Page 46 of Unbreakable Love

My car, that was not only fixed from jumping the curb but now included shiny new tires, had also been detailed on the inside. I drove back through town, alternating between being over-the-top grateful for not only the repairs but the cleanliness of it that came complete with a new car smell it hadn’t even had when I first bought it, and furious with Gavin for taking this upon himself.

I wasn’t going to bother wasting my time with the other things Ryken implied.

Gavin and I had enough to talk about. I drove straight to his house, not bothering to go to my own driveway, and then stared at his front door with my hands wrapped around the steering wheel.

His truck wasn’t in the driveway like it’d been every other day since I’d moved in. Given the size of it, there was no way it’d fit in the garage, so he wasn’t even home.

I added that to my list of things I was mad about. The moment I wanted to unleash my anger on him, I couldn’t. Heck, he could have planned this for all I knew. Intentionally stayed away so I’d have to get over my anger before seeing him again. I wouldn’t put it past him.

“Screw that,” I muttered and shoved my shifter into reverse.

As soon as I pulled into my own driveway and garage and hopped out of my car, I grabbed my phone and opened my texting app. I tossed my purse and keys onto the counter and furiously typed away.

We need to talk.

My car is clean.

I hit send and then groaned. My car is clean? “Way to tell him off, Penny.”

My phone dinged and I groaned at his response.

???

Oh, sure. Like he didn’t know what I was talking about.

My car, Gavin. It’s clean. Inside and out and I didn’t ask for that. Or the tires.

Oh. You got it back? Good. That’s good.

Yeah. I have it back, with no bill to pay.

We need to talk.

Nothing to talk about. I didn’t know the car was going to be cleaned.

I HAVE FOUR NEW TIRES! I don’t care about the clean car!

Then why’d you tell me it was clean? Twice?

“Ugh!” I stomped my foot like a child. This man. Was he stupid or being intentionally obtuse? Either way, I wasn’t handling this the right way at all.

I inhaled a calming breath, counted to ten, and then repeated until my grip on my phone loosened enough that I wasn’t in danger of throwing it. I wasn’t angry at my phone.

I was irritated as hell with the man on the other end of it.

When will you be home? Paying for this was not okay. I want to know the cost.

I’m guessing the cleaning was on Ryken. Ask him…

The entire bill! I am not okay with you paying for that. OR the tires.

Most friends say thank you when someone helps them out, you know….

We weren’t friends when you paid for it.

But we are now. Right?

We WERE.

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