AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But right now, what I want more than anything is to go home, shower, put on clean, comfy clothes, crawl under my covers, and sleep for a week. Tomorrow is my first day off, and I won’t be setting any alarms. Knowing I had this one day off is what got me through today. I gather up my bag and jacket.
“Get some good sleep.” Ramie waves as she heads off to respond to a call light.
“I will. Bye,” I call as I step outside into the dark night. Breathing in the crisp, fresh fall air, I take a deep breath. I slide into my driver’s seat and lean my head back, exhausted. I turn the key to start the car, and nothing. Dead.No. I groan. I don’t have time for this today. I lay my head on my steering wheel in defeat. My trusty thirteen-year-old Honda might finally be crapping out on me. I’ve avoided Sam’s shop as he’s the only trustworthy auto body shop that I know. I can’t keep getting by with duct tape and rubber bands, so to speak. I sigh. Why today?
I text Thad, a fellow doctor.
Hey, my car won’t start. Can you give me a ride?
I almost fall asleep for a few minutes while I wait for his response. My phone buzzes, and I look down at it. I close my eyes. Unbelievable.
Thad
Too tired. Worked all day. Call a tow.
My parents have been trying to set me up with him, but something about Thad rubs me the wrong way. When I first moved back, I went to a few dinners with my parents, and he was there, too. After interacting with him a few times, I knew I had no intention or desire to ever be romantically linked to him. I can’t seem to figure out how he doesn’t feel the lack of connection. We have nothing in common other than our jobs, which he is terrible at. My parents see him as a doctor who comes from the “right” family, has money, and would be just perfect for their daughter. Never mind what I want and don’t want.
Seriously?
I wait for him to maybe change his mind and say he’s coming after all, but who am I kidding? Of course he doesn’t respond. I don’t even know why I bothered to reach out to him in the first place. I figured since he had just gotten off his shift, it wouldn’t be a big deal for him to give me a ride.
Also, why would I date someone who doesn’t care if I’m stranded? And what’s worse is he keeps hinting about us getting serious. If he can’t be bothered to even give me a ride, why would I even consider being with someone like that? No, thanks. I’ve learned over the past several years to take care of myself.
I can’t call my parents and wouldn’t bother anyway. I can never be too sure if either of them would be sober enough to come and get me this late at night. And I can’t call Goldie this late. And even though I’m only a few miles from my cottage, I’m too tired to walk, and it’s dark out. I’d probably fall asleep in a ditch on the way.
I text Ramie my dilemma, and she comes in clutch.
Ramie
I’ll call you a tow. Just sit tight until they get there.
I lean back and begin to drift off as I wait.
* * *
A light knock on my window startles me, and I jerk upright and wipe some drool off my chin from my deep sleep nap. Nice, Callie.
I rub the sleep out of my eyes, exhausted, my vision a little obscured from wiping my hand over my face at the lights from the tow truck reflecting in my mirrors, disorienting me. Only when I get out of the car do I realize SJ stands in front of me and not his dad, Sam.
This day has gone to hell in a handbasket.
Holy crap. I swallow, unsure what to do with my hands. My knees shake so badly that holding the door is the only thing keeping me standing.
“I thought you were Sam.”Lame, Callie.That’s the first thing I can think of to say to the man who I haven’t spoken to in twelve years.
My breath hitches, and my heart pounds. The boy who was my best friend. The boy who could calm me by just being in my presence or holding my hand, and who could read my emotions like a book and communicate with only eye contact stands right here. Now he stands before me with his hands in his pockets, so casual, looking like a delicious walking sin. And I’m feeling particularly unholy toward him at the moment. And I hate that I feel like this. I want to be so mad at him, not attracted to him. He doesn’t deserve me being nice to him.
“Hi,” he says casually with a smile.
After over a decade of silence, hearing his gruff, manly tone makes my heart race a bit, and I feel confused.
He’s standing so close to me that I can smell him. He smells like crisp autumn in the woods, and his warm whiskey eyes are on me. He seems taller but still has a couple of inches on me, which probably puts him at just over six feet. He’s wearing navy coveralls with Sam’s Auto Body on the shoulder like his dad. That’s why I thought it was him at first. He looks like his dad did when we were younger. His Sam’s Auto Body ball cap is pulled low, and he looks stupidly hot. I don’t know which version is hotter—the coach version or the walking blue-collar hottie dream version.
I feel like I’m having a nightmare, only I literally just woke up. This is real. He’s real and finally right here in front of me. This is not how I pictured this to go. I pictured our first meetup many times over the years, yet this is not the one I wanted.
My favorite scenario was that I would be dressed up, have makeup on, and look like a million bucks when he bumped into me somewhere and saw what he missed out on.
Another was that I would confront him and tell him exactly how he obliterated my heart. How I have put myself back together again, and I’m now better than ever after he took the coward’s way out. Instead, I’m standing here, mute. My mind is in chaos—too many thoughts, wants, and needs are at war within me. I want to shake him and demand answers. I want to never see him again to punish him. I want to kiss him and see if he still kisses me the same. But in the end, I can’t pick anything to say, so I simply say nothing.
