AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And I can’t talk to Allie about it because I don’t know how she would react. I don’t need her tooverreactand cross paths with Mr. Vandenburg. If he had this kind of pull before, I know he still has it. He has more attorneys than actual friends. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was golf buddies with some judges either.
Tom called early this morning to ask me over for a boys’ night, and I guess Allie and Ted are still together. Why wouldn’t they be? I did the exact opposite of what I told her I would do, and I don’t have a valid excuse for her yet. Not one I’m willing to share.
I feel like a damn jerk for avoiding her, but there’s a kind of shame I feel about keeping Kat around after the things she said about Allie and Jadon. Truthfully, it disgusts me. I’ve barely spoken to her and she hasn’t noticed anything is off. Allie, though...
I’m preparing for her rejection. I look like a liar, so I’m sure Ted sounds like the safe bet Tom said he was.
But dammit, she’s definitely worth waiting and fighting for. I just need her to not marry the wrong guy in the meantime.
I took the day off to take care of some things. Tom was cutting the practice short today because of the unseasonal rain, so he let me take the entire day so long as I come over for dinner.
The road isn’t busy with the holiday traffic yet, but the rain is coming down hard. I wonder if Joel is still going to have his barbecue. He still has the actual cabin and a covered patio. I’ll have to face Allie then since she and Jadon are coming.
There’s a car pulled over on the side of the road on my way out of town with its lights flashing and it looks like...
“What the hell?”
I pull over once I recognize it’s Allie trying to change a tire in the damn rain. She’s crouched down to the side of her car with a jacket over her like a blanket rather than actually on her body.
When I jump out of the car, the rain soaks my jacket instantly. It’s louder than the actual cars driving by us. “Allie?”
She jumps, and her hair is plastered to her face, and she’s fully soaked. But damn, if she isn’t cute like this. “Lucas?”
She holds a wrench in her hand, and the spare tire sits on the ground. She has no clue how to change a tire. I already know that much. “What the fuck are you doing?”
She stands up with her makeup running down her face. I can’t really tell, but her eyes are red and she looks like she’s been crying. “I tried calling a tow truck, and they said twenty minutes and it’s been over an hour and nobody is picking up their phones and so I just decided I would watch one of those how-to videos. So I did. But then,” she sobs. “I don’t have the jack thing and I missed my massage and,” her shoulders shake and she starts fully crying in front of me.
“I just wanted it to be a nice day, and it’s been awful! It’s raining! The girl at the coffee shop made my drink all wrong. My tire went flat and now I missed my day at the spa! Nothing is going right!”
She drops the wrench to the ground and falls into my arms. “What did I do? The universe is being a jerk today!”
“Hey,” I squeeze her in my arms with the rain hitting my face. “Why don’t you go sit in my car and I’ll do this for you, okay?”
She nods her head against my shoulder. Is it weird to have missed her this week? It sucks that today has been shitty for her, but it doesn’t have to be.
I probably don’t have a right to cup her cheeks, but she doesn’t fight me on it. “Go wait in the car and I’ll take care of this. We’ll make up for whatever you had planned.”
She sniffles and wipes a raindrop from the tip of her nose. “It was a pedicure and a massage. I can’t get in now because they always require appointments made in advance, and they don’t accept late clients.”
“I said I’ve got it. Okay?”
Her shoulders fall and Allie sulks all the way to the car. She hesitates before getting in, but rips the door open anyway.
The last time she was in that car, we knew each other for an hour.
Changing a tire in the rain is about as fun as it sounds. The tow truck shows up just as I finish up, and it happens to be a friend of mine. Allie watches from inside when he hooks her car up to the back of his truck.
He knows my address and agrees to drop Allie’s car at my house after a handshake and in exchange for a simple favor. Free entrance to some games in the season, which is nothing.
“Are we going to follow him?” Allie asks when I get back in.
“No, he’s taking it to my house.”
She stiffens at that. “Why?”
I pull out my phone and send a text, knowing I can call in a favor there, too. I guess it’s one perk of my relationship with a person like Kat.
“Let’s get you a fresh drink and head to the city.”
