Page 61 of The Bonus

Just getting off the plane now

She’s here.

I smile and nervously type back,

We’re at the arrival gate.

I’m the one with the double stroller.

The people begin to walk down the ramp and I watch on with my heart in my throat. “Look, here comes Maria,” I tell them. “Behave please, no tantrums today.” They keep munching on their muesli bars, totally uninterested in anything I say.

I see a young girl with dark hair, and she sees me and smiles and waves.

She’s wearing a gray tracksuit and her long dark hair is up in a high ponytail. She bounces over. “Grace?”

“Maria?” I smile awkwardly.

“I’m so glad to be here.” She laughs and pulls me into a hug. “Thank you so much for picking me up.”

She’s normal.

She bends down to lean into the stroller. “And who are you?”

“This is Maria,” I tell them. “This is Lucy and Dominic.”

“Hello, cuties.” She smiles.

Dominic accidently drops his muesli bar on the ground and without missing a beat, Maria bends and picks it up with her bare hands.

“Oh, that’s gross, sorry.” I wince. “Let me take that.”

“No, I’ve got it.” She pulls a tissue out of her pocket and wraps the sloppy muesli bar up. “We’ll get another one when we get home,” she tells him. “Lick your fingers.”

Dominic smiles up at her all awestruck and licks his fingers.

And just like that everything falls into place. Suddenly, I know that this is going to be wonderful. That she is going to be wonderful and the world is officially saved.

She gives me a big, friendly smile. “Let’s go home.”

I pull the car into the parking lot of the mechanic’s, damn it, this is a shit fight. I quickly give the car a neaten up and collect the receipts and coffee cups in the front console. Why does my car service always fall on the most chaotic of days? Maria had a college assignment due this morning, so I was up helping her with that until late last night, and then this morning Dominic was running through the house and bumped his head. To top it off, Buddy went out this morning and got completely covered in mud, came back through the doggy door and rubbed it all over the living room rug and couch as if it were a trophy.

Ugh… It’s been the morning from hell and I haven’t stopped running since the moment I woke up.

I would have canceled the car service if it were not for one small detail.

“Hey, you,” a raspy voice calls from inside the office and I smile.

“Hi, Russ.”

He walks out to greet me, light brown curly hair and olive skin, with the biggest blue eyes you ever saw.

My mechanic Russel is the hottest man in Greenville, not in a handsome bachelor kind of way. In a subtle the way he smiles kind of way.

Getting my car serviced is the highlight of my life.

He smiles and our gaze stays locked for a beat longer than it should. “Been too long since I saw you, Grace.”

“Well…” I drag my hand through my hair, he makes me giddy. “I can’t have my car serviced any more than I do, Russ. I think they call that stalking.”

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