Unbroken

by Jasmine Carolina

  “New Year,” I say. “Just seems like the best choice, since we don’t know what anyone’s plans will be for Christmas. And we’d be more than happy to bring Naomi and Trevor along with us, so your mom won’t have to worry too much, Nickayla.”

  The plans are solidified as we begin eating our meal. Michele pipes in every now and then with her two cents, and even Trey made a few suggestions about our next getaway. I’m just hoping us “newbies” stick around long enough to see these plans through.

  I squeeze Brody’s knee beneath the table and give him smile.

  “Are you okay with this?” he whispers, leaning his head toward me so no one else can hear what he’s asking me. “With her around? We’re not really friends anymore, so you can tell me if you have an issue…”

  “Babe, I’m fine. I can take Michele if need be, but something tells me she’s not going to be a problem for either of us for much longer. Besides, she’s only here until Wednesday. I can be civil for a few days.”

  TWENTY THREE

  “HONESTLY, BRODY, THANK YOU SO much for all your work. I’ll be referring you to all my friends when they ask for a reliable mechanic,” June says, smiling from behind the wheel of her car. “And please let Eddie know that Daddy sends his best.”

  “Will do, Miss Morgan,” I say with a friendly wave as she drives away.

  Wiping the sweat from my brow, I walk back inside the auto garage and clock out for the day.

  After our last encounter—and the fact that my living situation is different now—I had a nice, long talk with Henry about my schedule. He’s offered to let me continue to work over time whenever I need it, and I’ll just get the extra pay as my bonuses during the holidays. It works out for the best for the both of us, but he told me to come see him in his office once I was done with June’s car.

  When it comes to Eddie Hastings, I never know what to expect when he asks to speak with me. It could either be something very good or something very bad, and at this point, I’m not sure if I’m ready for more of either.

  Things are great in my life right now, and they have been since we got home from Big Bear a couple weeks ago. I’ve never felt better or lighter. Sabrina and I get along so well, and knowing she loves me is enough to keep me happy for the rest of my life. I know I’m in love with her as well, but I haven’t had the guts to tell her. I’ve started a million letters to her, knowing full well how much easier this shit comes to me when I write it out, but I have yet to finish a single one. And telling her? Well, that’s another story entirely. But besides all that, things are amazing. She’s amazing. We’re amazing together. But I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  I know it’s only a matter of time before I have to handle my father again, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to refrain from killing him with the knowledge that he put his hands on my girl. She hasn’t said it, but I can tell she’s still afraid. She’s so afraid that she hasn’t let me go by my father’s house again. I’m aware of the threat he made, but I’m also aware of the fact that he’s made similar ones regarding my life in the past and I’m still here. Barely, but still.

  Either way, good or bad news, I’m not ready for whatever it is Henry has to tell me.

  I knock on the glass panel window right outside his office, and he waves me in from his spot at his desk.

  I enter his office and take a seat across from him. Crossing my legs, I sit forward and wait for whatever it is he has to tell me. All I’m thinking at this point is, I hope he doesn’t fire me. I hope he doesn’t fire me.

  “Hey, Durham. June pleased with the work on her car?” he asks.

  “Very. She said she’ll be sending some new clients our way soon.”

  He nods, stroking his beard pensively. “Good. It’s never bad for business when we have the mayor’s little girl as our number one fan.” He stands up, walks over to his filing cabinet, and pulls out a small envelope. He hands it to me and then sits back down. “I wanted to talk to you about something. Open it.”

  I raise an eyebrow and slip my finger beneath the fold of the envelope. I pull out two patches. One says, Brody’s Auto Repair, and the other says, Durham Auto Repair. I glance up at him and he smiles.

  “What the Hell is this, Eddie?” I ask.

  “Well, I didn’t know which name you’d prefer, so I went ahead and made both logos so I could let you choose for yourself.”

  I shake my head, not comprehending. I don’t know what he expects of me. This isn’t making any sense.

