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“I’d like to hear that story.”

“You would?”

Gabe nodded. She wanted to make it clear that whatever was happening here, it didn’t affect their budding friendship.

Lori tapped her watch. “But not today.”

“Not today, because I’m a time-swallowing black hole,” she said and winked.

Lori turned her stylus over and over in her hand. “I don’t know if you’re still joking with me, or if you’re genuinely upset.”

“I’m not upset. I just don’t know where you’re going with this, but as long as you explain it to me, I’m sure it will be fine.” Hopefully…

Lori visibly relaxed, and her smile seemed less anxious this time.

“That’s wonderful. Okay, so the Sanctuary is part of the larger non-profit my family runs, Safe Haven. I can’t make any large unilateral decisions without running them past the board. And though I totally acknowledge that your offer was made off the cuff, I can’t just accept it and move forward without certain safeguards in place.”

“You need safeguards because you think I might steal your car?” Gabe asked, not sure herself whether she was joking or not. She was beginning to struggle not to take all of this personally.

“We need safeguards. Think of it as a memorandum of understanding, one that works both ways. Like I can’t take advantage of your extremely good nature and ask you to do more than you’ve already offered to do.”

Gabe nodded and continued to sip her coffee, allowing Lori the space to continue.

She frowned and put her pen down. “I don’t like when you’re quiet. It’s disconcerting.”

“It’s okay. I’m beginning to get it. Everyone involved needs to understand what’s expected of them and what isn’t, right?”

“Exactly.” Lori grabbed her pen again.

Whatever she wrote was in capitals, but it was upside down so Gabe couldn’t read it.

“You said you’d be happy to provide the labor for the project and that I could get donations from our followers for the parts and the paints and such, and I’d like you to have all the tools that are in the building too.”

“Yeah,” Gabe said when it became obvious Lori was waiting for her to agree.

“So we put things like that into the agreement, and then I can’t say that you promised to pay for a new engine if I didn’t manage to get it some other way.”

“Okay.” Gabe picked at a callus on her palm for a moment, then stopped herself, realizing it was a gross thing to do in public. “But if it was up to you, we would just go ahead, and you’d be happy with a handshake agreement?”

Lori’s silence was more of an answer than her words could’ve been.

“You don’t trust my word?” Gabe asked, trying to maintain her calm.

“I don’t know your word, Gabe. Or you. Not really.” Lori sighed deeply. “And I’ve been badly burned by a handsome butch before.”

Lori blinked rapidly and looked as though she’d said something she shouldn’t have…or didn’t want to. She was tarring Gabe with the same brush then. Jigsaw pieces of their previous conversations turned and twisted before beginning to form bits of a more solid picture. When Lori had first let Gabe see the car, it had been clear there was a story behind it. With that and the handsome butch comment, it made sense that it could be the ex-wife muddying the waters. “You think I’m a handsome butch?” she asked and wiggled her eyebrows.

Lori pressed her palm to her forehead. “I’ve got whiplash from you switching from serious to joker and back again.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “It’s just the way I deal with things like this. And I’m trying not to be offended when this all started with a genuine offer to do something charitable for your rescue center.” Gabe held up a finger when Lori opened her mouth to speak. “But I understand what you’re talking about with your family’s company…and I’m also starting to get what’s going on in the background with your ex.” Gabe registered the slight panic in Lori’s eyes. She reached across the table but stopped short of taking Lori’s hand. “Look, I don’t want to pry, but if we are going to be friends, I need you to know that you can trust me.”

Lori stared at Gabe for a long moment before she clicked her iPad into standby and pushed it aside. Gabe could see the hesitation behind Lori’s cool expression, and she had to quell the instinct to find this ex-wife and hammer her into the ground, because whatever she’d done to Lori, she was having trouble shaking it off.

“I do want us to be friends, Gabe. And I know that you can only earn my trust by me sharing a vulnerability with you and seeing what happens, seeing if you keep me safe. But that’s harder for me to do…after what happened.”

Gabe nodded, wishing that she hadn’t stuck her finger in Lori’s emotional wound and wiggled it around. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me any?—”

“No, I do,” Lori said. “My therapist says that I do, and I’m trying hard to take her advice.”