his truck in the driveway, having given her a tide home after his shift at the garage had finished.

“No problem, Ana.” Harvey grinned widely as he pulled out the keys and allowed the engine to hum quietly to sleep. “We’re hoping the parts for your car will come in by the end of the week and once they do, we’ll work to get everything installed as soon as possible.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate that.” Her lips twitched higher even though she internally groaned at the idea of having go take the bus into school every morning. While she wasn’t a snob that turned her nose up on public transport, she didn’t appreciate all the looks she would get from judgy conservative grandmas and grandpas for walking around with a round, full belly without a ring on her finger.

While she didn’t particularly care what people thought or said about her, she was only human and even the most patient person sometimes lost it.

“How much do you think the bill will come out to be?” She asked politely, figuring that however much it may be, she would be able to cover it with her savings even she grimaced at the idea of the repairs taking such a big chunk out of her bank account.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said, a small smile on his face. “It’s all taken care of already.”

“What? Who take care of it?” Anastasia asked, her lips tugging down at the corners as she stared back at him.

While she appreciated the gesture, she didn’t take charity and it felt wrong to accept what she could only assume was a very expensive favour from a friend; let alone someone she hardly knew. It was even worse as Harvey, on more than one occasion, had expressed his desires to take her out to dinner. Pregnant or not.

“It doesn’t matter who took care of it. Just the fact that you don’t need to worry about it.” Harvey tried to dismiss the matter with the intention if very quickly changing the topic, but he was far from successful as she cut him off.

“I’m not on board with this.” She denied, shaking her head.

“Ana, just let me do this for you.”

“But why?”

“I think you already know why.” He murmured quietly as he stared ahead at the cosy little house that she lived in.

Anastasia sat stunned in her seat for a few moments, unsure of how to comprehend this piece of information, one which was not all that surprising or newfound.

Before she had the chance to respond, Harvey coughed awkwardly and turned his gaze away from her.

“I should get going.” He murmured quietly, his lips pulling up at the corners even though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “But it was great seeing you, Ana. I’ll give you a call when your car is ready to pick up.”

The easy option would have been to nod her head, murmur a goodbye and slip out of his truck without so much as looking back however, Anastasia was never one to choose the easy option.

“Do you want to come in for a cup of coffee?” She turned to him and asked, surprising even herself with the request but once the words had passed her lips, there was no turning back; no time for regrets.

While she had thought that she would have to turn down Harvey for what felt like the third time – fourth or fifth maybe as she had lost track – in the past couple of hours, it appeared that she much preferred it when he was friendly instead of anything more.

Enough to ask him to stick around even if making him leave was probably the smart decision.

Ultimately and in the long run, she just hoped she wouldn’t come to regret extending this grapevine.

“I’d like that.” Harvey replied with a small smile on his face, and followed her out of the truck as she led him up the front porch and fished for her keys in her purse.

“Welcome to my humble abode.” She smiled softly as she opened the front door and led him in, making sure to close it behind him to keep the cold out.

Having just come into October, it had started to get chilly a few weeks ago and she was now seriously considering trading out her cute jackets for her huge woolly coats.

“You’ve got a nice place here.” Harvey whistled lowly with his hands stuffed into his pockets as they slipped off their shoes by the front door before venturing down the hallway.

Anastasia snorted as she glanced over her shoulder. “You’ve barely seen past the hallway.”

“You’ve got a valid point there but I like what I’ve seen so far.” He chuckled and followed behind her as she led him into the living room.

“How do you take your coffee?” She asked as she slipped off her jacket and purse, dumping them on the sofa before moving over toward the kitchen.”

“Black with a teaspoon of sugar.”

“Your plain cup of coffee is on its way.” She shot a teasing smirk over her shoulder as she turned on the coffee machine and prepared a mug for the both of them; decaf for her.

“Plain?” He chuckled, his face contorting in mock pain, even going as far as to clasp both his hands over his chest, having joined her in the kitchen and dropping himself into one of the chairs. “Your words wound me.”

“But apparently not enough to stop your advances.” She quirked a teasing brow as she leaned back against the counter, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Unfortunately for you, no.” He chuckled and leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him.

When both the regular and decaf coffee was ready, she poured two mugs, making sure to add a teaspoon of sugar to both and a splash of oat milk to hers as black coffee just didn’t settle well with her.

“Thank you.” He grinned graciously at her as she slid the mug across the table and took the seat across from him.

“I’ve told you about me being single and playing surrogate for my friends.” Her voice trailed off as she watched him carefully.

“Yes.” Harvey hummed, glancing between the dark pool of the coffee in front of him and the big blues of her eyes that were staring intently at him. “Is there a point to this random statement?” He chuckled as he waited for her to respond.

A small smile played on her lips as she nodded.

“Well, it seems like you know an awful lot about me while I only know that you work as a mechanic at a local garage and you moved to neutral territory a few weeks ago. So, that’s virtually nothing.”

“Let me guess. You think it’s only fair to level the playing field?” Harvey chuckled as he leaned forward and propped his chin up on his hand, turning his entire attention on her.

“Exactly!”

“What do you want to know?”