“Hey there yourself,” he said and answered me with a warm smile that echoed in his voice. “We’re just around the corner, but I thought I better get you. It’s hard to find anything in this place if you haven’t been before.”
He took my hand, winking. “Don’t want to lose you.”
I blushed and basked in the happy feelings created by something as simple as holding his hand.
He was right when he said it was hard to get anywhere if you didn’t know the place. I was lost not long after we made our way through the crowds. And I was glad he was holding my hand with a firm grip; if I lost him, I was sure to never find my way out of this place.
We came to a stop next to a fancy-looking deep purple car, and I spotted two familiar faces.
“You made it,” Clay greeted me.
Mason was talking to someone but gave me a chin lift when he saw me.
“I did,” I said and followed Landon to a foldout chair. “Is it always this busy?”
“Except for the first few hours in the morning while we’re setting up, there’s always hordes of people up until the doors close. It’s one of the biggest car shows around,” Landon explained, then pointed to the chair. “Do you want to sit down?”
Clay coughed and covered his mouth with his hand. Landon narrowed his eyes at him. “Shut up.”
I looked between the two, not sure what I was missing. Landon caught my expression and grinned at me sheepishly, a hand going to his neck. “Ignore this idiot. He’s just jealous I didn’t get him a chair as well.”
“We never have chairs because there’s never any time to sit down. But this fool went out and bought one for you this morning,” Clay said, dodging Landon when he tried to punch his arm.
“Shut up. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Another one bites the dust,” Clay sang. Before he had a chance to say anything else, he was mobbed by two girls. Not that he minded. One hung off each of his arms, both batting their eyes at him.
“Thanks for getting me a chair. But I swear I would have been happy to stand. I know you’re here to work, not make sure I’m comfortable,” I said.
Landon waved it away. “Ignore him. And I know how exhausting it can be to stand all day. Especially if you don’t have to.”
It didn’t take long for Landon to get mobbed by people interested in the cars. I wondered what was so special about them. They looked nice, but my knowledge about cars was limited. I could tell a manual from an automatic transmission and that was as far as my expertise went.
I eventually sat down, not because I was tired but because I quickly realized I was in the way. There were boxes stacked up next to the chair, and the top few were open. I spotted bottle openers, pamphlets, and key rings. Curious, I pulled out a pamphlet.
Landon was on the front cover with two other guys, standing next to a convertible like the one currently at the show. I guessed it to be the same car, but for all I knew it could have been a completely different one that just happened to be the same color.
The brochure was about the business Landon worked at: Drake’s Garage. They specialized in American muscle cars and European imports. I got bored after the first three lines when the brochure started talking in car speak.
“You doing okay?” Landon asked, kneeling next to my chair.
“Can I do anything to help? I feel kind of useless,” I asked.
The only time they took a short break in the last three hours was when I got them coffees.
“If you get bored, you can hand out brochures and whatever is in the other boxes,” Landon said.
I got up, eager to do something to make their day easier. I wanted to help if I could. And despite my limited knowledge of cars, I could certainly hand stuff to people.
“Sounds great. Do you want me to get rid of everything or leave something for tomorrow?” I asked, getting up.
“We have more boxes in the truck, so feel free to get rid of everything. The more you hand out, the less we have to take home again.”
Someone called Landon’s name, and with an apologetic shrug, he turned around. He greeted the guy, and they slapped backs and walked a few steps away.
I armed myself with a stack of brochures and put the boxes of key rings and bottle openers on top of the chair I was sitting on.
I took up position next to the shiny purple car. I loved the paint job, the color shimmering blue one moment, purple the next. It was polished to within an inch of its life, making me want to put a fingerprint on it just to see if it would magically disappear.
