How could I, someone who had no contact with him until two days ago, be expecting him to answer?
Before I could apologize, Avery spoke.
“Yes and no. He certainly wasn’t going to livethatlong but I was also surprised he passed before he turned sixty-five. For some reason, I feel like he was still pretty young. Or maybe I’m just getting old.” He let out a soft chuckle, shifting again to accelerate as the light turned green.
The sound had my stomach knotting. Fuck, maybe it was a bad idea to let him drive me over to the place. Being enclosed in a space like this wasn’t exactly giving me much room to put distance between us.
It’s funny how feelings never truly go away, no matter how much time has passed. A teenage crush carrying well into adulthood was pretty sad, if not downright strange. No wonder my sister was determined to hook me up with someone. She probably saw right through my pathetic ‘I’m okay being single’ act.
Avery pulled us up to a facility that had a gate and an attendant waiting for us. After passing over our credentials—mine in the form of my shop ID—we were let through without any issue and soon driving up to a garage toward the back of the property.
The units were built on either side of the main road, carved out in sections with smaller drives running down them for access. Avery’s was one of the last garages on the property, a large four-door that was painted a soft yellow cream to match the surrounding ones.
Getting out of the car was more a relief for my pounding heart than anything else. I sucked in a deep lungful of air, trying to get myself under control before I made more of a fool out of my own pride.
Avery’s door slammed shut behind him. He then fished a pair of keys out of his pants pocket as he strode over to the left garage door.
Unlike the day he’d come into my shop, he was wearing a more casual outfit though still looked quite expensive. His slacks were looser fitting and were cuffed at the bottom, the color of which matched with his black knit top that was fitted to his chest perfectly under a bomber jacket that he left unzipped.
He lookeddamngood which was unfortunate news for my poor libido.
The garage’s door screeched horribly when he lifted it, causing us both to wince.
“You’d think a place like this would have automatic doors,” he drawled.
“I imagine it’s in case of a power outage. People can still access their things no matter what, like in the event of a hurricane or something.”
Avery snorted. “That may be true. Not sure why someone would need four classic cars during inclement weather.”
Coming up behind him, I peeked around his shoulder to see the first car. A lower whistle spilled out of me.
A 1957 Chevy Bel Air in turquoise. The ultimate classic. The classic ofallclassics.
“Mind if I...” I nodded to it.
He stepped back from the doorway. “Please. Go ahead.”
Shooting him a brief smile, I stepped up onto the small lip leading into the garage and moved around the space. The car’s paint job was in good condition, as were the tires—black with that infamous white trim around the hubcap. Peering inside of the window, the interior was much the same in terms of condition while nothing out of the ordinary jumped out at me.
“Was your dad planning on driving these cars around? Is that why he bought them?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. The guy down at the gates was surprised when I showed up the other day to take pictures. Said no one’s been up here for years.”
That was odd.
To have something this beautiful just sitting here rotting away was a damn shame. There were way too many people in this world that would kill for a car like this and actually take good care of it.
Rich people always had it way too easy.
Leaning back from the window, I came around to the front of the car and felt around near the grill. The latch for the hood was just under the lip of the grill, making it easy to pop and get the thing open.
Avery came over quickly to hold the hood up, which almost had me leaping out of my damn skin, while I grabbed the stick and slotted it into place.
“Thanks,” I said, letting it go.
“Yeah, no problem.” His gaze darted around the engine. “So, what’s it look like?”
Leaning over the lip of the car, I tugged out my flashlight to shine it over a few spots, testing things along the way. The oil was definitely in need of a change, as were some of the old fluids still sitting in their pipes. The engine block looked fairlynew, as well as the battery, although that was most likely dead considering how long Avery had said this car was sitting here for.
