After lunch my new friend brought me back over to Cooper’s Garage but when we arrived the building was all closed up and locked. Betty was up on a lift. The Maxima was nowhere in sight. Neither was Adam.
“Why don’t we head back into town. On Sunday nights he sometimes helps out at the stables.”
“Can I ask you something about Adam,” I asked as I got in the car and buckled up.
“Sure.”
“Did you two grow up together?”
“Sort of, but I’m closer in age to his younger brother. Adam was five years ahead of me but this is a small town. Everyone pretty much knows everything there is to know about everyone else.”
“Hm,” I replied, not really sure why I broke my resolution to ask Chloe anything about Adam.
“Oh and, yes, he is single,” Chloe replied and smiled a grin that would shut down even the Cheshire Cat.
“That’s…I…never mind,” I replied and felt my cheeks begin to burn.
“He’s probably the best looking guy in town to be honest. But I’m sure he’s single because of what he does.”
“Yeah, about that,” I began, “what does he do, anyway?”
“Well let’s see there’s the garage, diner, hotel—”
I cut her off, “He works at the hotel, too?”
“Well, not exactly. Oh, speak of the devil.”
Chloe ended the conversation by pointing out the windshield and pulled over to the curb two cars back from the diner. I followed where her finger was pointing by the door and saw Adam standing outside, holding a cell phone up to his ear. We didn’t make eye contact but I saw his mouth move and he was flinging an arm up into the air like a sideline coach trying to rile up the crowd. He looked riled up though.
We exited the car and Chloe took the lead toward the restaurant. Her beeline went directly to Adam. He’d turned his back to our direction and I could hear his voice as we approached.
“I’m almost positive I sent that check last month. Let me check my books again—” He stopped talking as Chloe approached and tapped him on the shoulder.
He spun around, his eyes widened, and he told the person on the other end of the line that he’d have to call them back. Adam and Chloe gave each other a cursory hug. I stood to the side feeling a little strange for overhearing what he’d said. I considered his face as Chloe and Adam made a little small talk.
“Are you two friends now?” Adam asked.
“Yeah, I guess we sort of are,” Chloe replied and finished with, “I took her to lunch up at The Ranch today and we had fun.”
“That place is crazy. I’ve always wanted to know if they have Sloth chained up in the basement.”
At the very reference I’d made earlier my head snapped up from the spot I was studying on the concrete. Our eyes met and Adam smiled. There was something in the look he gave me. It felt like we’d developed some kind of in-joke. Both clearly movie buffs. He was two for two of my favorites.
“Is that another reference to The Goonies?” Chloe asked and I nodded in response.
“I have an update on your car,” Adam said, turning to speak directly to me.
Before I had a chance to respond Chloe said, “I have to run over to my mom’s, see you tomorrow Deb!” And then she leaned in to give me a hug.
“Thanks for lunch,” I said, hugging her back, “see you later.”
“Later, Chloe,” he said.
“Later, Adam,” Chloe said, annunciating his name and following that with a small chuckle as she turned to walk back to her car.
“What was that all about,” I asked.
“What?”
“Her tone.”
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said but I watched his eyes avert mine and shift back and forth across the space Chloe had just vacated.
Something in my gut told me there was more to the story with Chloe and Adam. I didn’t know why I cared but he seemed uncomfortable and I had an overwhelming compulsion to ask again. But I didn’t. Had they dated? Was I an idiot outsider in a world I had no claim over? Was I overreacting to nothing? He was so hard to read.
A man walking down the street moved in our direction. As his gaze fell on Adam his mouth broke into a big smile and his steps picked up pace. The man was much older, possibly even older than my nan, and his limbs moved like he was a string puppet. He looked quite thin underneath his khaki pants and lemon yellow Polo shirt but he caught up to us quicker than I would have imagined he could move.
“There’s the guy I wanted to see,” the man said with an edge of gravel in his voice.
“Well hey there Mr. Sparrow, did everything work Friday night for Nik?”
“Just great, yes thank you. And the doc came out to see his mare this morning. She seems to be much better after a couple nights of bundling up. Nik had fun camping out with her in the barn. And he even toasted marshmallows over the campfire. I think they’ll both be just fine. Wanted to thank you in person, where did you run off to so fast?”
“Oh, I had to pick up, uh, a friend back here in town. Help her with some car trouble.”
At the word ‘friend’ Mr. Sparrow made eye contact with me then said, “You’re a good man, sir.”
“Nah, just doing my job. You off to dinner with Louise?”
