I continue to walk back and forth in the tiny office, “I don’t know, one of your hot realtor friends.”
“Hot realtor friends?”
“Realtors are hot and you know it! A chick from Cedar Point or Pine Bluff. Or New York! Fly someone in from Manhattan!”
“Fly? You’re losing it a bit, honey,” he murmurs watching me go left and right like a tennis match.
I point at him, “Don’t you play coy, Steven Mayweather, if anyone could get a gaggle of hot realtors here from Manhattan, it’s you! Work your social butterfly magic and get his focus off of me and onto some babe from out of town.”
“Let’s put down the stapler,” Steven says with the voice you’d use to tame a wild animal. “Hot realtors. Got it. But…is the lady protesting too much?”
I deflate back into my chair, “He’s hot, fine, I’ll admit that. He’s even almost nice? Sometimes? Helpful. But you know everything with JimBo and I just…I just can’t, Steven. You’ve got to help me.”
“Okay, Harp. Okay.”
We leave my tiny office, and I feel better. I feel better the rest of the morning and afternoon, not running into Aiden outside the shop or near the house. I feel better making it through the evening without any texts or noises from next door. Yesterday I’m pretty sure he had his music cranked just so I would stomp over and yell at him. I did not.
I feel a lot better by the time my head hits the pillow. I’ve avoided him for a couple days. I can handle a few more.
_____
“Good morning,” I hear in the pitch black of my garage.
“AHHHHH!”
“Shhhhh!”
I grab my poor heart, surely about to just croak and call it a day. I get it. It’s been through enough. I look around for Stuart. He’s smiling at me from right beside Aiden’s leg.
“Some guard dog you are!”
Aiden leans down to pet Stu’s big head, “I would scold him but I was very happy he didn’t wake the whole neighborhood when I opened the garage.”
“Yeah, that! What are you doing in my garage?”
“Letting you know your car is fixed,” he says.
“I…what?”
“Your car is fixed, please stop cycling around in this muggy weather with your giant bag and your potted plants.” I glare athim,That was just one time.He glares back, making a show of opening Dad’s car door for me.
“But Carl said it would be another week,” I frown at the keys in Aiden’s hand.
“Yes, well, money doesn’t solve everything but it can skip one’s name to the front of the line, I’ve found. Without fail, pretty much every single time. Depending on the amount, and the line in question. Some lines are harder than others, but then you just add a couple zeros. To the amount, not the line.”
He’s rambling. Which is weird. But, wait, what did he say?
“You paid to have my car fixed?”
He cocks his head and says, “I…paid Carl to fix your car first.”
“Don’t tomato, potato me! I didn’t ask you for this!”
He shrugs, “We’re friends. Friends help each other.” I wait, brows raised,We are not friends.He looks down at me, “Aren’t we?”
Why is he standing so close? Not again!Alert, Harper! Alerrrrt!
“Sure, we are. Thank you,” I grab the keys. “Okay! Bye!”
