Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 167257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 558(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 558(@300wpm)
I was currently helping Tuesday set up on the third floor after Hudson closed the shop early so we could prepare. The other mechanics—Kane, Jerry, and Norman—had all been given the day off and would return later for the party while the technicians remained on the clock to do all the grunt work. Pretty much whatever Tuesday and I deemed too heavy to lift.
The Kings were still here, though.
The four of them were downstairs in the workshop helping Rowdy with some custom work he was doing on the side to an old-school Caddy.
Despite all his possessive male rah-rah bullshit, Rowdy had kept every interaction between us professional, which was when he wasn’t avoiding me completely.
Fine with me.
“Did you grow up in Idlewild?” I asked Tuesday out of the blue.
I couldn’t take the silence anymore. My thoughts were never good company. I also felt guilty that I hadn’t tried to get to know her when we worked so closely together every day. After Sutton and Sienna betrayed me and then finding out my parents…
Ugh. Whatever.
I just wasn’t ready to dive headfirst into trusting anyone any time soon.
Even Ruen had taken to trolling me online when she realized I was ducking her.
I thought being a receptionist would be easy, but I was starting to question how Tuesday had done it on her own for so long. The hours were long, the customers were horrible, and our bosses were demanding. At least the pay was good. The Kings had been surprisingly generous with my salary considering I had zero work experience. My parents had wanted me to focus on school and had promised to cover my expenses while at college despite my father’s medical bills piling up.
Tuesday paused in the middle of shelving a bottle of rum in the bar at the far end of the room and looked over at me. “No, actually. I moved here four years ago from Oklahoma. I needed a change, and Idlewild was just one of many stops on my way to nowhere.”
Kind of like me. “What made you stay?”
Tuesday grimaced as she struggled to crack open a case of wine with a crowbar. Once she had it open, she wiped the sweat from her brow before looking at me. “Honestly? This place. It’s more than just a job. It’s home. We’re kind of like family if you can get used to…Rowdy.” I snorted at that since I didn’t believe it was possible. At least for me. “I was around before the shop became what it is now. When the Kings were just four mechanics taking any job they could get. I’ve had the chance to be a part of its growth, and that’s not easy to walk away from. Plus, the benefits are great.” She began removing the bottles of wine from the case.
I laughed and finished blowing up the black and silver confetti balloons with the helium tank, then moved over to help her. “You can find great benefits anywhere, T.”
“Not like these. Remember that change I mentioned?” Sobering, I nodded, peeping the haunted look in her eyes. I knew whatever she was about to tell me couldn’t be good. Tuesday looked like her mind was a million miles away as she stared at nothing. “It was actually my ex I needed to get away from.”
My voice was quiet—somber—when I asked, “Why?”
Tuesday inhaled deeply, and I wished I could snatch the question back if only to erase the pain in her eyes. “After I lost our baby…after he beat me so badly I miscarried for the third time in a year, I just couldn’t…I couldn’t stay anymore.” Tuesday chuckled bitterly. “The first two weren’t so bad, I guess. Can’t say the same for the last one.” She glanced at me. “I was in my third trimester.”
Oh.
“I’m sorry.” In the wake of all she had revealed, those two words seemed so inadequate but were all I could think to say.
Tuesday shrugged like it was no big deal when I could see her in sad blue eyes that it still was. “Anyway, Rex tracked me down six months later and showed up while I was working one Saturday to drag me back home.”
“What happened?”
There was an evil smirk on her face now as she accepted the bottle of wine I handed her. “Nothing. I told him I didn’t love him anymore. He accepted that it was over and returned to Oklahoma.”
I paused, and not just because Tuesday had produced a corkscrew from some hidden place, popped the top on the bottle of wine, and chugged about a fifth of it in one go. I wasn’t an expert on abusive relationships and the victims who survived them, but I smelled a big fat lie.
When she burped and passed it back to me, I hesitated since I was underage and technically still at work before taking it and doing the same—sans burp.