Page 20 of Lake
“Okay,” he answered skeptically but still indulged me and shook my hand.
“Lake,” I said sternly.
“Yeah?”
“You can let go now.”
“Oh, right,” he said releasing my hand and giving a little shake of his head. “So your car is in need of some serious love but I’m not sure just how much. I’ll start by giving it an oil change and checking all your fluids. Sound good?”
“How much is this going to cost me?” I wasn’t about beating around the bush. While I wasn’t thrilled about letting people know how damn broke I was, I also wasn’t stupid enough to get myself in over my head and collect more debt. Especially to a motorcycle club, no matter how nice they seemed.
“How about you tell me why you’re here, and we can talk about it after I figure things out.”
I contemplated it for a moment. I mean, I didn’t really have anything to hide so what was the harm in seeing how far it would get me. I didn’t imagine that far, but still, why would I deny him?
“I…” Well, I wasn’t really sure where to start.
He ducked back under the hood with some kind of tool while I tried my best to figure it out and not seem like I was trying to come up with a good lie at the same time.
“I am a private investigator. I came up here for a case.”
There, that was the truth, mostly. I neglected to say that I owned the firm that held the case I was looking into but not because I was trying to be shady.
I just didn’t feel like it was mine, I hadn’t earned it. My dad may have left it to me in his will, only I wasn’t ready for all that responsibility but at the same time, I didn’t want to let him down.
I also had to be careful how much information I shared. I had to keep things confidential and all.
“Really?” he asked sounding surprised but didn’t move to look at me.
“Yeah. My dad taught me everything I know.”
If I wasn’t mistaken, he paused for a long moment. I had no idea what it meant and I really didn’t want to over analyze things.
“You close with your dad?” I sensed a thickness in his tone like he wanted to ask but was hesitant about the subject.
“I was,” I answered honestly and I settled in a little, leaning my hip against the front of my car as I took another long sip of coffee. “He died almost a year ago now.”
Saying it out loud was like a punch to the gut. It hurt but at the same time, it almost made me feel relieved.
It was hard to talk about him. It still hurt that he wasn’t here to see the woman I would turn out to be. I might have been in my mid-twenties, but I didn’t think I had the whole adulting thing down just yet. And even though I was passed that age when you became a woman, I figured there was more to it than that. Also, up until he left me, I kind of felt like I’d always be his baby girl.
But at the same time, I was so afraid that I’d forget him. I didn’t want that and maybe the best way to keep his memory alive was to talk about him. It was a vicious cycle of hurt and pain. But there was joy in there as well because he was such an amazing man.
“I’m sorry,” he said and though his voice sounded choked, I could tell he meant those words.
“He told me to always look to the future and to never dwell on the past,” I went on, getting lost in my memories. I wasn’t a huge fan of being this open and vulnerable, but there was something inside of me that said it was okay. “I try to wake up and face each new day with hope.”
I may have been talking blindly at this point but it didn’t mean that it wasn’t the truth.
I was so lost in my head that I didn’t even realize that he had stood tall and was now looking into my eyes.
“Your dad sounds amazing,” he said and I found it hard to hold back the tears.
I wasn’t one of those girls that cried at the drop of a hat but I could admit that my dad was a subject that gutted my heart.
“He was,” I said with a strained smile. “I couldn’t have asked for a better one.”
After a long moment of us being in some kind of strange eye-lock, I cleared my throat. I felt too raw and open to this man I barely knew.
