Chapter 18
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
APRIL
My pride stings like I stepped in a beehive and attacked the queen.
Smarting and feeling a little exposed, I answer the guy in the flashy suit harshly. “Thank you for the reminder, but I’ve never forgotten what this is.”
Lies. Lies. All lies!
If I were Pinocchio, I’d be balancing a limbo stick on my nose right now.
The truth is that I did forget.
Not just that.
While Chance had me backpedalling to the wall like a cement truck on a construction site, my brain slipped out of my head and splattered to the ground. I’m surprised I didn’t slip on brain fluid.
Thankfully, I’m not alone in catching the Chance-flu. His agent made it clear that there have been a long line of women before me.
So honestly, this isn’t my fault.
It’s Chance’s fault for being so freakishly charming.
Chance spares the flashy suit guy a dark look and says, “April, this is my agent Derek. Derek, this is April.”
“April. Aw . What a nice, wholesome name for a small-town girl.”
His words are polite enough but the tone behind them feels extremely condescending.
I’m not the only one who picks up on it because Chance’s thick eyebrows form an immediate and strict V over his eyes.
“ April is the name of a talented mechanic running her own shop and building a successful business.” In a blink, the intense expression is gone and he smiles at his agent. “That’s, I think, what you meant to say.”
“Uh, right. Yes… right. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, April the talented and successful mechanic.” Derek side-eyes Chance as if to say happy?
Chance responds with a proud smile.
I walk backward. “I need to go check on my dad, but Chance about that date…”
He looks at me expectantly.
“Text me the details.” I raise both fists in a tiny cheer. “As per our agreement, I’ll have my game face on.”
“Wait. April…”
I do a quick wave and rush back to the cafeteria. Peeking through the swinging doors, I see Derek and Chance talking and then both men head to the exits.
Relief drags a sigh out of my chest and I lean over to catch my breath.
The look in Chance’s eyes when he told me he wanted to be my boyfriend felt real. Stirrings of something I thought had died with my last relationship whooshed to life. While his bicep bulged to my left, his cologne swirled around me and his fathomless blue eyes carried me away like a tide, I wanted so badly to feel all the gooey feelings.
But feelings aren’t an excuse to make bad decisions.
And Chance McLanely?
He’s a bad decision in the making.
I take a few more deep breaths until I’m back in reality where I belong. Fixing the straps of my jumper, I look around the cafeteria for dad.
He’s nowhere to be found.
Heading through the balcony doors that lead to the backyard, I look past beautiful rose bushes and hydrangeas until I see him at a wooden bench reading a book.
“ Auto Fundamentals is a great one.” I sit beside him and the bench creaks.
He adjusts his glasses. It’s so strange to see him wear them. Dad hated working with his bi-focals in the garage. ‘ The darn glasses slip down my nose all the time. It’s impossible!’
I’ll never forget the day I bought him his first, prescription goggles for Christmas. He hugged me like he’d gotten a brand-new car.
Dad turns a page. “It’s always good to brush up on the basics. Cars might change in the future but…”
“Principles never change,” I finish.
He lets out a disbelieving laugh. “How’d you know that?”
Because you’ve told me that a million times, dad . “I had a great teacher.”
“You’re an auto mechanic?” He looks astonished.
“I am. I have my own shop and everything.”
“There’s another shop in town other than Kinsey’s?” He arches an eyebrow.
“Yes, there is.”
“Impressive. I always thought he needed some stiff competition, but I wasn’t brave enough to start anything on my own.” He closes the book, leaving his thumb inside to mark the page. “Where’d you learn the trade?”
“I went to a technical college, but I was working on cars before then. I used to follow my dad around when he did jobs. Eventually, dad handed me a wrench and told me to join him.”
He nods wisely. “Cars don’t care what gender you are. When they’re on the last leg, when they’re in pain, they just need a solution.”
“Yes, they do.”
“Your dad sounds like a good man.”
“He is,” I croak, my voice tight. “You remind me of him.”
My father shifts in discomfort. Lips pursed, he points down to his book. “I should get back to it.”
“Sure. I’ll visit next week.” I take a step away before turning back.
He looks up.
