Chapter 34: Already Taken

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Already Taken

After dinner, I made sure Nicole went to bed early.

She’d started feeling better and wanted to stay up a little longer, but I wasn’t taking any chances. She was still recovering, and after spending most of the day sick, she needed the rest more than she needed another late-night conversation. She wasn’t exactly happy about going to bed early, and she even gave me a pout before finally giving in.

Once she was settled in bed, I cleaned up the kitchen before heading to one of the guest rooms for the night.

I woke up earlier than I expected the next morning. After taking a bath in the guest room, I put on the same clothes I’d worn the day before since I hadn’t brought anything with me.

I didn’t bother checking if Nicole was awake. If anything, I was hoping she wasn’t. After spending most of the previous day sick, she could use the extra sleep.

With that in mind, I headed downstairs and started putting breakfast together in the kitchen; nothing complicated, just eggs, toast, and tea. It was enough to get something in her stomach without making her deal with anything too heavy first thing in the morning.

I was almost done with the eggs, and I figured I’d wake Nicole once I finished plating everything.

I turned around to grab a plate—

Nicole was already there.

She stood on the other side of the kitchen island with her elbows resting on the counter, watching me with bright eyes and a small smile on her face.

"Good morning," she finally said.

I stared at her for a second. "How long have you been standing there?"

"You don’t wanna know."

I smiled and shook my head. "Go sit down."

Nicole did as I told her, taking a seat at the dining table while I finished plating her breakfast. I carried everything over and set it in front of her, including the cup of tea.

"Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

I went back to the kitchen, plated my own breakfast, and joined her at the table, taking the seat across from her.

I picked up one of the pieces of toast and brought it toward my mouth.

Nicole was staring at me. Not the food. Me.

She had this quiet, happy look on her face that made it pretty obvious she’d forgotten what she’d come downstairs for in the first place.

I slowly lowered the toast and gave her a flat look.

She blinked. "Oh." Then finally looked down at her breakfast and started eating.

I chewed the bite of toast in my mouth, swallowed, and reached for my tea.

"I’ll be heading to the auto shop after breakfast. I have a shift this morning."

Nicole immediately opened her mouth.

"And no, you can’t tag along," I added.

She closed it, her lips pushing into a small pout.

"It’s not going to work this time," I said. "You’re still sick, and you need to rest."

She looked back down at her breakfast and took another bite, the small pout still on her face. She chewed and swallowed before looking up at me again.

"Are you..." She hesitated for a second. "Going to come back?"

I looked up at her.

"To check up on me," she added. "Since I’m still sick and all."

I smirked. "I still have to finish reviewing that material from last night."

The pout disappeared almost instantly, replaced by a bright smile she didn’t even try to hide.

She took another bite of her breakfast, chewing slowly before swallowing. "You can take my car."

I paused and looked at her.

"Chloe took yours," she added.

"Don’t worry. I can take a taxi or an Uber."

Her pout immediately returned. "But there’s no reason for you to do that. I have cars sitting downstairs that aren’t going anywhere."

"I’m not showing up at an auto shop in a Bentley, Nicole."

"Then take the Mercedes."

I opened my mouth to respond, but she cut me off, her pout deepening as she spoke in a slightly whiny voice.

"I ate when you told me to. I took my medicine when you told me to. I even went to bed when you told me to. Twice."

I stared at her.

Her voice softened. "Can’t you just do this for me? Hm?" She paused for a moment before adding, "I’ll be good and take my medicine on time if you do."

I stared at her for a moment.

She was still pouting, looking completely serious about the offer.

"Fine." I finally said. "I’ll take the Mercedes."

She beamed, then looked back down at her breakfast and continued eating, clearly satisfied with my answer.

—

The drive to Tanaka Auto was quiet, and it didn’t take long before I pulled into the shop’s parking lot. I parked in my usual spot, grabbed my things, and headed inside.

I headed to the changing area, grabbed a pair of coveralls, and changed into them.

My phone buzzed as I slipped it into my pocket.

I pulled it out and checked the screen.

Chloe: I’m going to go check up on big sis.

I huffed a small laugh at the nickname ’big sis’ before typing back: Grab me two shirts, a pair of jeans, and underwear before you leave.

Her reply came almost immediately.