  “What are you talking about?”

  He smiles, taking the patches from me. “I spoke with Alice. We both think it’s about time I step away from the shop. I’m going into my seventies, and I’m having a hard time doing the same work I normally do. I have to appoint someone to run the shop for me while I make the transition from owner to mechanic to customer. And there’s no one Alice or I could think of who deserves this shop more than you do. You can say no, and there won’t be any hard feelings, but I want you to think long and hard about it before you make a decision in either direction.”

  I close my eyes, letting all his words sink in. My mentor, the man who taught me almost everything I know about cars and gave me the first financial helping hand ever wants to step away. And he wants to hand his life’s work over to me.

  Jesus Christ.

  “Eddie, I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think I can agree to that. I’m only eighteen. I’m still in high school. I have two kids I have to finish raising. I don’t know…”

  “Don’t make a decision right now. I want to officially step away in December, so you have until then to make your decision. I just want you to know it’s on the table. This place is yours if you want it.” He stands, walking over to me and pulling me into an embrace. “I love you like you’re my own son, kid. If this is something you want, it’ll be yours when you’re ready.”

  I nod, but I’m still taken aback by his offer. He leaves me alone in his office to close up shop, and I stare down at the patches in my hands. I start to think what it’d be like to see my name on the moniker outside, on the jumpsuits we wear while fixing the cars. It’s appealing, I’ll admit, but I’m not sure whether I can handle more responsibility on my plate.

  I sigh, placing the patches back inside the envelope when my cell phone vibrates in my pocket.

  Dove: Hey, Babe, sorry to bother you at work, but we have an emergency. I just picked Nickayla up from her apartment. I think she just left Colin.

  Holy shit. I read her text message a few more times and shake my head. There’s no way.

  Me: How do you know?

  Her reply is instant.

  Dove: She was crying when I picked her up, and she had a large bag with her like she wasn’t planning on coming back. She needs you.

  Shit, shit, shit. I wonder why Nickayla didn’t call me, or Michie. Usually we’re the first on call when she needs something, so I know things must be worse than I feared if she called Sabrina.

  Me: Where are you taking her?

  I leap out of my chair and head for the locker room. I grab all my stuff, change out of my jumpsuit and walk to the bus stop. I hope she’ll respond to my text message soon so I can try and meet them wherever they are.

  Nickayla has had to deal with far too many things on her own, and I don’t want her breakup with Colin to be added to that list. I don’t know what happened, and to be honest, I’m not sure I want to. Colin’s become a great friend of mine, and I’d hate to lose yet another person in my life because of relationship issues.

  Dove: She told me to bring her to the lake house right off of Lowe. You need me to come get you?

  Oh, that’s perfect. I respond to her text message and sigh.

  Me: No, I know it. I’ll meet you there.

  I think of typing the words I love you into the end of the text message, but I decide against it. The first time I tell her those three words, I want them to come from my mouth, and not via text message.

  …

 
NIC IS A MESS.

  I got to the lake house ten minutes before she and Sabrina arrived, which worked out perfectly for me. I was waiting in front of the house when Sabrina’s car pulled up, and I could see Nickayla’s expression brighten just a little bit.

  She climbs out of the car and walks straight into my open arms. Well, really, she kind of falls against me. I can tell it’s taking every bit of strength in her body not to fall apart completely. Her head nestled into my chest, I rest my chin atop her head. I let her cry. I always let her cry. She balls my shirt up between her fingers and sobs unabashedly. After a few moments, I pull away and lace my arm around her waist.

  Sabrina has her bag and cell phone, and I gesture with my head for her to go on ahead into the house. She holds the door open for us and when we get inside, I sit on the couch. I grab a pillow and set it on my lap, then Nickayla lies down so her head’s resting on the pillow. She curls into a ball, and I lift my hand from around Nickayla to pull Sabrina close.

  I grab the belt loop on her jeans and then wrap my arm around her.

