by Sasha Goldie
His smile didn't cover the slam of the door though, as he retreated to his garage.
Damn it.
Ian
Everything had been going great until Nate had ruined it all last night, calling this a fling. As I'd worked on his car this morning, I'd finally talked myself into going upstairs to check on him. Maybe he hadn't meant his words exactly the way they'd come out. I wanted to try to find a way to talk to him about it. The best solution was to simply sit down and ask him directly what his feelings were toward me. But he'd already made reservations. He couldn't get out of Three Lakes fast enough. How had I been so stupid? I misread every clue he'd sent me. He wasn't at all the person I'd thought he was. My judgment was really slipping. Yeah, he was a city boy, but I’d really thought his heart was pure.
After slapping a couple of sandwiches together, I'd retreated as quickly as possible. I wanted his car done and him out of my life, pronto.
The job only took me about another hour after lunch. As I closed the lid, Nate walked out the door from the apartment, his suitcase and briefcase in hand. "I just thought I'd check and see how it was going," he said as he set them down beside his car.
"All finished," I said as I turned toward the desk. I had no intention of charging him, but he walked over, shoving a credit card under my nose. My heart splintered more as I looked at it. "Fine."
It was going to be like that, then. Okay. I took the card, walking around the desk to find the credit card reader I used occasionally. The tension between us prickled the back of my neck as we waited on it to boot up and connect to the satellite service it used to work.
"Thanks again," he said. I didn’t bother replying.
Finally, I was able to run his card. I only charged him for the cost of the part, not the labor. I hadn't fixed it to make money off of him, no more than I'd invited him into my home to have sex with him.
It had happened, and until last night, it had been a wonderful week. Maybe one day I could focus on the week itself and not the ending. Chalk it up to reasons to avoid the city.
Handing his card and receipt to him, I couldn't quite look him in the eye. "There you go. I'm sure you're looking forward to getting out of Three Lakes."
Nate took the paper and card, slowly putting it in his wallet. His eyes on my face burned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I said brightly, finally meeting his gaze. "I'm fine. Have a safe drive." My face was hard, but I couldn't seem to soften it. He'd hurt me but probably had no clue. He'd just been after a fling. "Good luck with your sale."
"Okay, I'll see you later, then?" he said quietly. "Thank you for giving me a place to stay, and... Well, thank you for everything."
I nodded, not sure what to say. My cell phone dinged on the desk. Grateful for the distraction, I grabbed it and checked the notification. It was an email from the chain in Bend. "No problem, but I might not be here when you get back, though, if you come looking for me. If you come back." Why had I bothered saying that? He was on his way out the door.
"What are you talking about?" Nate asked as he walked over to grab his bags. "Where will you be?" He was awfully concerned for a man that was walking away from nothing more than a fling.
"I'm selling the shop." Mentally, I slapped myself upside the head. I hadn't decided if I truly wanted to sell. Not that I had to stick to what I told Nate, but if I didn't and he found out, I'd feel like a fool.
"What? When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?" He dropped his bags at my feet and put his hands on his hips. He looked like he was gearing up to nag me good for withholding information.
"Why would I tell a fling such personal business?" I asked him, the acid in my tone to cover the ache in my heart.
His face fell, either fury or disappointment filling it. Before I got a good read on him, he turned away, picked up his bags again and his keys from the desk, and walked out, the slam of the door his final goodbye.
Damn. That sucked.
23
Nate
With shaking hands, I threw my bags into the trunk of my car that Ian had so kindly pulled outside the shop. He'd been so kind. What had made him completely shift gears? That parting shot had been cruel.
Maybe it was best I get away from him. If he ran hot and cold like that, well, who needed a relationship with a man so volatile? Besides, Ian wouldn't sell his shop. I couldn't picture him anywhere but Three Lakes. He'd never be able to leave this place. It was part of him. And he shouldn't have to, anyway. If a man wanted to live in his hometown, there was nothing wrong with that. Sure, he probably should at a minimum redecorate and make his apartment his own, but geez, he didn't have to up and sell.
