I hear the crunch of gravel on the side of the road and I think it must be the tow truck driver, but when I open my eyes, I see a big black truck. The driver steps out, and I’m swallowing my tongue. He’s tall, even from me sitting on the ground I can tell he’s well over six foot, and his skin is tan, a lot tanner than most of the men that come into the diner. He has a baseball cap on, wisps of his hair is peeking out from under it. I can see that it’s dark chocolate in color and a pair of sunglasses he’s taking off and placing them in the collar of his shirt. The color of his eyes are a deep green, bordering on the hazel color.
“You need help?” he asks. I’m up and off my place in the grass, walking towards him. I should be hesitant. I’ve seen him around town here and there. He’ll be around town for a month or two, and then he’s gone only to reappear.
“Thank you. I’m just waiting on a tow,” I tell him as I make my way closer to the car.
“Mind if I take a look? See if I can get you moving before you pay for a tow?” He’s asking but his head is already under the hood of my car.
“Well um, I guess so,” I say with a chuckle.
“Shouldn’t take me long to figure out the problem. I’m Liam, by the way.” He sticks his hand out, and I allow him to envelop mine. His hands are calloused, almost like he works with his hands a lot.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Everly. Thank you for taking a look at my car. I have a feeling it may be toast though,” I shrug my shoulders, as I watch him go back under the hood, and wiggle this and that, moving around the hoses.
“Jackpot! It looks like you’ve got a warped head gasket. It shouldn’t take a whole lot to fix, but you’ll definitely need that tow, a mechanic, and some parts, too,” he says over his shoulder as he walks back to his truck. I think he’s leaving, but in reality he was grabbing a rag to wipe his hands off.
“Shit, that sounds like more money than I have,” I mumble as I bring my fingers to my forehead, massaging my temples. I’m calculating what all this is going to cost when Liam offers to help me out.
“I can do the work, if you don’t mind getting it towed to my place. I’m home for another month, and I’m just working around my place.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” I’m blown away, Liam’s practically a stranger yet here he is offering to work on my car.
“Why is that?” he questions.
“Well, I’d hate to feel like I’m taking advantage of you. Plus, you’re not home all that long, and, well, I don’t want to monopolize all of your time with my janky car,” I say as I calculate the cost of this. I’m probably looking at close to a thousand dollars, and I may as well junk the car because that grand is something I don’t want to spend if I don’t have to.
“How about I work on your car, and if it takes too much of my time, I’ll let you know. Plus, we could do a tradeoff.”
“What kind of tradeoff could we possibly do? I mean I’m a waitress and a student.” I scoff at the idea.
“Dinner. You cook me dinner a few nights a week, we’ll call it even,” he puts his hand out to shake mine as if we’re sealing a deal.
“But, wait. I’m in a studio apartment with a small kitchen, this won’t work,” I grumble.
“That’s okay. Your car will be at my place. You can cook dinner for us while I’m working on your car,” he says firmly.
“Okay, well you drive a hard bargain, and as much as I was willing to just let this heap of junk be towed to the junk yard, I may need it when winter comes.” I’m not sure what I just signed up for. A part of me is apprehensive, but the other part of me is anxious to see if he can actually fix my car.
“You got a deal, Everly,” he says, my hand still engulfed in his. As I go to pull back my hand I find myself not wanting to.
Chapter Three
Liam
I waited with Everly while the tow truck hooked up her car to the flatbed and told him to bring it back to my place. It took some convincing, but I got Everly to ride with me back to my place, food and house supplies going on the back burner. When I pulled up and saw the golden-haired beauty sitting in the grass, as if she had not one single care in the world, even with her car blowing smoke, I had to stop. She had to be the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid my eyes on.