Room 143

Chapter 6

Nash

Monday morning dawns bright and sunny, hot and humid, even for this time of year in North Georgia. I'm standing out on my back deck, drinking the cup of coffee I enjoy before I leave for the shop, trying to wrap my brain around what's happened to me over the weekend.

When I woke up Sunday morning (yes, we spent a whole twenty-four hours together), Taylor was gone. A note on her pillow telling me she was glad to have been the person to end my long drought, and telling me I'd done the same thing for her. Which I found odd, considering her profession, but I'm chalking it up to her wanting to make me feel less awkward. I came home, showered, and looked around my house with new eyes, looked at my life with a different perspective.

A haze of clouds and darkness that had been pulled over my vision when Katie died was starting to lift. I opened the curtains in my living room, letting the natural light of the huge bay window she'd loved, shine in. Truthfully, the last memory of even touching those curtains I have is the morning I woke up on the couch after she died. The sunlight was streaming in, and I couldn't take the cheerful joy of it. They haven't been opened since.

Finishing the last of my coffee, I go inside to grab a shirt, my lunch, and my gym bag. Looking at myself in the mirror, after putting the shirt on, I see a different man staring back, then the one I saw a few days ago. Not to say one night with a woman completely changed my life, but it did show me a lot of the things I was missing out on. I found myself looking forward to Monday last night, when in the past it's been just another day in a whole line of days that mean absolutely nothing to me. Will this last? I have no idea, but I'm excited for the week. If I can keep up the optimism, maybe I can convince myself and everyone around me, I'm on a much better path than I've been on in years.

*****

It's around seven o'clock when I get to the shop. This building, it's my pride and joy. When I took over the business from my dad, we'd been struggling, but as a guy who had nothing but time and grief on his hands, I've managed to turn a profit. If I'm smart with investments and the economy holds out on us, we'll clear half a million in profit this year and I'll be able to give everyone a bonus. It's a sense of honor for me, to know I've improved the family business. My dad retired last year, and along with me and my two brothers, we employee three mechanics, and a brand-new bookkeeper who's supposed to start today.

The bay doors gleam as I walk up to them, opening them with the key on my ring, before going in and turning the alarm off. My favorite thing about this place is the bay doors. They open and let the world in. Where at my home, I've not been able to let the world in. Here I open those doors, stand at the edge, and breathe in huge gulps of air. Here there aren't memories of Katie, this was the part of my life that she wasn't into, and thank God it worked to my advantage.

This place saved my life in more ways than one.

I go about turning everything on, getting ready for the day, getting coffee going, and grin to myself when I hear the muffler of my first employee. Austin, my youngest brother, is usually the guy sneaking in at seven-fifty-nine to start his eight o'clock shift. To know he's here at seven fifteen let's me know how worried he is about what they did to me on Friday night.

“Morning," Austin's voice is gruff. Chances are he just woke up five minutes ago, especially judging by the way he's pulled his shoulder-length hair up into a haphazard something on top of his head. Normally, he's more put together than this. “Came early to see if you're f*ckin' pissed or not."

“I figured." I hand him a cup of coffee. Crazy f*cker drinks it like he drinks his whiskey. Straight up. “And I'm gonna be honest with you. I was, when you confronted me like you did. I fought for a long time, wondering what the hell I was going to do."

“What did you do?"

I haven't spoken to any of them all weekend. First because I was busy, and then because I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. To process everything for me. “I went." I give him a grin. “I went and I spent twenty-four really good hours with a woman for the first time in five years."

Austin and I have always been closer than me and our middle brother, Jameson. Austin was with me the night Katie died, and it solidified our bond forever.

“Noooo shiiitttt???" He pulls the words out with the strong southern twang he has. Setting his coffee down on one of the work benches, he crosses his arms in front of his chest. Putting on display the tattoos he has too. We've done a lot together, Austin and me. Got drunk, got tattoos, cried for what we lost. He and Katie had a bond I don't think he'll ever have with another person. We've all had a hole in our lives with her gone, but I can tell by the way he smiles, he's happy for me.

“Yeah, neither one of us left when the sun came up."

