Turbocharged

by Jessie Gussman

  “Huh?” Bobby’s bright blue eyes squinted in confusion.

  “If someone hits you on one cheek, Jesus said to offer the person who hit you the other one.”

  “Why?” Bobby’s head tilted to the side.

  “I guess he was talking about loving your enemy.”

  “But enemies are bad. You beat the bad guys up.”

  The kid had a point. Still, Nate couldn’t get away from the heavy feeling of duty that seemed to be crushing him. He struggled for words. “I guess the things that Jesus taught are often opposite of the things that we most want to do. Even opposite of the things that society admires or thinks are good.”

  “So if Elle hits me again, I’m supposed to just stand there?”

  “No. Jesus said to offer her your other cheek.” Even as he said it, Nate knew he had never lived by that teaching.

  “But it hurts when she hits me!” He stuck out his lower lip. “And it makes me mad!”

  “I didn’t say it would be easy.”

  “I think my dad would say to hit her back. Only harder.”

  Nate shrugged. “I guess I was always taught to not hit girls.”

  “Why not?”

  Forced into an examination of his beliefs that he’d not been expecting, Nate shrugged. “It’s a matter of respect, I suppose.”

  “I respect her.” Although Nate was fairly certain Bobby didn’t know what respect meant. “But I don’t think she should hit me.”

  “Me, either. But hitting her back isn’t the answer either.”

  “So what should I do?”

  Nate felt as if they’d come full circle. “Jesus said to turn the other cheek.”

  Bobby’s sweet, innocent gaze pinned on Nate. “What would you do?”

  With effort, Nate met his gaze. Scenes from his childhood rambled through his head. Children didn’t forget hypocrisy. But how hard could it be? How often would he be around Bobby? After the month or so that he filled in for Tank, Nate would only occasionally see Bobby, if at all, since Nate was planning to settle on the wooded lot that he was buying an hour from here. Finally, he decided that he would just tell Bobby the truth. “I hope I would give her the other cheek. But, I think, first, I’d try to avoid her to begin with.” He paused, “Or maybe you could do a conquer-your-foes and-turn-them-into-friends thing.”

  “You want me to be friends with Elle?”

  “Would it hurt to try?”

  “How?”

  Nate shrugged. “Smile at her? Offer to help her with schoolwork?”

  Bobby turned back to his work.

  Nate figured he was thinking about it. “Can you stir this tea?”

  Bobby’s face lit up. “Sure!”

  Nate handed him the spoon. “Be careful not to spill.”

  “I won’t.”

  Nate watched, but his thoughts were still on their conversation. He’d just been a huge hypocrite with Bobby. At least where the fighting was concerned. He’d never hit a woman. And he planned to keep it that way. That was why he needed to find a sweet, gentle, passive girl. It was why Kaitlyn was so wrong for him.

  ~*~

  Kaitlyn stared through the screen door and suppressed an insane feeling of jealousy. Standing at the counter, his back to her, Nate held Gary, who was happily sucking from a bottle, in one arm while Bobby stood on a chair on Nate’s other side, chatting away, slopping some kind of brown goop on a piece of bread. Four more crooked sandwiches sat on the counter. Lunch. Just like that.

  If she had been in trying to make lunch…well, first of all, she had no idea how he held the baby and the bottle in one arm. So, either Gary would be screaming or Bobby would be whining that he was hungry. There was nothing, aside from PB&J that she could make without a recipe and she wouldn’t have the patience to let Bobby help. It was hard enough to listen to him jabber away all the time. Not to mention his perpetual motion would give her a headache.

  But the scene in front of her looked domestic and almost tranquil. She fought the urge to sneak in and pinch the baby. Instead she focused on Nate’s baggy shirt, his loose, navy blue dress pants, and the fact that he looked ridiculous still holding the bright flowered diaper bag with the strap crossed over his back. The guy would be seriously over his head when one of Tank’s trucks came in needing…anything. He didn’t look as if he could replace a wiper blade without an owner’s manual and an 800-number help line.

  Feeling slightly better, she opened the door. “Hey, guys.”

  “Hey, Kaitlyn.” Bobby almost sounded like an adult. Without bouncing or running, he turned on the chair with a proud grin. “Look! Nate and I made lunch.” Bobby awkwardly held up the sandwich he’d just made, the spoon in his other hand now over the floor with a big piece of goop about to fall off. The corner of the sandwich sagged and some of the brownish filling dripped out.

