“I saw you watching us. Leave the boy alone, okay? Those guys are going to give him hell for a few days, just to see if he can deal with it.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that I wouldn’t let that happen, but he shook his head.
“Don’t interfere with them, Caley. It’s a guy thing, and if you go in there and try to be his defender, it’ll only make things harder for him.”
“They’d better not harass him too badly,” I grumbled.
He chuckled. “You’ve turned out to be very motherly in your old age, kid.”
“I’m not being motherly. I’m just trying to look out for him.”
“Well, don’t.” My dad walked away.
I stuck my tongue out at him as he disappeared into his office. My maturity level took a hit at the gesture, but it was totally worth it.
I spent the rest of the afternoon waiting on customers and trying to stay busy. I avoided the shop, worried that I would say something if I noticed the guys giving Ethan a hard time. If my dad was right, I knew I wouldn’t be doing Ethan any favors by telling the guys to lay off. I would never understand men and how they interacted.
When it was time to leave, the guys walked out to the counter to hang out for a few minutes as I closed out my register. Ethan stood with them but didn’t speak as they laughed and joked with me. He seemed uncomfortable, which made me worry. I forced myself not to ask him how his first few hours had gone while the guys were around.
Once everything was finished for the evening, we all headed for our cars. Ethan walked next to me, but neither of us spoke until we reached our cars.
“Your shop guys don’t like me much,” he said. “Either that, or they’re just dicks by nature.”
“They’re just testing you,” I said as I unlocked my door. “They’re all really good guys. Just give them a few days to adjust. Once they figure out that you’re okay, they’ll ease off.”
“Hopefully.” He frowned. “Anyway, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Night.”
“Good night.” I watched him walk to his car.
The rest of the week had passed in a daze. We had been so busy at work that even I had been struggling to keep up. I’d continued to keep tabs on Ethan, but I never let him know it. I’d heard the guys giving him a hard time, but he never complained or shot back at them. Instead, he’d been working in silence, getting all the tune-ups finished up in no time at all.
My dad seemed impressed by his work ethic, which took some of my worries away. As long as my dad was satisfied, that was all that mattered. If he approved, the other guys would have no choice but to fall in line with his decision.
We had been so busy that I barely had a chance to say a few words to Ethan each day. I’d had to settle for giving him an encouraging smile whenever he walked into the stock room to grab a filter or whatever else he needed.
Things with Joey were still the same. Besides sending me a text to let me know he would be home for sure on Saturday when I got off work, we hadn’t spoken at all since our late-night conversation. I’d been dreading the thought of him coming home. I knew we’d have to sit down and actually talk about our issues face-to-face. I feared it would cause more harm to our already unstable relationship.
I had been tense the entire week, anticipating the fight I was sure would come. I’d even withdrawn from Ethan, barely responding to his texts in the evening. I hadn’t wanted to throw my problems at him again, so I’d thought it’d be best to stay away from him until I knew what would happen with Joey. Besides, Ethan had enough on his plate with working two jobs and dealing with the shop guys.
When Saturday rolled around, I got a text from Joey, telling me to leave Amelia at my mother and father’s house instead of picking her up like normal. Instead, I was to come straight home after work, so we could talk. My stomach clenched into knots as I reread his text at least twice. Clearly, he had been thinking about our much-needed yet possibly disastrous heart-to-heart.
When I walked into our apartment just after noon, Joey was sitting on the couch, waiting for me. I tried to mentally prepare myself for whatever would follow as I sat down next to him on the couch.
“Hi,” I said, my voice soft.
“Go shower, and get changed,” he said.
“What? Why?”
“I’m taking you somewhere. Just go.”
I finally noticed that he wasn’t wearing his typical neon shirt and jeans. Instead, he was wearing a collared shirt with a pair of dark blue jeans. It wasn’t exactly a suit, but it was far more dressed up than he usually was.
“Okay…” I stood and headed back to our room.
After grabbing clean clothes, I headed into the bathroom and hopped into the shower. Once I was clean, I dried and straightened my hair. I applied a small amount of makeup and pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a pretty shirt.
I checked myself over in the mirror and frowned. I looked okay but not amazing. My stomach wasn’t flat, and my hips were far too wide for my liking. I didn’t dare turn around to inspect my butt. I feared I might decide to strap a Wide Load sign across it if I did.
When I returned to the living room, Joey was still sitting in the same place, waiting for me.
“Okay, I’m clean and dressed. What’s going on?” I asked.
He stood and walked over to me. He grasped my hand and pulled me through our apartment. He stopped long enough to grab his keys before he continued out into the hallway, down the stairs, and out into the parking lot. After opening the passenger door for me and shutting it once I was situated inside his vehicle, he walked around and climbed inside.
He stayed silent as he backed out of the parking spot and hit the main road. I impatiently tapped my fingers against my leg as the miles slipped by beneath us.
“Can I ask where we’re going?”
“Nope. You’ll see soon enough,” he said, not taking his eyes off the road.
“I hate surprises,” I grumbled even though it was a lie.
I loved surprises, cherished them even. I tried to think back to the last time Joey had surprised me with anything, and I came up with absolutely nothing.
Twenty minutes later, we were pulling into a movie theater parking lot.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
Joey finally looked at me. His lips turned upward into a smile. “We’re going on a date.”
I shifted in my seat, unsure of what to think. “A date?”
He nodded. “I thought it would do us some good to get out and spend time together without Amelia.”
“I, uh…thank you. For thinking of this, I mean,” I stuttered, struck nearly speechless by the fact that Joey would do anything nice for me.
He shrugged, as if it were no big deal, but I knew otherwise. Joey wasn’t a natural-born romantic. Even something as simple as a trip to the movies was something he’d had to think about. Coming from him, this was more than a little surprising.
“I can’t think of the last time we went on a date,” I mused as I racked my brain, unable to come up with anything.
“Neither can I,” he said. “And that’s unacceptable. I want to start making things right, here and now.”
Touched by his thoughtfulness, I smiled. “Then, let’s go watch a movie, shall we?”
We climbed from the vehicle and walked across the lot to the movie theater. After deciding on which movie to watch, one about a zombie apocalypse, Joey paid for our tickets. We stopped at the concession stand to grab some popcorn and a couple of drinks. I nearly cried at our total, but Joey didn’t even bat an eye. Clearly, he was determined to follow through with his plan to take me on a real date, money be damned.
We walked side by side down the hallway to our theater. Joey held the door open and followed me inside. The theater was packed since it was the weekend, but I managed to find two seats next to each other. We settled in next to each other as the previews started to play.