by Elias Taylor
A tiny tone of regret laced her voice, and Jasmine picked up on it immediately. “Are you sure this is what you want, Natalie? It’s okay to second-guess yourself, and I know you don’t think so, but it’s also okay to love Brent.”
“I know it’s okay, but I don’t need a relationship. I never even wanted one. This one just kind of happened, and it’s better for it to end. Besides, this was obviously a fling to Brent.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I mean, you said he said he wanted to get rid of you, right? Why would he even try to explain things when you confronted him if that was really what he wanted? If a dude I wanted off my back heard me bitching about him on the phone and ditched me instead, I would be thrilled. That’s way easier than breaking up with someone yourself. Brent should have been relieved and signed the divorce papers right away instead of trying to talk you into waiting.”
That made a lot of sense, and Natalie hated it. Logic was supposed to be her strong point, the one that convinced her mind to turn her heart away from people who might hurt it, and here Jasmine was, using it against her.
“Maybe, but wouldn’t he have tried to talk to me again if that was the case? He could have come next door anytime.”
“Would you have answered the door?” Jasmine asked pointedly. “I bet you wouldn’t have. You can be pretty stubborn, and it sounds like you shut the poor guy down pretty hard.”
“He’s not—he’s not some poor guy with a high-school crush,” Natalie said, giggling again in spite of her dark mood.
“No, you’re both adults and you should communicate like adults. Don’t you think you should try talking to him?”
“I don’t know if I can do that.” I don’t know if I can talk to him without breaking down. I don’t know if I can give him another chance. I don’t know if he deserves another chance, and I don’t know if I deserve what will happen to me if he takes that chance and screws it up.
“I think you should try. You can’t tell me you don’t miss him. You’re too blunt, Natalie. It makes you a terrible liar.”
Natalie’s phone beeped in her ear, and she lowered it for a second to see Julian’s name on the screen. “I’ve gotta go, the boss man is calling. Thanks for the pep talk, though... I think.”
“Anytime,” Jasmine said brightly.
Natalie ended the call with Jasmine and answered Julian’s call. “What’s up?”
“I know I said you could go home early, but would you mind coming back to the shop, just for a few minutes? We had a lady come in at the last minute for an oil change and a client we had last week wants his car looked at again and possibly redone. Matt’s finishing up the oil change now. I just need you to take a look at the car from last week since you were the one who worked on it.”
“Which car exactly was it? Because there was that one old rustbucket with a hundred issues, and the owner would only let me fix like two of them. I told him that thing shouldn’t even be on the road.”
“Just come in. Just for a few minutes. Please?”
“Fine,” Natalie grumbled, heading inside to find her keys and wallet and glancing at her phone for the time. It was 4:55, five minutes before closing. “I don’t know why I can’t just deal with this tomorrow.”
“Thanks, you’re the best.” Julian hung up.
“And you better not make me get all sweaty, I just had a shower,” Natalie added for her own benefit, although she had no intention of getting dirty again. A little sweaty couldn’t be helped. That was just how California weather worked.
Natalie made the familiar drive to Classic Auto and pulled into the shop, circling around to the spots at the back as usual. All seemed quiet, and although all the garage doors were still open, Natalie didn’t see Matt or Julian. She did see the client’s car, though—or, what she thought must be the client’s car.
“What the hell?” she murmured as she walked closer. She had never worked on this car before in her life, she was sure of it. The heat must have fried Julian’s brain. This had to be Matt’s or one of the part-time mechanics’.
Natalie shrugged. Since she was here, she might as well do this properly and check the computer.
Natalie never made it to the computer because when she went into the garage, she found Brent standing there, a serious look on his face and his ball cap twisted in his hands.
Chapter Twenty-four: Brent
Brent had hoped that the element of surprise would work in his favor, but when Natalie saw him she turned on her heels and started walking back the way she had come.
“Natalie, you have to talk to me. I have the keys to the shop and I’m not locking up until you listen to me.”
“Julian’s in on this.” She didn’t agree to listen, but she did turn back to face him. Even angry, she looked incredibly beautiful.
“He said you had been acting off today, and when I told him why he gave me the keys. Please listen?”
“I did listen.”
“No, you kept cutting me off. I never got to tell my whole side of the story. I’m just asking for ten minutes of your time. Besides, Julian said he would blame you if he showed up tomorrow and found his shop unlocked.”
Brent was hoping the determination in his voice and face would convince her, and after a long moment, it seemed to work.
“Fine,” she said at last, sitting against the hood of the car. “You have ten minutes.”
Brent didn’t waste any of the most valuable and important ten minutes of his life. “First of all, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of the things I said; regardless, I should never have said them.”
Brent paused, expecting Natalie to jump in, but she just sat there. She had said she would listen, and she seemed determined to do just that.
