29
Orion
“Ican’t believe it’s finally ready.”
I smiled, handing the keys over to Mr. George.
The old Mustang had been such a labor of love for the last several months.
Now that I was finished, I didn’t know what I was going to do to keep myself distracted while at work.
Hopefully, the old man would send his friends who also owned gorgeous classic cars my way, but that didn’t seem likely.
Mr. George himself had seemed cagey coming into the garage recently.
Like he knew something untoward was going on behind the scenes.
“It was a real pleasure to work on your baby, Mr. George. I only hope that you bring her back to me in the future.”
His smile was tight as he leaned in close, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Son, you’ve done an amazing job. I’ll find it hard to trust someone else, but I’d feel a lot better if you had your own space.”
It was what I expected. With the way I had been feeling lately, maybe it was time that I seriously looked into things.
Hell, I’d been feeling ten feet tall since the last time I’d ended up at Sable’s apartment.
It felt like nothing could touch me. We spent so much time together.
Even on his day off, after he texted me, we’d met up at a coffee shop to sit,drink, and talk.
It was so fucking nice. Like I was getting to see a different side of him.
He was letting me in, telling me more and more about how he’d grown up.
I was still pissed knowing that he’d spent so much time living in that car with his mom.
That she hadn’t been the best parent in the world, treating him like garbage.
I had a feeling he was still holding back on just how bad that really was, but he’d tell me in his own time.
The more I told him, the more he seemed to open up to me. It was a fair exchange.
I’d told him more about how my dad drank a lot when I was a kid. How it wasn’t so bad now, but he had other vices, I didn’t elaborate. I wasn’t any better at keeping some things quiet, still. The day I told him about how Dad had beaten my mother was the hardest.
We’d been at a little park sitting under a tree.
There were some kids running around—he asked me again why I didn’t really want kids.
I’d grabbed his hand and told him I was honestly afraid of being just like my dad.
Even if I never drank as heavily as he did, the fact that I struggled to be honest with Whitney terrified me.
Kids deserved better than that.
Instead of continuing to dwell on that, I turned to Mr. George, giving him a gracious smile. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about. In the meantime, I hope you’ll still trust me. I’ll have to let you know the second something changes.”
He seemed to accept that response before following me back to the main office of the garage.
It was nice that we all worked on commission.
I was getting a nice payday today. Mr. George had been paying based on progress.
The big payout came out at completion. As he handed across the stack of hundred-dollar bills, I started to sweat.
I’d never been paid so much for a job in my life.
Once Mr. George was out of sight driving that gorgeous Mustang out of the garage, I stuffed the wad of bills in my pocket.
I had so many ideas about what I wanted to do with the money.
Some of it I wanted to put away to save for my own place.
That thought hadn’t always been front of mind.
Getting out from under my dad was more necessary than before.
I didn’t get very far before Dad came around the corner. It was amazing how just seeing him could sour my good mood so quickly.
“What has you smiling like that?” he asked.
My face stretched into a frown because if he knew how much I’d just made from Mr. George, there was a chance he’d want some of it from me. Sure, I used his garage, but none of the other mechanics had to pay him for space rental. Leave it to him to treat me differently than everyone else.
“Just finished the job for Mr. George.” Maybe if I didn’t elaborate further, he wouldn’t question things, but I knew better than that.
“Oh yeah? What’d the old man pay ya?”
I scowled because I didn’t want to tell him.
If I lowballed it too much, he’d ask me why the fuck I’d taken so long.
He’d tell me I should have charged more.
It was all a slippery slope. The longer I stood there thinking about it, the weight of the bills in my pocket was a reminder that the longer I worked for this asshole, the longer I had to worry about bullshit like that.
“Enough,” was all I said as I shouldered past him in the too-narrow hallway, making my way outside. I needed to breathe. To catch my breath, to think for a moment so I didn’t do something stupid like haul off and hit my dad. It wasn’t as if he didn’t deserve it for how many times he’d hit me.
