“Yes. She likes you. She obviously trusts you, or she wouldn’t have been with you. Becca’s always been afraid to trust people, and she’s so worried about her safety that it comes across as OCD or something. She deserves to feel safe, and to be happy, and you might be able to help on both accounts.”
“I know I can. At least I want to try.”
“She needs to stay the summer. I don’t think there’s anything for her in Boston anymore, and I want her to know she can have a place here if she wants.”
“You sound like Jake.” I shifted from foot to foot. I was anxious to do something, anything.
“Ugh. Don’t say that. But if he’s on board, then all the better.”
“So how do you think you can help?”
“I’m working on a plan.” She kicked around a rock with her flip flop.
“When’s it going to be ready?”
“I need some time, but why don’t you start by getting her car back. Dale went out of town for the weekend, but I’m sure you can find someone with whatever that part is they need, can’t you?”
“Yes. Okay, her car. I can do that.”
Molly smiled. “Good.”
“Are you going back to Tom and Kelly’s?”
“Yeah, are you?”
“No, I think I’ll just go home.”
“All right, but start thinking of ways to fix this mess. I know you didn’t mean to hurt her, and she’ll see that one day if you can make up for the fact that you were a total jerk.”
“I hope so.” I didn’t add that I hoped she’d realize it soon.
***
I decided not to go straight home. Dale, the owner of the garage may have been out of town, but Greg was around. I stopped by his house without calling first.
“Listen I need you to do me a favor.”
“I’m listening.” He didn’t move to open the door wider, so I figured we’d have the conversation on the front step. Maybe he had company he didn’t want me to know about.
“I need you to finish up that little bug you have in the shop.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m sure Dale got the part. He just didn’t want to be bothered before taking off for the weekend.”
“So what do you want me to do about it?” He leaned against the door frame.
“Fix her car, Greg.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “Why are you so concerned about the bug, Gavin?”
“Because Becca deserves her car back.”
“So this is just the chivalrous side of you? It has nothing to do with trying to get with her?” He grinned.
“Listen, you owe me. Do this, and we’re even.” I didn’t feel the need to bring up exactly why he owed me: I’d made sure to keep his brother’s ass out of jail.
“Fine. I’ll go tomorrow and finish the job.”
“Thanks, man. Call me when it’s done, okay?”
“Sure, I’m guessing you want to bring it to her yourself?”
“Yes.” Of course she probably wouldn’t be thrilled about it.
I went straight home after that. I wasn’t sure what difference the car would make, but it was a start, and I had to fix things with Becca. I couldn’t get her out of my head, and I doubted it was going to suddenly get any better.
***
Greg called me around eleven the next day and told me he had Becca’s car done. I paid the bill and got into the driver’s seat. It’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic because I had almost no room in that sad excuse for a car. Why someone would choose to drive such a small car, especially an old one was beyond me—but from the brief conversation I heard her have with Molly, she had some sort of fondness for it.
I left my car at the garage, hoping Becca would forgive me enough to give me a lift back. If not, I’d return Molly’s to her. I could walk to the garage from there. I sat in the car for a minute longer than I needed to. I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I was in for.
As I walked into the yard, I realized I didn’t need to worry about whether she’d open the door. I watched as she swam laps in the large pool. She was so graceful. Her figure cut elegantly through the water. I held back as much as I could, not ready for her to notice me right away.
“Is there something you need?” She pulled up her goggles, her hands pressed against the side of the pool.
“You swim?” I asked stupidly, walking over.
She smiled just a little. “Yeah, I swim.” She was wearing a one-piece suit, but it hugged her closely, and watching her wet only brought other thoughts to my head.
“I came by to drop off your car.”
That got her attention. She pulled herself out, and I at least managed to grab her towel for her.
I watched her dry off. I’m sure I looked like a complete creep. Once you’ve been with a girl, it’s impossible not to picture her naked in moments like those. When you still want her, it only gets worse.
“How’d you get my car?” She pulled an elastic band from her hair, letting it all fall down her back. I’d never seen her hair wet before. I liked it. “The guy at the garage said he wouldn’t finish until Monday.”
“Someone who works there owed me a favor.”
She frowned. “So you did it out of some weird form of guilt or something? I told you I don’t care about what happened. It was a dumb mistake, and it’s over.”
I reached out for her, ignoring the rational part of my brain telling me she probably didn’t want me touching her. “The only mistake was me letting you leave like that. I was an idiot, Becca.”
She took a step away from me, shrugging off the hand I placed on her arm. “We’ve been over this, and I thought we’d decided to let it go. I’ll be out of your hair before you know it.”
“Out of my hair? Are you even listening to me? I want you, Becca. What can I do to change your mind?”
