Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
RILEY
The next morning, I stand outside Nat’s front door and take a few, deep breaths. From the porch, I can hear laughter and the mumble of conversation.
“So you two poured two gallons of cooking oil on the driveway and rode your bikes on it?” A woman says.
Must be Renea.
“We thought we could build a turbo-track to make our bikes go faster, but it worked too well. We both crashed our bikes and had to be driven to the hospital,” Chris says.
Booming laughter reverberates through the house. I’d recognize that sound anywhere.
It’s Nat. And he’s happy. Truly happy.
That’s a good sign.
Last night, Chris caught us red-handed and my brain short-circuited.
I thought for sure my brother and Nat were going to start throwing punches. Especially when Nat pulled me behind him as if Chris was trying to attack me. My brother has a short temper and a huge ego, so his angry response to that move was expected.
Thankfully, all seems well between the best friends.
Whether or not my brother accepts my relationship with Nat is one thing. But the bigger issue is Chris digging around my past. If he finds out why I lost my promotion at the airport hangar…
Breathe, Riley. Breathe.
The door bursts open and Nat stands before me, wearing grey joggers and a matching grey T-shirt.
“Hey, Riles.” He steps outside and lets the door click shut. My stomach is in knots, but I can’t help but smile when he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me against his chest.
Nat smells absolutely amazing and, when I look up, I notice that his hair is a bit spiky and wet.
“Did you just shower?” I ask.
“Yeah, I came back from the rink a few minutes ago.”
My eyebrows jump and I check my watch. “Did you practice at the rink this morning?”
“I knew you were coming over for breakfast, so I set my alarm extra early to get an hour in.”
“It was late when we got home yesterday. How much sleep did you get?”
I’m nagging, but I can’t stop myself. Nat’s pushing himself so hard and I’m concerned.
But he doesn’t seem bothered by the questions. “Yesterday, you agreed to give me a shot. I would have been too excited to sleep even if Chris hadn’t shown up.”
“Nat.” I purse my lips. “You have a game tonight.”
“I’ve functioned on less sleep than this. No need to worry.”
I scrunch my nose.
Nat’s green eyes slide over my face, taking me in.
“You look beautiful,” he says.
That’s not true. I’m wearing my regular jumper and tank top for work. And while I did put on a little more blush and pink lipstick, I’m not as dressed up today as I was for April and Chance’s party last night.
But when Nat looks at me again, his eyes dip to my lips and arguing about my looks becomes increasingly less important.
“I’m happy you’re here,” Nat whispers.
“So am I,” I whisper back. “I put on extra dark eyeliner for you. Did you notice?”
“Oh yeah. I love your eyes—even without the liner,” Nat says, peering into them with an intense look.
“What about them?” I ask, looping my hands around his neck.
Nat inches closer. “They’re like magic. They’re dark eighty percent of the time, but then… moments like this, when you’re standing in the sun, they turn honey-brown.”
The door bursts open at that moment and my brother stands on the other side. The moment he sees Nat with his arms around me, Chris grimaces. “My eyes! My precious eyes!”
“Morning, Chris,” I squeak and try to nudge Nat away.
Nat palms my back with one of his giant hands and slides an arm possessively over my waist. Eyes narrowed on my brother, he scolds, “Ever heard of knocking?”
“Why would I knock from inside?”
“I’m talking to my girlfriend. Go away.”
Chris scowls. “She was my sister first, so I have dibs. Riley, tell him.”
“Uh…”
“Boyfriends have more dibs than brothers. Riles, let him know.” Nat juts his chin at Chris.
I roll my eyes. Pushing out of Nat’s hold, I grumble, “I remember why I stopped hanging out with you two.”
“If I remember correctly, we’re the ones who stopped hanging out with you,” Chris reminds me in a cocky tone. “But look at that. You weaseled your way into our bromance in the end. You were playing the long game, Riles.”
I stiffen and shoot Chris a searching look. I can’t tell if he means that because he knows of my childhood feelings for Nat or not.
“Riley,” a sultry voice says.
The tall, striking woman from last night rounds the table. She’s wearing a blouse buttoned to her neck and grey slacks.
“Hi, I’m Renea. Nat’s agent.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” I give her hand a firm shake. “I’m Riley Carter.”
When I pictured Renea over the phone, I didn’t imagine this beautiful, trim, Office Barbie. The few strands of grey in her hair give her a distinguished air and I can tell she’s a serious, sensible woman.
I remember how gentle she was with Nat over the phone and, seeing her in person, it makes sense that she would be drawn to him.
Nat’s playful, sincere, and guileless personality is only one facet of who he is. He also has a mature, protective and possessive side—which he showed off last night when Chris was freaking out about us.
Someone like him would appeal to both older and younger woman.
“Renea pretty much saved my life after the accident,” Nat says, drawing closer to me and smiling at his agent. “She refused to give up on me when everyone else did.”
“I think you’re the one who should receive that credit.
” Renea’s gaze shifts to me briefly before returning to him.
“Nathan made it clear that he would be playing hockey until the day he chose to retire. He didn’t care what the doctors or the physical therapists said.
He beat the odds and worked harder than anyone I’ve ever met. ”
Renea’s eyes are shining with admiration.
