Page 15 of Undone, Love Times Three

The sound of a car nearing draws me out of the spiral. I turn to see a truck pulling up. Thank heavens, is this someone coming to help? Putting my hand over my forehead to shield my eyes, I watch as the door opens.

And Ryan steps out. He pushes his door closed and walks over, looking at my open trunk, and the tire iron in my hand.

“Hey, I thought that was you,” he stops by me.

He smells like summer rain and fresh air. Is that even a thing? This is not what I was expecting today. Seeing him again isn’t something I thought would happen. And here he stands, looking at me with concern.

“Do you need help?”

“I don’t think a truer statement has ever been said,” I try to laugh it off.

“Your spare in here?” he walks to the trunk before I can tell him not to. He glances in, then up at me and around the floor. “No spare?”

“Yeah, but…” I point to the front tire.

“Ah,” he nods. “Didn’t get it replaced?”

“Stupidly, no. It slipped my mind. And there are no tow trucks available right now. My flowers are wilting and a client is waiting. No one can come pick me up and-” I put a hand over my face and stop ranting at him.

“Relax,” he steps closer. “The tow trucks are out handling a crash I just came from. It was pretty bad.”

“Oh, crap.”

Ryan smiles crookedly at me. “I have a spare, but it won’t fit your car. How about I give you a ride to a garage and we can get a tire and bring it back here.”

“No, I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering. Besides, I’m not about to drive off and leave you here like this.” He looks through the window at the flowers. “Where do they need to go?”

“My client has a baby shower this afternoon. In like,” I glance at my watch and almost faint. “Half an hour.”

“Sylvie, take a breath.”

His hand is on my arm. I stare at it for a moment. He pulls it back and I already miss the warmth and comfort it provided. He has such a calming assured nature.

“Let’s move them to my truck and we’ll deliver them, then go get you a tire,” he steps back and opens the rear door of the car. “Maybe you should handle them, I don’t want to drop anything.”

Before I can argue again, he heads to his truck to open the rear door. I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Regardless of our very brief, very embarrassing history. He’s saving my life right now.

Together, we get the arrangements into his truck, I lock up the car and climb in, giving him the address of the baby shower. While he drives, I call the client and let her know I’ll be there in ten minutes, apologizing profusely.

“Hey,” Ryan says when I hang up. “It’s all good. They’ll get their flowers and we’ll get your car back on the road.”

“Don’t you have work, or things you need to do?”

“I’m off shift for three days, I got time.”

“But… It’s me,” I say.

Ryan glances at me, a little frown line appearing between his brow.

“You know, the woman who lied and embarrassed herself.”

“Forget about that,” he looks away for a moment to check the road. “I’m not holding it against you.”

Well, that’s unexpected. Doesn’t stop my cheeks turning pink.

“Thank you.”

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