Page 85 of Lee

Frustration filled Lee. When would she come to understand that helping her wasn’t an inconvenience for him or anyone else?

She hadn’t even asked for a recommendation for a mechanic. The thirty seconds it would have taken for them to tell her to take the car to Blake would have been nothing.

At the same time, he had to admire her for doing things for herself.

He’d had a girlfriend during college who’d thought that once they started dating, he’d do all the “guy” stuff for her. Which he hadn’t minded at first. But eventually it had gotten to where he was doing far more for her than he had time for, what with his classes, homework, and a part-time job. He’d wished that she would at least have taken care of a couple of the things she’d heaped on him. Like taking out her own garbage.

But now he was falling in love with a woman who he wanted to rely on him for things, and she kept doing everything for herself. He didn’t know if this independence that Rori exhibited was her personality or if she’d been forced by life situations to develop it.

From little things she’d revealed, Lee suspected it was that she’d never had anyone to rely on, to turn to for help, so she’d learned to just do it all herself.

It was admirable, to be sure, but Lee also wanted her to know that she was now surrounded by people who were happy to help her. Who wanted to help her.

When his phone rang, Lee answered it, hoping Blake would be able to help Rori out.

“Stan gave me the green light to go pick up Rori’s car and, if she’d like, to bring it here and look it over to see if there’s any truth to what the other garage is telling her about its condition.”

“Hang on a second.” Lee looked at Rori. “What time were you going to pick up your car?”

“They said they were open until six, so I was going to go as soon as I finished work.”

After a brief back and forth, Rori accepted Blake’s offer, but she wanted to go too. Lee planned to tag along as well. He really wanted to give the mechanic a piece of his mind, but he had a feeling Blake could get the message across better.

“We’ll meet Blake at the garage,” Lee said after he hung up.

“Thank you for helping me with this.”

“We’re happy to,” Lee assured her.

“I hope that I’m not overreacting. I suppose it’s possible there really is a bunch of stuff wrong with my car. Maybe putting so many miles on it when I moved here caused problems to develop.”

“Have you noticed it running any differently?”

She shook her head. “It’s been fine. I mean, I haven’t used it a lot. But when I have, no warning lights have come on or anything like that.”

“Blake will get to the bottom of it. If the work really needs to be done, it’s better if he does it. He won’t do anything unnecessary. You can trust him one hundred percent.”

Rori sighed, her shoulders slumping. “It was stupid of me not to ask for a recommendation.”

“Not stupid,” Lee said, keeping his tone gentle, even though he had been frustrated by her not doing just that. “I realize you are still getting to know us, so it’s probably not your first instinct to ask us for help. I hope that will change.”

Rori’s eyes closed for a moment, then she said, “I’ll try.”

Lee’s heart ached at the emotion he saw on her face. Would she ever be able to trust him enough for them to become something more than friends? Love required trust, and she’d need to trust that he would be true to his word. That she could trust him to do what he said he would. Especially for her.

He had thought he was showing her that she could trust him. What more could he do?

Lee needed to figure that out because he really wanted something more with her. But that would only happen if she trusted him enough to want that, too.

For now, he’d keep showing her that he was there for her. And that there was no one else he’d rather be helping.

When the workday ended, he and Rori left the clinic and got into his car. He could tell that Rori was nervous, and he was a little as well. Confrontations were never fun, and he suspected that Rori avoided them whenever possible.

He parked on the street across from the garage. Before he got out of the car, he turned to Rori. “It’s going to be okay.”

She gave him a small smile. “I hope so.”

“You’re not alone.”

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