“You better believe it, she saved us the corner booth tonight,” Mr. Sparrow said and nudged at Adam’s arm with his elbow.
I couldn’t help but grin. Blanket and wood mystery solved. And my entire chest felt achy, like my heart would burst through my ribs at any moment. The guy standing in front of me, selfless, kind, funny as he was, would never amount to anything. He was a workaholic. Plus, I was gone in a day.
“Enjoy your night sir,” Adam said, tapped the man on the shoulder, and shook his hand.
“You take care, son,” the older man said and turned back for the diner door.
“Uh,” Adam said and turned back to face me, “yeah, sorry about that.”
“No problem. Sounds like you do a lot around here for a lot of people. Speaking of which, about my car,” I said and smiled.
“There’s something different about you, what is it?” He asked, once again changing the subject away from Betty.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Wait, that’s it,” he said and pointed at my face.
“What’s it?” I asked and felt my nose twitch with an itch.
“That smile.”
The breath caught in my throat but I managed to push out, “Are you trying to distract me from what’s going on with Betty?”
“Who?”
“My car.”
“You named your car? And her name is Betty?”
“Yeah,” I replied, unsure if he was judging me.
He dipped his chin slightly and his lips parted into a barely perceptible smile.
With a raise of his eyebrows and a laugh he said, “You’re pretty cool, Deb Martin.”
My eyes widened at his compliment and I felt the heat rise from the skin on my chest all the way up to the crown of my head. And I wasn’t even concerned with how dry my mouth went, I’d run out of things to say anyway.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I, uh,” I stammered.
“How come you never told me that before?”
“Told you what?”
“That your car has a name,” he said and sounded surprised.
“Well, I’m not sure really. I call her Betty most of the time, maybe you thought I was talking about a person.”
“My car has a name too,” he said and broke into a wide grin.
“You’re kidding,” I said and shook my head.
“Nope, it’s Tick. Or Ticker depending on how much I hear it coming out of the engine.”
“That’s awesome,” I said.
“It would be more awesome if it didn’t make the sound. Changing the subject, how are you liking Cedar Falls so far? Bored to tears yet?”
“No, actually, I kind of love it here,” I admitted.
<
br /> “We are talking about the same place, right? Did you hit your head or something?”
As I felt him warm back up to me again I smiled, “No, all I’m saying is this place can grow on a person. Everyone is so friendly.”
“You’re nuts. This town is lame.”
“Obviously, present company excluded,” I said to amend my earlier sentiment.
He laughed and tapped a toe on the ground, “Okay, fine. All I’m saying is it can be limiting to live somewhere so tiny.”
I suddenly felt bolder than I actually was, “Want to take a walk?” I asked, before I could stop the words from falling out of my mouth.
“Um,” he looked up and down Main Street then smiled, “You know what, I would love to but I have—”
“Errands to run?” I finished by using the same words he’d used since I met him.
“Yeah, but forget that, I could use a break for a few minutes.”
“Cool,” I said and we turned together as he turned the focus on me.
“So, tell me what’s in Santa Barbara,” he asked as we moved away from Cooper’s Diner.
“Well, a funeral,” I blurted out.
“What?”
“My aunt, she died.”
“That’s, wait, what?” He asked and paused as his eyes widened when my words registered, “Why didn’t you say something?” He stopped walking as he turned to face me.
“What difference would it make? You still wouldn’t have the part to fix my car.”
“I could have taken you down the coast or at least gone to pick up the alternator. Now I feel like a jerk.”
I laughed out loud, “You never would have done that, two days ago you thought I was an inconvenience. You were kind of mean when I showed up with AAA.”
“What? No I wasn’t. I treated you exactly how I do all my other customers. Wait, I take that back,” he said and flailed an arm upward like he had when I saw him on the phone earlier, “Better than most customers. I bought you dinner!”
The words hit me like I was the coyote under an anvil. He was right. I hated to admit when I was being unreasonable or stubborn because I didn’t get my way, but that is exactly how I acted that day. I was acting like a big baby. I studied his face, studying mine, and felt tears threaten the surface. Gulping them back I thought about his words. Though I didn’t want to, I had to admit the truth.
“You’re right,” I said, all I could choke out of my mouth without tears flowing behind the words.
“Thank you. I wasn’t intentionally mean and I will defend that to the death.”
Despite myself, I laughed. A genuine, smile-inducing laugh. He smiled back at me in return and I felt the tears dry up and fade away.
“To the death, huh? That’s mighty aggressive.”