“Can I give you a hug?” I blurt.
His bushy eyebrows cave in and he studies me curiously.
“Would that be okay?” I clasp my hands in front of me, trying not to fidget.
Dad lifts a shoulder in a half-hearted allowance. I surge forward, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him tight.
‘Your account balance is too high. The higher-ups are beginning to discuss discharging your father’.
‘I want to start over with you, April’.
‘Don’t get carried away. Chance is like this with all the girls.’
“There’s so much I wish I could talk to you about. I miss coming to you for advice. You always had all the answers.”
Dad’s strong fingers curl around me and he pats my back. Gently, he pushes me away so he can look down at my face.
I look at him too, noting the wrinkles that have seeped around his eyes and mouth. The liver spots that plague the back of his paper-thin skin. The green eyes that used to shine strong and vigorously, but now swim with confusion.
“I have a daughter too. Her name’s June and you know what I’d say to her if she were here?”
I sniff. “What?”
“Life can throw all the curveballs it wants. Sometimes, you’ll dodge ‘em and sometimes you’ll get knocked down. But eventually you’re going to pick yourself up and what you do when you’re on your feet again, well, that’s the most important.”
“What do I do?” I whisper.
“Simple. Return to the principles, to the foundations that never change. And you build from there.”
My lips tremble as I smile. “That’s good advice.”
He nods.
Picking myself up from the bench, I wave goodbye to my dad and wipe the tears away.
“Leaving already, April?” A nurse asks as I walk through the cafeteria to get back to the main hallway.
“Oh, yeah, I need to stop by Mrs. Armstrong to watch her dahlia’s and then I’m gone.”
“Did you square everything away with the admin?” She gives me a knowing look.
Embarrassment tries to claw its hands into me, but I always feel ten times taller after a pep talk from my dad. So this time, I just smile and nod breezily. “Yeah, I did. I’m on it.”
“Great.” She waves.
I leave the cafeteria, find Mrs. Armstrong, coo over her dahlias and then I’m ready to head back to the garage to strategize a solution with Rebel. My dad’s nursing home fees need to be paid and I’m going to pay it if I have to drive two counties down to find customers.
“I know! She’s so short and stumpy. And her hair! It’s so wild? Does she not own a flat iron?”
“I have no idea what Chance sees in her. She wears those dirty jumpers everywhere. It’s like she wants to be mistaken for a hobo.”
“Famous athletes date anyone that breathes. Maybe he wants something different.”
“By different you mean a hobbit?”
Bursts of laughter follow the statement.
I slow my steps as I walk past the nurse’s lounge where three women are standing around a coffee bar, mixing cream into their coffees.
“Like I said, athletes date anyone with a skirt but they don’t ever marry girls like her. He’s going to dump her for someone more on his level.”
“ No one even talks about them online anymore. She’s so boring looking that sports guys don’t care and the female fans don’t admire her either.”
“They don’t even look good together, so why bother?”
Another round of laughter rings out.
The nurses glance at the door and I hurry past, my heart hammering against my ribs and angry tears forming in my eyes.
For a moment, I’m back in that garage with Evan as he listed all the reasons a man would cheat on me. ‘You don’t even TRY to look nice, April. It’s like you want everyone to forget you’re a woman. How could any man be attracted to that?’
I run to my car, crawl inside and slam the door. Wrapping my fingers on the steering wheel, I lean my head against it and squeeze for all I’m worth.
In the chaos, the shame and the embarrassment, I hear my dad’s voice.
Return to the principles and build from there.
I straighten and stare unseeingly through the windshield. Dad’s advice will take too long, and there’s no guarantee it’ll work. Right now, with so much at stake, I don’t have time to build on foundations. I need results fast. And that means playing the game by the world’s rules. Not mine.
Pulling out my cell phone in a flash of angry determination, I text May to come to the garage.
Next, I call Rebel.
“Hey,” she says chirpily, “how’s your dad?”
I talk right over her. “Rebel, remember you said I could always raid your closet. No questions asked?”
“Uh… yeah?”
I start my car and reverse out of the parking lot so hard that I spit stones and gravel. “I need to borrow a dress. ”