Iwas the only car in the lot when I pulled into Grady’s Auto Shop. The place was obviously well past closed. I was starting to feel a little uneasy, and mentally cursed myself for coming. Why would some random guy offer to work on my car after his shop had already shut down for the day?
He was either a serial killer or he wanted to sleep with me. Both of those options were bad news. The serial killer thing for obvious reasons, but the second part because of David.
Oh, David.
My fiancé had become nearly insufferable since my father doled out his bullshit promotion. With every day that went by, I felt more and more like other people were living my life for me. I took a quick look in the visor mirror and decided that I didn’t look like complete dog shit. I took the final puff off the butt of my cigarette and then screamed as a man appeared at the side of my car, seemingly out of nowhere.
I took a few deep breaths and then rolled the window down. “Jesus Christ!”
He looked mortified. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought you saw me walking up.”
“It’s all right. And no, I didn’t see you… you’re like a ninja or something.”
He laughed. “I’m pretty hard to miss.”
I put the cigarette out by dropping it into the nearly-finished Coke can in my cupholder and got out of the car. I glanced up at his face, and then back down at the ground. I clasped my hands together in front of me and kicked at a small rock with the toe of my shoe.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” he said.
“I should quit,” was all I managed to get out. He was a lot taller than I had realized. I guess I’d only ever seen him sitting down at the diner. Getting a good look at him now, even in the dim, early evening light, it was easy to see that my previous thoughts of him flirtingwith me were misplaced. There was no way this gigantic, rugged man would ever be even the slightest bit interested in me. Honestly, I questioned my judgment for ever having thought he could be gay in the first place. He looked like he spent as much time in the gym as in the garage.
So, that just leaves serial killer…
“Um. Do you, uh, have the keys?” he asked, the corners of his mouth turning up in a grin as he stared at me.
“Oh, yeah… sorry. Look, I didn’t mean to make you work late, or anything. I can just come back another time.”
“It’s okay. Seriously, I didn’t have anything to do.”
I started to say something else, but hesitated, leaving him free to speak again.
“Avery, am I making you uncomfortable?” As he asked, he took a step backwards to put some more space between us. Honestly, he hadn’t been that close to begin with.
Yes, but not because I’m scared of you… I think.
He put his hands up and took another step backwards. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset. I really just wanted to help with the car.”
I shook my head. “No, no! It’s nothing like that. It’s just been a long day. I’m sorry. I’m fine, really.”
God, why was he such a gentleman?
I took two giant steps forward and handed him my keys. He took a wide step around me in the direction of my car, then opened the door. “May I?”
I nodded, and he lowered himself down into my driver’s seat. Well, only halfway. His legs were too long to fit inside without pushing the seat back…a lot.
He started the engine and the dashboard lit up. ”Jesus Christ, Avery.”
“Sorry, I know my car is kinda messy,” I replied, a little embarrassed.
“No,” he began. “Well, yes, it is messy, but I’m talking about the three lights flashing on your dashboard. How long has your check engine light been on?”
I shrugged. “Not that long… a couple months.”
When he turned and looked at me, I thought his eyeballs were gonna pop out of his head like a cartoon character. “A couple ofmonths?!How long has your oil light been on?”
“I don’t know. Not as long as the other one.”
“And your tire pressure is low.”
