Page 17 of Seasons of Love
"I took responsibility for the break in our relationship. The betrayal, the cheating, that was all on you." I hung up the call, bracing myself on the workbench.
I stared at the phone, willing it to stay silent because if it rang again, I'd need to go to the general store to buy a new one after I destroyed this one.
Maybe Mike knew it was best to stay away, or maybe having the truth slapped down the phone worked because there was no second call.
"Hey, Slade. Is this a good time? Am I too early?" Aiden asked, coming in from the street.
His smile was enough to change my mood and banish my ex so far out of my mind, I couldn't even remember why I was holding the phone in my hand.
"Perfect timing."
"I brought you a coffee and a cookie from Spilled Beans. Figured it was the least I could do. Indy said this is how you take your coffee. Milk, no sugar."
"He's a good kid," I said, taking the coffee and cookie from Aiden. "Thank you for these. I skipped lunch."
"He's not a kid."
"Who?"
"Indy. We're the same age, and I'm definitely not a kid."
I gazed into his eyes—he’d worn his glasses again— and even from a distance I saw the challenge.
"No," I said, taking a sip of the coffee. "You're not."
"Now we've established that, how do I look?"
I spat out the coffee. Fortunately, not in his direction.
"Why do I feel that it's going to be dangerous having you around?"
He shrugged, looking down at his clothes and back to me.
The black T-shirt he had on was probably new, but his jeans…fuck me, they looked soft as butter and fit him like a glove.
"I've had these jeans since college, so I don't mind if they get ruined. And I figured I’d go for black in case I got any oil on my shirt. I hear that happens a lot here."
I'd have spat out more coffee, but after his last comment, I'd put the coffee down on the bench.
"Those are good, and we'll see how funny you are when you start getting your hands dirty. Follow me."
He chuckled but followed. The size of the garage made it easier to claim a space to work on the bike exclusively. If we were going to do this; I wanted to do it right.
"You see the tape on the floor and the wall?"
Aiden nodded.
"This means nothing that belongs to a car or another bike will ever enter this space. I know it sounds a bit much, but trust me, when you have over one hundred parts laid out on the bench or on the floor, you don't want to be guessing where they came from."
"That makes a lot of sense."
I grabbed my digital camera and handed him a notepad.
"We're going to photograph the bike, so we know exactly the state it was in originally. Everything we do will be photographed."
"Okay, what's my job, boss?"
I didn't mind when Liam called me boss, but coming from Aiden's lips it sounded wrong, unfitting.
