Page 61 of Driven By Desire
She missed them all. Tears she’d blocked for days now filled and overflowed. When her father came over to take her in his arms, she turned into them willingly. Burying her face against the shoulder that had seen her through every crisis in life, she wept her heart out. Harsh, raw sobs racked her thin frame and had her father tightening his arms around her. Soaking his kurta, she clung to him in a way she hadn’t for years. When the storm finally calmed and slowed, she stayed in his gentle embrace as he rocked her like he had as a child. Silence shrouded them in their own little cocoon until the sound of the garage employees trickling in to start work roused her.
Stepping back, Max fisted her hands and scrubbed at her eyes like a child. The hard knot of grief dissolved a little making it easier to breathe. “I should get to work.”
Knowing that work was her best bet at keeping her mind occupied and off a certain young man, Brian nodded.
“I’ll be at the garage if you need me.” Leaving her plate of uneaten pancakes in the fridge, she left with a last goodbye. Walking over to the garage, she exchanged greetings with the handful of early arrivals. Walking over to the car she was working on, Max propped up the bonnet. Squatting, she placed her tool box on the ground and opened it. Rifling through it till she found the wrench she was looking for, she straightened and rammed right into someone’s granite jaw.
Seeing stars, Max brought her hand to her stinging scalp even as a male voice growled, ‘Bloody Hell.’ Come to think of it that was a very familiar male voice. Blinking to clear her vision, Max looked up to see Krish clutching his chin. Heart clenching with a pain that beat anything her head was feeling, she fought to keep her breath even.
Tightening her grip on the wrench, Max eyed him warily. “What are you doing here?”
Running his tongue along his teeth to see if any of them were rattling loose, Krish answered, “I wanted to talk to you about something. If you-”
“I was planning to return the money,” she blurted out before he could finish.
Stumbling to a perplexed halt, Krish asked, “What money?”
“You paid in total for the car restoration. It’s not finished.”
“It’s not?”
“Don’t be dense,” Max snapped. “Of course it isn’t. Unless you think a fully restored car is always in bits and pieces.”
Complete silence met that pronouncement. Disbelief cracked her voice as she asked, “You haven’t even lifted the cover of the car, have you?”
“I’ve been busy,” Krish answered, defensively.
“Of course. How can I forget? The Great Krish Mehra doesn’t have time for pesky little details like that. Let’s just throw around some of the money that I spend all hours of the day making.”
Bemused, Krish watched as she waved the wrench wildly and started to pace like a little tornado.
“Max.”
No effect. Her rant had devolved into incomprehensible mutters. In moments of clarity, he caught arrogant, self-important and prig. When it didn’t look like she was going towind down, Krish caught the windmilling arm while managing to avoid the wrench.
“Max.” When she glared at him, he said simply, “Shut up.”
Her mouth fell open in shock. A snicker from behind him had her eyes shooting to the source.
“Pooja.” The delighted exclamation had him releasing her so she could rush to hug the girl. Keeping one arm around Pooja, she straightened from her crouch to hug Chirag and Adi as well. When the whole lot of them continued to chatter like magpies without a break in conversation, he asked loudly, “Will you listen to me now?”
Eyes going wary, she stepped away from his family to face him.
“No,” she said simply, crossing her hands defensively across her chest.
“Please?” Pooja whispered, tugging at Max’s arm.
Max squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath and nodded. “Talk.”
It was short, curt, and angry. But it was an opening. It was more than he deserved.
“I was wrong. Colossally, monumentally wrong. Forgive me.” The sight of her standing there in her faded overalls, big eyes staring at him with so much remembered hurt in them had his words clogging his throat. His carefully rehearsed apology scattered like feathers in a strong gust of wind. So he said the first thing that came to his mind.
“I had a girlfriend. Before my parents died.” The entire garage fell silent like everyone was holding their collective breath.“We’d just started dating and everything was new and bright and shiny. It was mom and dad’s date night and I was on babysitting duty. I didn’t like the idea that I wouldn’t be able to see her that night so I asked dad if I could borrow the car and take her out earlier in the evening. I promised to be back before it was time for them to leave. I was. God help me, I was.”
“Don’t. You don’t have to do this.” The anguish in his voice had Max taking a reflexive step forward to comfort him but Krish held out a hand to stop her.
“I do. I really do. I came back on time but I’d drained the fuel tank and I didn’t think it was important to fill it again. I thought dad would take care of it. Like he took care of everything. He was mad at me. Not terribly angry but irritated because now he had to go out of his way to fill fuel before heading to the restaurant they had reservations at. I asked him what the big deal was. The fuel pump wasn’t more than ten minutes out of his way. He told me the big deal was responsibility. He said, ‘When are you going to start being responsible, Krish? What will you do when I’m not around to take care of everything?’ Then he left and he never came back. The lorry hit the car as they exited the fuel pump with a full tank of gas.”
