“Oh my God, dude! What the hell is going on?” Chaz asked. “Who’d you piss off?”
“I bet it was that fucking Sampson,” Meredith said.
“Fucking loser,” Chaz added.
I wasn’t sure what I could tell them, so I went with the safest response. “We’re not sure who’s responsible.”
Meredith snorted. “I pity the dumbass when Gabe gets ahold of him.”
“It could be a female, Meredith,” I admonished. “Remember Mrs. Honeycutt.”
“Yeah, don’t be sexist, Meredith,” Chaz piped in. “Women can be and do anything, which doesn’t exclude being a psychopathic killer.”
Meredith wasn’t amused by either one of us, but chose to ignore us rather than give us a lecture. “Is Gabe still sleeping or something?”
“No, he went to work,” I replied before resuming my count of shampoos and conditioners in stock. I had software that automatically deducted the merchandise from stock when a purchase was made, but I double-checked each and every Monday. Perhaps one day I’d just rely on the figures the program gave me, but I doubted it.
“His car is here,” Chaz said, stating the obvious.
“Seven, eight, nine…” I began counting bottles out loud so they’d take the hint.
“Holy shit!” Meredith’s loud exclamation caught me off guard and I lost track of how many anti-frizz shampoos I had. “He left his car foryouto drive,” Meredith added. I didn’t like her emphasis, as if I was a bad driver or some shit.
“No way!” Chaz at least had the decency to downplay his reaction when he said, “Not that you’re a bad driver…” I was sure he and Meredith were exchanging looks behind my back during his pause, “maybe just a tad fast.”
“There’s a lot of horsepower beneath that hood,” Meredith told me. “Are you sure you can handle it?”
I rose from where I was bent over then turned to face her with a smirk on my face. “I’m absolutely certain I can handle a hard, fast ride.”
Meredith rolled her eyes. “Well, I guess you can test it out when you drive over to visit my mama today.”
I had promised to visit with Willa and I would keep my word. I also decided I’d take Gabe’s car to the store and buy some apples. I was going to bake him a pie that was so good he’d probably come in his pants. Of course, I kept that part to myself.
I updated Chaz and Meredith about what Holly said about the coverage and rental car. Once they were sure I was okay, they left me to finish my inventory so I could move on to the rest of my day. I decided to review the schedule for the upcoming week later because I wanted to get my errands over and get back in time for the adjuster to arrive, and later, my rental car.
I confess that I was a little bit apprehensive about driving Gabe’s muscle car, but that vanished the moment I hit the button twice to remote start his growly beast. Princess was equipped with heated seats, but not a heated steering wheel or remote start. I looked down at my wardrobe and realized that driving Gabe’s car would require an outfit change. The t-shirt and jeans I had put on that morning wasn’t bad ass enough to wear when driving… Wait a minute. Gabe never told me what he named his new Charger, just his classic. No way a guy who loved cars as much as him drove an unnamed car. I made a note to ask him about it.
I put on a pair of dark denim jeans, a light gray V-neck cashmere sweater, and swapped my wool coat for my leather jacket. I added a handsome scarf and my aviators for a nice finish before I ventured outside. I quieted the voice in my head that wanted to remind me about the potential danger I was in and tried not to look at my beautiful, damaged Princess. Then I noticed that Gabe’s Charger wasn’t running and I worried that I had broken it somehow.Or someone had tampered with it.I waved off that notion and called Gabe.
“Is everything okay?” Gabe asked instead of greeting me. He sounded even more worried than the night before and I rolled my eyes.
“I didn’t hurt your car,” I replied sarcastically. “Well, at least I don’t think so.”
“What’s wrong?” His tone became less worried and more amused. Gabe laughed when I told him about starting the car then deciding to change clothes into something nice to drive her. “The remote start only lasts for ten minutes,” he explained. “So, you must’ve taken longer than that to get dressed and get down to her. Josh?”
“Hmmm.” I was distracted by the affectionate way he said my name.
“You could wear a burlap bag and look good.” I heard the smile in his voice.
“Aw, you’re so sweet,” I replied, “but I’m not shaving days off of your pole dancing sentence.” I had special plans for him that night and needed time to put them in place.
“One of these days you’re going to take my compliment for how it’s intended and not suspect an ulterior motive,” Gabe told me. He sounded like he was making it one of his life’s missions.
“Maybe,” I said without commitment. “Anything I need to do special since I let the remote start run too long?” I asked, getting him back on subject.
“Nope. Just press and hold your foot down on the brake then hit the start button,” Gabe said. “Josh, be safe. I don’t want anything to happen toyou.”
“I’ll be careful.” I knew he was talking about more than my driving. Even if Gabe was overreacting, it always paid to be careful.