“Well, I fiercely protect my own honor.”
“Noble,” I replied.
We turned, resumed our walk, and he nodded then said, “All things aside, did you miss it?”
“Did I miss what?” I asked in reply.
“The funeral.”
“Oh, no it isn’t for a few more days.”
“You were going early?”
“Yeah, to be there in case my family needed anything.”
“Sounds like your family is lucky to have you.”
I fell silent for a long moment, considering his words. I wondered if my family felt the same way. On the way back with Chloe I tried to pick up my voice mail but there still weren’t any return messages from anyone.
It was starting to make me sad and my eyes threatened to well up so I deflected, “I hear you have a bunch of jobs. Do you just work all the time?”
“Pretty much. I had to pick up slack after my mom died.”
I felt a lightning bolt surge through my chest, “You lost your mom?”
“About four years ago. We weren’t all that close so I’m doing okay. Sorry about your aunt.”
“Thanks. Now that you mention closeness, I guess she and I weren’t all that close either. Not really. We hung out a lot more before my mom died.”
“Wow, you lost your mom too?”
“Yeah,” I replied, feeling tears threaten again.
“Sucks. Sorry. How long ago?”
“Nine years, one month, and four days. Car accident.”
“Damn.”
It was like the guy had some kind of magic pull on me. I felt compelled to share everything with him for a reason I couldn’t explain. He just seemed comfortable. Easy. Everything in and around Cedar Falls seemed to be seeping into all my empty cracks.
“My mom and I were really close, even though I was so young when she died. We had a great relationship. I kind of still have her on a pedestal.”
“That totally sucks, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah,” I replied and plunked down on a bench at the end of Main Street.
Adam followed my lead and sat down next to me. We both stopped talking and looked across the street. I couldn’t help feeling a little bit more endeared to the guy. I’d never met anyone else near my age who had also lost their mom. I suddenly wanted to nuzzle into the nook beneath his right arm and stare down the street all day. And this time I didn’t try to stop myself from imagining what it would feel like to snuggle together.
“Mind if I change the subject?” He asked.
“Please,” I all but begged for a way to start talking again before I actually cuddled up next to Adam.
“Your car. Betty.”
“Something else is broken isn’t it? Is oil leaking? Antifreeze? Wait, no, this is my luck so it’s probably the entire engine, right? Just mere moments from blowing the both of us into tiny Betty bits?”
He laughed and I couldn’t help but notice small creeping lines at the outside corners of his eyes. His fair skin was smooth except for those laugh lines. Looking at their depth I suddenly wanted to laugh as much as he had in his life. I smiled instead.
As I relaxed on the bench my hand came to rest in the middle of the seat. Only, the seat was much warmer and softer than I imagined. My eyes shifted down and I was all at once mortified. There was my hand, resting directly on top of Adam’s hand. I withdrew my fingers at a comet’s pace and dropped the limb in my lap as his eyes dropped to where I’d just removed my hand.
His hand didn’t move but his chin tilted back up so we were looking right at each other. I felt like all the wind, noise, life had been sucked from the space around us as his eyes searched mine for what had just happened. A wave of something resembling electricity spread across my skin from toes to crown of my head. Like a tsunami started in my feet and traveled the length of my body until it burst into the space above me. A surge of something much greater than embarrassment.
I couldn’t speak. All of my words followed the jolt up and out of my head. But his hand stayed still in the middle of the bench and I couldn’t help but think he didn’t mind what I’d done.
Those small lines reappeared at the corners of his eyes, I assumed, in response to the size my eyes had grown since my unintentional handholding moment.
“N-No, none of those things,” he answered the question I forgot I’d even asked, “I was just going to tell you that it should be done tomorrow pretty early.”
“What?”
I almost shouted the word and the rise in my voice caused my spine to stand pin-straight. All thoughts of my embarrassment were replaced by something else. I could finally get home. But was my feeling happiness?
“Yeah, I had time to work on her today,” he said and finally moved his hand from the bench to his lap.
“Oh, well that’s great then,” I said and let my back sink around the curved bench wood planks as I realized I didn’t mean a single word I said.
“I thought you’d be happy to get back on the road. Plus, it isn’t like you need to stick around this town too long, nothing in Cedar Falls anyway.”
“I guess not,” I responded, confirming to myself that what I’d just felt after faux holding his hand had been one-sided emotions. Ag
ain.
“Oh, and it won’t cost you anything over the deposit.”
Alternate Plans (California Dreamin' Series Book 2) Page 7