‘Nick Otis.’

Otis. Their smiles fell away, and Sophie and Holly exchanged a look. Could Nick Otis be related to the missing girl, Rachel? Now that she knew his name, she could see the resemblance between him and the image of the girl she’d seen on the television. She wondered if he was the girl’s brother.

‘So, Nick, do you want us to help?’

A brilliant white-toothed smile took over his tan face, replacing the darkness that had temporarily shrouded his eyes. ‘I’d love it.’

Fifteen minutes later, his spare was on, and Holly accepted Nick’s hand as he pulled her to her feet. As she brushed the knees of her capris, she noticed the large grin on his face.

‘I just changed my first tire,’ he said proudly.

‘Helped change,’ Holly corrected, unable to fight off her own grin. It was contagious. She’d made him remove the lug nuts, as well as replace them, showing him how to make sure they were on snugly so he wouldn’t lose the tire driving down the road. She’d planned on making him jack up the car, too, but when he’d almost collapsed it twice, she was afraid he’d crush himself or that they’d be there until the stars came out.

‘Helped,’ he agreed. ‘So, can I take you two to grab a bite to eat to show my thanks?’ The unmistakable gleam of hope sparkling in his eyes made it difficult to decline.

Holly shifted her eyes over to Sophie, who’d gone to sit on the curb after moving the flat tire out of their way so she and Nick could put the spare in place. She glanced at her watch, and then gave a curt shake of her head. ‘Thanks, but we need to be going.’

‘Well, then, do you mind if I get your number so I can text you sometime? I’d really like to take you to breakfast or lunch or something. You know, to thank you.’ Though he addressed both of them, his eyes stayed trained on Holly.

‘Um, sure. I guess.’ She held out her hand for his phone, and after he unlocked the screen and handed it over, she typed both their numbers into his contacts before handing it back. ‘I put both our numbers in there.’

‘Thanks.’ Nick glanced at the screen, a wide smile crinkling the corners of his eyes as he pushed the phone into his front pocket. ‘You know, getting a parking ticket and a flat tire in the same day was kind of worth it, now that I think about it.’

‘Well, as pick-up lines go, it’s at least unique,’ Sophie deadpanned. ‘But only “kind of”? Dude, you need to work on your game.’

Holly’s face heated as she and Sophie moved back to her car. Fingers hovering over the handle, she pointed with one hand to the back of his convertible. ‘Don’t forget to have that spare replaced with a real tire. You don’t want to drive around too long on that.’