Page 6 of Don’t Look Back

Arriving at work, I flinched when the bell over the door chimed. I heard that sound in my nightmares. I’d hoped to be able to slip in unnoticed, but that fucking thing gave me away.

Charlie poked her head out of the office. “You look like shit.”

“You know what they say: ‘Look how you feel, feel how you look.’”

With that comment, she fully emerged, gaze dropping to my bandaged hand. “I take it your night didn’t get any better.”

Instead of responding, I went straight to the garage and checked over the shelves of supplies. I knew exactly what we had and how much of it, but avoiding awkward conversation was my strong suit. Unfortunately for me, the squeak of the side door told me I wasn’t getting out of this one so easily. Feeling eyes on me, my attention darted to the door, where Charlie stood with arms crossed. “I should have stayed with you last night,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“Sawyer might have killed that guy. Then I would have killed him.”

“What happened to that kid?” At least she didn’t bring up Grace.

“I stayed to make sure he was okay. He was pretty drunk, so I took him home.”

“Is that what you were doing on the dark side so late at night?”

The “dark side” referred to the area that Ryan lived in. Most of the town had been updated with street lamps, but some of it was left unfinished. It left about a quarter of it in complete darkness after the sun set.

“Were you following me?”

“I hadn’t planned on it, but Dad called after I poured Sawyer into bed; the baby needed milk.”

That explained who had been behind me the night before. The only place open that late would have been in the next town over.

“Listen, Charlie…” I anxiously tossed a bottle of wiper fluid around in my hands. “I appreciate you looking out for me, but I really don’t want to talk about it anymore. I… need to figure out how to get past it.”

“Okay,” she surrendered. “But if you ever need⁠—”

“I know.”

With a tight-lipped smile, she disappeared inside, and I continued to find things to keep myself busy. The sun wasn’t even up yet and it was already boiling in the garages. As the afternoon grew on, the temperature continued to climb. The lack of air conditioning outside meant that Charlie was more than happy to handle paperwork while I distracted myself with the cars. I worked on auto pilot for the most part. It gave me a welcome distraction from the sea of thoughts rushing through my mind.

By the time I heard the squeak of the door again, I was elbow deep in grease. Fake gagging caught my attention, and Charlie was dramatically feigning suffocation from the heat. “Let me finish that,” she said once she collected herself. “Come inside, get some water. There’s someone out front for you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Despite Grace breaking my heart, I still hoped that it would be her. Stopping off in the bathroom to wash up, I grabbed a bottle of water and walked out the front door. The person waiting there wasn’t Grace but oddly enough, I wasn’t upset about it.

“And I thought I looked rough,” I said, taking a long drink from the bottle.

Ryan kicked off the wall and took a step toward me. Steri-strips held the cut on his forehead shut, and his brown eyes were framed by black and blue. But with the blood and dirt washed away, he didn’t look all that bad.

He held up a bundle of familiar material—my shirt. “I managed to get all the blood out.”

He tossed it my way, kicking up the floral scent of the detergent.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I told him. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

“I know, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. Besides, I needed a reason to come by again—to thank you for helping me last night. And for getting me home. I’ve never met a stranger so kind.”

“No need to thank me. My dad was always the one schlepping his friends around when they got too drunk. I guess I learned it from him.”

“I um… I got those wiper blades too, if you can still put them on for me.”

“Sure.”

Ryan grabbed the plastic package from the passenger’s seat of his car, then leaned against the wall again to watch me work. I snapped both blades into place with ease, then bent down to pick up the trash I’d tossed behind me.

“How are you doing after last night?” he asked, breaking the silence. “There… there were a lot of heightened emotions.”