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“Keener,” Eric teased, as the rest of the trainees came up to the shop.
There were times I wondered if they took the same bus or something going by the way they always seemed to go everywhere together. Even Juan after he was accepted into the fold.
Work seemed to fly by. The adjustments, replacements, and oil changes starting to blur together. I was entirely in the zone and didn’t even notice the time passing. Or much of anything else, to be honest. Before I knew it, I was alone in the garage finishing off the last oil changes.
“Working late again?” Chad asked as he emerged from his office, “or were you waiting for me?”
“Sorry, but I just lost track of time,” I confessed.
“Nothing to be sorry for,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist and planting a gentle kiss on my cheek.
I blushed furiously, thrilled but also not able to find the words to adequately express this.
“Was that okay?”
“Of course,” I said, getting up on my tip-toes and smooching him square on the lips.
He looked surprised but in no way put off. Kissing me back as he took me in his warm embrace. I always felt so safe in his arms.
“Feel like doing something?” he asked.
“I’m starving for some ice cream,” I confessed, not sure if it sounded silly.
“I should be taking you to fancy restaurants, not for ice cream like a couple of kids.”
“I’m sick of fancy restaurants. I want to be a regular girl.”
“Come on.” He rolled his eyes.
“A regular girl in the real world,” I sang, “watch how I twirl.”
It was a bit of a reach, but it still worked. To dive the point home, I started pirouetting around the shop, as only a girl with eight years of ballet could.
“Okay, okay, well, go for ice cream, just calm down,” he chuckled.
The park was beautiful in the early evening, the sun embracing us as we sat in the grass eating gourmet ice cream from a nearby cart.
“What would you like your life to be like?” Chad asked out of the blue, getting his philosophical face on.
That was a hell of a question. I had to think for a while before admitting the truth. To myself as much as Chad.
“The way it is now. I love working on cars, and I am learning more all the time. I knew quite a bit before joining the program, but Will is also a wonderful teacher.”
I could feel the heat rise on my cheeks reaching all the way down to my chest before I continued.
“I’ve also really enjoyed our time together. A-all of it.”
It was Chad’s turn to go quiet. Looking very much like he was deep in thought, considering the information I’d just given him. It still could have gone either way, but I was hoping for the best.
“I’ve never seen a girl more than once,” he confessed, “but I find myself wanting to see you every night.”
My heart felt like it went a flutter as the blissful shock hit. Had he just said he was in love with me? Near enough, especially for him. I was so happy I could cry but held back in case he took it the wrong way. I really wanted it to be a happy moment. Even if the fates seemed to have other ideas.
After our sweet moment of shared connection, Chad backed away, his face going cold.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a big house and not have to work?”
It felt like a knife in my heart. That was the opposite of what I wanted. What I’d been dealing with my entire life and had never done me any favors. I didn’t even have real friends until I went to the garage.
“No. I’ve been there, and I fucking hate it. I’m not some little princess wanting to live a life of luxury. It’s sure what my folks would prefer but not what I want at all. I want what I have now. A loving home without judgment and the ability to work on engines and get dirty and wear jeans and T-shirts and baseball cap and to have sex, beautiful, lovely sex with the man I love, whenever the hell we want, like the filthy fucking tomboy I am.”
I hadn’t meant to be so harsh. It all just came rushing out before I could stop it. Years of pent up frustration flooded out in a single moment. Chad didn’t say anything, which was almost worse. I kept hoping he would say something, anything. Even if he was angry or started to yell. Yelling, I could take. Lord knew I’d heard enough from Dad. Particularly when he’d been drinking. What I wasn’t at all prepared for was the icy silence. Chad didn’t give any indication of what he was thinking or feeling. I didn’t even know if he believed me even though I’d told the absolute truth—almost a little too much, possibly.
