AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Thank god that didn’t turn out to be the case.
When he steps around me and through the doorway into the garage, I trail after him. Now that I’m standing inside the large space, I hear a couple of guys talking over the alt rock music playing in the background. One’s under the hood of a small sedan, and the other has the lower half of his body sticking out from beneath a truck.
“You guys working or bullshitting in here?” the man in charge asks in a raised voice.
The one beneath the vehicle rolls out until he’s able to meet our gazes. There’s a smudge of something dark on his forehead. When he flashes a smile, I realize just how handsome he is.
Instead of answering the question, he tosses one back. “Isn’t it possible to do both?”
“For you two? No way.” He glances at his watch. “I promised Mrs. G we’d have everything finished up on her Subaru by three o’clock, so let’s make sure it happens.”
“You got it, boss.” The younger man gives him a salute before rolling back under the vehicle and getting to work.
With that, he turns to me and says, “Why don’t we take a look at the repair, and you can make sure everything looks good.”
I nod as we cross the wide space before arriving at my silver Ford Fusion. Eyes widening, I walk around to the rear and drop down to inspect the exterior before running my fingers across the paint. If I hadn’t seen the damage firsthand, I wouldn’t know there’d been an accident.
My gaze flicks to the mechanic, who stands beside me.
“For a rush job, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out,” he says.
“Actually, it looks better than when I bought the car.”
He nods before leaning against the vehicle and folding his arms across his chest. “Asher asked if we’d take a look just to make sure there weren’t any other issues. It’s a good thing that we did. The radiator was cracked. Have you noticed that it’s been leaking fluid?”
My brows furrow as my mind sifts through the past month or so. Now that he’s mentioned it, there have been a few dark spots in the driveway.
“Umm, yeah,” I mutter, feeling like an idiot for not realizing something like that could be serious. “I guess so.”
“We fixed it and changed out a few spark plugs along with the oil. It should run a hell of a lot better now. Just make sure you stay on top of the maintenance, all right? The oil needs to be changed every three months or three thousand miles, whichever comes first. With some of the newer vehicles, you can wait five or even seven thousand miles,” he taps the hood, “but I wouldn’t recommend it for this one.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“All right then, let me grab the keys and you can get out of here.”
As his footsteps fade, my brain spins, trying to figure out how much all these unexpected expenses will cost. I scraped together three hundred dollars, and there’s fifty bucks on my debit card. There’s no way it’ll be less than that, which means I’ll have to use my credit card to pay for the rest. I’m always afraid I won’t have enough at the end of the month to pay off the balance. When you can barely afford to cover the cost of the bill, the last thing you need to get slapped with is high interest rates. I’d rather bust my ass waiting tables just so that doesn’t happen. Or go without. The problem is that I need my car.
Before he can disappear from sight, I raise my voice and blurt, “How much do I owe you?”
He swings around to meet my gaze. “Nothing.”
What?
That can’t be right.
“I don’t understand.” I point to the Fusion. “It sounds like you fixed a number of issues in addition to the body work.”
“Yup, but it’s already been paid for.” He cocks his head. “Asher took care of everything when I spoke to him on the phone.”
I blink as my mouth turns cottony, making it difficult to swallow. It takes effort to keep my voice level. “He paid for all the repairs?”
His brow furrows as he continues to eye me curiously. “Yeah, I figured he would let you know.”
“He never mentioned it,” I say, lips sinking at the corners.
“Huh.” If he notices my upset, he doesn’t comment on it. “I guess that’s something you can take up with him.”
“Yeah,” I mutter darkly. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
A few uncomfortable beats pass before he clears his throat and jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll just get those keys for you.”
With that, he crosses the space and disappears into the lobby. So many thoughts crash through my head, and none of them are good.
Less than two minutes later, the mechanic is back. “Here you go.” The key ring dangles from his forefinger. “You’re all set.”
