Page 76 of F*ck You

Grumbling, I opened the passenger side door, leaned against the seat with my foot on the dash, and called one of the only two people in this whole place who would have any sliver of a chance of coming out and helping me.

After one went to voicemail, I tried the second and got the same result, so I left a message on each explaining what was going on, then hung up. There had to be a better way.

Scrolling through the rather small contact list, I figured what the hell, it couldn’t hurt. I dialed the number for Miss Morris, and listened as it rang.

To my surprise, she answered. She sounded a little skeptical, but I brushed it aside.

“Hi, I know you probably don’t have time to hear from me, but my truck broke down and I’m stranded on the side of the road. My guys aren’t answering their phones, and I don’t know what else to do.”

There was a beat of silence before I realized she probably had no idea who I even was. Did she ever save my phone number, or did I show up on her caller I.D. as a random number?

“Oh, and this is Lee, the one living in your condo. I got a new phone.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief. “No worries, dear, I’m on my way.” She hung up, and then ten minutes later a truck pulled up behind me, and Miss Morris got out with a toolbox and rags.

She ended up teaching me a lot while she worked on the truck. We were out here for hours that passed by more like minutes. I told her about the guy who laughed and drove away, and she shook her head.

“Doesn’t surprise me, sounds like it was probably Dennis. He’s that way, but not everyone is. There are a lot of decent people around here.” She closed the hood. “So, tell me… When you mentioned your guys weren’t picking up, what did you mean by that? Who are your guys?”

Biting my lip, I considered how to answer. “Chase and Larsen. We’ve been…uh…seeing each other.”

A smile lit up her face. “Oh, that’s nice! Those are some good boys, and I’m glad they’ve found you. Sounds like it might be getting serious?”

I wasn’t sure how to proceed with talking about my love life with someone I didn’t know on the side of the road while fixing my broken-down truck, but I figured what the hell. “Yeah, it might be. Things are going pretty well, and I think I want to stay. Speaking of which…” My face lit up as I realized I could just get this over with now. “My job is also going well and can stay past our cutoff time. Which might be good because I may have kind of been fixing some things there.”

She laughed. “It’s not a problem, dear. If you want, we can set up a plan for you to buy it outright, or you can keep renting until you’re ready to either leave or own it. To be honest, without you here, I can’t keep up with it. I’ve been working on getting rid of my extra homes so I could settle down in one near my kids and watch my grandbabies grow up. If you want the condo, then we can make it yours.”

“Oh, that sounds great. Maybe I can get back to you on that? I’m not great with planning long term.”

“No rush, we can talk about it another time. Take your time to think it over. I’m just glad someone is finding the value in it like I once did.”

“Great!” I smiled.

“Start her up and let’s see if she’s running.”

I did as she requested, and sure enough, the purr of the engine filled the air and I fist pumped my excitement.

“Glad we could get that fixed for you.” She glanced down at her watch. “I have to head out, but don’t let anyone get you down. There are assholes in this world, but not everyone is.”

Another car parked behind Miss Morris’s truck, and Chase and Larsen got out. “Perfect timing.” She winked at me, patted my shoulder, and headed out as they reached me.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Their eyes were full of concern, but I shook my head.

“All good. I called Miss Morris and she fixed it for me. Turned out to not be as big of a deal as I thought it might be.”

“That’s good. Didn’t want you to be stranded out here on your own for the night.” Larsen’s eyes twinkled with a knowing look.

“Why? What’s tonight?”

“Come on, we’ll show you. I call shotgun.” Chase ran around to the other side of my truck and hopped into the passenger seat, then Larsen ran back to his truck, and we took off.

* * *

Chase’s facelit up in a big smile when I walked across the sand to where I was told to meet them. I was told they had a surprise for me, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. Surprises tended to put me a little on edge, you never knew what to expect. If it was like any surprises I’d received in my old life, then it wouldn’t be good. I kept reminding myself this was different and they weren’t the people I had run from.

As I reached him, I sat on the large blanket he indicated beside him and watched as he blew on the embers of the little fire he was starting in the pile of wood.

“Is this what my surprise is? A bonfire on the beach?”

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