I wait for the jealousy to ball in my stomach and, for some reason, it doesn’t. All I feel in this moment is pride that I gave my heart to such an incredible, determined and inspiring man.
Nat ducks his head. “Alright, alright. Enough about me. Renea, if you want to see real hard work, you should ask Riley about her training as an airplane repair technician.” Nat places his hands on my shoulders and says in a proud voice, “She went to the most prestigious AMT training school and was one of the youngest female technicians in the country.”
“That’s in the past. I don’t work on planes anymore. I’m a car mechanic now,” I tell Renea.
“Still very impressive,” she says, her smile genuine.
And in that moment, I realize why I’m not jealous or upset at Renea’s presence. She’s clearly got a soft spot for Nat—which I can one hundred percent relate to, but the classy way she speaks and carries herself tells me that she has no intentions of ever sharing her feelings.
I can relate to that as well.
“Not many women are in trades like car and plane repair. You’re one of a kind,” Renea says.
“It’s not a big deal.” I shrug. “There are three other female mechanics in Lucky Falls. More women are entering the trades every day.”
Nat shakes his head. “Don’t let her downplay her accomplishments, Renea. Riley took over a struggling mechanic shop and business is booming. Every time I visit her garage, there are more cars in the bay than before.”
“Dude, un-puff your chest. She’s the mechanic, not you,” Chris grumbles.
Nat meets my eyes and says loud enough for Chris to hear, “He’s just jealous because he’s never dated a female mechanic.”
“My girlfriend’s a lawyer.”
“My condolences, bro. I know we can’t all be winners.”
“Get outta here, man.” My brother kicks at Nat’s behind and he springs out of the way.
“Are they… always like this?” Renea asks, giving the men a surprised look.
“Believe it or not, they’ve mellowed as they aged.”
Renea looks shell-shocked.
Eventually, we all drift to the table to eat and chat.
When breakfast is over, Nat checks his watch and his eyes bulge. “I’m going to be late for practice.”
He starts gathering all the dirty plates.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll clean up here,” my brother says.
“Thanks, bro.” Nat extends his fist to Chris who bumps it easily and then he rounds the table to place a kiss on my forehead.
The very audible ‘muah’ elicits a loud ‘boo’ from my brother.
Renea looks away and, when Nat is gone, she rises regally to her feet. “I have some calls to make. I’ll be in the guest room.”
“Riles, you want to help me wash?” Chris asks, pointing to our dishes.
“Oh, I see how it is. You offered to help, but you planned on giving me all the work.”
Chris sticks out his tongue. “You’re on to me.”
“I’ll rinse. You’ve got scrubbing duty.”
My brother laughs and I join him at the sink.
“Did you take the morning off?” Chris asks me.
I check my watch. “I asked Jimmy to open up for me. Speaking of, let me send him a message.”
To my surprise, Jimmy answers immediately.
Jimmy: Shop is open and Blade is here too. We got everything under control, Boss.
I smile. Sure, the mechanics still have a problem with arriving late to work, taking long smoke breaks and going over the one-hour allotted time for lunch. But they do have their moments of dependability.
Chris hands me a sudsy plate. “So… you and Nat, huh?”
“He’s great.”
“Yeah, he seems happy.” Chris hands me another plate. “Are you?”
“Incredibly.” I can’t help the smile that crosses my face. “I really like Nat.”
“It’s been a while, right?”
My body kicks into flight or fight mode. How do I answer that question?
“I remember that journal we found back then was yours,” Chris says.
The plate almost slips out of my hand and crashes into the sink.
Chris rescues it. “Don’t worry. I’ve never told Nat.”
“Are you the reason he thinks those poems were about some other guy on the team?”
“Yeah.” Chris snorts. “The poems were really bad, Riles.”
“I was twelve!”
Chris laughs.
“I wondered why you were so quick to accept that Nat is interested in me.”
Chris scrunches his nose. “It’s awkward seeing my best friend all over my sister, but Nat is a good guy. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with you.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Plus, having Nat as a brother-in-law would be epic.” Chris shrugs. “It’ll only get weird if you two break up and I have to choose between you and Nat. And I’m choosing Nat, of course.”
I flick Chris with water. “Rude!”
“What? He texts me more than you do.”
I can’t argue with that so I concentrate on rinsing the dishes.
“Speaking of, why’d you go radio silent for three months, Riles? Mom and dad said you stopped calling as much too. They were worried about you. We all were.”
I inhale deeply. “I’m fine. As you can see, I’m doing great here in Lucky Falls.”
“As a… mechanic,” he says hesitantly.
“Yes, I enjoy it, Chris.”
“What about your dream to work your way up to being a specialized AMT? You and Uncle Will spoke about it for years. It’s why you worked so hard at the military hanger to rack up your hours.”
“Dreams change.” I set the dish in the drying rack.
“Are you sure nothing happened to make you walk away from that?”
My eyes divert to the dishes. I think of Betty. Of that awful day in the hanger. Of those harsh words.
‘Because of your stupidity, every woman who comes after you will have to work hard to prove she’s not an idiot!’
“I’m sure,” I tell my brother with a brittle smile. “Nothing happened.”