She got a funny grin all of a sudden, and I had no idea what I was in for. “It might not change my mind, but I do have something you can do for me.”
“What?”
“Wait here.” She crossed over to the pool house and disappeared inside. I hoped she’d be coming back. The door opened a minute later. She had a beach cover up on and a piece of paper in her hand. “I figure you can take care of this for me.”
I took the paper, ready to agree to anything. It was a parking ticket.
“You want me to take care of a ticket for you?”
“Look at the date and location.”
I read it and couldn’t help laughing. “This was the night you spent at my place.”
“Yeah. I figured putting out for an officer should pay it off.” She waited a beat before smiling. She’d had me worried for a second. At least she still had a sense of humor.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Good. May I have my keys?”
“Oh yeah, sure.” I pulled her black braided keychain from my pocket. She held her right hand out to take them, but instead I took her left hand in mine, and pulled open her fist, placing the key inside before wrapping my hand around hers.
“Thanks.” Her eyes widened.
“You’re welcome.” I leaned forward to kiss her, relieved when she didn’t pull away immediately. I didn’t want to push my luck, but I’d been craving her constantly the past week. I put an arm around her, pulling her against me, needing to feel her body against mine. She broke the kiss, pushing her hands against my chest to distance us.
“You should go.” She crossed her arms.
“Do you really want me to?”
She looked torn for a second, and I let myself get hopeful. “Yes.”
“No, you don’t. But that’s beside the point. I need a ride.”
“Are you serious?”
I smiled, watching the look of panic cross her face. She was nervous being in a car with me. I wondered if she was more worried about me or her reaction to me.
“Fine. I want to get changed first.” She didn’t wait for an answer. She just went inside.
“Yeah. I dropped her car off.”
“That was nice of you.”
“Just trying to help.”
“She’s a beautiful girl, isn’t she?” Mary said with a small smile.
“That she is.”
“Not that this is information you’d be interested in, but she was asking me about where to get sushi around here.”
The door to the pool house opened. I glanced at Mary quickly before getting up. “Thanks for the intel.”
She winked. “Just mentioning it.”
“Hey, hon,” she called to Becca before disappearing back into the house.
Becca walked over to me, dressed in a light blue strapless sundress. Blue was definitely her color.
“You ready?”
“Sure.”
We walked around to the front of the house where I’d parked her car. I waited for her to get in and reach over to unlock the passenger door. I barely fit. She pulled out and headed toward the square.
“Have you had lunch?”
“No, why?” She sounded hesitant.
“Oh, no reason really. I was just totally craving the eel rolls at my favorite sushi place in Wilmington and was going to head over. Any interest in joining me?”
“You like sushi?” She eyed me skeptically.
“What, I have a southern accent, so I can’t eat sushi?”
She turned red. “No, sorry. It’s just that Molly would never touch it, and I just assumed…”
“Yeah, and we all know how beneficial assumptions are.”
We were getting close to the garage, and I watched her mull it over. “Okay, but you’re driving.”
“I was going to insist. There’s no way I’m spending more time in this thing.”
“This thing? Do you really want to go there?”
I grinned. “Nope. Just drop me off, and I’ll follow you back home so you can leave your car there.”
“All right. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
She pulled to a stop right by my car, and I hopped out. My legs protested from the cramped space. “See ya in a second.”
“Thank you, Mary Mathews,” I said as I followed that little yellow bug back through town.
Chapter Seventeen
Becca
Had I seriously just agreed to have lunch with Gavin? His comment about craving sushi threw me off, and then he’d called me out for being rude.
Maybe I should have been more surprised that I’d let him kiss me. He just caught me off guard, and his lips felt so good against mine. Then he went and put his arm around me. It was too much to resist.
I knew I should stay away from him, but what would one lunch do? Besides, if anything was going to put me in a good mood, it was sushi. I was getting tired of all the salads and frozen meals I’d been eating since arriving in town. The only good meals I’d had were the French toast and that lasagna from Mrs. Mathews.
I parked my car along the curb, checking in my rear view mirror to see that Gavin was still right behind me. I got out and waited as he parked. He came around so he could open my door for me. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was a gentleman.
“I’m glad you decided to come to lunch. This place is awesome.”
“I’m excited. I’ve actually been craving sushi lately.” I buckled my seatbelt.
He smiled. “Really? What a coincidence. It looks like we have something else in common.”
“What else do we have in common?”
“I’m guessing by your display on the beach that you’re into sports. I am too.”
“Did you play anything?” I liked how he was keeping the conversation off what happened between us. It was like we were doing everything backward though: getting to know each other after we’d slept together.
“Yeah, you can say that.” He got a strange look on his face, like something he’d said was funny.
“What do you mean?”
“I played baseball.”
“Like in high school or college?”
“I played in the minors for a few years.”
