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I got out of bed and pulled on some clothes. No use in taking a fucking shower when I was about to fix a damn car. I promised this young woman that I would help her get back on the road and that was what I intended to do. The sooner I could get her on the road, the sooner I could have my fucking house to myself.
I walked toward the front door and grabbed a coat to throw over my shoulders. The fire had dimmed to nothing but sparkling embers as Ava laid there on the couch cushions. I saw her pants hanging over the couch and something in my pelvis roared to life. There was a young woman with no pants on wrapped up in my blankets and lying in front of a fireplace.
In another place and time, I would’ve slipped right underneath them with her and pulled her close to me.
Shaking the thought from my head, I opened the door. I set out the same route I had walked last night, my eyes searching for her car. I walked a little farther than I had last night, but when I came across the car I felt the slightest bit of relief flood my body. The water had washed it down the ditch that followed the road until the ditch disappeared and became level with the trail. It sat on its tires on the side of the road as if nothing had ever fucking happened to it.
Man, this young woman was lucky.
I opened the car door and took stock of the inside. Nothing seemed to be damaged and there wasn’t any trapped water on the floorboards. I sat down in the seat and tried to crank the car, but it took me a few tries before I could get it going.
The engine wasn’t completely waterlogged, but there were some things that would need work.
I drove the car back up to the cabin and got to work on it. I went and rolled my toolbox out into the driveway and popped the hood of the car. There were a couple of busted pipes and a lot of the parts under the hood were still wet from the rain. I took off my jacket and removed my flannel shirt, so I could start soaking up some of this water.
I hunched over her car as the sun began to rise above the trees and got to work. I cleaned out the engine and made sure it was still good to run. I changed out the busted pipes and cleaned down the alternator. I had to loosen up a belt in order to get it back on its track and there was a small dent in the fender I worked out with my bare hands. The car just needed some tough love to get it back in working order, and I was just about to slide into the driver’s seat and crank it up when I heard the door of the cabin open behind me.
I looked over and saw Ava standing there in the clothes I found her in last night. My eyes scanned her body as I turned her name around in her head. The name “Ava Lucas” had hit me like a ton of bricks the night before. I wondered if she had any relation to the Lucas family who was trying to scout this area for a gas line. If she was related to them, then they owned half the fucking town in the first place. A family out of Seattle that owned property scattered all over the Washington State area. Her name had thundered through my mind all through the night until dreams of my previous life surfaced, but seeing her standing on my porch renewed my sense of fear.
I had to get her out of this fucking cabin just in case she was a trap.
“How’s the car?” Ava asked.
“Not as bad off as I expected. About to crank it up and see how the engine runs,” I said.
She nodded her head and I cranked up the car. It sputtered and roared to life as a grin crossed my cheeks. The look of shock on Ava’s face turned into a broad smile, and she clasped her hands over her mouth as her eyes sparkled. She looked positively radiant at the fact that her car worked. Such a simple thing for someone to be this overjoyed about. There was a slight twinge of something in my chest.
Something almost akin to pride.
I turned the car off as she came down the porch steps, her feet carrying her as fast as they could. She came around the door and reached into the car, popping the trunk so she could get to her things. I heard her rummaging around as I got out of the car, holding out the keys for her as she pulled a new outfit from her suitcase.
I got just enough of a look into the trunk of her car to see that it was stacked to the brim with her things.
“How long will you be in California?” I asked.
That quizzical look in her eye soon came back, pushing away the gratitude and happiness that had just been there seconds before. But her wariness was right. It was none of my business where she was going, why, or for how long. And taking an interest in her life might make it seem like I wanted her to stay.
Which was the farthest thing from the truth.
“You really wanna know why I’m heading to California?” Ava asked.
“None of my business,” I said.
“It’s because of my family,” she said.
I handed her the keys to her car as she wandered back over to the stairs of the porch.
“They want me to live a… particular lifestyle I don’t agree with,” she said.
“Sounds rough,” I said.
“It is. I’m heading to California because they announced that they would be marrying me off to a wealthy banker. Twice my age, too.”
“Is that a thing that still happens?” I asked.
“Apparently so,” she said. “My parents expect me to marry young and have children and make a home for a man to come back to. I stopped going on their blind dates they were setting me up on, so they gave my hand away to the next man they thought would be good for me.”
“A man twice your age,” I said.
