Page 68 of Healing Hearts
At least in Utica, coming out of jail, my life had felt like a clean slate. In a lot of ways, it feels like I took a giant step forward in my career, and a massive step backward in my personal interactions by coming back here.
I just have to keep reminding myself that the personal will catch up with the professional if I just keep myself moving forward, doing what I know I’m good at, making a difference for people in the community.
When I get back to the shop, everyone cheers as I bring in the coffee and pastries. We take a communal fifteen-minute break to chat, eat, and drink coffee, and it fills my soul back up a little from my interactions in town. Seeing how much they all enjoy the pastries and coffee makes the stop at Kathy’s worth it.
At the end of the day, just as people are leaving to go home, a Lexus arrives on the back of a tow truck. With a frown, I go into the lot to greet the driver.
“Trent?” the driver asks, hopping down out of the front seat. “Earl Runions paid to have this brought here. Some sort of electrical and mechanical issue.”
“Where’s the owner?” I ask. While I appreciate Earl sending me clients, I prefer a head’s up rather than receiving a car on a tow truck just before closing.
“You’ll have to call Earl,” he says. “Where do you want this?”
“Load it off in one of the bays,” I say. No matter what, I can’t leave a car this expensive sitting on the lot when I don’t know what’s going on.
I step away from the driver as he reverses to get it off-loaded.
“What’s going on?” Brett asks.
“Referral from Earl, except he didn’t tell me it was coming.”
“Want me to stay late?” Brett asks.
“Won’t be straightforward if Earl sent it,” I say. “I don’t know if I’llneedthe help. Up to you.”
“If you don’t need it, no need to pay me the overtime,” Brett says. “I just want to see you work through the problem.”
“You’re welcome to stay,” I say.
Then I call Earl to find out what he knows about the car. Once I have all the details jotted down from him, I text Emily to let her know I won’t be home in time for dinner and not to wait up. She texts back a thumbs up, and then I take Brett over to the car.
“Here’s what I know,” I say, giving him the starting place for our troubleshooting project.
By the time I get home, it’s close to midnight, and I’m worn out. Brett and I managed to get to the root of the problem, but we had to rush-order some parts. I sent Earl an update to pass along to the owner.
I root around in the fridge to find a covered plate of food with my name on top. I’m not sure why Emily puts my name on a sticky note, but she always does. Maybe I wouldn’t be as inclined to eat it, worried she’d made it for her own lunch tomorrow.
While the pasta and chicken heats in the microwave, I peer at the calendar. I don’t know when she filled it out, but she’s not crossing off the days like she normally does.
Honestly, I’m not even sure what to think about what’s happening between us. Most of the time, I deliberately avoid thinking about it. Telling Kathy today that we’re friends didn’t feel right, but I also wouldn’t want to put anyotherlabel on it.
After I eat, I head up the stairs, and when I get to Emily’s door, it’s propped open. That’s been Emily’s unspoken symbol that I’m welcome in her room for the last few weeks. I hesitate becauseit’s so late, and I can tell she’s already sleeping. The house is dead quiet.
I brush my teeth and get changed into my pajama pants, and then I stand in the hallway again. What Iwantto do isright there, but I’m not sure if it’s therightthing to do.
Fuck it. All of this means whatever we say it means, nothing more.
I enter her room and I shut the door, locking it. My phone is in my hand, and I set an alarm for stupid early to make sure I’m out of here before Amir is awake.
When I slide under the covers beside her and rest my hand on her hip, she rotates into me, curling up against me, all of her soft parts molding to me.
“The door was open,” I whisper.
“I know,” she says, “I left it open for you.”
Neither of us makes any move to turn this sexual, and I don’t bring up that we’re not just tiptoeing over the line, but rather leaving it so far behind that I’m not even sure it exists.
The things happening between us, the rhythms we’re establishing, I’ve never done any of them with another woman. Couldn’t even imagine being this close, this content, with someone else.
