“I heard you moved here because your mom’s in the Happy Go Lucky nursing home.”
My jaw drops.
Cordelia notices and puts a hand to her mouth. “I’m sorry. Was that a secret?”
“Rebel told you?”
“I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“It’s fine.” I realize now that I did tell Rebel a family member was moving into the Happy Go Lucky nursing home. She must have assumed it was my mom.
I stop at my door which is closer to the stairs than Cordelia’s apartment, lost in thought.
Cordelia clears her throat. “Well, I’m glad to finally meet you. Rebel was singing your praises for weeks, so I couldn’t wait to talk to you.”
“I hope her trust in me wasn’t misplaced.”
“You’ll do great. I can already tell.”
I wish I had Cordelia’s confidence. I’m supposed to manage three mechanics who have terrible work habits, fix a shop that’s a complete eyesore,andI’ll have to apply my aviation maintenance training to a completely different field.
“I’m sorry again. For mentioning your mom,” Cordelia says. “I won’t repeat it if you don’t want me to.”
“It’s fine.” I don’t correct her about who’s in the nursing home. It’s a lot to explain to a neighbor I just met.
Cordelia waves goodbye and then turns back halfway to her door. “Oh, do you like hockey?”
I freeze.
“Fastest way to get a feel for the town is to come to a hockey game. They’re having a training camp right now, but the team has scrimmages every Friday night. Two-thirds of the town shows up. It’s a whole thing. You should come.”
My smile tightens. Come and watch Nathan Campbell on the ice, all handsome and tall in his hockey gear?
“I’m not really into hockey,” I mumble.
“Oh.” Cordelia bobs her head. “Okay then.”
“Goodnight,” I say in a rush as I barge into my apartment and slam the door closed.
Inside my apartment, I take a deep, calming breath. I really hope Rebel hasn’t told anyone else about my family member inthe nursing home. If town gossip reaches Nathan, then Chris will find out and after that…
I cringe at the thought.
Too worried to keep watching training videos, I head to bed and eventually fall asleep.
The next morning, I get ready for the day with a bit of dread in my heart.
I’m the first one to arrive at the garage.
Which is… fine. I am pretty early.
But it would have been nice if someone else had taken the initiative to show up early too. Being earlier than the the lead mechanic was an unspoken part of the job back in avionics.
The shutters make a loud, groaning sound as I push them up and step into the garage. The air smells stale and I go about pushing up all the shutters to let in a breeze.
When I’m done, I hear footsteps approaching.
“It’s about time,” I say with a bit of an edge, ready to lay into the late employee.
