“Nah, don’t worry about it. It was no big deal.” He waves me away.
“Now you’re giving my money away,” Harold grouches, leaning heavily on his cane. “It’s hard to say what would happen if I left you in charge. The garage would go bankrupt, and we would be out on the street.”
“He’s only going to get worse if I don’t get back to work. Catch you guys later,” he says through gritted teeth as he turns and stomps off past his father.
“Are you heading into the office?” Carson asks me.
“Yeah.” I check my watch. “I’d better get going. What are you guys up to?”
“First, I’m going to get back in my noisy truck.” He laughs, pointing to his truck. “Then I’m going to the house and fixing the fence that stupid goat broke out of for the third time this week.”
“Sounds fun,” I chuckle. Carson took possession of his nana’s farm after she moved into a retirement community. He subsequently inherited her motley crew of animals, including a mischievous goat named Ollie. I don’t envy him.
“Just living the dream, man.” He claps me on the shoulder before walking to his truck. Starting it, he revs the engine twice and chuckles at Harold’s deepening scowl. “See you later, losers.”
“What about you?” I ask Riot as Carson peels out of the parking lot, making as much noise as possible, and heads back to his farm.
“I was at the lumberyard picking up supplies, and now I’m trying to find the will to return to the house from hell,” he puffs out, visibly shrinking into his seat. Not an easy feat when you are as large as he is.
“That bad, eh?”
Riot flips houses for a living, and he says that the one he’s currently working on is a never-ending nightmare.
“The worst, but I can still see its potential.” He hesitates for a moment before asking, “Are you sure Beck’s okay? Is Braden still bothering her?”
“I don’t know; she never said,” I confess. Maybe I should have asked her more about her ex. I assumed he was completely out of the picture since they broke up.
“Okay.” He runs a palm over his mouth, then drops it onto the steering wheel as he tries to formulate his thoughts. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you. You’ve been circling each other for years. But she’s been through a lot lately. Don’t fuck with her feelings if you’re unsure of yours.”
Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose. This is not a conversation I am prepared to have, let alone standing in a parking lot where anyone could hear me. “Nothing has ever happened between us but it’s complicated. I promise I would never intentionally hurt her.”
“Alright.” He nods his head firmly before saying, “I’ll check on her tonight and see if she will tell me what’s going on. I doubt she will, but I’ll try. Catch you later.”
I feel eyes on me as I watch his truck drive away. Looking towards the garage, I see Harold watching me. “Have a good day, Harold,” I call to the old man.
He tosses a hand in the air in dismissal before slowly turning and retreating inside.
Chuckling, I get into my truck and head to the office.
Seven
“Did you hear the good news?” April asks excitedly as she slips into my workstation.
“I could use some good news,” I mutter, glancing up from my sketchbook.
Dillon just called and told me he can’t fix my car. No, that’s not right… he said it’s totally fucked. Awesome, that’s totally awesome for me. I have no idea what I’m going to do without a car. Public transportation doesn’t exist in a town this size. I’m already on an extremely tight budget—there is no way I can afford to buy something else without finding a second job or three. I wonder if Bob’s is hiring; I could probably wait tables.
“You know Ethan and Hailey? He proposed to her last night.”
“Oh, yeah?” I say, setting down my graphite pencil and leaning back in my chair.
“Mm-hmm. They’d just finished dinner at her parents’ place, and he asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. They were walking along hand in hand, and he stopped her beside an old oak tree in the centre of the yard. Right there, he dropped to one knee and asked her to marry him. Her sister was hiding in the bushes to capture the moment. And get this—the tree is wherethey had their very first kiss when they were in high school. How sweet is that?”
“That’s…really sweet.” I bite the corner of my lip and look down at my red nails.
“You should see the pictures Hailey posted online. She’s crying. Ethan is smiling. And the ring is absolutely stunning. It’s like a scene out of a Hallmark movie,” she gushes. “They are so young, but they have been together since high school. I guess when you know, you know.”
“That’s really…good news. I’m happy for them.” I am happy. They are a genuinely nice young couple, and I wish them the absolute best. Does it make me a horrible person that this good news also stings a little?
