Chapter Nine
Dylan
"You're here," Joey said. He put down an oily rag and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'm your partner, remember? This is my job. Where else would I be?" I went straight for the classic Bentley and tried to ignore Joey's suspicions.
"It's just you’re here early. You know it's eight o'clock in the morning, right?" Joey stood his ground and studied me.
I rolled my eyes. "Maybe I didn't go to bed last night. That happens."
"Not lately it doesn't. And that's a fresh-pressed shirt."
The two bodywork specialists we'd hired to help the dented Bentley tried to smother their smiles.
"Oh, you think this is funny? My work wife scolding me for being on time?" I glared at them, but it only made them burst out laughing.
Joey stepped up and poked me in the chest. "It's that girl, isn't it? What's her name? Betty?"
"Bethany," I snapped.
"See! I told you this girl had turned his head." Joey strutted around, victorious.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "What are you talking about, Joey? Since when does arriving at work early and in fresh clothes mean a girl's got my head all messed up?"
"Since none of us have seen you act like this. Ever." Joey waved me toward the office. "Come on, early bird, let me get you some coffee."
I shut the door behind us harder than I intended. "There's nothing wrong with me. What's with the lecture?" I asked Joey.
"Lecture? This is just coffee." Joey handed me a mug.
"You're not going to warn me how women can mess up our focus and that messes with our business?" I asked.
Joey shrugged. "Business is solid. All I want to know is when you're going out with her again."
I scowled. "We've only run into each other. I haven't asked her out yet."
"You mean that whole 'bail me out' line didn't work?" Joey laughed.
I continued to scowl and whipped a pen at my obnoxious partner. "What would you know about what works and what doesn't work?"
"Let me guess." Joey sipped his coffee and studied me. "She's really busy with work so suddenly you have an urge to get to work early and be the last one to leave. Am I right?"
I slumped into the desk chair. "She's got some big case going on. Didn't her friend tell you it's a career-maker? I can't distract her from that."
"But, in the meantime, she'll distract you from everything. Even Assistant District Attorneys need to eat."
I checked my watch. It was still early but I knew it was a safe bet that Bethany had already been at her office for hours. "Fine. Get out and maybe I'll call her."
Joey laughed as he opened the door. ""Maybe.' You're cute."
I threw the stapler, but my partner shut the door behind himself quickly. That left me in the quiet of the office. I finished off my coffee too fast, found Bethany's business card too quickly, and couldn't think of a single reason not to call her.
Why did I care if she said no? Sure, it'd been a while since a woman turned me down, but I had never hesitated before. If Bethany rejected me, I was sure I'd live. Still, I avoided my phone.
The only distraction available was the inventory report I had made Joey complete. I flipped through the pages and promised myself I would call Bethany when I reached the last page.
Then I saw it.
I got up and pushed open the office door. "Joey, what's the deal with the extra parts? Were you typing this up while you were watching football again?"
Joey waved away the discrepancies and hauled a gangly young man toward me. "Probably just a typo. I'll check it out later. First, I want you to meet Al. He's my sister's boy."
I shook Al's semi-sweaty hand. "What are you, eighteen years old?"
"And ready to work, sir," Al seemed nervous and wouldn't meet my eyes.
I slapped him on the back. "Don't worry, both Joey and I were younger than you when we started working on cars. We don't discriminate based on age. Only ability."
"Al's top-notch," Joey said. "I've been testing him out all week."
"How's he at proofreading?" I joked.
Al paled when I waved the packet of paperwork at his face. "I'm better with machines."
I smiled. "Aren't we all."
"All right. Enough chitchat. Al's got work to do and Dylan here has a phone call to make." Joey shooed his nephew away.
"He really doing a good job?" I asked Joey when Al was out of earshot. "I thought you didn't know much about him."
Joey shrugged. "As far as I can tell, he's a hard worker. He tells me my sister's hard up for money, and he's hellbent on helping."
"Good. Good motivation," I said.
Joey gave me a shove back toward the office. "Stop hovering. I've got it handled out here. Go call your girl."
I dragged my heels, checking over the inventory shelves as I slowly headed back to the office. "All right. Something's off with this report. We've only got four of those headlights instead of six."
Joey groaned. "Fine. I'll redo it. Just get out of my hair."
"Sure thing, baldy." I stepped into the office before Joey could land a punch on my arm.
Then I took a deep breath. I was being ridiculous. The last time I had hesitated to talk to a girl was way back in grade school.
"Her name was Bethany, too," I muttered to myself as I forced myself to sit down and face the telephone.
I dialed and was about to drop the call when Bethany answered, "Hello? Bethany Durham."
"I thought you had an assistant?" I asked.
There was a pause and then Bethany said, "I let him go to lunch."
"Speaking of lunch, any chance you're free? This is Dylan," I said.
"I know," Bethany said. "Wait, you're not in jail again, are you?"
I swallowed hard and then heard her laugh. "No, I'm sitting in my office studying an inventory report."
"I've got a big stack of police reports. Fun stuff," Bethany said.
"So, how about we ditch this work and go out for some sushi?" I asked.
Bethany gave a wistful sigh. "Sorry, but these really can't wait."
"Did you always want to be a district attorney?" I asked.
"Mostly." Bethany laughed. "Though there was that time in fourth grade when I wanted to be a wildlife ranger."
My heart stopped, and the edges of my vision grayed. "So you could spend all day in the woods helping people and animals."
Bethany's breath caught. "Yeah. How'd you guess?"
"Bethany, did you grow up in Michigan?" My head felt light, and I pressed a hand to my forehead.
"I did. Why?"
The line went quiet as Bethany's quick mind followed my train of thought. Then I heard her unsteady exhale.
"We went to school together, didn't we?" I said.
"But you moved away before junior high," Bethany said. "I remember the summer you left."
"I remember the day I left." I squeezed my eyes shut.
There was a long pause of Bethany's end and then she took a deep, decisive breath. "Yeah, we said goodbye near the creek, didn't we?"
I tried to laugh but my voice was unsteady. "You were my first kiss. Did you know that?"
"I did," Bethany said, her voice soft again. "You were mine, too."
I cleared my throat and took a chance. "Sounds like the perfect thing to reminisce about over dinner. Are you free tonight?"
"Oh, Dylan, I wish I was, but I've got to work."
My head was still reeling, and I wondered if it was relief. Bethany had stirred up a lot of memories for me, and I needed a little time to clear my head.
"Well, I guess we can catch up another day," I said.
After Bethany said goodbye and hung up, I laid my forehead on the desk. I knew my past would come back to haunt me but I didn't know it would start with one of my happiest memories.