Tears well up in my eyes again, and I turn away from the door so Jason doesn’t come out and catch me crying.
And it’s a good thing because seconds later, he jogs up behind me. “Ready?”
Blinking rapidly, I turn and force a smile. “Yup. Let’s go.”
He studies me for a second, and I know he can tell I’m about to break down again. I hold my breath because I don’t know if I can take more of his sympathy. It’s bad enough I need him to come to my rescue like this. I need to hang on to some shred of dignity.
But he doesn’t say anything, just nods once before jerking his head toward the garage. “My car’s in there.”
We walk to the third garage, and I see that the door is already open. When did that happen? Garage doors are usually kinda loud. Am I really so self-involved that I didn’t even notice?
The answer is apparently yes, though, because I really don’t remember hearing it.
We climb into a luxury sedan that still has that new car smell, and he looks at me expectantly, phone in hand. It takes me a second to figure out what he’s waiting for.
“Oh, uh, sorry,” I mumble, then rattle off my address.
It’s on the edges of the Madison metro area in an older neighborhood, but it’s not a shithole at least.
It takes nearly half an hour to get to my house, and conversation is stilted, at best. Jason tries his best, but between the shock of seeing him, the fresh reminder of my brother, plus my whole life sort of imploding in my lap, I’m not much of a conversationalist. Eventually he gives up, and we finish the ride in silence.
“I’m serious,” he says as I unbuckle my seatbelt. “If you want, I can wait while you grab a few things, and you can stay in the guest room. It’s a nice bed.”
“Aren’t you staying in the guest room?” I know that’s not the house he grew up in, so it’s not like he’d be staying in his childhood bedroom.
He shrugs. “There’s more than one guest room. I have the guest suite, which has its own bathroom. You’d be in the regular bedroom where the bathroom’s across the hall.”
Grinning, I say, “So I’d be slumming it, then.” Though, it’s not any worse than my current setup. Whitney’s the one with the en suite bathroom. The other bedroom is her workout room. Jason returns my smile, but I shake my head. “I appreciate the offer, really, but I’d rather stay in my own room.”
“I get it. I’m on the road a lot, so I can sleep basically anywhere. But coming home to my own bed is always nice. Though sometimes I have a harder time falling asleep there if I’ve been away for a few nights.” He shrugs. “It’s a little strange.”
“Thanks for calling the tow truck. And paying. And for the ride home.”
He waves away my thanks. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad it was my house you broke down in front of and not some random stranger’s.”
“Ha. No kidding.” I suppress a shudder, imagining some of the neighborhoods I’ve delivered to. And at least the deliverywas over, so this won’t hurt my stats when I am able to start delivering again.Please let it not be too expensive to fix my car.
“Okay. See you at eight.”
“Right.” I’d kinda forgotten he’d said he’d pick me up when the shop opens. “See you then.”
I’m nearly in a daze as I walk to the front door, fishing my key out of my pocket. I had to take it off the key ring so I could give the car keys to the tow truck driver.
Jason’s waiting at the curb, so I wave to him before going inside. It’s early, and the TV’s blaring from the living room, but I head straight to my room and fall face-first into my bed. I don’t know if I’ll be able to fall asleep, but I certainly don’t want to face anyone else tonight.
CHAPTER SIX
Jason
I spendthe night tossing and turning, coming up with a thousand contingency plans to help Hailey in a way she’ll accept.
By the time I get up in the morning, running on only a handful of hours’ sleep, I’ve only decided one thing for certain—I’m paying for her car repairs, whether she likes it or not. The only thing I’m not quite decided on ishowI’m going to do it. Do I just give the repair shop my credit card and phone number? I mean, yeah, obviously, but I guess the real question is, do I do it while Hailey’s watching? Or find a way to pull the guys aside and do it when she’s unaware?
Part of me thinks she’d see doing it behind her back as a dick move. But that same part of me thinks she wouldn’t let me if I do it in front of her, even though we both know she can’t afford whatever it’s gonna cost.
Based on how her car was acting last night, I’m guessing it’s her transmission. And transmission repairs aren’t cheap. If she’s struggling to scrape together rent, no way she’s going to have an extra few grand lying around to cover it. And I knowshe said she’d use her emergency credit card, but I suspect she doesn’t have the credit limit to cover it either. Of course, I’m contemplating the worst-case scenario, but with the burning smell and the way her car lurched and stopped?
The worst-case scenario seems likely.
