AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Just like three days prior at the nail salon, the multitude of emotions Heidi experienced simultaneously prevented any from floating to the top.
Except one.
Thatonehad her throat tightening and fingers clenching around the dolly’s push bar.
She was going to deal with thatoneafter she dealt with the mechanic. The numbers he was throwing at her were worrying. She gripped the phone to center it better against her ear.
“That’s your no-bullshit assessment?” Heidi asked him, ignoring Carine’s movements in her periphery.
“Just like I told her daddy,” the mechanic said, “I can order the parts and get her back on the road by the middle of next week, but that radiator’s gonna need repairs soon, the axle’s bent, and she said the air conditioner hasn’t worked in two years. Don’t even know if it’s worth looking at, to be honest with you. This is me laying it all out for you. Lord knows I can’t afford to.”
Heidi could afford the repairs, but they wouldn’t make her feel any better about the car. “Is the car worth more in scrap?”
“I’d bet it.”
“Okay. Don’t say anything, and never mind about running the card. My son is going to pick her up. I’ll text him and tell him to get anything valuable out of the car.”
“You gonna leave it here?”
“Yeah. I’ll loan her my car so she can get to work.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’d probably do the same if it were me.”
“Do me a favor and offer her a bottle of water or something. She’s pregnant.”
“Oh! Shoot. I didn’t know. All right, I’ll get her something. Call me back if you need me. I’ll call my scrap guy as soon as they go.”
“Thank you for your flexibility.” Heidi disconnected and gave her phone a frustrated flick into her bag.
Carine was standing in front of the dolly with one foot on the edge and her hands on her hips. Her nails were painted the exact same nude color Heidi had picked for herself at the salon.
Evidently, Xuan was asking for a beating.
“You’re easy to find when you drive your truck. Sounds like you’ll be doing more of that soon,” Carine said brightly.
“Maybe I’ll start working from home.”
“You could try, but you know that factory would collapse without you there. That’d be a shame. You and Tim have one of the best-paying companies to work for in the area. That was what the newspaper said last week. I’m sure you saw it. Naturally, I did. I have to know everything about everything to sell houses since it seems I’ll have to, unfortunately, continue working for a living.”
“Are you trolling me, or are you being a brat?”
“Neither. Maybe I just wanted to see your face and hear your voice, and I don’t feel those are unreasonable things to ask for. Are they?”
Carine had gone light on the makeup. Her expression may have been serene, but her freckles were angry enough for the rest of her.
She was entitled to her anger, just like Heidi was entitled to her pessimism. Heidi’s pessimism informed her that Carine was standing far too close, and the warehouse owner’s deepening scowl directly correlated to that circumstance.
“Are they, Heidi?” Carine asked as a nudge when Heidi didn’t respond. “Are those unreasonable things to want from someone I thought was going to keep me? I may not be a genius like you, but I’ve got plenty of sense.”
“Reasonableness has nothing to do with anything.”
“That’s a strange thing to hear from someone who’s masterful at figuring out how to break someone and then doing her best to stay ten steps away from that point.”
The Carine Heidi had known prior to their affair wouldn’t have uttered such a thing to her. That Carine had been all laughs, all jokes, all exuberant silliness. The regulars at Clay’s expected that from her.Heidiexpected that from her.
She was perfectly aware that people changed. Every single day of life could be a reflection point, and often, catalysts for major shifts came in the form of people who claimed to love them.
Heidi gritted her teeth, tempted to abandon her dolly and leave.
