She spun around at her name and recognized the man in a blue shirt with grease on his hands. Giving a little wave, she hurried the trash to the bin and wiped the sticky coffee off of her palm.
“It’s you? You’re the one she’s…” Nick muttered.
“Soul, right?” Daryl bellowed.
Her cheeks blushed as if her Kia Soul breaking down was all her fault. Maybe it was. When did she last change the oil?
Nick was kind enough to slip away, leaving them alone to talk. He busied himself behind the counter moving the mugs around as Emma waited for the news.
“I hope your smile means it’s fixed?” she asked.
“Fraid not. Been backed up to the moon lately. Thanks to Kenny going and having a baby. Just got around to checking your vehicle out and thought you’d want to know. Nice of Nick to let you stay.” He raised his voice for the last sentence and waved to the man.
In a craggy groan, Nick grumbled, “I’m a real sweetheart.”
The mechanic chuckled while Emma checked her bank account. “What’s the damage?” she asked, staring at far too few numbers to cover a big problem.
“It’s the catalytic converter. Went kablooey from the engine heat, and that took out some pistons and connecting rods.”
Emma winced. Whatever that was sounded really bad. “How much will it cost to repair?” Regret bubbled in her for not demanding back the rent money she’d already paid. But the idea of confronting her roommates after they’d kicked her out made her legs wobble. Even though she needed it, Emma couldn’t have asked.
“Dunno,” he said, scratching his chin. “Gonna have to send away for the parts. Don’t see many Kias around here.”
“They’ll get here in…a day?”
“Anything’s possible. I’ll call in tomorrow. Part shop’s closed by now. Hope you got somewhere warm to bunker down.”
She didn’t. Her sister’s place was two states away, and the way Emma’s life was going, she feared if she left her car she’d never get it back. The pain must have shown on her face as Daryl reached over and patted her shoulder.
“Sorry, Miss. Everyone’s making their holiday trips, so by the law of chaos, everything’s breaking. Wish I could tell you better.”
“Thank you…for looking at it. And coming to tell me.”
“I wouldn’t be against a coffee to go. Nick, you prickly pear, what you got on tap?”
Emma flicked through her phone, trying to will an answer to appear. Her finger shook around the screen and a picture of her in her chef’s whites opened. Closing her eyes, she dropped her phone into her pocket and stared upward.
What am I going to do?
DARYL? REALLY?HE was expecting some ex-college football player or high-powered lawyer to waltz in and sweep her off her feet. Not the mechanic with the kind of face some would unfavorably compare to a pug.
Nick fiddled with the espresso machine, pressing buttons to run water through in an attempt to not eavesdrop on their harried conversation. It was a terrible cover, causing him to only get the occasional word and phrase drilled into his ears. Emma looked unhappy, her tiny body curled in tight as her head kept drifting lower and lower. Did she just find out that her coffee shop hunk had a wife? Daryl reached a hand out toward her and Nick glared at the movement. He perched on the tips of his toes, leaning to the side to watch the mechanic land his palm on Emma’s…
“What are you doing?”
Nick leaped into the air, smacking his knuckles on the hot machine. “Jesus…!” The curse words were bit down along with the pain. But he focused all his ire on Skylar, who watched the two afternoon lovers without a care.
“I found that mess you made and didn’t clean up,” Nick said. He picked a mug off of the top and queued up a tea pour. Not that he wanted it, but his hands had to do something.
Skylar shrugged. “You told me I wasn’t supposed to be late anymore.”
“Uh-huh.” He couldn’t decide if it was patronizing that she didn’t think he knew she caused that racket, so he wouldn’t stop her from going to class with her belly out. Or she wanted him to catch her so he would miss some other scheme she had brewing. Nick didn’t remember signing up to house a super-villain all those years ago.
“Who is she, anyway?”
He shrugged, not having gotten her life story during the horde rampage. “Some girl in town.”
“Some girl you can’t stop staring at.”
