Melodies of the Heart: A Pinewood Grove Sweet Romance Read Free

snack. It must be luck. It’s lunch time and you’re probably hungry and we have plenty to choose from, so at least it’s good you crashed outside this place.”
    “Actually, I’m more worried about my bike than anything,” he admitted. “You don’t happen to know a mechanic in town, do you?”
    She did. A couple of them in fact. One option was the automotive department down at the ShopMart, and then there was Murph’s Garage over on Birch Street. There was no question who to go to – her parents had made it clear from the moment the ShopMart started going up that the small businesses in town had to support one another or none of them would survive more than a year once the doors of the supercenter opened.
    “Sure,” she told him once she finished wrapping his hand in gauze. The tips of his fingers were rough, but not like the ones of the farmers in town. She hadn’t tried to touch them, it had just happened as she’d cleaned him up, but she couldn’t deny that she liked it.
    “Murph’s got a good garage,” she told him. “And he does good work. I’m sure if I bring him a loaf of rye bread, he’ll knock off a few bucks for you, too.”
    “You don’t have to do that,” Levi said, though there wasn’t much protest in his voice.
    “Don’t worry about it,” she insisted. “My dad still owes him for the last oil change he did on our car. The bread will double as interest.”
    “So which way am I headed?” Levi asked as he pushed himself up from the table.
    “Oh, I’ll show you the way,” she told him. “It’s not far.”
    “What about your store?” Levi asked.
    His question was like a quick stab in her gut, but Kassidy refused to show it. “Um, it’s fine. My mom’s in the kitchen and dad just went out for a bit. They can handle it when the lunch rush starts.”
    In truth, she didn’t expect anyone to stop by. There used to be a lunch rush, back when she was in middle school, but those years were behind them. Still, she had faith things would turn around and she made sure to put a smile on her face before she grabbed a loaf of bread out of the display and bagged it up for Murph.
    Levi’s fears for his bike were not entirely unfounded. He tried to kick it to life, but after a hard sputter, nothing happened. Two more tries later, he officially declared the bike broken.
    “I am so, so sorry,” Kassidy apologized again as she walked along the Main Street sidewalk while Levi pushed his bike on the road.
    “It’s no one’s fault,” he assured her, and again she saw that hint of a smile that made her heart do a back flip. She’d always wanted sparks, but she had no idea what it would feel like. Now that she had, there was no denying it.
    “Well, Murph’s isn’t far,” she promised him. “And I’m sure he’ll fix it up no problem. The man’s a genius when it comes to cars. Our old Buick was a lemon, but he kept it on the road for ten years.”
    For the next block, they walked in awkward silence while she struggled to think of something, anything to say or ask him. She didn’t want to sound like some love-struck child with a silly crush, especially not at her age, but everything she thought of just sounded stupid when she practiced it in her head.
    “This is a nice town,” Levi said as they approached Birch Street.
    “Yeah,” she agreed. “I’ve lived here all my life, I love it. What, uh, what brings you to Pinewood Grove?”
    “Just passing through,” he said, his eyes staring straight forward as he spoke. “Decided to go on a little road trip.”
    “Oh cool,” she told him. “How long have you been traveling?”
    He laughed at that. Not at her, and though it was short, the sound of it made her smile. “About ten hours,” he told her.
    “Oh wow,” she laughed with him. “Now I feel even worse.”
    “Don’t,” he told her again. “I’m sure this mechanic will have me on the road by this afternoon, if he’s got time for me.”
    Time was the one thing Murph did