“When did you leave?" He looks at me closely.

I wonder what he sees. Does he see a guy who can breathe deeply again? One who can stand tall without the weight of the world on his shoulders. Hell, I slept through the f*cking night two nights in a row. I wasn't woken up by memories and wishes of things I could have done in the past. Will it last? I don't know, but for now I'll take it.

“Sunday morning. I woke up, and she was gone. Which was okay with me, I wasn't sure how to do the morning after, without it being awkward. Never had one of those before." I shrug.

He claps me on the shoulder. “I forget, you're like a monk and a virgin all wrapped up in one."

I shoot him a glare. “Monk, yes. Virgin, no."

“Born again, my man," he teases. “Did you even last long enough to stick it in?"

It occurs to me as we stand here bullsh*tting how long it's been since we've done this. How f*cking much I missed it. “You sh*t, I did. But that's as far as you're getting with the details."

“Fair enough." He steps closer to me. “It's good to see you smile, I don't know how long it'll last, but I'm going to enjoy it while it does. Trust me when I say, I have no illusions that this will last forever. We all have things that trigger us – seasons of the year, moments in time, a random word someone speaks – but this smile on your face, I'm gonna hang on to it for as long as I can."

Emotion grips my chest. “I'm going to, too. Believe it or not, I don't want to be the sad bastard I've been."

“Nobody thought you wanted to be, you just needed a nudge."

“Try a f*cking heave-ho out the damn door."

We're quiet for a few minutes, he enjoying his coffee and me enjoying my new attitude. “Thank you for what you did."

He smiles so huge his face breaks apart with dimples and a grin, showing all the perfect teeth he's always had. Pisses me off, this asshole played football and should have lost at least one tooth. “No problem, I'd do it again."

That's the thing with family - they keep coming back, keep pushing, until you accept what you need and move on. I open my arms and embrace him. For the first time in five years, I hug my brother. He hugs me back tightly, slapping me on the shoulder, and it's one of the most emotional moments of my life as I fight back an onslaught of feelings.

“It's good to have you back." He playfully punches me in the bicep.

“I'm working on it." I'm not back yet, not sure I'll ever be fully what they expect, but I've turned a corner, and I'm promising myself I won't stand in my own way again. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Turning back to face the parking lot, we both watch as a little Coupe parks in a spot close to the door. We still have twenty minutes before we open and the rest of the guys get there, but neither one of us seem to mind as she shuts the car off.

“What do you say she's a college girl? There's a light on the dashboard that won't go off, and she's scared it'll blow."

I chuckle at Austin's assessment, because it sounds about right. “Shut the f*ck up, and get to work."

“I ain't even clocked in yet," he argues.

“When you get here early, you're expected to work for free."

He flips me the bird and I turn my attention back out to the car, the woman hasn't gotten out yet, so I amble across the parking lot. My hope is a smiling face won't cause her to be in hysterics like so many are when they get here. The door opens and I get a flash of leg, that leads to the skirt of what looks like some flowy type of dress.

I know, it's weird that I'm describing it as flowy, but in my line of work, you learn when women dress to get a deal on their cars, one of the mechanics into bed, or if they're normal. This woman, in a flowy dress? Probably normal. She gets out, and I hold the driver's door open for her.

“Thanks!"

The voice is familiar and sends a ribbon of awareness along my body. I know who it's going to be before she turns to face me, and when she does my mouth goes dry.

“Taylor?"

The smile drops from her face, replaced with a frown of concern. She pushes back the hair I had my hands all up in for more than a day, and tries to plaster that smile back in place. “Actually…" She runs the tongue that ran along my d**k across her bottom lip and it takes everything I have not to dip in and taste. The one thing we didn't do, that I've been cursing myself over? We didn't kiss. I try my best to focus on the words coming out of her mouth. “My name is Caroline, I'm your new bookkeeper."

And just like that, my world comes crashing down around me in a smoking heap of confusion and what I'm seeing as deception. I grab her arm, dragging her with me to my office. There are answers I'm about to demand, and anyone who rolls up for work doesn't need to hear them.