Page 52 of First-Time Caller
AIDEN:What’s the formal title for “I unknowingly participated in a catfish scheme that resulted in someone being roped into a radio dating show that is now sponsored by Mr. Tire”?
I smile so hard it hurts.
LUCIE:I told you. I like the Mr. Tire thing.
AIDEN:That makes one of us.
I laugh again and it slips into a yawn. I’ve done more social interaction in the past week than in my lifetime. My eyes are heavy but my chest feels warm, and I cozy down farther in my blankets, letting sleep tug at me. My phone buzzes in my hand.
AIDEN:Hope you’re having a good night, Lucie.
I grin at my phone, then type out my message.
LUCIE:You too, Aiden.
“I think you should take this one for a spin,” Harvey yells over the sound of the radio. It’s Dan’s turn to pick the music today, and he almost always chooses Celine Dion. He says he appreciates Canadian performers, but I have never once heard himappreciateDrake.
I wheel out from beneath the Range Rover I’m working on and frown at Harvey. He holds up theHeartstringsphone in silent explanation. “This Patrick fellow,” he says. “I think you should go out with him for your first date.”
I have no idea who Patrick is. I’ve gone back to ignoring the phone since the first message I saw this morning was a picture of someone’s chewed-up wad of gum. Just sitting there. On a dining room table. No caption. No message. Just the gum.
People continue to elude me.
“Why are you looking through my phone?”
“You left it on top of your station. I thought you’d like my opinion.”
“I don’t want your opinion.” I wheel back beneath the car. I lie there with my eyes shut and count to ten while the chorus of “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” plays in the background. I have somehow managed to surround myself with people who lack boundaries.
“He seems sincere,” Harvey continues. “Look at this. You guys even like the same kind of music!”
I ignore him.
“And he says he wants to take you out to Captain James. That place is fancy, Lu.”
That place is a crab shack constructed to look like a ship that’s run up on dry land. Maya threw up on the side of it when she was four years old and Grayson made jokes about her getting seasick for two years straight.
I wheel out from beneath the car again. “Put the phone down, Harvey.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not a bother for me.”
“I’m so glad it’s not a bother for you.” I hold out my hand. “Give me the phone.”
He slaps it into my hand with a frown. “You’re no fun.”
“I’m plenty of fun.” I tuck my phone in the front pocket of my coveralls and slide back beneath the car. The suspension on this thing is giving me hell. I inspect the wiring. Outside the car, Harvey clears his throat, his boots still in the place I left him. I sigh. “Did you need something else, Harv?”
“When is your first date?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Another pair of beat-up boots joins him. “Isn’t that the whole point?” adds Dan’s voice. “You’re supposed to be finding love. You can’t find love if you never actually go on a date.”
“I’ve only done a couple of shows.”
“Love waits for no one.”
Love has certainly been patient enough for me. Twenty-nine years and the closest I’ve come to romantic love is the way I feel about the armchair in the romance section at Patty’s. “Thank you very much for your insight, man who has been divorced three times.”
