19. Repaired
nineteen
Repaired
S unlight pressing behind my curtains pulls me out of a deep sleep.
My body feels stiff and sore as I roll over.
Sparks of pain shoot up my arm as I untangle my broken wrist from the covers and reach for my phone to check the time.
It's nearly ten o'clock. Panic hits me. I overslept, missed the bus, missed everything.
I can't believe that neither my alarm nor my mom woke me up.
I jump up, frantically searching for something to wear.
I can make it for at least part of the day.
I can… Then I remember I don't have a way to get to school, unless I want to walk again. I slump back in my bed. Maybe Mom took pity on me and let me sleep. More likely, she left for work early and assumed I'd make it to the bus. If that’s what happened, I’m in trouble.
There's a soft knock on my bedroom door.
I stare at it for a second, my heart pounding. The house is always empty on weekday mornings.
A voice comes through the door. "Jess, are you awake?" Jacob's voice is soft, like he doesn't want to wake me up.
As usual, he's the last person I'd expect to be here. I take a second to answer. "Yeah."
“Can I come in?”
I breathe in. “Give me a minute." I pull on a pair of sweats and rake my hair into a ponytail before I open the door.
He leans against the doorframe, not quite coming in. "Are you just getting up?"
It's a stupid question, considering what I look like, but I answer, "I guess I overslept. Mom didn't wake me up or—"
"She said she was going to let you stay home. Something about you needing a break after a bad day yesterday."
"When did she say that?" There's a part of me that feels like this is some weird dream and that any minute I'll wake up to the blaring of my alarm.
"When she left for work," Jacob says.
"You were here when she left for work?" I look at him and take in the rumpled khaki pants and t-shirt and the tug of exhaustion at the corners of his eyes. "You came here right after your shift again last night, didn't you?"
"Yeah," he says it like it's not a big deal, but he stifles a yawn.
"Why?"
“I felt bad that yesterday was such a terrible day, and I wanted to get your car finished before I took off.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a set of car keys—my car keys. I take a second to understand what he means by that.
“You did it! My car? Is it actually running?”
“Purring like a kitten.”
“You’re a lifesaver.” I jump up and throw my arms around his neck, knocking him in the head with my cast. We cringe in pain at almost the same moment. I pull back, totally embarrassed at what I just did. “Sorry.”
He rubs his head. It’s okay. “You want to take it out for a test drive? We could get breakfast to celebrate.”
I shake my head without meeting his eyes. I want to go with him, but if anyone from school sees us together, it would only confirm whatever rumors are going around, especially since I'm skipping school. “A drive is fine, but I’m not hungry.”
I do what I can to make myself look decent, then he leads me out to my car. Holding my breath, I turn the key. I wouldn’t exactly say it purrs like a kitten, more in line with an asthmatic lion, but it starts. "It's a miracle."
Jacob beams and climbs in the passenger side, “Where to?”
I drive to a long country road that winds around the river. It's a beautiful day. My car being fixed and being with Jacob has put me in a much better mood. Thinking I can impress him with my driving skills, I speed up, leaning into the curves.
He puts his hand on my knee. "Not so fast."
I look at him, a mischievous smile playing around my lips. "Why not? I'm pretty sure if you were driving you'd be taking these corners a lot faster."
His face gets serious. "You're right, but we should probably take things slow.” He moves his hand back from my knee. “At least for now."
I look over at him, considering the double meaning in what he's saying. I venture the question. "Why, for now?"
“You don’t want to kill her off on the first trip out," he pats the dash. "This old lady has some miles on her."
"Maybe this old man too?" I pat his shoulder. It's a lame attempt at flirting, and I feel bad immediately for the reminder of the difference in our ages.
"I do have a few more miles on me than you do. A bit more experience." Jacob says, then I catch him stifling another yawn.
"You stayed up all night, and then you came to fix my car," I say.
He shrugs. “No big deal.”
Guilt settles in my stomach. "You didn't have to do that. I can handle riding the bus or catching a ride. Yesterday was just weird."
"You want to talk about it?" Jacob says.
"No," I say firmly.
"Sure?"
I shake my head, my face getting warm at the thought of telling Jacob about the rumors flying around school, especially since they involve him.
