Haley's eyes went around the room first, like she was just seeing the place for the first time, before she nodded. "I do. I've been running it since my parents died last year. This is all I got from them."
"I'm sorry for your loss."
She nodded quietly. "Thanks."
"Anyways, don't you have workers? This place is so empty."
"I do, but they are currently absent because of the storm. There was a tornado that touched down a few miles from here, luckily it missed us, but it caused a huge amount of damage to the area. Also there are several fallen trees that are blocking some of the roads. It’s a mess! I heard it's going to be crazy for a couple more days. So I'm handling it on my own. I can't afford to risk their safety."
"Oh!"
"Would you care for some toasts this morning?" she asked cheerfully. "I was making some for myself—"
"Sure, I like toast," I said before she could even finish.
"Then I'll go make some."
"Wait, I wanted to ask you something," I blurted before she made it any farther.
"Oh! What's that?" she sounded excited, running her fingers through her hair and looking at me through her lashes.
"Do you know any mechanic that lives around?"
The excitement seemed to die in Haley's eyes. "Not exactly. What do you need a mechanic for?" she quizzed, looking downcast.
"I had a minor accident on the road yesterday. My car suffered some damage and refused to start. I need to fix it today to give Harper a ride to the airport. It's kinda urgent."
"She's leaving?" Haley arched her brow, a tinge of pleasure in her voice.
"Yeah," I answered with a sigh. "Do you know where I could get my car fixed?"
"Oh! Well, I don't really know any mechanic shop around here, but I can make a call and find out…for you," she enunciated, flipping her hair.
"Oh! Thanks. I'd really appreciate it."
"I'll be right back in five," she muttered and disappeared for a few minutes before resurfacing again.
"How did it go?"
"It went well. My friend is sending someone over," she responded.
"Thanks."
"You don't have to thank me. I'm pretty glad I could help. You should wait for him here. He should be here soon."
"Okay."
"I'll go make us some breakfast. We have eggs, bacon, toast and oatmeal…does any of that sound good?"
"Yes! All of it does. Can you make two platters of that? My…" nothing came out. I bit my lip. I couldn't figure out what to call her. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't call her a friend—to me, she was more. "Harper eats a lot, and she will be quite hungry when she wakes."
"Oh! S-sure," she curled her lip. "You should take a seat," she added, gesturing to the breakfast table. "I'll be back."
Haley returned later, serving breakfast and taking the seat across from me. "Here you go. I'll send your girlfriend's breakfast upstairs."
Girlfriend? I bet she wanted me to say something about it so she could ascertain if Harper and I were together. I didn't say anything to that. I just muttered, "Thanks," and began eating.
The mechanic arrived some minutes later, and we walked to the site of the crash. "This is quite bad. It will take hours to fix this amount of damage," he told me after assessing and testing the car.