  “Call me if you need anything,” she says.

  “Don’t go,” I whisper. “It’s only a matter of time before she’s sleeping.”

  She nods. “Meet me in the kitchen when she does.”

  I tilt my head upward as she leans forward to kiss me.

  “I will.”

  I turn the TV on, making sure it’s connected to the lake house WiFi so I can play Pandora. Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. starts to play, and I suppress a laugh at the coincidence. I lean back, getting comfortable.

  “Nice choice of music,” Nic whispers through her tears.

  “Well, I know you like sad music when you’re sad. But I don’t care how sad you are; you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to listen to Dashboard Confessional,” I retort.

  I think my comment is going to amuse her, because it’s been a running joke between Mich, Nic, and me since we were little that Dashboard Confessional is the worst band ever. But instead of laughing like I expect her to, she buries her face into the pillow in my lap and starts to cry.

  I can’t bear this any longer. I hate to see her hurting, especially when I don’t know why, and when I don’t know how to help her. I grab her and guide her into a sitting position. I turn the TV off, then I grab my phone off the table near the door.

  “Come on,” I tell her, leading her to the bedroom. “We’re going to order some pizza and fried ice cream. ‘Kay?”

  She nods, giving me the most unattractive smile I’ve seen on a girl before, mostly because I can tell how hard she tried to force it. I lay down on the bed and wave her over. She buries herself against my side. She lays her head on my chest, and I watch as she closes her eyes.

  “Brody?” she asks.

  “Mmm?”

  Her eyes flutter open and she stares up at me. “What are you doing here?”

  I shrug. I didn’t think I needed to give an explanation for my presence, but if she wants one, I’ll gladly oblige. I give her a small smile. “Sabrina text and said that you needed me. So I came. If my best friend needs me, there’s nowhere else I need to be.”

  An hour and half a pizza later, I’m joining Sabrina in the kitchen. She’s doing homework, and somewhere in the past hour, someone brought her Scout, the Matteo family’s Yorkie. I grab the dog from her, pulling the pup’s ears and holding her up.

  “How old is she?” I ask.

  “Three. She was my birthday gift for my fifteenth birthday. I got to name both her and Mac, and they’re supposed to be family pets, but the general consensus is that when I move out, I get to take at least Scout with me.”

  The tiny dog’s tail wags as I play with her, and when I pull her up to my face, she wastes no time in showering me with tiny kisses. Man, dogs are the best. They love everyone, regardless of how they’ve been treated. They have the biggest hearts of any living beings.

  “Well, I love her. She’s so sweet.”

  She nods, a smile on her face as she watches me interact with her dog. “So how’s Nickayla doing?”

  I sigh. “As well as can be expected. She’s sleeping now. She didn’t tell me what happened, but I think we can safely say she and Colin are broken up. Whether it’s for good or just temporary, I don’t know, but she’s really fucked up over this.” I lean over, pressing a kiss to her lips. “Thank you for texting me. I would never be able to forgive myself if I let her down again.”

  Sabrina shrugs like this is no big deal, but she has no idea how badly I felt when I wasn’t there for her last year. Everything that happened last year shaped our friendship, because it sealed the deal for me that I don’t want any secrets between the two of us.

  What’s worse is that I had originally planned to tell Nickayla about my dad and the secret I’ve been keeping from her right along with her mother. But given the circumstances of what’s happened, I don’t think it’s a good time for either of us to bring up secrets.

  “I’m sure she knows you’d never let her down on purpose, babe. But I know how much you love to help people. Plus she barely knows me. I figured it’d be beneficial for her to be around a familiar face in her time of need.”

  I nod.

  “Did you get any of the pizza?” I ask.

  “Nah. I wanted to make sure she ate first.”

  “Well, there’s half a pizza still left. Why don’t we warm it up and watch a movie?”

  She raises her eyebrows like she’s not sure how to answer my question. She doesn’t answer, in fact. I think she’s thinking this is a trap or something. Perhaps she thinks I’m going to force her to watch a horror movie. But now, I have other plans.

