Page 4 of Pick Me This Time

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DAPHNE

My heart raced as I squealed to a stop in front of my brother’s auto shop. I’d barely turned off my engine when I was out of the car, running to his office with my nostrils flaring and my eyes wide.

“What’s the emergency?” I asked as soon as I saw him behind his desk, quickly giving him a onceover to make sure he was alright.

“Hey, easy,” Eric said.

When I saw no visible signs of injury or even alarm, I scowled, breathing hard and pressing a hand to my chest in an attempt to calm my wildly beating heart. “There’s no blood on the walls or the floor. You seem fine. Why did you make it sound like the sky was falling?”

He frowned as he turned slowly away from his computer to face me, confusion clouding his usually clear blue eyes. “What? I didn’t. The sky is fine. I just asked if you could help me out.”

“Yeah, but you said it was an emergency.”

“That’s because it is,” he said, still seeming a little confused until he shook his head and smiled. “I’m sorry if I scared you. It’s not a life-or-death emergency. I guess I could’ve been clearer.”

“Ya think?” I shot back at him, picking a path across the car parts scattered on the floor and sinking into the chair across from desk. “So what’s going on?”

“I have to pick up a friend from the airport, but Mr. Jackson is going to pitch a fit if I don’t finish his car today. He needs to pick up supplies for the diner and he claims it’ll go out of business if he can’t collect this order.”

“Right,” I said slowly, blinking hard as I tried to process that the emergency was, in fact, not at all an actual emergency. “You could’ve just said that.”

“Yeah, I know.” He wrinkled his nose at me. “I wasn’t thinking, but to be fair, I didn’t know your mind would jump to blood on the walls. It’s just time sensitive.”

“You said emergency,” I reiterated. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use that word. Nothing constitutes an emergency to you.”

Seriously, my big brother was the most laidback person in the world. About most things anyway. He was crazy protective of me and he worked his ass off as a mechanic in his auto shop, but he was also tough. He took most things life threw at him in stride and that was what made him seem so easygoing. He just wasn’t the type to panic.

“It is an emergency if the owner of the only diner everyone loves around here says he’s going out of business if you don’t have his car fixed by four.”

I inhaled deeply. “Well, I suppose I should be happy you’re okay. Next time, just don’t give me half a heart attack when you need a favor.”

He smirked, his eyes filling with laughter as he nodded his agreement. “Sure, but next time, maybe don’t jump to conclusions.”

I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at him. “You do need a favor, right? It might help to be kind to the person you’re asking it from.”

“But you love me.” He batted his pitch-black lashes at me and I laughed, shaking my head.

“Fine. What time is your friend’s flight getting in? I have to be at the bakery by three.”

He glanced at his watch. “You should be done way before then. All you need to do is drive to the airport, pick him up, and bring him back to Allisburg.”

“Fine,” I said, doing a quick mental calculation of my own. The airport was only one town over, and unless there was some kind of problem on the roads, I should make it back in plenty of time for work. “You owe me, though.”

“Don’t I always?” he teased. “Jokes aside, I do owe you. Thanks, Daph. I really need to get this car fixed and the coordination for the reunion has taken way too much of my time recently, and I can’t exactly leave him at the airport until I’m done.”

“Fair enough,” I agreed. “Who is i⁠—”

My question was interrupted by the ringing of his landline and he grabbed the phone, the humor melting from his eyes as the businessman within flared back to life. “This is Eric.”

As I watched, relief slowly started washing over his features as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. I waited for a few seconds, but finally, he put his hand over the receiver and whispered to me. “This is about the parts for Mr. Jackson’s car. You better get going. I’ll text you.”

“You’re lucky I love you,” I whispered back before getting up and walking out into the sunshine to my car.

Feeling a lot less stressed than I had when I’d arrived, I turned over the engine and slid my sunglasses over my eyes, still wondering who I was collecting from the airport. I’d known all of Eric’s friends back in the day and I assumed this was someone who was flying in for the reunion. Curious but not nervous at all, I got on the road and sang along to pop music on my radio as I drove to the airport.

The great thing about all of Eric’s friends from back in high school was that none of them had ever made fun of me. They’d been the popular crowd. The football players who had carried our local team to victory again and again.