  Nate caught it, stuffed it back into the sandwich, and adjusted Bobby’s hand angle so that the filling stayed in. All that, still holding the baby and bottle. “Hope these taste as good as they look. How ‘bout it, Kaitlyn?” Nate didn’t seem to see any irony in his question at all.

  “Or better,” Kaitlyn mumbled. She was kind of stuck on the way Nate had moved to catch that filling. Specifically on how fast he had moved.

  “You know, with everything that’s happened, it just struck me that you have a real job somewhere.” She eyed his attire. Some kind of businessman. Maybe he was unemployed. That would explain why he had the time to come run Tank’s business. And take care of Kaitlyn’s brothers.

  “Yeah.” Nate had turned back around, opening cupboards until he found a plate for Bobby to set the sandwiches on.

  “So…are you a professional chef? A Nanny? VP of miscellaneous stuff, and freelance kid calmer?” Kaitlyn opened the fridge and grabbed the iced tea. That’s right. She could make tea, too.

  “No, no, and…that last one sounds interesting, but…no.” Nate picked up the plate of sandwiches and handed it to Bobby.

  Kaitlyn closed her eyes. If Bobby dropped them on the floor, she might still be able to eat one if she didn’t have to watch.

  “Set it on the table, but don’t take any, Bob.” Kaitlyn could hear the smile in Nate’s voice. “Girls go first.” The plate clunked on the table. “Looks as if your sister is ready to pray. Makes sense. We made it, she says the thanks for it.”

  Kaitlyn’s eyes flew open.

  Nate quirked one thick brow before he grabbed a spit rag from the bag, threw it over his shoulder and adjusted Gary for a burp.

  Bobby’s blue eyes looked at Kaitlyn eagerly. “Say thanks so we can eat.”

  “Um, I think Nate meant to pray.”

  Bobby’s bright gaze shot to Nate, who now had his head bowed, his big hand patting Gary on the back. Waiting.

  Kaitlyn felt the grippy fingers of panic start clawing up her throat. Hail, Mary, full of grace? No. That wasn’t right. Now I lay me down to sleep…something about Mary and sheep? Gah! Not that either. The silence lengthened. Kaitlyn felt like squirming. Get a hold of yourself! He had shown her up with the baby. He had shown her up with Bobby. And with lunch. She could do this. She would say a prayer if it killed her. Then, like a lightning bolt—a divine lightning bolt—Kaitlyn remembered the one prayer she’d heard as a child. After her mother had died, she often said it over and over at night to comfort herself. She cleared her throat. “Bless this bunch as we munch on our lunch. Amen.” Kaitlyn looked up.

  Bobby had one hand on the table right next to the sandwiches, ready to pounce on them as soon as she’d served herself.

  Nate sat with his head bowed, but the hand that had been gently patting Gary’s back had stilled.

  “I’m done.” Kaitlyn stared at Nate. What was he waiting for? Christmas? Or did his religion say two amens and then do some kind of hand motion over the face? Finally, his shoulders lifted, and he looked up.

  “Thanks.” His face was completely devoid of any expression. He jerked his chin at the sandwiches. “Help yourself.”


  Kaitlyn gingerly took the closest one. As soon as she lifted it up, Bobby’s hand shot out and snagged a sandwich.

  “Got your hands clean at least.” Nate reached across and took one, expertly balancing the baby on his shoulder. His large hands and big knuckles dwarfed the bread, and again, Kaitlyn wondered what he did for a living.

  “Yeah. We keep the strong grease-remover by the hose at the garage.” She bit into her sandwich. Bursts of flavor filled her mouth. Tuna. But also green olives, almonds…she chewed slowly, savoring. Capers, maybe? Sour cream? The best tuna salad she’d ever had. Nate had to be a chef.

  “Bobby and I were going to take lunch to the garage. You must have figured out the wiring? And I thought there was a truck coming?”

  “He got held up getting loaded. And no, I didn’t figure out the wiring. I got frustrated and decided I’d better quit before I made the problem worse.” Kaitlyn took another bite, enjoying the treat but trying to hide her growing irritation. Bobby was quiet and clean. Lunch was delicious, and Gary wasn’t crying. Gratefulness and jealousy warred in her chest.