As I pulled out onto Main Street, I drove slowly, noticing a sign that said, "Drive like your kids play here."
Shaking my head, I crept along, my eyes on the passing businesses.
Why should he have told me, really? If he truly thought of me just as a fling, a good time. It really was just none of my business. With a deep breath, I centered myself. Now I could focus solely on the sale, my bonus, and my promotion. Get myself back on track. The week had been a fun distraction, but it was just that. A distraction from my ultimate goals.
As I rolled slowly down the street, convincing myself that I'd just been thrown off by the vast difference in Ian's life and my own, I stopped at Three Lakes's only stoplight. "Hey, Nate!" a voice called through my open window.
Ugh, I didn't want to talk to anyone. Luckily, it was Tyler, and he was far enough away that I could get away with just waving. "Hey," I called with a smile. No reason not to be polite.
He was exuberant, but he'd been so excited that Ian and I were together. Too bad he'd jumped the gun. What would it be like to live in a town where everyone knew me and cared about me? Like an enormous extended family.
Would Tyler think less of me for leaving? As if I had a choice.
My internal rant continued until I hit the highway to Bend. As I increased my speed on the exit from the country road to the highway, I considered hitting the next exit and turning around to go back and talk to Ian. Maybe he'd just been offended when I'd called it a fling and overreacted about it.
Just as I moved my finger to take the next exit, my phone rang. The car was too old to connect to the phone, so I answered on speaker. "Crissy, hi, give me one second, I'm driving."
Yanking my earbuds out of the console, I plugged them in and put them in my ears so I could hear her clearly. "Okay, sorry. How are you?"
"Fine, just checking in to make sure you're ready for tomorrow."
"Absolutely. I ended up renting each of them a car for the day so that the losers could leave without having to wait for the van to take them back to Bend. The auctioneer is prepped and ready, and I've been over the details a hundred times. It's going to go great."
As she lectured me about poise and sales tactics, tears filled my eyes. "Nate? Are you listening?" She stopped her lecture because I hadn't said anything in a while.
Whoops. "Yeah, sorry. I'm about to go through a dead spot, though. Can I call you back when I get to Bend?"
We disconnected the call before she heard the tears in my voice. I'd be back in Three Lakes the next day but wouldn't be able to see Ian. We'd said a fast and angry goodbye. Time to make my peace with it. Or at least push it away until I could get back to Portland and do something I'd never done before—mourn a breakup.
As soon as I’d set my shoulders and vowed to focus on nothing but my sale, the phone rang again. It was a local number to the Three Lakes area, but I didn’t recognize it. I still had my earbuds in, so I hit the button, apprehension in my gut. Who could it be besides Ian?
"Hello?" I spoke politely as if I had no clue it was him.
"Nate? This is Daisy."
"Oh," I said in genuine surprise. "Daisy, hello. What can I do for you?"
"Is Ian with you? He’s not answering his shop phone and his cell isn’t getting service." Her voice was tinny and weak.
Why wouldn’t he be answer
ing the shop? I’d just left him there moments before. "No, he’s not. You sound upset, are you okay?" The last street sign flew past as I picked up speed on the highway out of town.
"No. Tyler’s been in a wreck. I’m heading to the hospital and hoped Ian could run over to the diner and get the food off the stove. I turned it off but left everything." Just on the county outskirts, I slammed on the brakes and yanked the wheel, turning around in the middle of the road. Reversing quickly, I was heading back toward Three Lakes before Daisy could finish her question. "Do you think you could find him? He knows where the key is."
"Daisy, you just worry about Tyler. We’ll take care of the diner. Is he going to be okay?"
"Right now we don’t know. It was bad. They found him lying in the street. We won’t know who hit him until he wakes up."
"Daisy, just focus on your family. We’ve got your back."
"Thank you, Nate." Her words were a punch to my heart. "I’m so glad Ian has found you."
