“Are you comfy? Do you need me to turn up the AC?”
I shake my head. “No.”
Oh my goodness. Why can’t I speak in more than one-word sentences anymore?
I turn to the window and remind myself that I’m a grown woman who can control herself. Just because I used to like Nat doesn’t mean I have to go galivanting down the road of being obsessed with him. As an adult, I can acknowledge that I have a soft spot for someone andnotlet it go further than that.
Nat sees me gazing out the window and says, “What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.”One word answer again. “Just… about everything that happened today.”
“Put all the bad thoughts out of your mind. Pretend that customer never existed.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
I massage the bridge of my nose. “Because what happened today is a symptom of a bigger problem. Ameproblem.”
“How is that guy yelling at you ayouproblem?”
“He was rude, but he kind of had a point. I over-analyzed his car and stuck him with a huge estimate when all he came in for was one problem. Of course he thought I was a scammer.”
“I know you, Riles,” Nat says confidently. “You’re not a scammer. Even though I have no clue about fixing cars, I know one thing. It wasn’t easy graduating from airplane-fixing school…”
“It’s ‘AMT’ school.”
“… you know what I mean.” He shakes his head. “I’m confident you were doing your job and doing it well.”
“Maybe not.” I wrap my arms around my middle. “I accepted this job thinking that I could layer my airplane maintenance training on top of auto-mechanics. Since planes are so much more complicated than cars, I thought it would be easy. Like going from riding a bike with two wheels to riding one with training wheels.”
“It’s just the beginning. You can’t beat yourself up before the game’s even begun.”
“The game already started, Nat. The first round is over.”
“It was one customer. There will be others.”
“It’s not just that. I was cocky.” My chest heaves with a deep, soul-stirring sigh. “I thought I knew everything, or atleast, like I had toappearlike I know everything. But it turns out, for a vehicle that doesn’t lift off the ground, cars can still be complicated and customers…” I blow out a breath. “It was so much easier when all I had to do was report to the lead technician after a repair or maintenance check.”
“If you love repairing planes so much, why did you switch to fixing cars?” Nat asks curiously.
My gaze slides down to my hands. The dirt that I never managed to scrub out of my fingernails stares back at me. Curling my fingers inward, I hide them against my tank top.
“I just… wanted a change of pace.”
Nat shoots me a quick look and I can tell he doesn’t buy it.
I tack on. “But auto mechanics is its own beast. Forget riding with two wheels. It’s only after I crashed that I realized I had training wheels on the entire time.”
“I get it, Riles. I know a thing or two about crashing.”
My eyes linger on him, and I notice that the smile is missing from his handsome face. But when Nat sees me looking, the biggest, most plastic-looking grin I’ve ever seen replaces the frown.
“I’m not talking about the accident.” He laughs, but it’s wooden and shallow and sounds nothing like the laughter we shared in the garage. “I had a little scuffle on the ice at training.”
My eyes bug. That explains the bruise on his finger. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it was fine. I didn’t get badly hurt.” He barks out another tight laugh. “But everyone else acted like I was gushing blood from an open wound.”