  Of course, I’m going to spend the night here with Nickayla, but I want to spend the rest of the evening with Sabrina, to make up for the fact we’re going to miss each other tonight.

  “Nonna has When Harry Met Sally,” I offer.

  Ever since she told me what her favorite movie was, I’ve been looking forward to the day I could watch it with her. Mom was always a stickler for the classic movies, but I never got a chance to watch any of them with her because I was too young for the stuff she liked to watch.

  “Seriously?” she squeals. “You should have started with that! Let’s go!”

  I laugh, reveling in her excitement. She’s so cute when she’s all enthusiastic like this. I lead her to the living room and deposit her on the couch while I put the pizza in the oven to warm back up.

  Once it’s warm, I take it into the living room along with a bottle of pineapple Crush—her favorite soda—and set it on the table. I press play on the movie and serve us both some pizza. She ducks beneath my arm, eating her pizza in my embrace.

  I learned recently that one of my favorite things about her is the way she craves my touch. We don’t have to be kissing or making love or even doing anything remotely sexual, but she likes to have me touching her. She likes my arms around her, her head resting on my chest. It’s a level of intimacy I never really cared about with anyone else, but I care about it with her.

  If it’s my touch that she craves, that’s what she’s going to get.

  “You make me happy, Sabrina,” I say, turning to look at her head on. “You make me happier than I ever could have dreamed of being. And I know what you want and I promise I’m going to give it to you someday soon. Because you deserve it.”

  She smiles, and I watch her entire gaze light up.

  “What?” I ask.

  “You see? That is just like you, Harry. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you,” she whispers.

  I cock an eyebrow at her quizically. Did she just call me Harry?

  “Um, thanks?”

  She keels over, laughing uncontrollably. I watch her for a long, uncomfortable moment, and I shake my head at her hysterics. I swear, this girl is a puzzle, and I’m not sure I’ll ever solve it. Once she stops laughing, she grins widely at me.

  “I got you,” she says. I raise both my eyebrows again and
she giggles. “When Harry Met Sally.”

  Damn, she’s good.

  TWENTY FOUR

  TODAY IS MY SENIOR PROM.

  My dress is a deep royal purple, about the same length as the dress Brody made love to me in for the first time. It’s almost the same style, except this time, my back is completely exposed. My hair is slick straight, parted in the center. I don’t have much makeup on, and I’m wearing silver strappy heels.

  I’m not as dolled up or over the top as most girls are the night of their senior prom, but when I descend the stairs and see Brody in the foyer, my heart stops. He does a double take, and everything in his demeanor changes. His eyes are alight as I approach him, his smile spreads wide across his face, and he starts messing with his cuff links, the collar of his shirt, and checking his hair in the mirror in the last five seconds before I’m directly in front of him.

  In this moment, I’ve never felt more beautiful.

  “Jesus, Sabrina,” he whispers, taking my hand. He pulls me in for a temple kiss and he lowers his voice once more. “You’re playing with fire wearing that dress.”

  I grin, wrapping my arms around his neck before we have to turn to face my parents for pictures. “I can’t wait until you take it off me.”

  He pulls away from my embrace, and he walks up one step. I stand directly in front of him, and his arms come to wrap around me from behind.

  Mom is gushing over us, and the look in her eye tells me how much she approves of Brody. She starts snapping pictures right away, and she furiously wipes tears from her eyes after each flash. Daddy enters the room after Mom does, and he smiles genuinely. I take that as a sign that he’s over being upset that I went to Big Bear with Brody.

  “Te ves muy hermosa, mija,” Daddy says, stepping into the lines of Mom’s photography session and hugging me. “El gringo tenia mejor cuidar de ti. No voy a ver que te hagan dano como la ultima vez.” He kisses my cheek. “Te amo, mija. Disfrutar, pero no demasiado.”