“That day when you came over, I was talking to my dad. He’s never approved of my career choice, and when I told him what happened in Vegas a few weeks ago, I promised him that we were getting a divorce, when...” Brent took a deep breath, “when I didn’t even want one. Then he called me a few days ago and started asking me if I’d fixed things, if I’d gotten back on a track he approved of, and all I wanted was to get off the phone and have dinner with you—”
Brent realized he was talking too fast and took a moment to calm himself. “I started telling him what he wanted to hear so I could get out of there faster. He’s always been hard on me and I’ve come to realize that I’m never going to really please him, but I guess I still care what he thinks about me enough to say things I don’t mean about the woman I love.”
Brent took a step toward Natalie, his eyes burning with fervor and begging her to forgive him. “Because I do love you, Natalie. I never thought it would be possible for me to fall in love again, but I did. The last woman I loved cheated on me and left me for someone else, and I didn’t think I could trust anyone ever again.”
Brent paused again to search Natalie’s eyes. He couldn’t read her, and that scared him, but he pushed onward. “But... then I met you. And I don’t mean that I met Gideon’s annoying little sister.”
For second, it looked like Natalie’s lip twitched, but then she settled back into neutral, silent and listening.
“I mean that I met Natalie—driven, beautiful, adult Natalie. When I pulled my head out of my ass and gave myself a chance to get to know you, I couldn’t help but trust you and fall in love with you. I know I screwed up, but I don’t want to lose that.”
A little lopsided smile tugged at Brent’s lips. “Besides, isn’t that what we’ve been all about since Day One? Making silly mistakes, then making the best out of them?”
Natalie still didn’t smile, but her eyes softened. “Maybe.”
“I know I messed things up, but I don’t want to make any more mistakes. When I got to the post office, I realized that mailing the papers would be the worst mistake of all.” Brent looked Natalie dead in her chocolate-brown eyes. “I want to try again, and I want to try harder... unless, that isn’t what you want.”
It almost broke Brent’s heart to sa
y those last words, but he knew begging wasn’t going to help. He had to consider Natalie’s feelings as well as his own, and if she had none for him, then their relationship would truly be over and done and he would have to respect that.
The long silence was broken only by the fans that hummed in the rafters. Brent was 25 years old, and he was pretty sure he stood there for at least 25 more years, waiting anxiously for some sort of response.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s not what I want,” Natalie said slowly.
Brent stared at her. “I will throw that at you,” he threatened, pointing at an extremely filthy rag that had been left on top of a metal box.
There it was, finally—that brilliant smile that Brent had feared he might never see again. “Better not,” she warned him. “I just had a shower.”
“I won’t. I just—it’d be nice to know what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking... I’m thinking that it’s not all your fault. I jumped to conclusions—although I had good reason,” she added, crossing her arms. “You said some pretty hurtful things.”
Brent winced. “I know. I really am sorry.”
“But I think what hurt even more was that the things you said were ones I was always afraid of. I never knew my father, but I know some of the things he said about my mom and the way he made her feel. I never wanted to feel like that, so...”
She shrugged. “I guess I thought no relationship meant no pain. Even though we were dating, I tried my best to convince myself that it wasn’t a relationship so that I didn’t have to change my mind.”
What Gideon had said about his and Natalie’s father sprang into Brent’s mind. To Brent, he and Natalie had been in a relationship for nearly two months. In Natalie’s mind, they had just been very good friends because she didn’t want to think she would go through something similar to her mother’s situation.
“What changed?” Brent asked. “I mean, why did you change your mind now?”
“I guess my heart won this time. And I have a smart mom and best friend.”
Brent’s own heart jumped, soaring on feathery clouds of hope. “And what does your heart say?”
“It says that giving us another chance would hurt way less than sending you to the post office with those papers.”
His heart soared higher, but that still wasn’t enough. “So... does that mean you want to be married to me?”
“Okay, whoa. I didn’t say that—”
“You said sending me to the post office would hurt.”
“I meant—I meant—”
Brent could watch her mental struggle through the windows of her eyes. Had he pushed too hard? But last time Brent had told Natalie his feelings, she hadn’t echoed them back. He couldn’t accept that anymore, not if they were going to work. She pushed him to do his best. He needed to push her to not be afraid to share how she felt.
“I guess I do want that. I mean, I do want that.”
Natalie’s elimination of the word ‘guess’ meant so much to Brent. It meant that she was growing and learning to accept her feelings instead of pushing them away and hiding behind indecisiveness.
“There’s still no rush, right? To mail the papers? Maybe we can just see where things go.”
Still a little vague, but Brent could work with that. Natalie was trying, and that was what was important to him. They could work on their shortcomings and grow together. “No rush at all,” he promised, secretly hoping the envelope would never leave his glove box except to go straight into a trash can. “No rush at all. But... does this mean you want to try again? I mean, that’s what it sounds like, but I printed out something for you to sign to that effect and I’m going to need to hear you say it out loud too before you—”
“Shut up.” Natalie laughed outright. “Yes, Brent, I want to try again. And I’m never signing anything without reading it again.”
“Okay.” Bliss filled Brent’s heart. He could float away like a balloon right now, if not for the fact that he had one more thing to say.
