Page 44 of Why Not Now?

I go around to the driver’s side and hand Ava my phone for song selection. She chooses “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO and we drop Lacey off at her gymnastics club before driving to Carter’s mechanic shop.

“This is the guy who owes you a favour?” Ava asks as I pull into the parking area.

“Yeah. He and Nessa got married this past summer at Blue Vista. I got them a few deals. They have a pretty cool story, actually. Together for a few years, then she left to chase her dreams. He waited for her for six years. Now they’re living their happily ever after.”

“He waited? How did he know she’d come back?”

I shrug. “I asked him the same thing. He just said he knew she would. And she did.”

I get out of the car, and we head inside. Carter meets us, shaking my hand, then Ava’s.

“I have some good news and some bad news,” he says, leading us into the shop where her car is up on a lift. “The good news is, I figured out what was wrong. The bad news is, I would not recommend fixing it.”

“Not…” Ava looks between me, Carter, and the car. “Why not?”

He grimaces. “It’s an old car. You have coolant leaking onto your alternator, which is what caused it to die this time, and probably last time. I could replace the alternator and the hose that’s leaking, but at this point, you’re plugging holes in a dam. It’s going to break.”

“So what do you suggest?” Ava asks, an edge of panic in her voice. “I still need to get to and from work.”

“I would say, sell this one to me. I can give you a bit for it for parts. Put that toward a new car.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t have the money for a new car.” She’s shaking and I wrap an arm around her shoulders, tugging her into my side.

Carter and I exchange a look, and he says, “I’ve got a few contacts. Let me see what I can find for sale. Give me your max budget and I’ll find you something for a good price that’ll be reliable.”

Ava leans into me for a second before she straightens and nods. “Do you mind if I sit in your office for a minute? I’ll move some money around and figure out my budget.”

“Go ahead.”

She goes in and I watch through the glass as she takes a seat, pulling out her phone.

“Sorry it wasn’t better news, man,” Carter says, watching her as well.

I sigh. “You’re a mechanic, not a miracle worker. But…” I hesitate for a second. “When you find something, tell me first, okay? If it’s a little over her budget, I’ll pay the difference.”

Carter lifts his eyebrows. “You sure you’re not dating this woman?”

I think about the other night, the way we laughed together, the heat between us. Then I remind myself that we’re friends-with-benefits. She didn’t ask me for a relationship. She asked me for sex. “We’re not dating.”

“It’s complicated,” he says.

I nod. “Yeah. Complicated.”

After she gives Carter a much lower budget than I think he’ll be able to do anything with, we return to my car and I take us toward Adalie’s place. Ava turns on a Maren Morris album and leans her head back against the headrest.

“This is awful,” she says. “I need a car for my housekeeping job. I got a ride today, but that won’t work every day.”

“Borrow mine.” The words are out before I can think of what I’m saying.

“You’re already doing so much,” she says. “I can’t take your car as well. How are you going to get to and from work?”

“There’s loads of ways. In the summer, I run to work fairly often. I could take transit, and if I do, I could meet up and go with Adalie. Or I could ask to borrow Lis or Adalie’s car. They don’t use them often.”

“I can’t—”

“Ava,” I say, cutting off her denial of my help. “Is it going to be a problem if you don’t have a car for a while?”

“Yes,” she answers, her voice small.

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