Mine Again: A Second Chance At Love

2. Mike-3

The summer heat wouldn’t let up. Even with the industrial fans and garage air conditioners, the shop acted more like a furnace than a work place. The Honda had proven to have more than just a quick fix. The alternator had blown and the AC was completely out.

Tony had called the owner to get her okay on getting the repairs underway. I wanted to call, to see if that voice would strum a memory for me, but I forced myself not to. I had to forget her. I had to remember why staying away was best for her. The sort of life I found after getting out of juvie for beating that prick of a stepbrother of hers didn’t include her. It was too rough, too hard for a soft girl like Lauri. If the Honda belonged to her, I didn’t want to know.

The plan was to fix the car and hide myself in the back office until it was picked up. No need to put eyes on something I couldn’t have. In case it was her.

“Mike!” Tony called from the doorway of the office. I tightened the last bolt and stood up, shooting him a glare first. I hated being beckoned like some f*****g dog. I owned the f*****g place. Tony wised up. “Sorry,” he mumbled, and walked over to me. “The Honda ready? She’s here.”

Somewhere in the pit of my stomach a sour twisting started. My eyes instinctively went to the large window, searching her out. If I had thought myself prepared, I had been a f*****g i***t.

She was older. Not just in years, but in looks. The stringy blonde hair I remembered always being pulled back in a ponytail hung around her shoulders with a gentle wave from the humidity. Still the same silvery blonde, but there was nothing stringy about the woman standing at my front desk. A backpack hung from one slender shoulder, accentuating her toned muscles. When she glanced my way, not seeing me yet, I could make out the subtle beauty that had captivated me so damn hard when we were in high school. Piercing blue eyes narrowed as she waited to hear back from Tony about her car. Her t-shirt had pinched tight around her chest from holding her bag, showing me exactly how much more woman she was now than the last time I saw her. Full breasts filled out her shirt. Had they always been so beautiful, or had the years of telling myself she was an innocent kid warped my memory of her?

“Mike!” Tony waved a hand in my face, breaking my stare. She still hadn’t seen me, but she was walking to the window, peering into the garage.

“Yeah. It’s done. Discount her. Parts only.” I shoved my way around him, heading to the sink to clean off the grease before shuffling into my office to hide.

“Mike?” A soft voice froze me as I took a step. “Mike.” A firmer voice now. Insistent. f**k.

I looked over my shoulder, just to verify what I already knew. Lauri stood in the doorway of my garage, holding the door and searching me with her eyes. When I turned around completely, I couldn’t help the smile that started to tug at my lips. f**k, she was gorgeous. Tears sprung to her eyes, and I shook my head. That’s why I needed to hide. She didn’t need my sort of complicated in her life.

“Lauri.” I forced a neutral tone, and made no move to close the gap between us. I didn’t need to, she walked into the garage, ignoring Shane calling her from the front desk to stay out of the restricted work space.

“You’re here.” She shook her head and grinned. “Of course you’re here. I see you. When did you get back to town?” Her standing in full view now, I could take in the curves of her hips, the tightness of her thighs. The yoga pants she wore hid nothing from me.

“A while ago. Your car is ready. Shane will check you out, and Tony will bring it around front for you. You should still get a full tune up, but you can bring it back another day for that. Or to another shop closer to home.” I turned back to the sink, needing to busy myself and get away from her before I wrapped her in my arms. The urge to touch her, to just feel her under my fingers became too much. I needed the distraction.

“Oh. Uh. Well, I’m only about a half a mile away. So I guess I could bring it back. Maybe next month.” I heard the waver in her voice and knew it for what it was—her shield. She wanted to get to the heart of it all; she wanted to ask me where the f**k I’d been for the past seven years. Why the hell I didn’t call her from juvie, or return any of her letters, but she wouldn’t. Not yet.

“Okay.” I nodded, not looking over at her. I knew what I would see. I would see disappointment, hurt, and I wasn’t ready for that yet. I needed to steel myself against her first. To remind myself it was for her benefit. “Like I said, Shane will get you all set up.” I yanked a paper towel from the holder and nodded toward the door she had just walked through.

“I heard you.” A little more heat in her words, maybe she was recovering quicker than I thought she would. “Mike. Where have you been all this time?”

“Around.” I looked over at Tony. “Can you get the Honda pulled up front? She’s in a hurry.”

“No, I’m not,” she countered, her eyes burned into me. “I’m free the rest of the afternoon.” Her chin went up an inch, and her shoulders rolled back, but she sucked in the left corner of her lower lip.

“Liar.” I tried not to grin and it damn near killed me.

“Well, I could be free,” she mumbled, casting her glance down.

“Lauri, you should go.”

“Mike, I’ve tried finding you for years.”

“Well, you found me. Now you should go.”

Her feet shifted uncomfortably, and that damn lip trembled. “I don’t understand. After you…when you went away, you just disappeared.” The engine of her car started, and we both ignored Tony as he pulled out of the garage.

“It was better that way. Now go, Lauri.” If she took another step toward me, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands at my sides. I knew I would pull her in for hug, and then I’d never f*****g let her go. And she needed to go. “Lauri, I never contacted you because I didn’t want to. I didn’t answer your f*****g letters because I didn’t want to. Don’t you get that?” I forced the harshness into my voice, ignoring how much the words grated against my conscience.

She blinked a few times. “You blame me for what happened.” I almost didn’t hear her; she spoke so softly. “It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t—”

“No. I told you how many times to stay clear of that f*****g asshole if he came home. Didn’t I? I said if you see him, wait in the house. Lock yourself in your room until I got there. But you didn’t. You stayed on the f*****g porch.” Everything I said was true, but I never once in all the years of my going in and out of the system did I blame her for what happened. She had been too innocent. Had given too much credit to the wrong people. “Your car’s out front. Forget the bill. Just go.”

Walking away from her at that moment had to be the right thing to do. I needed to put distance between us, even if I had just torn open wounds for her. It was best she knew what sort of man I had become since we’d last seen each other. I wasn’t that loving, caring little boy she loved. I didn’t need that s**t.

I heard the soft sob escape her as I walked by, but ignored it. I walked into my empty office and slammed the door. f**k. Once I was sure she had left the garage, I looked through the blinds of my office to check, I went out to let Tony know to write off the parts for her job.

I saw her pull out into the street, her wheels squealing as she took the turn too damn fast. A loud roar of an engine caught my attention, and I ran out into the front of the garage. She drove through the green light, but the engine I’d heard belonged to a Challenger, going too f*****g fast and not even trying to stop at the red light. I screamed out to Lauri to stop, but my words were lost in the sounds of metal crunching, a high-pitched scream from within her car. The Challenger plowed right into her passenger side, pushing her several feet into the intersection.

My lungs burned as I sprinted to her. Please let her be okay.