Chapter 26
26
COLE
Grabbing a small notebook and pencil, I made a list of the parts I’d need for Bailey’s truck, one of them being a new transmission. There was no way around it. I was likely going to have to rebuild the engine. I warned her a few times that this was coming, but I still hated that I would have to make the call. She loved this truck and called it her baby, and I knew encouraging her to just let it go would break her heart.
I’d had Bailey’s truck at my garage for almost three weeks and finally had a chance to look at it. When everything happened with Paige, I got behind, and unfortunately, Bailey’s truck took a back seat. She understood. I still felt guilty although I knew she had Chase to give her a ride wherever she wanted to go.
With the notebook in hand, I headed back into the office. It was Wednesday, and I’d been working until well past eleven both Monday and Tuesday evenings just to get caught up, which meant I only saw Paige during the day when the office was open. She’d been in my space for almost two weeks now, and we were getting very good at coexisting. She’d go upstairs alone at night and was always in bed before I quit for the night. A big part of me wanted to close the garage when the office closed because I wanted to spend time with her, but that wasn’t what she needed. She needed time to herself, and I was too far behind on work to give in to my wants.
I inhaled sharply when I saw her sitting at the desk, head down, looking at some papers. She had her hair down today in waves of honey-colored silk. She usually had it pulled back in a ponytail or braid, so it took me by surprise to see it like she used to wear it.
She glanced over her shoulder, and I forced my feet to take the final steps into the office.
She smiled softly. “Hey.”
“Morning,” I answered, trying to ignore the excitement I felt from seeing her. It wasn’t anything new. It happened every time I saw her, but living and working with her was definitely making it worse. “I need you to do a few things for me today.”
“Okay.” She nodded, and I noticed the gray beneath her eyes had all but disappeared. She was sleeping a lot better, and I hadn’t heard her in the bathroom vomiting since the last time.
I placed the notebook down on the desk and gestured to it. “Can you call Bailey for me? Read this list to her and tell her to give it some thought and call my cell later tonight. I’ll have more time to go over everything with her if she decides to move forward.”
She frowned. “Her truck?”
“Yeah.” I lifted the baseball cap from my head and scratched my forehead before putting it back.
“That’s a long list,” she said solemnly. “She’s gonna be crushed.”
“I warned her this was coming.”
“Still…”
Paige met my eyes, and I jerked up my chin. “I know. She loves that truck.” I moved across the room and grabbed three files I had for potential hires from the filing cabinet. I handed them to Paige. “Can you call these three guys and set up appointments for interviews tomorrow and Friday if they can make it? I can do Saturday too if I have to.”
Paige grinned. “Finally hiring, huh?”
I loved seeing the smile playing around her lips almost as much as I loved that she was willing to have more conversations with me. “I have to. The last three I interviewed weren’t a great fit, but I’m hoping someone out of these three will be. I’m so far behind I’m afraid I’ll start to lose business.”
“No way.” She shook her head. “Not with your reputation.”
My eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“I used to hear about you all the time when I worked for Dave. Customers would come in to get stuff for oil changes, things like that, and would talk about your garage and how they wouldn’t take their car to anyone else.”
“Nice to hear,” I acknowledged.
“Yeah.” Her lips twitched. “It used to piss me off.”
I saw the teasing glint in her eyes and smirked. I didn’t need to ask why, and I didn’t want to bring up our shitty history, so I skirted around it. “I’ll bet it did.”
We stared at each other, something humming between us, but it wasn’t tension. It was an energy, an awareness that we were forging a new path together and would eventually have to address the attraction be both did our best to ignore. When the smiles slid from both of our faces, she was the first to break the stare.
Clearing her throat, she pointed at the folders. “I’ll call them now.”
“Great. Thanks.”
I wandered back into the garage and down to the car I had right behind Bailey’s truck. Glancing over at Billy, I saw he was humming along to the music while he inspected the fifth car scheduled this week. Hell, at this point, I might need to hire two guys, not just one.
I worked for another hour before Paige walked into the garage. I was surprised when I rolled out from beneath the car on the creeper and saw her standing beside the car. My legs traveled over her legs covered in jeans and the baggy T-shirt she wore. Nothing that would be considered alluring, but that didn’t stop my jeans from getting a little tighter.
“Sorry to bother you.”
I pushed off the creeper to standing, surprised to see her. She hadn’t come out to the garage at all since she moved in. She mainly stayed in the office and gave me messages when I went in. “You’re not bothering me.” I pulled the rag from my back pocket and began wiping my hands. “What’s up?”
“Hey, Paige,” Billy called out from across the garage.
She smiled and lifted her hand in a wave. “Hey, Billy.”
“You look good.” He pointed at his hair. “I like the new hairdo.”
She giggled. “Thanks, Billy.”
His face flushed a little, and I shook my head. “You done now?”
“Sorry, boss.” He bent his head under the raised hood of the car.
When I felt a light smack on my arm, my head snapped toward Paige. “Be nice. He’s sweet.”
“Yeah, sweet.” I snorted. “That’s how he wants you to think of him.”
She laughed, and my stomach clenched at the sound. I was so fucking happy to hear it again after all this time. She held out a notepad. “I scheduled all three guys. One tomorrow at three and two on Friday, one at ten in the morning and one around two in the afternoon. He said he might be running a little late, though, since he’s coming from work.”
“That works.”
“I also talked to Bailey, and she has a lot of questions.” I let my head fall back and stared at the ceiling while Paige chuckled. “Not just about the work but the cost too.”
I dropped my head. “Okay. I’ll call her when I’m finished.” When she hesitated, I furrowed my brow. “Is there something else?”
“Umm…” She shifted from one foot to the other. “You know what? Never mind. You’re busy.”
She started to turn toward the office door, but I gently grabbed her arm and spun her to face me. “I’m not too busy for you. What do you need?”
“Well…I wondered if you might have time to take me to my place tonight.”
Fear slammed into me at the idea of her being back in her townhouse, and she wasn’t being clear on why or if she was planning to stay there. “To stay?”
“No,” she replied immediately. “I just wanted to grab some more clothes.” She tugged on the bottom of her shirt. “Maybe something nicer than this, considering you have people coming in to interview.”
“You look fine in that.”
“Oh, okay.” She nodded, but I could tell she didn’t like my answer. “Never mind then.”
She started back to the office, and after I replayed the conversation in my mind, I followed her. She’d just gotten to her desk when I appeared in the doorway. “I can take you.”
“No, that’s okay.” She shook her head. “You’re really busy, and it’s just clothes.”
“It’s not just clothes. I don’t mind taking you. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to dress or look a certain way here. That shit doesn’t matter to me.”
Her shoulders dropped. “I know that.”
When she looked like she wanted to say more but hesitated, I called her on it. “Just say it, whatever it is.”
“It’s just that I used to dress a certain way because it made me feel strong.” She tugged on the hem of her T-shirt. “I don’t feel that way in these clothes.”
“How do you feel in those clothes?”
“Like I’m hiding, which is exactly how I wanted it to be, but now that I’m starting to feel better…” She shrugged. “I guess I wanted to start dressing like my old self.” She laid her hand on my arm. “But honestly, it’s no big deal. I can wait until you have more time.”
“Be ready at six.”
She dropped her hand. “What?”
“I can be done by six tonight. We’ll go to the townhouse, then grab something to eat on the way home.”
“You don’t have to…”
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ll do whatever it takes to help you feel strong again.” When she didn’t answer, I turned toward the door to the garage and started walking. I had a lot of shit to get done if I was quitting by six.