Chloe: kk

I slipped my phone back into my pocket and headed toward the main work area, spotting Jude and Diego already busy with their usual work. Jude was focused on an electrical issue at one of the lifts, while Diego was working on another car nearby.

A few steps later, I spotted Marcus standing beside a woman, the two of them looking over a BMW X5.

I walked over and stopped beside him.

"What’s up?"

Marcus looked at me, and his expression immediately changed. "Finally."

He gestured toward the BMW X5. "This thing came in with a weird electrical issue. It’s been acting up randomly, and we haven’t been able to pin down exactly what’s causing it."

The woman standing beside him looked me over for a moment before turning toward Marcus. "Who’s he?"

"Oh." Marcus glanced at me. "He works here. Actually one of the best we’ve got."

Her eyes returned to me. There was something about the way she looked at me that made it pretty obvious she was interested.

I chose not to read into it.

I looked at Marcus. "Have you asked Jude to check it out?"

"Already did," Marcus said. "He said the battery and charging system are fine. The starter’s the problem."

I looked over at the BMW again. "So the starter’s binding?"

Marcus nodded toward the X5. "It happens every few starts. I wanted to get that sorted before Jude starts chasing the electrical side of it."

I nodded. "Got it."

Marcus stepped away from the BMW, leaving me standing beside the woman.

"You can leave your number at the office," I told her. "We’ll give you a call once we’re done."

She nodded and finally started walking toward Tanaka’s office.

A moment later, Marcus returned with two pairs of work gloves. He handed one to me before pulling the other pair on himself.

"Let’s get started."

I slipped the gloves on and turned my attention back to the X5.

—

We got to work immediately, starting with the starter. It took longer than I’d hoped, mostly because the problem wasn’t as obvious as it sounded. The starter would bind intermittently, so we had to test it several times before we were confident we’d found the actual issue.

By the time we had the starter sorted out, almost three hours had passed.

Jude took over from there, running through the electrical side of things while Diego gave him a hand. They checked the wiring and connections around the starting system, and after a few more tests, everything was finally working the way it should.

Marcus called the owner to let her know the car was ready for pickup, then we moved on to the next job.

The rest of the afternoon passed pretty quickly. We worked through another couple of cars, dealing with the usual mix of maintenance and repairs. Nothing particularly complicated came through, but there was always something that needed to be checked, adjusted, or replaced.

By the time we got to the last car of the day, we ran into a problem that wasn’t going to be solved before closing.

We’d narrowed down the issue, but the part we needed wasn’t something we had sitting around the shop.

Marcus checked the time on his phone.

5:47 PM.

"That’s enough for today," he said. "We’ll finish it tomorrow."

I nodded and started putting my tools away.

A few minutes later, I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"I’m back. Where is it?"

I glanced over my shoulder. The woman from earlier had returned and was standing near the entrance, her eyes already scanning the shop.

Marcus pointed toward the BMW. "Right there. You can make the payment at the office. Your keys are waiting for you there."

She nodded, but before walking toward the office, she glanced at me one more time.

I noticed it and pretended I didn’t, turning away and heading toward the changing area to get out of my coveralls.

After washing up and changing back into the clothes I’d worn the day before, I grabbed my things and headed toward the exit, already thinking about getting back to finishing the rest of those materials from last night, because why else would I be rushing to get back?

I was almost out of the shop when I heard her voice behind me.

"Nathan, right?"

I stopped and turned around.

The woman from earlier was standing a few steps away, one hand resting casually against the strap of her bag.

"Hi. I’m Devon."

I gave her a brief look.

"I got your name from your boss," she added.

"Figured."

There was a short pause.

"Need something?" I asked. "I’m about to head out."

"Mhm." She smiled slightly. "Need a ride? I can drop you off if you—"

"I drove," I cut in, pulling my keys from my pocket and holding them up.

Another pause.

She opened her mouth, probably ready to say something else.

"I have a girlfriend," I added. "We’ll be getting married soon, actually."

Her mouth stayed open for a second. Then she slowly closed it.

"...Oh."

I gave her a small nod. "Yeah. Nice meeting you, Devon."

I turned around and walked away before she could say anything else.

I got into my car, let out a breath, started the engine, and drove home.