Ugh.
Ian
No way I was sitting around sobbing about a relationship that was never meant to be. I stormed up the stairs to change clothes and clean up. If Nate could move on, so could I. Flinging my clothes in the laundry pile, I hopped in the shower, so mad I barely noticed the water hadn't even warmed up yet. Just because I wouldn't be building a life with Nate didn't mean I was still content to keep mine exactly the way it was. Hell, no.
But, no way I would move to Portland. Not where he'd be. It was a big city, sure, but having him in such close proximity and knowing I couldn't have him? No, thanks.
My hands started to ache, and I realized I'd been scrubbing them too hard with the nailbrush in my anger. My chest deflated, and my anger left me in a rush, leaving me empty and tired. I didn't want to move, I didn't want to start over. I liked my town and my shop.
But I also liked Nate. Maybe I should've said something more, asked him why he'd acted so much like he'd developed feelings for me. I should've tried harder.
I stood under the spray until it ran cold. As I dried off, I thought I heard someone down in the shop. Damn it, I hadn't locked the door. Wrapping a towel around my waist, I opened the bathroom door and nearly ran face-first into Nate.
"What the hell?" My heart soared. He'd come back. He hadn't meant it about the fling. A smile broke across my face, all the worry and anger disappearing in an instant.
"Ian, get dressed."
Nate's worried expression finally settled in. Something was wrong. "Why? Why are you back?" A suspicion that he hadn't returned to make up with me blanketed my hope.
"It’s Tyler. He was hit by a car, and Daisy is on her way to the hospital."
Panic and grief replaced all the other emotions that had been playing roller coaster in my heart. "No."
"She doesn't know his prognosis yet, but she needs us at the diner."
I ran into my bedroom, throwing the towel. "Why didn't she call me?"
"She tried, but you must've been in the shower." Nate opened my closet, pulling out clean jeans as I tugged on my underwear, not self-conscious in front of him.
"Here, I like this shirt," he said absently as he handed me an old plaid button-down. Of course, he liked the dressiest shirt I owned. I hadn't been clothes shopping since I came home from the Marines.
He grabbed my socks and followed me into the living room where I'd kicked off my boots. Sitting on the couch, pulling on my boots, I jerked my head as I felt something touch it.
"Stop it, I'm brushing your hair."
I looked up at him with an eyebrow raised. "I have a buzz cut."
"It still needs neatening," he said with a sniff. I went back to tying my boots and let him have his way. Might as well.
We were out the door in minutes. "Let's take my car, it's faster."
"The diner is just up the street." No sense in wasting gas. "Come on."
We walked quickly the two blocks to Daisy's and around to the back. Nate filled me in on what Daisy had told him on the way. "They airlifted him to the hospital in Bend. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the helicopter so close to the shop."
Wondering why I hadn’t, I unscrewed the porch light and took the key out. "Thanks for walking me over," I said. I knew I should say something to him about the whole fling thing, something to make him stay and talk to me while I figured out the diner, but the words wouldn't come.
"How else would I get here?" He took the key and unlocked the door. "You go unlock the front and I'll figure out the kitchen," he said.
"Do you know what to do in the kitchen?" He'd probably never ran a fryer in his life. Not that I had.
"Please." He grabbed the spatula and flipped the half-cooked burgers into the trash as he turned the knob to heat the grill. "How do you think I got through college?"
24
Ian
My jaw gaped down as he took charge in the kitchen. Now that was something I hadn't known or even suspected about him. I would've taken him for wearing a polo shirt and working in a golf club shop or something else posh and easy. He continued to surprise me. He'd dropped everything to help, coming straight back to me the moment he knew one of my friends was hurt.
Panic for Tyler's condition gripped my heart. I couldn't wait to hear how he was. If not for the certainty that Daisy couldn't afford to lose a day's sales, I would've cleaned up and headed straight for the county hospital. But Daisy needed the money and Tyler needed Daisy.
