Right With Me - Stacey Lewis Page 0,2
that’s not cryptic at all.
Chapter 3
Mitchell
Sitting in my office I watch through the large window as my crew works on different vehicles. I’ve spent so much of my life in this office, first as a boy when my grandpa and then my dad ran the garage, then as a teenager and young man learning how they ran the place so I could eventually take over.
Anderson Automotive Repair has become my home away from home, my escape from a reality I no longer want to live. If I thought I could set up a bed in here without getting weird looks, I’d probably do it. That’s not true. If I did that, I’d have to explain why I was doing it to my kids and that would just make life at home more intolerable.
It’s been two days and I’m still trying to get Hailey off my mind. I haven’t been successful, but I have managed to keep from going back to the restaurant to see her. Don’t get me wrong, I want to, I just know it would be wrong. Fucked up in more ways than one. Doesn’t mean I haven’t spent every spare moment wondering where she is and what she’s doing.
Rex, my second-in-command and best friend since we were five comes into the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. There’s a look on his face that can be best described as uncertain, and it makes my whole body tense in preparation. All I can do is hope Drew, our newest employee, didn’t hurt himself or someone else doing something stupid. It wouldn’t be the first time, though last time, it was the windshield of a car that took the most damage.
Please don’t make me have to explain to some little old lady why her oil change that should have only taken an hour is going to end up taking two or three days because I have to order replacement parts due to his idiocy.
“What’s up?” Rex grimaces, his eyes looking everywhere but at me. “Come on man, you’re starting to freak me out.”
Shoulders slumping slightly, he sighs. “Okay, look, I don’t know why I’m telling you because it shouldn’t even matter.” Rex pauses like he’s trying to gather his thoughts. Either that, or he really doesn’t want to say whatever it is he’s about to.
“Just spit it out. Get it over with so we can decide how to move on, where to go from here.”
The laugh that comes out of him is humorless. “Yeah, okay. Sure. Why not?” He takes the seat in front of my desk and bends forward, propping his elbows on his knees and running his hands through his hair before looking back up at me. “Just... don’t kill the messenger, alright?”
“For fuck’s sake. Tell me, damn it.”
“Okay, okay. So, the girl from Patsy’s? Hailey?” He winces when he says her name, but that might be because I flinch.
“What about her?”
Rex looks down, unable to meet my eyes for whatever he’s about to say. “Nick was talking to her today at lunch. By talking, I mean flirting.” I can’t even attempt to hold back the growl in my throat. “I guess she mentioned having a problem with her car, so he told her to bring it here after her shift and we would look at it, see what’s wrong.”
My hands squeeze the edge of my desk so hard I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear the metal squeak, but thankfully, it doesn’t. I have to play it cool. There’s no other choice. Yeah, Rex knows how crappy shit is at home, but he still wouldn’t approve of the instant attraction I have for this Hailey woman. No one would.
“If we have the time, and an empty bay, that should be fine. As long as it doesn’t take away from the Miller’s car. He’s supposed to finish that up by tomorrow. The insurance guy is going to be here at three to do his final inspection. I’m sure Sam and Amelia are ready to turn in that rental and get their car back. Plus, I’m sure Sam is ready not to have the reminder he was the one to hit the deer instead of his wife. She said when she came to meet the adjuster that he was always telling her to be careful.”
Looking at me with his mouth hanging slightly open, Rex seems speechless. It’s probably because that’s the most I’ve talked in one go in at least a year, maybe two. Ever since