One More Chance

“Depends on how you define okay, I guess.”

“Where are you? What do you need?”

“I haven’t left my house yet. My car has a flat tire and I don’t have a spare to slap on it.”

“That’s fine. I’ll call you a tow truck and come get you for dinner.”

“We can reschedule dinner. It’s fine. I really need to get this car thing resolved before tomorrow anyway. Work and all.”

“Ana, don’t be silly. You can still do dinner and get your car fixed. I’ll call a tow truck. What’s your address?”

“Tyler, it’s nothing to reschedule. We can even do it tomorrow night.”

“Is there a reason you don’t want me to pick you up?”

“Because I’m perfectly capable of driving myself?”

“Not currently. Your car has a flat,” I said.

“I knew this was going to be an issue before I called.”

“Ana, I’m offering to help you. Why are you not taking it?”

“Because I don’t need your handout, Tyler.”

I drew in a deep breath as I pulled over to the side of the road.

“It’s not a handout, Ana. This isn’t a question of how strong or intelligent you are. You need a tire and you don’t have one. All you need is a tow truck, a garage, and a tire. I can make that happen. In the meantime, while your car is being worked on, why can’t we go get dinner? We don’t have to do Roll’d Up. We can go anywhere.”

“I’m not really dressed for fast food.”

“And neither am I. Ana, it’s not the situation. It’s the person. I don’t want to take you somewhere. I want to be with you somewhere.”

She sighed on the other end of the line before she groaned.

“Okay. Sure. Let me text you my address. I’ll be the one standing in a white and gold dress with grease on her hands.”

“I’ll come ready to clean you up,” I said.

I hung up and whipped my car around, downloading her address from the text message as soon as she sent it through. My car’s map popped up and guided me straight to her, and fifteen minutes later I pulled into a quaint little townhouse complex in a decent spot in Los Angeles. There she was by the end unit, trying to wipe the grease off her hands with what looked like Clorox wipes. Or baby wipes. Some kind of wipes.

“Goin’ my way, pretty lady?” I asked.

Ana shot me a glare before a giggle fell from her lips.

“I look crazy.”

“You look like someone who got surprised by a flat tire. The tow truck is five minutes out. Care to give me the grand tour while we wait?” I asked.

She looked nervous as she shook her head. She plucked her purse off the hood of her car and scurried to the passenger’s side of my vehicle. I watched her closely as she slid in. Her beautiful body filled the seat wonderfully as her legs stretched out. She closed the door and fiddled with her hands, looking in the rearview mirror while we sat there in silence.

What was she hiding in that home of hers? A husband? A boyfriend? A girlfriend perhaps?

The idea of Ana cheating was beyond my comprehension. She could never do something like that. But as her leg jiggled and she chewed on her lower lip, I knew something was bothering her.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Just wondering how much this tire will cost me.”

“If you need me to pay—”

“No,” she said curtly.

I held my hands up before placing them back on the wheel of the car. The second the tow truck pulled up, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She got out of the car and badgered the poor man trying to buckle her car down and haul it away as much as she could. The vehicle wasn’t the nicest thing alive, but I could tell she had taken great care of it over the years. Though it seemed a little big for only one woman.

Once the vehicle was secured to the tow truck, Ana came back over and got in my car.

“The garage isn’t far from here,” she said. “Only ten minutes or so. He said we didn’t need to follow him—”

“But you want to. I know. Hang on. We’ll make sure your car gets there safely.”

She threw me a relieved smile and I grinned back at her. As we traveled behind her car, I could tell the tow truck driver was perturbed. I chuckled to myself as we sat at the garage, watching him back up her car into an open stall.

“Satisfied?” I asked once it was in.

“Maybe I should—”

I reached over and put my hand on Ana’s knee. She looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes of hers, and my heart slammed against my chest. I squeezed her knee before I removed my hand, and she slowly sat back in her seat.