Page 97 of Love in the Wild

“You okay?” Gage said as he tossed the clipboard onto the desk.

“No. I’m going to die an early death if I can’t figure out how to balance these books. Numbers suck.”

Gage leaned back against the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest and his legs at the ankles. “I can give it a try if you’re okay with that.”

Beau raised one brow. “You know anything about bookkeeping?”

“I handle the books at Bruce’s. Well, I used to.”

Beau hesitated for half a second before pushing his chair back from the desk. “Be my guest.”

Gage took the seat, and Beau stuck around to explain a few things before heading out to the garage. What did it say about Beau that he trusted Gage with the business finances?

How did he go from mechanic to bookkeeper?

Half an hour later, the hallway door opened, and a few voices mingled together outside the office. Brett and Jacob walked by carrying bags of food, and Beau stopped to poke his head into the room.

“You at a place where you can stop soon?”

Gage saved everything he’d been working on and stood, stretching his arms over his head. “Sure. What’s up?

“Dinnertime.”

Gage chuckled and followed the guys to the break room. The way everyone around here congregated for mealtimes was new for Gage. They made sure to stop for every meal, but the forced breaks definitely upped everyone’s productivity for the rest of the day.

In the break room, Beau, Brett, and Jacob were unpacking what looked like burgers, and Gage stepped in to help.

“Gage!” Jacob shouted as he raised his hand.

Gage high-fived the kid. “What’s up?”

“I didn’t know you were here.”

“I was working in the office.”

Jacob’s eyes widened. “What do you do in there?”

“Nothing fun,” Beau chimed in.

“Just keeping up with the finances. The money that people use to pay to get their vehicles fixed and the money the garage has to pay for supplies and bills.”

Jacob stood still as he processed Gage’s explanation. “Wow. That sounds cool.”

“Not cool,” Beau said as he pulled cups of fries out of a greasy brown paper bag.

Asa, Dawson, and Olivia walked in wearing matching somber expressions and sat down at the table.

“Hey! We got burgers!” Jacob announced.

Dawson held out a fist for Jacob to bump. “Thanks, bud. It’s been a long day, and a burger sounds great.”

“What’s everybody sad about?” Jacob asked, looking back and forth between his dad, Dawson, and Olivia.

Gage grabbed a few drinks from the refrigerator and set them on the table. Whatever caused the cloud those three were sitting under was probably something they didn’t want to talk about. Asa and Dawson were police officers, and they were still in uniform.

“Let’s eat and we’ll explain,” Asa said as he rubbed his son’s hair.

Once everyone was sitting with a burger in front of them, Brett clasped his hands, meaning he was ready to pray.

---