“Can I have a hug?” That wasn’t the thing he had to say, but Natalie crossed the distance between them and took her rightful place in his arms almost before he could finish the sentence. The sheer gravity of what he could have lost if this conversation hadn’t gone the right way bowed his shoulders, and he buried his face in her sweet-smelling hair.
But there was still that one thing—that one thing he had to say.
“I love you,” Brent murmured. His breath stirring the hair close to her ear as he spoke, and it was almost like he could see the words passing from him to Natalie. He had told her how he felt, but he had never said the words properly before this moment.
He waited with bated breath, listening as hard as he could so he wouldn’t miss anything, hoping he would hear what he wanted—needed—to hear.
“I love you too.”
That was it. Suddenly, everything was perfect and right in the world. At last, Brent knew exactly what he wanted, and he knew he and Natalie were on the same page. This timeless moment in the mechanic shop marked a new beginning for them both, and Brent couldn’t wait to explore life with Natalie at his side.
Epilogue: Natalie
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
That was what Brent had told Natalie the first time they came here together and ended up doing some pretty crazy things. A year ago, all Natalie wanted had been to forget about hooking up with Brent.
Then they’d found out they were married. After spending more time together, they hooked up again. Things spiralled out of control until Brent’s father unwittingly forced them to talk things out.
Now, in early June almost exactly one year after Natalie and Brent had finally accepted their love for each other, they were still going strong. What better place to celebrate their one-year anniversary than in the city where it all started?
Natalie mentioned this to Brent as they walked the streets of Las Vegas, feeling hyper, content, happy, romantic and thankful all at once.
“Well, technically we missed our one-year anniversary,” Brent pointed out, scratching at the shadow of a beard he had going. Natalie had told him one time that she liked the way his beard tickled her skin, and he had made it a point to let it grow out a bit sometimes.
“Our fake-wedding anniversary, maybe. I meant our falling-in-love anniversary.”
“Do people celebrate that? Hey!” He tried to grab Natalie’s hand as she reached for his ball cap, but he was too slow and she held the trophy behind her back.
“We do. I mean, do you want to celebrate our fake-wedding anniversary? I’d be down. You would have to get me a present for each.”
“Give me that.” Brent grabbed her, trapping her arms against her sides and squeezing wild giggles out of her. He took back the ball cap easily. “Don’t be greedy. I already got you one nice present.”
Natalie had recently been approved for a loan and used it to open her own shop. It was small, but it had all the bells and whistles—a couple of which were Brent’s ‘nice present’—and Julian had let Natalie steal a couple of his customers who really liked Natalie’s work and were willing to take their cars to her new shop. She had built her place across town in the opposite direction from Classic Auto, and she had christened it Second Chance Auto Repair.
Because second chances are important, Natalie thought, picturing her shop’s large, enticing sign. I wouldn’t be here right now with the man I love if I hadn’t trusted myself and Brent to give us a second chance.
“Maybe you got me a nice present,” Natalie agreed, suddenly realizing it had been a while since she spoke, “but I got you some nice presents too.”
They looked at each other, each searching for some sort of joke, but they just ended up laughing instead. The money Brent had spent on things for Natalie’s auto repair shop had gone straight back into his own business endeavor in the form of equipment for his own newly-leased company space. It had been the perfect gift-giving plan.
“Yeah, you did.”
Still chuckling, Brent pulled Natalie closer to avoid a family heading the opposite way along the sidewalk. “Besides, we’re about to replace our fake-wedding anniversary with a real-wedding to celebrate.”
That was very true, and Natalie thought wonderingly about a time when the word “marriage” would have sent her running for the hills. Now, she was so excited she kept skipping every other step. This evening, they would have a formal, proper wedding, one where they knew that they were getting married.
Well, not exactly formal, Natalie reminded herself with a grin that made Brent give her an odd look. Biker dudes with tough, weathered skin and long gray beards and women with full sleeves of tattoos and piercings in odd places were going to make up most of the guest list. Natalie had, of course, invited the entire Road Warriors group to the wedding, and the only dress instruction she had sent out was ‘don’t look like you broke down on the side of the highway’.
Besides, Natalie couldn’t see herself in a formal white wedding gown, carrying a humongous bouquet of flowers and looking the part of the perfect bride. She already knew she and Brent were perfect for each other. They hadn’t had an argument they couldn’t get through since everything happened last summer, and when they happened to disagree on something, they kept it civil and understanding until they worked it through. Sometimes she felt like her chest was so full of love it might burst, but she always managed to love Brent even more with every morning she woke up beside him.
Natalie was Brent’s perfect bride whether she wore the customary dress or not, and he was her perfect groom. All they needed was the people they loved and somewhere to celebrate, and they would be the happiest accidentally-married couple alive.
Natalie giggled. Brent gave her a quizzical look, and this time she explained, “Remember when we went ring shopping and the saleswoman asked us when the big day was? And you just looked her in the eyes and said ‘we’re already married’, and she had no idea what to say?”