I looked at my watch. I had to be at the garage in fifty minutes.
Screw it; give me the damn tights.
“I can help, but I only have about twenty minutes before I have to bolt.”
“Oh, bummer,” Penny said. “I was hoping you could look at my car in the parking lot. It’s broken down and I actually do need a ride.”
Doug was confused.
“Did I say twenty minutes? I meant an hour and twenty minutes.” Who cares if I was late? Pete could deal with it. I hadn’t been to work late in over a week.
“Take off your boots,” Penny said as she stretched.
“Gladly. Anything else you’d like me to take off?”
God, I couldn’t stop looking at her underwear through her sheer tights, or were they pantyhose? Who cares.
She smirked. “Gavin, get serious. This isn’t a social experiment. If you drop me, I’ll kill you.”
“I won’t drop you.”
“Work on the superman lift first,” Doug said.
“God, that lift is hard,” she said under her breath. She was nervous. “Okay, stagger your legs like this.” She showed me and I mimicked her. “You need a solid center of gravity. I’ll jump and you’ll lift me over your head.”
“LikeDirty Dancing?”
“Kind of, yes. Just don’t drop me, Casanova. I’ll handle the rest.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
She placed my hands on her hips. “This is where you’ll be lifting me from, which means most of my body will be over your head and back. If you lift me too hard and fast, I’ll go flying and come crashing down, probably on my head. I could die or be paralyzed.”
“No pressure,” I said.
“How tall are you anyway?”
“Six-two.”
“Great.” She wasn’t smiling. “I don’t know why I’m agreeing to do this.”
The music came on but it was different. I recognized it immediately. It was a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman,” sung by Jeff Buckley. How fitting.
“God, I love this song,” I said.
“I love him, too. You ready?”
“I can play this for you later if you want.”
“I’d like that,” she said.
“It’s such a perfect song for right now.”
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you someday.”
We were five inches apart. Our chests were heaving. And we liked the same music. How the hell was this happening?