To my surprise, he didn’t follow me. Maybe today was one of my lucky days. I didn’t have very many of those where that jerk was concerned, but it had me feeling like I was back on cloud nine.
I climbed into my truck—I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. If he wasn’t about to harass me, I was going to get as far away as possible. The cab of my truck filled with classic rock that made me think of Sable as I drove the short distance home.
A strange sense of calm washed over me the moment I pulled into the driveway.
Like nothing could happen today that would kill the mood.
Things with my dad could have really gotten to me.
I hadn’t let them get into my head this time, like in the past. That was a huge step forward in the right direction.
Maybe soon I’d be able to talk to Whitney about all that had been bothering me with our marriage.
I shook the thoughts from my head as I walked to the front door.
That conversation still felt like it was a long way off.
With the way things were going with Sable, I knew it needed to happen soon.
Keeping her in the dark while I continued to sleep with him, while she pressured me to sleep with her, it was wrong for all of us. I needed to do so much better.
The house was quiet when I entered. It was strange, but Whitney had been so much more tired lately. Her mood had improved, but it was as if she was still depressed, wanting to sleep all the time.
Whitney wasn’t sleeping—she was sitting at the kitchen counter with a stack of papers.
All of a sudden, all those good feelings I had all day vanished.
She looked serious,something swirled low in my gut.
Something like worry, as if she knew what had been going on for the last few months and this was her calling me out on my shit.
Then she turned to face me when I entered the room. Her face lit up, some of that concern bleeding away. She folded the stack of papers in half, setting them to the side before she stood from the stool she was sitting on.
“Hey, baby,” she said as she walked over, wrapping her arms around me.
I hugged her back before kissing the side of her head. She smelled of jasmine and roses—it was sweet and comforting. Whitney had always been so distinctly feminine.
“Do you think we can go out for dinner tonight?” She asked as she pulled back to grasp my hands. There was a bright smile spread across her face. I couldn’t tell her no. It was rare to see her so happy lately.
“Yeah, we can do that,” I answered.
Whitney stood on her tiptoes, placed a quick kiss on my lips, grabbed the papers on the counter as she turned to vanish up the stairs. She reappeared a few minutes later in a loose summer dress that accentuated her curves.
She still had that stack of papers with her.
She stuffed it into one of the pockets on the front of the dress.
I remember the day she bought it—the excitement rolled off her in waves..
She’d pulled it out of the bag as soon as she’d gotten home trying it on to show me, shoving her hands deep into those pockets like they held the secret to the universe.
There were days when I missed seeing her light up like that. Something so small could make her so fucking happy. Now it seemed like an impossible task. Even now, she wasn’t smiling as she reached for a lightweight jacket to toss over her shoulders.
We didn’t go out together very often anymore, so she should have been ecstatic.
Maybe what was bothering her had something to do with that paperwork.
I wanted to ask about it, but I also wanted her to tell me in her own time.
It continued to repeat the cycle of being shitty about communicating with her.
I had more than proven that I was a creature of habit.
“What are you in the mood for?” I asked as we walked out of the house.
I locked the front door behind us before helping Whitney into the passenger side of my truck.
It was then that I realized that it had been a long time since she’d gone somewhere with me.
Sable had been in that seat more often than she had.
When I closed the door climbing into the driver’s side, she still hadn’t decided. I tossed a playful smirk in her direction. “You know, if you don’t decide, we’re going to end up at some place you hate.”
That earned me a giggle, the smile that had been missing from her face since I’d walked in the door was finally back.
We were the typical couple who fought over where to eat. She’d say she didn’t care—I’d pick the place, we’d get there, and she’d always have something to say about what I picked. After a while, I’d learned it was better to just wait her out until she made up her mind.
“I don’t know. I’m hungry. I’m not sure what I’m feeling. If you choose the place, I promise not to get upset this time.”
It was a trap I’d fallen for before. I wasn’t about to do it again.