Page 60 of We Never Kissed

I left it there and said, “Yeah, I guess that’s right.”

“No, a little bit farther, honey.”

Thanks.

I pushed it a few more inches, and he said, “Right there. Now you’re gonna have to really get under there like I showed you.”

“Really, Dad? Can’t you just pay someone to changeyour oil?”

“Sure I could. But you said you wanted to talk, right? We haven’t done anything like this in a long time.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason for that. Because I’m not fifteen anymore.”

“Well, you have a car, and you need to learn how to change your oil.”

Instead of telling him I had absolutely no intention of ever changing my oil by myself, I ducked back under there and looked for the cap. Growing up, I couldn’t get out of all the stuff Dad always tried to teach me, things he’d said I needed to know to survive on my own. But if I were being honest, I did like the special time with him, since he and Sammy were always doing things together. “We have had some great talks doing stuff like this, Dad, but I didn’t have this in mind when I came here.”

“Think of it as helping me out. Now, remember to pull your hand away quickly so it doesn’t get too much oil on it.”

“Too late.” I came out from under the car and my dad had a rag waiting for me.

As I wiped the oil off my hands, he said, “So, you’re having boy trouble, huh?”

Maybe this was a mistake. “Dad, this isn’t about some boy I’m dating on the football team. This is serious.”

“So, what did he do?”

As I watched the oil drip into the pan, I cringed. “It wasn’t him. It was me.”

Dad helped me to my feet. “What? My perfect little angel did something wrong?” The humor in his voice warmed my heart, even though this conversation was going nowhere fast.

“Yes, Dad, I screwed up.”

“Did you apologize?”

Tilting my head, I gave him the same look from when I was a teenager.

His mouth made an exaggeratedOas he said, “Oh…I see.” He took the rag from my hand and gave me one of his tight smiles. “So, this is bigger than an apology?”

“It is.”

“Then I guess you need to ask yourself if this guy is worth it. And if he is, then you need to fix it.”

“That’s the trouble. I don’t know how to fix it.”

He stared at me a moment and then said, “Remember that time you and Sammy took a whole apple pie from the bake sale without paying for it?”

I leaned against the side of the car. “This is hardly the same thing, Dad. We didn’t really hurt anyone, and we ended up paying for it. But what I’ve done… I really hurt his feelings and broke his trust and probably put him in a bad situation.”

He nodded, and I could see in his eyes he wanted tohelp. But then he said, “You didn’t just pay for it. Don’t you remember?”

I remembered, but I still didn’t see the correlation. “Yes, but—”

“It wasn’t just about the pie. It was about the fundraiser and how hard people worked, and you sort of ruined that for them. So, you and Sammy baked a bunch of cookies to raise money for your own donation. Then, you each wrote a letter apologizing for what you’d done. Sometimes you can show how much you care by putting in some effort instead of just words.”

He was right. I couldn’t expect a simple apology to be enough, but Alex wouldn’t even let me do that without an all-out fight. “I get what you’re saying, but I just don’t know what to do.”

“Or maybe you do know what to do, but you are just afraid to do it, little girl.”

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