Page 48 of Feint

“Morning, Reece,” I said to him as I set my cup down and grabbed the tablet so I could see what was up first.

It was actually a lighter week again, and since Reece had done a couple of cars yesterday, I really had one major car to work on today. Other than that, it was pretty chill.

Reece stretched and put some painting tools away and nodded at me. “Morning, Rosalie. Feeling better? Your dad said you were sick or something?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I think I got some bad food a couple of nights ago. Yesterday was rooough. But I’m right as rain today! Thanks for covering for me. I appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it.”

He walked out of the shop, and I got to work getting my supplies together. This would only take me a few hours. If I hustled, I would be done with the bottom coat before lunch, and then after that, I could do the topcoat, and it would have the rest of the day to dry fully.

I got a text from Kordell by the time lunch hit.

Kordell

Man, miss you already, mama. Last night was so fucking good.

I smiled to myself and blushed as I stood in line at the taco shop to get my lunch.

Rosalie

Sorry about leaving while you were asleep, but I didn’t want to leave Dad hanging more than a day, you know? And, yeah, last night was really good. Happy you got your promotion too!

Kordell

Thanks. It was a shit show to get it, but now, things are gonna be a lot different—you’ll see. Dating the VP has its perks, little mama. I might be able to get down in the next couple of days, but I’ll let you know for sure.

Rosalie

All right! Well, it’s my turn to order lunch! Steak tacos for the win! Talk to you later. Love ya!

I ordered my food and scarfed it down. I didn’t realize how hungry I had been until I took my first bite, but then it was gone in a matter of a couple of minutes, and I was sighing, all full and happy. This really was looking to be a great week.

I got back to work, finishing the car I had been working on. It had been a couple of weeks since I had done an inventory check, and I had a few hours before I was going to go home, so I might as well do some of that. At least on my tools, I had gone through a fair amount of brushes this year already.

Time ticked by. Reece left, and Dad walked over to me. Pulling up a stool, he watched as I went through some of the different sprayer attachments.

“Man, I remember when I did all of that,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Do you miss it, Dad? Painting?”

I looked over at him, and for a moment, it looked like he was lost in thought, and then he shrugged.

“Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy the painting side of a build—that’s why I still take a client here and there. But having you work with me has allowed me to work on more crazy builds than ever before, so it was a good trade-off. I get to spend all this quality time with my girl and work on some awesome builds at the same time. Wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

He looked around the shop. I had kept most of it the same, but I had changed the colors of the walls from the plain white they had been to a bright blue on the back just to brighten it up.

“So, what are you still hanging around here for, Dad? You usually leave by now.” I glanced over at the clock. Yeah, it was about twenty minutes past when he usually left.

“Your mom is meeting me here. We’re going to go out for a little bit tonight. Nothing fancy, just a little cruise.” He winked at me, and I giggled.

Dad still took Mom out on dates as often as he could. Even though they were both super busy with their jobs, it was awesome to see how much effort they put into their marriage. I really hoped my relationship was similar the further along it went.

“Well, that’s fun! Are you guys going anywhere special?” I asked as I kept putting things away.

“Nah, maybe over up the coast a bit, but we might also go up to the Hollywood sign lookout. That’s a nice place to chat and watch the sunset.”

He wasn’t wrong. It was a perfect date spot. AJ had taken me there once. Super romantic. Ten out of ten would recommend. I blushed, thinking about it.

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