Page 45 of The Opposite of Romance
He dips his head and turns back toward the car.
“Give me a minute,” I say with a fake, probably creepy-looking, smile and head inside the house.
I’m fucking fuming while I unlock my phone, finding his number in my contacts.
“Are you fucking kidding me, David?”
“Sadie, what’s going on?”
“Don’t ‘Sadie, what’s going on’ me! You lied to me about the car for almost four fucking years.”
I hear him let out a huge sigh, making me even angrier. “Look, it’s not a big deal…”
“Not a big deal?! It’s a pretty fucking big deal, since it broke down today. Good thing I was heading to the store. What if I was already on the way to pick up the kids? What would happen then? Would you come from an hour away to pick them up?”
“It’s a pretty new car. I’m sure it’s fine.”
“You’re sure it’s fine? Oh, that makes it way better. The lawyer that knows nothing about cars says it’s ok, while avoiding checking with the professionals.”
“You’re making a big deal out of nothing…”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I say, pushing my nails into the palms of my hand. “Don’t you fucking dare turn this around on me. It was your responsibility, one of the very few you had. And you couldn’t even do that,” I bite out before ending the phone call.
My breath races while my eyes fill with tears. I’m not even sure what I’m upset about. He failed me, time and time again. But the nerve? The fucking audacity?
I hold back my tears, forcing myself to take deep breaths despite the lingering smell of car fuel. I swallow around the lump in my throat and wipe my sweaty hands on my pants before steeling myself to get back outside.
“Sorry,” I say to Jaxon. “Can you please tell me, how bad is it?”
“Regular wear and tear. It’s not too bad, but your spark plugs are completely worn. I need to change them, and it would be good to check everything else that might need replacement.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, making him smile for the first time.
“I can change the plugs here, but if you want me to check for anything else, I’d need to tow it to my shop.”
“I suppose that can’t be done before I need to pick my kids up?”
“Depends on when you need to leave.”
“Umm,” I check my phone, “in about three hours?”
“Let me see what I can do.” He smirks.
“Sure. Thank you.”
He gets to work on hooking my car to his pickup. When he’s done, he throws me his phone, which I barely catch.
“I’ll call you in an hour to let you know the deal.”
“He’s such an asshole,”Sandy says after listening to me rage about David.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“I mean…”
“Sorry, I have another call. It’s the mechanic.”
“Tell him he should check undermyhood, if you know what I mean,” she yells before I end the call.
