kiss everyone’s boo-boos I know you’ve thought it is, but you’re wrong. Your dad will be fine without you taking care of him, and you really don’t want any part of this,” he says with a disgusted flick of his wrist at himself.
“Mom always knew what to do. She knew how to fix everything and everyone.”
He tilts his head a little. “Is that what this is about? Ade, your mom was amazing, I’ll give you that, but she had to work things out just like the rest of us. She didn’t have a magic wand or anything.”
“She always knew the right thing to do to get everything on track. If someone was hurting, she knew just the thing to say so they didn’t anymore. If someone needed something, she’d figure out how to get it.” I swallow. “She was like everyone’s guardian angel.”
He shakes his head. “If you think that’s what you’re supposed to be, I think you’re putting way too much pressure on yourself.”
“You’re my best friend. I love you. I know I could help you if you’d let me,” I say.
He glides a grease-stained finger down my cheek. “You are helping me. Every day you don’t give up on me, you make me believe I’m worth something. That’s all I need from you.”
I launch into his arms and he crushes me in a hug. When he lets me go, he stands and tugs me up by the hand. “Now get your pretty little virgin ass out of here before I change my mind and deflower you right here on the shop floor.”
I stretch up onto my tiptoes and give him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll pay for Frank’s guts little by little as I can afford it. I want to do it right and rebuild him.”
He breathes a sigh and shakes his head. “Your call.”
I wrap him in another hug and just at that instant, a cruiser rolls up and my father steps out. I left him a message on my way to the interview that I’d be at Chuck’s fixing Frank tonight. “Sweet sassafras, Adrianna! Don’t you ever answer your phone?”
I let go of Chuck and meet Dad at the open roll-up door. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour. I tried your cell and the shop. No one was answering.”
Chuck comes up next to me and holds out his hand to Dad. “Sorry, Carl. I always let the machine take calls after hours.”
Dad takes his hand and gives him a firm shake. “I’m just glad she’s safe, son.”
“I told you we were working on Frank tonight,” I say, flinging a hand at my poor, broken car.
He turns toward me. “Gary came by after dinner for a beer. Said a man, midtwenties, six foot three, two twenty or so, with dark hair and eyes, in a blue dress shirt and jeans, dropped you at home after school then drove off in your car.”
I roll my eyes. I should have known Sergeant Dixon would narc me out to Dad. “Once a cop, always a cop,” I mutter under my breath.
“Who was he?”
I try to hide the rush that shoots down my spine and straight to my groin at the thought of Rob. “He’s just the brother of one of my students.”
“Why did he leave in your car?”
“It wasn’t my car. He drives a blue Lumina too, believe it or not. Frank broke down at school and he offered me a ride.”
“It’s true, sir,” Chuck confirms. “I towed Frank out of the school lot at sixteen hundred.”
Dad splits a glance between us. “The brother of a student,” he says pensively, tugging on his beard.
“Everything’s fine.” I glance over my shoulder at Frank. “Except I might need a ride to school in the morning.”
“Why don’t you just take the T-Bird?” he says with a wave at Mom’s car. “It’s your car, punkin.”
“Anyway,” I say, ignoring him. I can’t even look at Mom’s car parked next to Dad’s cruiser without it twisting my insides into a painful knot. “We were just finishing up, so I’ll be right behind you, okay?”
He nods. “I’ll leave the light on.”
I give him a hug. “Be home soon.”
Chuck and I watch from the garage as Dad climbs into the cruiser and backs out.
“So, who’s the guy?”
I turn and look at him. “What guy?”
“The brother of one of my students,” he says in a falsetto that sounds nothing like me.
“The brother of one of my students,” I repeat, hoping my voice adequately relays