  “Do no harm?” Nate glanced at Bobby whose cheeks were bulging as he chewed, but he listened to the conversation with interest. He wasn’t even talking with his mouth full.

  “Yeah. I’m horrible at electronics. No patience.” The sandwich definitely had almonds. Who would have thought to pair almonds and tuna?

  “Well, if you don’t mind keeping the boys for a while, I’ll take a look.”

  Kaitlyn ignored the fact that Nate seemed to have just asked her to watch her own brothers.

  Nate eyed the last sandwich, looked at Bobby, and then down at Gary, who was cradled in his arm. He seemed to be deliberately avoiding looking at Kaitlyn.

  “So…you’re an electrician?”

  Gary cooed and gurgled in Nate’s arm. Nate’s free hand came up, and Gary’s tiny hands batted awkwardly at Nate’s big fingers. “No.”

  “A chef?”

  Gary captured a large thumb, and Nate looked up, a hint of a smile on his face. “Haven’t we already had this conversation?” He grunted and looked back down. “It’s easy, Katie. Say, ‘Nate, what could you possibly do that qualifies you to run your brother-in-law’s trucking company for a month, and how could you be so free as to drop everything in your life for that long anyway?’” White teeth flashed against dark skin.

  Kaitlyn was struck dumb by the way that grin transformed the harsh angles of his face into rugged handsomeness.

  Nate snorted. “What? That would be kind of nosy, wouldn’t it? And we don’t really know each other well enough to be rude. And maybe I’m just not that interested in you.”

  Kaitlyn bit back hot anger, irked that he could read her mind so perfectly and that he had deliberately not answered her earlier just to be annoying.

  Bobby shoved the last of his sandwich in his mouth.

  Just a few more minutes and she could go back to the garage without looking as if she was running away. Because, of course, she was. “Or maybe, since you’re spending so much time with my half-brothers, I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t being a bad influence on them!” Kaitlyn wanted to bite her tongue. He had been a better influence in the last day than she had been their whole lives. Which irritated her even more.

  Nate grunted and rolled his eyes. But he didn’t dignify the comment with an answer. Rather, he held out an olive branch of sorts. “Have you heard from your dad?”

  Kaitlyn‘s annoyance faded and a sliver of worry took its place.

  Nate pushed back his chair. “Come on, Bob. Let’s get the table cleared off so we can head down to the garage and find a way to get dirty.”

  Kaitlyn almost snickered at the blatant male honesty. Nate didn’t strike her as someone who had ever been dirty.

  But Bobby jumped from his chair, watching as Nate grabbed his own paper plate and Kaitlyn’s and walked to the garbage can. Bobby picked up his plate and followed, trotting after Nate like an adoring puppy.

  Kaitlyn looked away from the competence that made her feel like a huge failure, eager to get back to the garage and her comfortable world of trucks and tools.

  5

  Nate stood inside the door on the passenger side step of Kaitlyn’s pulling truck and stripped the yellow plastic coating off the end of the wire. He reached under the torn-out fuse box for the wire that corresponded to the one he was holding. Kaitlyn hadn’t been joking about it being a mess. Electronics was something that had always come naturally to him, but this was enough to give him fits.

  “Can I do that to mine?” Bobby asked from the floor where he was sitting with his legs crossed around the gear shift, playing with two short lengths of wires.

  “Sure.” Nate handed him the tool. “These are wire strippers.”

  “How do you use them?” Bobby held them upside down and tilted his head, scrunching his eyes.

  Nate lifted his brows and grinned.

  Bobby looked at Nate. “I know,” he said with an eyeroll. “See if you can figure it out for yourself.”

  Nate nodded his head, having said just that several times since they’d arrived in the garage.

  An eager look came into Bobby’s eyes, and he hunkered his narrow shoulders over, lifting the strippers to examine them more closely.

  Nate smiled to himself as he twisted the two wires together. Bobby, with his boundless energy and curiosity, reminded Nate so much of himself at that age. Already, he’d figured out the test light and electrical tape. Pretty soon, he would be ready to wire up a simple circuit. Nate grunted. He’d set more than one fire trying to figure that one out.