“Really? Wow, that’s really cool.” I was such a baseball fan, of course I’d fallen for a player.
“Yeah, it was.” A shadow crossed his face.
“When did you stop?”
He turned onto the highway leading out of town. It was the first time I’d left since I drove down, and I was looking forward to a change of scenery. “About three years ago. A rotator cuff tear ended things.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Ouch. I complained about losing my job with the D.A’s office, but there was still the chance I could work there in the future. He’d lost his dream completely.
“It’s the past.” He kept his eyes focused straight ahead.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it easy.”
He glanced over at me. “That’s definitely true.”
“So who’d you play for?” Short lived or not, it was still exciting.
“The Durham Bulls.”
“Oh cool. Were you hoping to play for the Rays?”
“You know their major affiliation?” He raised an eyebrow, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to look at me.
“I told you I was a baseball fan.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you’d know that.”
I shrugged “I’m a baseball nerd. What do you want?”
He laughed. “I like you, Becca. But to answer your question, yeah, I was hoping to play for them. Well, it was more than that. I had the contract. I just got hurt before I could start.”
“Oh, how awful.” Without thinking, I put a hand on his arm.
“It’s all right. Like I said, it’s the past.”
“Do you still like to watch, or does it depress you or something?”
He looked over. “Yeah, I still watch. Why, you want to catch a game sometime or something?”
“Where would we go?”
“Answer me first.” He got a funny smile on his face. “Do you want to catch a game?”
“Yeah, unless you’re talking little league or something. That can be pretty painful to watch unless you know the kids.”
He laughed. “No, I’m not talking little league.”
“Then, sure.” Was I really agreeing to spend more time with him? I needed help. The guy humiliated me, and now I was going to play nice. No way. “Wait.”
“What?”
“But only as friends.”
“I think we’re past the ‘friends’ stage.”
“Then forget it. I agreed to have lunch, but I was serious when I said we needed to forget what happened.” I looked out the window.
“And that kiss earlier canceled that out. We are not doing anything as friends. I’ve played that game before, and it’s not going to work.”
“And what if I don’t want to be anything more than friends?”
“Let’s not worry about a label right now. I’d just like to get to know you. I should have done that before taking you home, but I can’t change that now. So let’s just enjoy it, okay?”
I found myself nodding without meaning to. Part of me needed to make something more of our hook up—to make it worth it. Maybe we’d end up friends by the end of the summer.
Gavin pulled into a busy lot. It looked like we weren’t the only ones in the mood for sushi. He led me into the restaurant.
We were seated at a window table. Gavin pulled out my chair before seating himself. Yet another point for him. Call me old fashioned, but I liked a man who treated a woman nicely.
“Do you usually get rolls, sushi, or sashimi?” Gavin hadn’t even given me a chance to look over the menu.
“Ah, usually rolls, but I’m open to
anything.” I glanced down at the menu. “Oh, I definitely have to try their seaweed salad.”
“Okay rolls, and you’re open to anything. Does that mean you’ll let me order for both of us?”
He looked at me as if he expected an argument.
“Is that a challenge?”
“Maybe.”
“Order away.” I waved my arm out to my side in a “the sky’s the limit” kind of gesture.
The waiter came over, and I listened closely as Gavin ordered us hot tea and enough rolls to feed at least four people. I was happy to hear that he remembered the seaweed salad.
“You don’t really think we’re going to eat that much, do you?”
He grinned. “You’ve never seen me eat before, have you?”
I looked at him. He was a big guy, but I knew for a fact he had no fat on him. He was built like a rock. “I guess not. So you have a big appetite?”
“Yeah, I have a big appetite.” He looked right at me as he said it, and I know I detected something suggestive in his comment. I could practically feel my cheeks burning, so I’m sure I blushed. He was getting good at embarrassing me.
“You never told me, where did you grow up?”
“Augusta, Georgia,” he said as the waiter arrived to pour our tea.
“Really? So were you into golf?”
He smiled. “You know golf trivia too?”
“Knowing where the Masters are played every year doesn’t count as golf trivia. It’s common knowledge.”
He laughed. I loved its deep sound. “You’d be surprised. I’ve dated plenty of girls who’ve never even heard of the Masters.”
“Maybe that’s more a statement on the type of girls you date…”
“Is that your way of asking about my dating history?”
“No. It was just a statement.” Maybe I was a little curious.
“I’ve dated enough, but I’ve only really had one serious relationship.”
“Recent?” I took a sip of tea, enjoying the warmth in the overly air conditioned room.
“It’s been three years.”
I did the math. “Oh, you were together when you played.”
He nodded.
“But not after?” I bit my tongue. I was being nosy. He tensed, and I tried to back pedal. “Sorry, that’s none of my business.”
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