Chapter 11 The Deal
THE DEAL
CARTER
Iwas busy working on Miss Tina’s car when I heard another car pull up.
At first I ignored it, figuring it was someone else’s problem, but as soon as I heard a woman talking and Paul responding, I stopped what I was doing and walked on over to investigate.
Once I got a good look at the customer, I was glad I stopped.
First thing I noticed was that she was really young. Maybe twenty-one. She was also very pretty and carried herself well, but she clearly had no idea what she was talking about with her car.
“It makes a little rattle jiggle sound when I move the gear stick thing, and I just moved here, so I want to be absolutely sure my car is working correctly. I saw your sign and knew you’d take care of me.
So, can you help me?” She’s leaning way over the counter while she’s talking, and Paul is zeroed in on her.
Her description made no sense, but Paul was Paul and just nodded like he already knew the problem.
I stepped in before he could start spewing whatever bullshit he was about to let loose.
“We will check it out and give you a better understanding of what’s wrong as soon as we find out miss.
.?” Startled blue eyes found mine and she blinked at me a few times.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but what’s your name?”
“Ta, Tay, Taylor. Taylor, but my friends call me Tay.” She kept blinking up at me, so I cleared my throat and looked over at Paul who was now glaring at me.
What? I asked him with my eyes. Paul didn’t answer my unspoken question.
Failed eye communication attempt #172 or somewhere around there.
“Miss Tay-lor,” he tacked on the ending when she whipped her head back around his direction. I couldn’t see her face, but he switched his tone quickly. “Miss Taylor…?”
“Harrison.” She clipped out. Then she looked back at me with a bright smile.
My pocked vibrated, and my heart rate sped up.
Becky had to cancel our lunch plans earlier and I was eager to get my fix.
A notification from My Perfect Fiancee lit up the screen, which in turn I knew lit up my face.
I resisted the urge to check it immediately, just the name was enough for now.
Sometimes I lucked out and got special messages from my woman, and like hell was I risking Paul getting a sneak peek.
Beside me, I heard Paul continue talking, “—so I will probably just have to give you a ride back to wherever it is you live and maybe help you set up a ride for the foreseeable future while we get this all sorted.”
Seriously, this guy.
I butt in, again. “Hey Paul, I’m sure you’re too busy to be driving this lovely young woman all over the place all the time.
The shop couldn’t run without you.” I tried being diplomatic, or maybe just a kiss ass.
He didn’t look convinced. “There are plenty of us available to maybe take turns dropping her off where she needs to go until it’s time for her car to go back home.
” It was not the first or the last time we’d done this for customers. Back before…well, before.
At this, Taylor stepped in, “Oh, that would be wonderful, thank you,” she stopped to read my shirt, “Carter.”
She lifted her hand towards my arm, so I looked to see if anything was stuck on it. Odd, nothing beyond grease and oil.
“Yeah, no worries.” Crisis averted, I turned around and quickly headed to the bathroom to check the message from my spitfire.
When I came back out with an extra pep in my step, it was to see Paul openly leering at the poor girl while she was in the waiting room.
He side-eyed me the moment I stepped up to him. “You’re first,” he said.
“Beg pardon?” I let plenty of my drawl leak into my words to annoy him a little. He liked to pretend he wasn’t one of us.
“You’re first. You decided that it was going to be all of us driving this bombshell all week long, so you get to start the process. You’ll take her home. Go clock out and come right back.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses there boss. I’m not doing this for free. I’ll be spending my time and my gas doing this for the company.” I lean back against the counter and wait for his response.
He eyed me in disbelief. "You stepped in when I was offering for free.”
Prepared for that, all I said in response was, “Remember Rachel?”
He blanched in response, then turned red and turned around. While walking away he called out, “Fine, stay clocked in and log your miles. Make a schedule for the others too.” Then he slammed the door to his office behind him.
Rachel was strike one for Paul. This woman made a complaint about Paul’s…proximity a couple summers back. Billy said Paul would only get two strikes.
That event on my mind, I looked up toward our waiting room and saw Taylor looking right at me with a giant smile on her face. I gave her a thumbs up and walked away, past Patrick and Darren, both working on a local delivery van, and back to Miss Tina’s car.
