He said it determinedly, as if he were commanding the universe to give him what he wanted instead of merely hoping for it.
Luckily my car was still there, sitting right where I’d left it on the side of the road. I doubted it would get towed sitting overnight, but after the night I had, I wasn’t going to assume the best of anything.
Manson pulled into the dirt beside it and parked. “Well, Jess, I can’t say it’s been fun, but it’s been…something.”
We looked at each other. He readjusted himself in his seat multiple times, as if he couldn’t figure out a comfortable position, before he said, “I guess this could be the last time we see each other, so…have a great life and stay the hell out of my garage.”
The last time.Oh, I didnotlike how that sounded. Not one bit.
“Yeah.” I nodded, my hand hovering on the door handle. “Okay, um…bye.”
God, I could gag from how awkward I felt. That was aterriblegoodbye, that was…Shit, it didn’t matter. I couldn’t let it matter.
I hurriedly hopped out of the Bronco, digging for my keys in my bag and unlocking my car, trying all the while not to look back at him. The weather had grown disgustingly muggy, and getting into the car felt like crawling inside a hot tin can. I turned on the engine, frowning as it sputtered. I turned the AC on full blast and leaned my head back as I waited for the cool air to fill the cabin.
But as I sat there, my eyes wandered. Manson hadn’t left yet. In fact, he was staring at me, his hand slightly raised as if to get my attention.
I rolled down my window.
“What’s wrong with your car?” he said. He sounded as if the answer had already exasperated him and he hadn’t even heard it yet.
“Nothing,” I said. It was a little louder than usual, but that was normal. Maybe. It had sounded like this for months, so whatever it was probably wasn’t serious.
He sighed so hard I could hear it even over the noise. “Your engine is fucked up.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not, it’s totally —”
The check engine light popped on. The rattling under the hood increased in volume, with a persistent knocking sound that only grew worse as I let the car idle. It sounded like someone was banging a hammer repeatedly against a steel pipe.
Manson was watching me with his mouth pressed into a thin line.
“Okay, that’s not good,” I said as the RPMs began to randomly fluctuate without my foot touching the gas. The knocking soundbecame alarmingly loud. “All right, let’s —”
There was a loud bang and the engine abruptly shut off. All the lights on my dash popped on and I was left staring in shock as I tried to figure out what had happened. I opened my door, the fumes of burned oil making me cough as Manson shoved open his door and got out.
“God, I do not need this today.” I groaned, staring at the stream of smoke trickling from beneath my hood. Without a word, Manson popped the hood and lifted it, taking a look around before he suddenly dropped to his knees and looked underneath the car.
When he got to his feet, he was shaking his head as if the underside of the car had personally insulted him. He held up a ragged chunk of something covered in oil, looking at me as if I should have known what it was.
I didn’t.
“Is that…bad?” I said.
His mouth twitched. “This is part of your engine block, Jess. Trust me, it’s bad.”
18
Jason
I’d decided to work on the couch for the day, my pajama-clad legs propped up on the coffee table as I stared at endless lines of code that blurred in front of my tired eyeballs. Haribo was squished against my side, snorting in his sleep, but he jerked awake when my phone rang.
It was Manson.
“What’s up?” I put the call on speakerphone and set it on the armrest beside me. Usually I took the weekends off, but after last night, I had way too much restless energy and needed to put it into something substantial. Doing any work on the car was useless until we heard back from insurance, so getting this client’s website work finished up was my goal for the day.
“Jess’s car broke down,” he said. His voice was low, and I could hear the tension in it. “Her fucking engine blew the minute she turned the damn thing on.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I do love to see karma at work. You leave her there to figure it out?”