Two tourists were coming up the walk as I unlocked the door. "Welcome," I said, holding open the door. "The owners been called away on an emergency, but if you'll be patient with us, we'll get you some grub going."
The woman nodded, looking around. "Sure, we can be patient."
"Hope the emergency isn't too bad," her husband said. Her wedding ring glinted in the fluorescent diner lights.
"We don't know yet, but thank you. Have a seat anywhere." I looked around for menus. "Coffee?"
"Yes, please."
The menus were in Tyler's podium. The first task complete. Now, coffee.
I didn't have the first clue how to make coffee in a massive industrial coffee maker. I grabbed a mug and poured out a sip from the full carafe. I liked my coffee black, anyway. It tasted fine. Daisy must've just made it before she left.
My first customers taught me to take the mugs to the table and pour the coffee there. I dribbled hot coffee all over my hands from the counter to the table. My second customers taught me not to forget silverware.
Nate ran around the kitchen like he'd worked there all his life. He even came out and showed me how to make coffee in the giant contraption.
The cash register was identical to the one I used in the shop, thank goodness. If my memory served, my father had told Duke and Daisy of a sale on them not too long before he'd died and they all bought the same one. He'd told me all about it on a call when I'd been on tour. He'd been so proud of those damn cash registers. I grinned as I used it the first time.
My third round of customers helped me figure out Daisy's credit card machine. They were local and were devastated to hear about Tyler. Their teenage son was the one that ended up figuring out the machine.
Still, Nate ran the kitchen like a pro. We made it through the afternoon with minimal complications. I dropped one dinner, which I gave the guy for free and paid for out of pocket, so that was fine. I'd already made three times that much in tips. The sympathy angle worked great with women. I gave them big eyes and explained that normally I fixed cars and I heard more than one whisper of, "Leave him a little extra, hon."
I found a big jar under the counter and slapped a handwritten sign on it. "For Tyler." All my tips went in the jar, as well as a considerable amount more.
A few curse words filtered their way out of the kitchen throughout the day, but far fewer than there would've been if I'd been cooking. One particularly loud one had me apologizing with a sheepish smile on my face to the couple whose order I was taking. "Excuse me, let me just go check on him." I made a hasty retreat t
o the kitchen to find Nate running his hand under the faucet.
"Are you okay?" I pulled his hand back to see how bad the burn was. I'd burned my hands so many times on hot engines it wasn't funny.
"I'm fine. It was a particularly large grease pop. It's just a bad scald."
I grunted. "I'll be the judge of that." After a quick look, I knew he was right. "Be careful, and don't forget we can hear you out there when you shout."
Bumping my butt on the swinging door to the front, I gave him a silly-stern face. He laughed. "Turn on some music."
That was a great idea. Three Lakes got in an oldies station. It was about the only station that came in clearly. Daisy had an ancient radio beside the host station. Tyler loved to find old tapes online and play obscure bands while he worked. I turned it over to the radio and cranked up the oldies just enough to mask the sound of Nate's occasional shouts. A few customers looked up smiling.
Daisy called in the early evening. "Have you burned down my diner yet?"
"No, but Nate had to show me how to make coffee. How's Tyler?"
"It's not good, Ian. He's got spinal cord damage. It's not clear at this point if he'll walk again."
"Has he said who did it?" Whoever it was would be in a world of trouble. Tyler was loved by everyone in Three Lakes.
Daisy sighed. "He hasn't woken up yet."
"Oh, Daisy, I'm so sorry. Listen, I can come back tomorrow and run the front, but Nate has to go to a thing in Bend. He can't be here and let's face it, I never would've made it through this day without him."
"It's okay. Tyler's mom and dad are here. There's nothing I can do up here but mope. I'll be there. I'll find a way to run the front and back. I've done it before."
I assured her we'd leave the diner clean and ready for tomorrow and told her to go straight home when she left the hospital. As soon as we hung up, I updated Nate and called Carson.
"Carson, it's Ian."
