Page 20 of A Place for Daydreams

He turned to her in surprise. “Yeah, that’s the brake fluid and it is low. You probably have a damaged brake line. Let me check some other things here.”

He continued to do a thorough inspection of her engine and the surrounding parts, and even though she was grateful that he was being so careful, she wished it didn’t take so long. She found herself inching forward to look over his shoulder until she was standing directly behind him.

Then all at once, someone tapped her on the shoulder. “Ma’am, I’ll have to ask you to back up.”

She whirled around, startled, and her jaw dropped when she saw Dean Owens standing there behind her. In the next instant, his eyebrows lifted with recognition.

“Oh! Noelle! I—you?—”

“My goodness!” she spluttered, feeling surprised but delighted. “What are you—no, this is your shop?”

He grinned and shrugged. “Guilty. I mean, it’s the only auto repair shop in town.”

“It is?” She laughed. “I didn’t realize that. I just went to the nearest one. I mean, not that I wouldn’t have wanted to come to your shop. I would have come here on purpose if it wasn’t an emergency, but it’s a—well, we’re not sure exactly what’s wrong yet?—”

She realized she was rambling a little, feeling flustered by seeing Dean suddenly appear behind her like that. He was wearing a blue mechanic’s jumpsuit, and he looked professional and energetic, so different from the tired-looking man who had first stepped inside her office at the clinic.

“You’re all good.” He waved a calloused hand. “What’s the emergency? Something not working with your car?”

“Yeah, the brakes.” Keith grimaced good-naturedly. “Good thing she came in here right away.”

“The brakes aren’t working?” Dean turned to Noelle in alarm. “But you’re okay?”

She nodded, feeling touched by his concern. “I mean, they’re still functional. But they’re starting to be very difficult to use. Keith said the brake lines were probably damaged.”

“Ah.” Dean nodded sympathetically. “Well, the good news is, we can fix that. Why don’t you go ahead and wait in my office while we take a look at this thing? Then we can let you know if that’s the issue for sure, and if there are any other issues as well.”

“Oh, I hope not!” She laughed breathlessly. “But sure, thank you. I’m sorry, I suppose I was getting in the way out here.”

“Don’t worry about it, I know you meant well.” Dean smiled at her. “It’s just that there’s a lot that goes on out here and sometimes repairing cars can be dangerous. It’s our company policy that guests aren’t allowed in the garage.”

“I understand.” She smiled back at him.

“Let me show you where my office is. There’s a coffee pot with fresh coffee in there. Feel free to help yourself if you like.”

“Oh, thank you.” She glanced at her car, where her coffee thermos was tucked into the cupholder. It might be a while before she got to drink out of it. “That sounds nice, maybe I will.”

“And there’s cream and sugar in a little basket next to it. I’m not particularly cutesy like that myself, but I have a mother and three sisters.” He chuckled, and she grinned at him.

As she followed him across the garage to his office, she found herself wondering if his mother and sisters were the only women in his life, or if he had a girlfriend too. He seemed like a very nice guy, dependable and hard-working. It was clear that he ran his auto repair shop responsibly and with genuine care for his employees and his customers.

“Here it is,” he said, pushing open the door of his office.

It was a small room, clean and comfortable, with a swivel chair behind the desk, a small bookshelf filled with car manuals, a couple of chairs set against the wall, and a small table with a coffee machine and a mug tree resting on the top of it.

“What a nice office,” she said, meaning it genuinely.

“Thank you.” He smiled at her. “You can sit down in any of the chairs, but I recommend the swivel chair. It’s more comfortable. And more fun.”

She laughed and watched as he shut the office door behind him. Finding herself alone, she turned slowly around the room, examining it more closely.

She thought to herself that it was nice to be able to see Dean in his element, where he could show her his area of expertise. It leveled the playing field between them a bit—she was no longer the only one who was offering the other help. Now she’d come to him for help too.

She poured herself a cup of coffee and added hazelnut creamer. She began to stroll slowly around the room, looking at the photographs that were hanging on the walls. She was curious to learn more about Dean and his life, and although she didn’t quite admit it to herself, she was also looking to see if there were any pictures of a girlfriend on the walls.

There were some girls in the photographs, but they resembled Dean so much that she guessed they were his sisters. She smiled as she looked at them, thinking that they looked likevery nice women, the kind of women who she’d like to be friends with.

She saw a photo of a baseball team cheering, clearly celebrating a victory, and she picked out Dean’s smiling face in the crowd of teammates. There were photos of car shows, of fishing trips, and a picture of Dean standing on the top of a bluff with his arms held up as if in celebration that he’d made it.

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