Page 53 of Ignite

“Nothing happened.”

“Really?” Zoe laughed. She hadn’t been in Beringi for our night out, but she’d heard enough about it from Grace and Bec.

“How are things going between you and Glenn?”

Zoe’s face momentarily darkened. “Fine.”

“Really? Your relationship status is,fine?”

“What do you want me to say? We left our family and friends to move here. I love it here, he is still getting used to it.”

“How many years have you been here?”

“Ask him. He’d be able to give you the answer in days and hours.”

“Oh, BAE,” I said, giving her a sympathetic smile before pulling into her driveway. “Any time you need someone to listen, you won’t get any judgment from me.”

“Thanks.” Zoe unclipped her seatbelt and turned to me before opening her door. “And think about what I said. Whatever happened or didn’t happen between the two of you, make him apologize, forgive him, and move on.”

Ethan to Rylee:Quick!!!!

Ethan to Rylee:I need a fun fact about horses.

Rylee to Ethan:Horses can’t breathe through their mouth.

The only way I could avoid the well-intentioned advice from my friends was by working crazy hours and Ethan’s ute had become a labor of love. I’d finally received the new dashboard to replace the cracked original. No, the dash hadn’t been damaged in the accident, but even without my father standing over my shoulder, I couldn’t do half a job. The sort of paint job I had planned deserved a new fitout of interior trim, which meant new carpets and then the old dash would have looked out of place.

But I couldn’t get started on the trim until I’d been able to track down a dash and get it delivered. Luckily, I could work on Ethan’s ute in between my other responsibilities.

Servicing the fire trucks was a commitment to my father.

And then there was Lydia’s station wagon which apparently had a clicking noise that she could hear but her husband couldn’t.

“Hey, Ryles, got a minute?” Trey knocked on the door to the workshop, interrupting my study of paints and decals. “Sheesh, that’s gonna be beautiful. Who’s it for?”

“Does it matter?” I quickly closed down my laptop and the notebook of Ryan’s sketches. “Ready for me to take a look at your baby?”

“It was only ever going to be a matter of time before I knocked on your door.”

I laughed, “Reece said you were deciding on which organ to sell.”

“Yeah, nah.” Trey led me out to the front yard where his Mazda RX7 looked like a sad excuse for what could be a magnificent car. “Apparently no one wants my liver, so I’m gonna have to set up a payment plan.”

“I’m sure we can work something out.” Most of my monthly income came from payment plans. I slowly lapped the car for a third time, even though I’d already done my research. The paint wasn’t as much of a problem as the rust. “When did you last fish oil it?”

Trey looked sheepish, “I know, I should have gotten it here sooner.”

“Don’t worry. You aren’t the first and won’t be the last. What sort of paint job do you want?”

“How much will your special project cost me?”

“What?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to hand Coach back a ute with a half-assed paint job?”

I twirled around, laughing. “Okay, okay. I was looking up paints to do something special for Ethan. But you can’t tell him, okay?”

“Don’t tell him about you and Darin. Don’t tell him nuffin about our ex-coach and don’t tell him anything about his ute.”

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