Danny had just finished reinstalling the drain plug on the Cadillac’s transmission when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and he slid the creeper out from under the car, wiping his hand down the side of his coveralls before he pulled it out.
His pulse quickened when he saw her name next to the notification, and he eagerly opened the text.
I’ll be at The Rabbit Hole tonight. You should come out if you’re not busy.
He stared at her message for a moment before he cleared the screen and slid the phone back in his pocket.
And then he rested his head back on the creeper, throwing his forearm over his eyes.
He wasn’t going to go, of course. That would be a horrible idea.
But God, it was so f*cking tempting.
She had been so forgiving of the rude way he’d gotten off the phone the last time they had spoken. The second he’d hung up on her that night, he felt like kicking himself. It was such a stupid move; he should have just made something up, some insignificant answer to her question, and it would have been fine. But she had caught him off guard, and instead he panicked and acted like a complete dick.
Again.
And yet the next morning, she sent him a text. Five simple words, but it made his chest feel like hundreds of little bubbles were popping inside.
Have a good day today.
He spent the rest of the day thinking about her, and that night he’d broken his rule and initiated contact with her, sending her a quick text.
Hope you successfully fended off the zombies today. Good night.
She had responded with an LOL and a smiley face, and Danny ended up leaving his phone in the kitchen for the remainder of the night so he wouldn’t be tempted to contact her again.
The following day, just before lunch, he’d gotten another text from her.
Hope your day is going well. No cursing at cars today. SWEAR JAR!
He had laughed out lout at that, drawing confused looks from the customers sitting in the waiting area. And that night he’d ignored his self-imposed rule again, sending her a message that wished her a good night and reminded her to turn on her night-light.
They’d been going back and forth like that for the past four days, and he’d managed to convince himself that it was acceptable because it was only texting. It wasn’t like they were talking on the phone, or meeting up, or hooking up.
He was still completely fine.
Danny dropped his forearm from his eyes and stared up at the high ceiling of the garage. In his moments of clarity, however, he realized how stupid it was to be doing this with her. Because every text only reinforced how much he liked her. She was sarcastic and quick-witted, but also incredibly sweet and considerate. Not to mention forgiving. On more than one occasion, she seemed to completely overlook the fact that he had f*cked up.
And sometimes, for a split second, it made him think that maybe she might forgive him his biggest one; that there was a chance she wouldn’t run from him if she knew the truth.
But that line of thinking was idiotic, not to mention dangerous. He shouldn’t be entertaining that remote possibility. He shouldn’t even be focusing on the things he liked about her; he wasn’t doing himself any favors in that regard.
And he absolutely, one hundred percent, should not be looking for excuses to see her again.
Yet even as that thought crossed his mind, he was running through potential reasons to make an appearance at The Rabbit Hole. Technically, he wouldn’t be breaking any of his rules if he went; she was the one who asked him to go, and he had already determined that if she were to initiate contact, he would follow through.
As if that made him any less culpable.
No. F*ck it. You’re not going.
“What’s going on over there, deep thinker?”
Danny turned his head to see Jake leaning against the bumper of a car, elbow deep in a bag of Lay’s.
“What? Nothing,” he said as he sat up and ran his hand through his hair.
“Not nothing,” Jake said around a mouthful of chips. “Who was that text from?”
Danny made a face as he stood up and popped the hood of the Cadillac. “What are you, a f*cking detective?”
“Was it a chick?” he asked, completely unfazed.
“Go change the spark plugs on the Pontiac out back.”
“Did it already,” he said, shoving another handful of chips in his mouth. “So what’d this girl say to make you so goddamn pissy?”
Danny ignored him, taking off the transmission’s filler cap.
“Did she say your dick was small?”
He laughed before he could stop himself. “You wish, a*shole.”
“Well, then what the hell did she say?” he asked, balling up the empty bag and making a jump shot for the trash can across the garage, missing by several feet.
“Nothing. She asked me to meet her at The Rabbit Hole,” he said, grabbing the bottle of transmission fluid and pouring it through the opening of the funnel.
“Nice,” Jake said with a nod, handing Danny a rag. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “Are you gonna go?”
“No.”
“Why the f*ck not?”
Danny exhaled heavily as he tossed the empty bottle behind him and grabbed the next one, uncapping it. “You know why not.”
“No, I don’t,” Jake said deliberately. “You already know what my opinion of the whole thing is.”
Danny poured the second bottle into the transmission, saying nothing.
“I told you, you should be having as much fun as you can right now. Do whatever you gotta do. Go f*ck that girl six ways from Sunday.”
Danny laughed, trying to keep his hand steady as he glanced up. “I hope you have a daughter one day.”
Jake’s face dropped. “Dude, f*ck you, that’s not even funny.”
“Go clean that up,” he said, motioning to the crumpled bag of chips on the floor, “and then change the brake pads on the blue Mustang.”
“On it,” Jake said with a salute before he crossed to the other side of the garage, and Danny watched him go, shaking his head as he tossed the empty bottle into the trash and put the filler cap back on.
It wasn’t the first time Jake had given him that piece of advice, but in this case, there was one glaring problem.
He didn’t want to f*ck her six ways from Sunday.
Well, he did, but that wasn’t all he wanted. Because the day they had lunch together, he didn’t want the meal to end, and that night on the phone, he could have talked to her for hours.
With her it would be more than just a fling, more than some hookup he used to entertain himself while he still could.
“Yo,” Tommy said, coming in from the reception area. “Jake said we’re hittin’ up The Rabbit Hole tonight?”
Danny closed his eyes and dropped his head.
“Did he now?” F*cking douche.
“I just texted Damon. He’s on tonight, so we should definitely go.”
Danny took a deep breath before he opened his eyes and looked up. “Alright. I’m in,” he said, vowing to make Jake wash the shop floor every night for the next year.