JAKE
The next morning at work, the fatigue was real. Normally that would have put me in a particularly foul mood, but today I felt surprisingly chipper. I was looking forward to seeing Gabi later, and I’d already called my usual mechanic after having her car towed to his shop earlier this morning to give him the heads-up that I needed him to put her vehicle at the top of the list. He’d assured me that he would and that he’d give me a call once he riddled out what the problem was.
The call came in at quarter after ten.
“Got a second?” Dover, my mechanic, asked. He had a thick, gravelly voice, the sort of voice a man earned from decades of cigarette smoking.
“Yep, give me the details.”
“Well,” Dover grated, “the car is a piece of shit, to put it to you simply. Your friend is lucky the engine didn’t blow on her when she was driving it. It’s a total rebuild. Five grand, minimum, not including any wiggle room for other potential problems we might run into when we start taking it apart. To be honest with you, I don’t want any of my guys getting under this thing. It’s a death trap.”
I rubbed my jaw. “Don’t bother. Scrap it for parts. Use it however you want. Just make sure you take all her personal items out of the vehicle and set them aside for me.”
“You sure you can make that call on her behalf? Maybe you should run it past her first?”
“Good thinking,” I said. “I’ll call you in an hour and let you know.”
“Sounds good. Terry! Leave that hunk of junk alone. We’re not working on it. Don’t look at me like that. I’m doing your dumbass a favor. Sorry, man,” he added to me. “One of my boys was about to start tinkering under the hood of that damn car and probably fry his eyebrows off. Hell, maybe I should let him. He’s an ugly bastard as it is.”
I laughed. “Thanks for your help, Dover.”
Dover hung up with a grunt.
As soon as the call ended, I looked up and saw Gabi stepping off the elevator. She looked good, as always. No, better than good. She looked downright breathtaking. Today she had on a pair of high-waisted royal blue pants with gold buttons up the front. She’d tucked a tight, scooped-neck white shirt into the pants and paired the ensemble with a pair of strappy white shoes. Her hair was pulled up and she wore her usual jewelry. Her lips were bright pink, and I could see her smile all the way from here as she said good morning to her coworkers. She carried two cups of coffee and wore a purse on her hip.
I left my office and met her at the bottom of the stairs.
She handed me one of the cups of coffee. “Your usual,” she said.
I hadn’t asked her to pick it up for me. “Thank you.”
She lifted her cup. “Thank you, you bought them.” She tried to sidestep me.
“Where are you going?”
She frowned. “Up to my new office? I was going to start getting organized.”
I shook my head. “Not today. I have plans for us.”
“Plans?”
“We’re going to play hooky from work.”
She blinked rapidly. “Who are you and what have you done with Jake Cassidy? Is he possessed by a cheerful ghost? Jake, blink twice if you’re in there and you can hear me.”
I laughed and waved her off. “I can hear you, woman. Come on, let’s take a drive. You’re going to like said plans, I promise.”
She followed hot on my heels, and we ended up down in my car. She sipped her coffee in the passenger seat as I drove and told me all about her luxurious morning. “Thank you for letting me sleep in. I didn’t get out of bed until eight o’clock, and then I made myself an omelette and had a long shower. It was just what I needed.”
Images of Gabi in the shower flashed in my mind. I could smell her coconut shampoo and imagined her massaging it into her scalp while water kissed her naked body and ran down her legs.
My pants felt suddenly tight, and I shifted in my seat. “I’m glad you made the most of your morning.”
“How are things with my car?”
“I told my mechanic to scrap it.”
She sat up straight. “What?! You can’t do that! That’s my car! I need it to commute! Who gave you the—”