"Right, none of my business." But he almost sounds hurt. His gaze moves down the road. “This is a great place to drive. When I get back, I’ll have to bring my car out here. Then I can show you what it can do.” He turns back to me, his eyes glinting. “That is, if you think your heart can take it.”
I’m not sure how much more my heart could take of being around Jacob at all. We drive in silence for a few more glorious moments, then what he's hinted at hits me. "You're leaving?"
He's leaning against the window. "Huh?"
"You said you wanted to get my car done before you headed out and then you said, ‘when I get back.’ Are you going somewhere?" The thought brings up an ache in my chest.
"A few weeks of training. I'll be back right after Thanksgiving. Just in time for my brothers to get here."
He's said so much in those few sentences that I take a minute to process. Finally, I ask, "Your brothers?”
“They’re coming here over Christmas break, maybe longer, my mom too.”
“Nate and Gage, here?"
He grins at my reaction. "Yeah. They’re coming for an extended visit—the entire month of December.
My stepdad Steve is deployed, and your dad offered them both a job remodeling your rental—the house we used to live in.
They’ll be staying there. Nate wants to earn some money before he starts his next semester at Florida State. ”
“All of December? Doesn’t Gage have school?”
Jacob hesitates. “He's had some issues. Mom's homeschooling him for the rest of his semester. He has to work to pay off the damage he did to Steve’s car… among other things.”
“Other things?”
Jacob shakes his head. “Gage has been screwing up a lot lately. With his dad gone, my baby brother is a little out of control, like I was. Mom’s even considering having him finish his senior year here.”
I sit back, taking it in. Gage and Nathan, back again.
I’m not sure what to think about that. Gage is the same age as I am.
He used to be the bane of my existence; spiders, snakes, dead mice—all found their way into my bedroom when he was around.
Nathan ignored me when we were growing up, but he's a lot quieter than either of his brothers. He’s the same age as Matt, nineteen.
“It will be just like old times,” Jacob continues.
“Great.” I make a face. “That means Gage will chase me around with a frog, and Nate and Matt will try to ditch me.”
“I can definitely see Gage chasing you, but I don’t think it will be with a frog. Besides, I didn’t think you were afraid of frogs. I seem to remember you catching them out by the pond.”
“I wasn’t afraid of them. I just didn’t enjoy having them put down my back or in my hair.” I have a terrible memory of a little frog getting tangled in my hair, courtesy of Gage. I totally freaked out. Jacob got it untangled, but the frog didn’t survive.
“Yeah, Gage was a jerk to you when you were kids. You should probably hold that against him when you see him again.” He gapes at me. “We didn’t always ditch you, did we?”
“ You didn’t,” I say. Jacob was good at including me when we were kids. Sometimes he even carried me on his back so I wouldn’t get left behind.
“I’m glad you remember it that way. I'm guessing Gage will be a lot nicer to you now, and Nate might even ditch Matt to be with you..” Jacob looks at me thoughtfully.
“It will be interesting to watch my brothers’ reaction to a grown-up Jess.
” I’m not sure how to take that. I keep watching his face, but he doesn’t say anything else.
When we get to my house, he jumps out of my car and walks around to open the door for me, leaning against it. “So, are you impressed yet?”
“Impressed?” I’m pretty much impressed by everything Jacob does, but I’m not sure what he means.
He looks at me incredulously. “With my repair job, bringing the Nag back to life.”
“It’s nothing short of a miracle. So, what do I owe you?” I ask.
“Absolutely nothing.”
I stand up next to him, put my hand on his arm and look at him through my eyelashes, something I’ve seen Jasmine do. My pitiful attempt at flirting. “Let me pay you something.”
“Okay.” His eyes glint again. “Two things. One, forgive me for putting you in a tree.”
“I said that wasn't your–”
He holds up his hand. “And two, don't let those guys at school get to you. Especially that oversized moron from the paintball game. If he tries anything...”
Jacob is close—close enough to smell the musk of his all-night shift and the grease from fixing my car still lingering on his hands and clothes. I wish I could melt into his arms and tell him everything. I swallow hard. “It's not really payment if you have to come to my rescue again."
He puts his hands on my shoulders. I look up, getting caught in his deep brown eyes.
"Maybe I like the idea of coming to your rescue.” For a heartbeat, I think he's going to lean forward and kiss me goodbye.
Instead, he slides his hands down my arms and steps away.
“Try to stay out of trouble. At least for the next few weeks, okay? "