“Can you pop the trunk for me?” He walked to the back of her white sedan without waiting for her to answer.
She slid into the driver’s seat and opened the trunk. Exhaustion reared its head again, and she wanted to close her eyes and sleep until she didn’t hurt anymore. How long would that take?Forever?Her earlier optimism faltered in the face of his anger. Would she ever be able to win Frederick back?Not a chance.She wished she had a doughnut left to choke on.
“Got it.” His voice was muffled, his head still buried in her trunk. Then he straightened with the spare tire, his face set into hard, unyielding lines. “Do you know where the jack is?”
“Uh,” she responded eloquently. His lips didn’t so much as twitch at her utter cluelessness, and she curled into herself even more.
“I should have one in my car.” He strode over to the black SUV parked behind her sedan and pulled out the tools he needed. When he came back, he stood looking down at her, his head cocked to the side.
“Oh.” She scrambled out of the driver’s seat, belatedly realizing he couldn’t change the tire with her sitting in the car. “Sorry.”
Without answering, he knelt on the ground and efficiently jacked up her car. Anne hovered nearby, mesmerized by the play of muscles on his back. She wanted to kneel behind him and wrap her arms around his waist. She wanted to hold him tight and tell him,I’m sorry I hurt you. The apology bubbled up her throat, but she swallowed it back down. The words sounded hopelessly inadequate, especially after ten years.
“You don’t need to stand here,” he said gruffly. She hopped back a step when he glanced up at her. “You can go wait in my car.”
“I don’t m—” She bit off her knee-jerk response. She would feel bad sitting around in his car while he worked, but he probably preferred to not have her breathing down his neck. “Okay.”
“This shouldn’t take too long.” He turned back to the tire. “I should be done in twenty minutes.”
“Please take your time. Don’t worry about me.” She thought she heard him grumbleyeah rightunder his breath. What did that mean? Did he worry about her? She remembered how he’d appeared at her side when she cut her hand, his body curved around her. But he had just been being kind, right?Yeah.She must’ve misheard.
Chewing her lip, she climbed into the passenger seat of his SUV. She pretended to check her phone, but her eyes kept straying toward Frederick. Maybe she should’ve stayed with him. She could’ve used her cell phone flashlight to give him some extra light. The streetlamps were a bit dim. Not that it seemed toaffect him. He was so sure-handed she wouldn’t be surprised if he could change the tire in the dark.
It used to annoy her a little that he seemed to be good at everything. He approached every challenge with such confidence, and the results never disappointed. She envied him because he seemed to glide through life with ease when she always felt uncertain, second-guessing her every decision. But she mostly admired him for it. And she loved how some of his confidence rubbed off on her when she was with him. She became braver and more self-assured with him by her side.
The bitter irony of it all was that she never would’ve had the confidence to audition for the K-drama role if it hadn’t been for Frederick. She didn’t think she would actually get the role, but she knew she wouldn’t make a fool out of herself as long as she tried her best. If Frederick believed in her, so would she.
Frederick and Auntie Sharon had been the only ones who knew she was minoring in theater. Her father and Juliette would’ve laughed their heads off if they’d known. They would’ve found it inconceivable that anyone would want to put Anne out front, in any capacity. To her family, her only worth was for cleaning up after them, both literally and figuratively.
Anne’s brows drew into a frown. How had she grown so complacent with her role in her family? They took her sacrifice for granted, accepting it as their due. Her father never thanked her for saving him from financial ruin. And he never acknowledged her success as an actress, even though he had no compunction about taking the money she’d earned through it. Now that she’d paid off the mortgage for her childhood home, he’d settled back into dismissing her completely. Yet she never once complained about the unfairness of it all. Was she truly okay with that?
She had inherited her mom’s level head and caring nature, so it made sense for her to take care of their family when she passed away. While her father had loved his wife in his own way, henever understood Anne, so he expected her to stay quiet and out of sight. He and her older sister, and even sometimes Tessa, didn’t want to be reminded that Anne needed taking care of, too—that they should take care of one another. Maybe it was time she reminded them.
Anne huffed an impatient sigh. That was neither here nor there. Besides, what was the point of dredging all that up? Her family would never change. She glanced out the windshield and yelped when she saw Frederick getting to his feet, dusting off his hands. She must’ve been lost in her thoughts for longer than she’d realized. She scrambled out of his SUV just as he made his way back to it.
“You’re all set for tonight.” He walked past her to open his trunk. She couldn’t be sure, but he seemed less angry, the lines of his back less tense. He put his tools away and came to stand in front of her, a respectable distance apart. Very respectable. Like Victorian-era respectable. “But you need to get that tire replaced as soon as you can. You shouldn’t drive with a spare for very long.”
“I’ll be sure to get it changed tomorrow.” She offered him a small smile. “Thank you for coming to my rescue.”
He scratched his cheek, leaving a smudge of oil across it. Her hand twitched by her side, wanting to reach out and wipe it off.
“It’s kind of in my job description.” He seemed to catch himself when his lips tried to spread into a grin. “Why were you—”
“I guess—” She clamped her mouth shut to stop talking over him, but he’d stopped, too. “What were you saying?”
“It’s nothing. Well, actually…” Two faint lines appeared between his brows. “Why were you gobbling down doughnuts fast enough to choke?”
“I wasn’t gobbling them down,” she mumbled, her cheeks growing warm. “You just startled me.”
He eyed her with a healthy dose of skepticism. “You must’ve stuffed a whole doughnut in your mouth to choke like that.”
“I was hungry.” She hugged her arms around her midriff, fidgeting with renewed embarrassment. “I didn’t eat very much dinner.”
“You didn’t have dinner?” He took a step closer, making her eyes widen. “Why?”
“Because Joe called Coraline just as we started eating.” She waved her hand in the air. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Everything is fine.”
Frederick drew in a quick breath and opened his mouth, then abruptly pressed his lips together. His throat worked as though he were swallowing the words at the tip of his tongue.
