Page 11 of Buried Dreams

“When are the seats coming in?” Ryan asks as the bells ring again, letting us know someone has come in.

“I have to check,” I reply, and he leans against the table.

“You need to hire someone to do paperwork,” he reminds me. “It’s a shit show out there.”

“Why do I need to hire someone?” I ask. “You are all grown-ass men. Can’t you put things away neatly?”

“You just answered your own question. We are grown-ass men. We don’t do any of that shit.”

He laughs as Eddie comes in. “I need a coffee and a donut, bad.”

Ryan laughs at him, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up. “You mean you need to go and make sure Everleigh remembers your name.”

The minute they say her name, the tool falls from my hand onto the metal table, the sound making the two sets of eyes come to me. I don’t say anything because the bell rings again, and we hear two more voices as they walk to the back, only one of them has their lunch box.

“Are we going for coffee?” Eddie asks once the other two walk in.

“Let’s go, lover boy.” Ryan pushes off and looks at Tony. “He apparently needs a coffee so bad.”

Tony just laughs at him. “I’m going to need you three to stop fucking around and get to work.”

“It’s not even eight yet,” Tony reminds me. “I’ll get you a coffee and a donut.” He slaps my shoulder. “That should get you in a better mood.”

“What will get me in a better mood is moving cars faster.” I look at the three cars that are up on lifts. “That is going to make me feel so much better.”

“On it, boss,” Eddie assures me. “Just after we get coffee.”

I grunt at them and ignore the urge to slam my hand on the table in front of me for two reasons. One, all the small parts will probably go flying, and finding them will be a pain in my fucking ass, and two, I am trying to tell myself that I don’t give a shit what she does or who she does, but I’m also failing at that miserably.

I look down at the parts in front of me. I haven’t thought about Everleigh for the past eight years. I pushed her to the back of my mind and refused to give her any more headspace. That doesn’t mean it worked the whole time. Sometimes she would sneak into my mind, regardless of how much I didn’t want her to. Like on her birthday. Even though I forced myself not to, I would wonder what she was doing. On the day when we started dating is another one, and the day she walked away from me. That day I’m usually my most angry—unless Saige is with me, then the anger simmers at the edge until I can give in to it. The first year after she left me was the worst. She was the only thing I thought about morning, noon, and night. When I was awake, I wanted to call her, and in my dreams, I wanted to call her back to me. Both of them had the same results. I was left without her, and as the days turned into months and then turned into years, the longing for her turned into hatred.

The boys return ten minutes later, laughing at something Eddie told her. Ryan puts the cup of coffee on my table with a donut on a paper towel beside it. “Let’s get the doors open,” I mumble, ignoring how good the donut smells.

If it was Ms. Maddie who made them, I would, without a second thought, take a bite of it, but knowing her hands made them, there is no way in fuck I’m touching it.

We work the whole day. I get up to stretch my legs after three, once I’m done with the transmission, before I walk into the office and decide to clean it up a bit. Grabbing all the papers on the desk, I put them in order in front of me. I’m getting up out of my chair and walking to the front of the shop when I see her again. This time, she’s walking toward me, looking straight ahead. She hasn’t changed one bit since I last saw her. Her hips sway side to side as the wind blows through her black hair.

She looks over at the garage when she gets closer and smiles at one of the guys, waving at whoever the fuck is talking to her. My hand goes into a fist, and the paper in it is crushed and crumpled.

“Do you love me, Brock?” I hear her voice in my head. “Do you really, really love me?”

“I love you more than life itself, Ever,” I said as I kiss her neck after, feeling her heart beating under my lips. “More than life itself, baby,” I repeat, and I always, always get the smile. The smile that made my day. The smile that would make my pulse pick up. The smile that I would wake up to and go to bed to. The smile I thought I would be able to see every single day of my life. Until the smile was ripped away from me, and I yearned for it.

The side door to the garage opens, and Ryan comes in with a paper in his hand. “This job is done on my part.” He hands me the paper, his eyes going to my hand that is still gripping the other papers. His eyes go from me to the window as he watches Everleigh walk by it. “You good?”

“I’d be better if everyone fucking stopped giving that—” I try to calm myself down. “That woman more attention than she needs.”

“What’s the story with her?” he asks, his interest piqued.

“There is no fucking story,” I snap. “I need you guys to focus on what needs to be focused on. You want to chase her pussy, do it on your own time.” The thought of one of them actually chasing her pussy almost pushes me over the edge. Before I say something I know I’m going to regret, I swipe the paper out of his hand and storm back again to my office; the windows face the back, so there is no way I’d even be tempted to look out and see her walk by. It’s a good thing I don’t venture out of my circle because there is no way I’d ever let Everleigh back into it. Not in this lifetime.

Chapter Six

EVERLEIGH

I walk out of the bathroom in the bathrobe I’ve had since I was seventeen. It’s white and plush with blue, red, and yellow hearts all over it. I got it for Christmas one year, I think, or maybe it was my birthday. My hair is wrapped up in a white towel as I walk down the steps to go find my mother.

I’m halfway down when I call her name, “Momma.” I look at the chair in the living room that faces the front window, seeing it empty. My eyes go to the kitchen right off the living room, and it is empty, with dinner dishes already dried and put away. I get to the bottom of the steps and look out of the side door that leads to the covered porch area. “Momma.” I stick my head out the screen door, seeing the two rocking chairs empty. “Momma.” I start to make my way to her bedroom when the bathroom door opens.

---