Taylor
I was pissed when my dad told me he wanted me to try at least a year of teaching before he’d give me a position in his company. Something about at least pretending to use my degree. It was literally a waste of everyone’s time.
I refused to put in applications, so imagine my surprise when my dad called me into his office to give me the good news.
“Your Aunt Jill got you a TA job in Briar Ridge where she works. You’ll stay at the rental she has there that’s already furnished.
” I went to interrupt, but he bulldozed right over me.
“You will do this, and you will do this well. If you do not, do not expect a job. If you can’t manage a bunch of little brats, there’s no way you can manage the stress this job has in store for you. Let’s call this a stress test.”
I clamped my lips shut at that.
The day I moved to the budget version of Stars Hollow was the day I met Carter Stewart, aka my Dean. He was like my dream guy all wrapped up in a delicious greased up salt and pepper package. When he swooped in to help me with the creep, Paul, I literally swooned.
I knew then and there, he was going to be mine for the duration of my exile from humanity. We were basically a hallmark movie in the making.
While creepy Paul tried to convince me to let him give me a ride, I was insisting on a rental. But once Carter stepped in, I was ready to do whatever it took to get a ride from him. In every sense of the word.
“Taylor, come on over here and let’s chat about your car.” Paul said from the entrance of the waiting room, and suddenly, there’s Carter, like he couldn’t keep away while I was talking to another man. I tried to catch his eye, but he was busy staring at Paul’s paper.
Paul rolled his eyes and got out a pen and started making notes on it. Carter nodded his head.
“Yes, Carter?” That made him look at me, finally.
Pretty, pretty man.
Paul cleared his throat and handed me the messy list of car things. Like I was supposed to know what it was. I could ask Carter to explain it to me.
“This is everything I see that needs help on your car. I suggest you let us go ahead and get this done as quickly as possible, it is not safe to drive as is.”
Carter nodded like he agreed, but then he pulled out his phone. Paul looked at me so I reluctantly looked away from Carter again. Paul rolled his eyes, so my eyes drifted back to their preferred target.
“I’ll need your number for rides, Carter.” I said with my lower voice. Men react to this voice.
“Sure.” He said, not even looking up from his phone. “What’s your number?”
I rattled it off to him and watched as he never looked up. Then a notification popped up on my own phone, obviously in my hand.
Unknown
it’s Carter, from Billy’s Auto Services. Here’s my number for pickup calls.
Perfect.
Then, his phone rang and a gorgeous smile spread across his face as he answered. “Hey spitfire, how’s my perfect fiancé today.” He said while walking away from me.
No fucking way. I was not going to be stuck in this shit town with that man unavailable to me. He was my silver linings, and I refused to give that up for some stupid, small town fiancé. After a quick mental calculation, I looked back to creepy Paul, who was already looking at me.
“So Paul,” I purred. “Tell me a little about your man, Carter. What’s his fiancé like?” He looked exactly as men do when I put on my charm until I brought up the fiancé. He scowled.
“She’s a bitch. They’re perfect together, honestly. Becky tells him to jump and he asks how high.” There was more to their story, but I had a name to bring to Aunt Jill and a possible dynamic to toy with.
One last look at Carter’s retreating figure, and I thought that maybe this could be a good year after all.
Carter
Present
So I tell her. I tell Becky how it all started, and I hate it.
I tell her about Paul being his usual creepy self and how the ride situation began, and Becky just sits and listens.
She rotates her gaze from me to her hands, to the ground, and off into space.
When I get to the part where we scheduled Taylor’s rides, she looks agitated, unsettled, and I know what she’s really waiting for.
Sure enough she meets my eyes and informs me I’m missing the mark. “It was more than that, Carter.” I nod my head and take a deep, fortifying breath.
I don’t want to hurt her anymore. “On those rides we talked—a lot.” Another glance to see Becky has gone rigid. I sigh and continue pacing around and scuffing my feet to scrape off this nervous energy.
“By the second time I gave her a ride, she was unloading all her fears about moving and how alone she felt. By the third, she asked if I could relate, and I told her about my own frustrations—wanting more, chasing goals that felt like they were moving at a crawl.”
She makes a small sound of distress and I whip around to see her beautiful face fall. I stop immediately and go to ask, what’s wrong? You already know the worst of it! But instead, I just give her an out.
“I can stop.”
“No. Tell me.” No hesitation.