  “You guys are awfully quiet up there.” Kaitlyn appeared beside his door, looking up. Typically, grease blackened her hands, and there was one swipe across her face as if she’d brushed a hair out of her eyes.

  Nate wanted to linger on her face, but he forced himself to turn back to the wires he had just spliced together. “I think we might be able to fire her up in a minute if you want.” He didn’t turn to look at her but could still almost feel the excitement flow out of her body. Why did this pulling truck inspire such emotion?

  “That’s great!” she said. He looked around as her shoulders fell. “But Gary is sleeping.”

  “It’s about time for him to wake up and eat again, isn’t it? Especially if you want him to sleep tonight.”

  “I definitely want him to sleep tonight.” Kaitlyn huffed. “It goes against the grain to wake up a sleeping baby.”

  “Yeah.” Nate ripped off the electrical tape. He could certainly agree with that. A lot of times the things that were best were not the things that came naturally.

  The man door slammed. “Kaitlyn, you in here?” a big voice boomed out.

  “Over here.” Kaitlyn straightened her shoulders almost imperceptibly.

  “Hey, Babe.” A tall blond dude stepped behind Kaitlyn. His arm encircled her shoulders, and he leaned down, kissing her cheek.

  Nate turned back to the wiring. It hadn’t even entered his mind that Kaitlyn might have a man. That was good. Really. He was definitely happy about that. Keep saying it, and someday you might believe it. Ignoring the deflation in his chest, he bent down, checking his work on the wires.

  “You’re a long way from home.” Kaitlyn’s voice seemed cold and distant.

  Or maybe it was Nate’s imagination.

  “Yeah. Down here picking up some parts for my dad. Figured I’d stop in and check out my competition.” The voice lowered seductively on ‘check out’. “How about I take you out Saturday night and we can celebrate whichever of us wins the pull Friday?” The words sounded like a question, but the guy said it more as if it was a foregone conclusion that they’d be going out.

  “Nah.” Kaitlyn slipped out from under his arm. “I need to head down to the grocery store and rotate the wheels on the shopping carts.”

  Bobby’s wire strippers clanged against the gear shift. “Can I go, too? Can I help? I can push the carts!” He jumped up, climb
ing on the seat. “Nate will go! We’ll all go!” He looked at Nate, wire cutters in one hand, the wire he’d been working on in the other. “Right?”

  “Sure, Bob.” Nate bit back the smirk that wanted to erupt and rolled another piece of tape around the wires. He felt the shifting air behind him. He ripped off the tape and turned.

  “So, you’re Nate.” Blond brows lifted over hazel eyes. “And you’re working on Kaitlyn’s pulling truck?” He looked back at Kaitlyn. “Thought no one touched your baby?”

  Kaitlyn’s lips buttoned up, and she stepped forward. “Dusty, this is Nate. Nate, Dusty.”

  Nate filed the info about not touching her truck away in his head. She must like him a little more than she let on.

  Dusty’s crooked nose stood out to Nate’s fighter instinct, and Nate’s fingers curled at the aggression that charged the air. Dusty was an inch or so shorter, but forty pounds heavier—well-built, not fat. He had a hunch Dusty was not afraid to fight dirty, and was used to winning. The fighter in Nate perked in interest. Nate shoved back his combatant instinct. Quitting. And don’t forget it. Nate held out his hand.

  Dusty hesitated before he took it. “So tell me again why I’m not allowed to touch it.” Dusty nodded at the truck.

  Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. “Because we compete. Because I don’t want to worry if all the bolts got tightened and you didn’t accidentally drop a wrench in my clutch fan.”

  “And panty-waist here is a super-trucker mechanic?” He smacked Nate in the shoulder.

  Male pride dictated that he smack Dusty back, harder. Or at least get in his face and let him know Nate wouldn’t be jerked around. Nate tried to subdue the testosterone that wanted to take control of his brain. Dusty was no stranger to fighting. But it wouldn’t be on Nate’s level, and Nate could wipe the floor with him. But he couldn’t end up like his dad. A hair-trigger temper with no control. He was leaving the fighting life behind.

  Kaitlyn pushed between them. “Leave him alone.”

  “Ain’t that sweet? Got the girl standing up for you.” Dusty stepped closer, sandwiching Kaitlyn between them, and put a hand on the open door. “Aww.”