Although they hadn’t known each other that long, Axel missed Sebastian. He wished he could talk to him. But Sebastian had made it clear that he wanted nothing more to do with him. He was probably only faking it before. Now that Axel thought of it, the man was often distant with him. Half the time, he wouldn’t even respond to his texts. He probably didn’t even like him. Why would he?

  No! Axel stopped his negative thoughts. Just because Sebastian chose a girl over Axel, didn’t mean he hated him. Chances were, he felt pressured to impress that girl in the moment. That was more likely. Right?

  Then why hadn’t he called to explain? Axel would text him, but he feared he’d only annoy him.

  Stop that! Axel slapped the side of the car he was supposed to be inspecting. Negative self-talk would only make him feel worse. No. He had to think positive. Sebastian only turned him down because he needed to impress the girl because he needed a girlfriend because of societal pressure. It was nothing personal.

  “You okay over there?” Ian, his coworker, asked. He worked on a car a few feet away from him.

  “Yeah. Ignore me.”

  Ian did. Axel stared at the components under the hood of the car he was supposed to be working on. What was it he needed to check? He walked over to the table to read the paperwork on it a third time. Right. The car had problems starting, and “made weird noises while driving.” Axel guessed it was the spark plugs. He returned to the car to check them, and saw they were covered in oil.

  There was probably a leak in the engine. Axel sighed, and checked the oil itself. It was black. When was the last time it had an oil change?

  He wondered if it a cracked oil pressure sensor was the cause of this. He checked it. Yep. A nasty one at that. This person would need a new one. A new oil pressure sensor. New spark plugs. An oil change. Axel checked the oil filter. New oil filter.

  He walked into the front to share the news with Ralph.

  “It’ll be a lot of work,” Axel said at the end of his explanation.

  Ralph’s eyes lit up. “That means a lot of money.”

  Axel winced. He’d hate to see that bill.

  “Carl,” Ralph called.

  The only two people in the waiting area, a man and a woman, walked over to the desk.

  “It turns out you’ve got an oil leak from a cracked oil pressure sensor,” Ralph explained.

  “Really?” Carl narrowed his eyes.

  “Yes. The leak caused your spark plugs to deteriorate.”

  At the corner of his eye, Axel noticed the woman checking him out. He scratched the back of his neck, swallowing. It was nothing new, but Axel had never gotten used to women checking him out. Especially at work. He suspected it had something to do with his uniform. Jake once told him he looked sexy in it.

  “Well?” Carl asked Axel sternly.

  Axel hadn't heard a word of what Carl said. “Sorry. What was the question?”

  “I didn’t ask a question.” Carl spoke slow and loud. “I said I don’t believe you.”

  Axel gritted his teeth. “I’ll show you.”

  Carl put his hand on the woman’s lower back as they followed him into the work shop.

  It took Luke time to get the paperwork in order, but Skye was finally ready to start Kindergarten. He just hoped she wouldn’t be too far behind. He had tried getting her to read for him, but she either couldn’t, or wouldn’t. His questions on whether she could or not went unanswered.

  He and Skye arrived at the school early. Almost too early. There were only a couple of kids in the class. Luke walked up to the teacher, Ms. Garland, sitting behind a desk. “Hey. I don’t know if anyone told you, but-”

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  “Luke Lindberg?” Ms. Garland tilted her head back. “Yes, I know who you are.”

  Her tone indicated that she knew his backstory, and had strong opinions on it.

  “Yes. Well, I have Skye here.”

  Ms. Garland’s eyes landed on Skye, who stared at the wall. Because, why wouldn’t she stare at a wall? There were posters all over the room, yet Skye had her eyes on a section that was bare. Ms. Garland’s voice softened. “Hi Skye. I’m Ms. Garland, your new teacher.”

  Skye continued staring at the wall.

  “She doesn’t talk much,” Luke said.

  “She’s not the first shy kid I’ve had. How much does she know? Can she read? Write? Count?”

  Luke chewed his lip, wondering how to tell her he didn’t know. “I’ve only had her for a few weeks.”

  “You haven’t asked?”

  “She doesn’t answer.”

  “Poor girl’s probably suffering from trauma.” Ms. Garland tsked. “As of now, the class is able to recite the alphabet and count to fifty. Since the first day of class, I’ve taught them how to read and write a new word every day.”

  “Skye knows how to color,” Luke said.

  “Inside the lines?”

  “Mostly.”

  “That’s good. She shouldn’t have problems writing.” Ms. Garland reached into a pencil cup on her desk, and pulled out three pens. “Skye.”

  Skye actually looked. Luke wanted to shower her with praise for it, but kept quiet.

  “How many pens do I have?” Ms. Garland asked.

  She didn’t answer. Luke would have been more surprised if she had.

  “Can you count them?”

  Skye returned her attention to the wall.

  “See,” Luke said. “She doesn’t answer any questions.”

  “She’s going to need to learn to, if she wants to get anywhere in life.”

  “It’s probably just a phase.”

  “Possibly. But it would be nice to know if she knows… anything.”

  A few more children trickled in, breaking off into their own friend groups. Luke wondered if other children would have better luck getting Skye to talk. Hopefully a nice, extroverted girl would invite her to play.

  Ms. Garland cleared her throat. “You can go now.”

  “Right.” Luke squatted in front of Skye. “I’ll be back to pick you up in a few hours. Be good.”

  Skye surprised him with a hug. Luke hugged her back. “Good bye.”

  “Bye.”

  She actually said bye. Luke patted her shoulder, and headed for the door. He turned his head to give her one last look.

  She had gone right back to staring at the wall.

  What is it with her and walls?

  Axel led Ralph, Carl, and the woman (probably his wife) to the car. The wife kept eyeing Axel. Did she not realize how obvious she was? Or maybe she did, and was hoping to have him as a side piece?

  “Well?” Carl asked.

  Axel pointed at the crack, and tried to fake a friendly customer service voice. “That’s the oil pressure sensor.”

  “Yes, I know what an oil pressure sensor is.”

  “There’s a huge crack there. And here’s the spark plugs. As you can see, they’re covered in oil.”

  “You sure you didn’t do that yourself?”

  Axel put his oil-slicked hand over his forehead, then realized he probably smeared some on there. The woman covered a smile.

  Axel forced a smile of his own. “No, I didn't do it myself.”

  “Well, it wasn't like that yesterday. I checked.”

  Sure you did, asshole. Axel clenched his jaw, struggling to keep his friendly demeanor. "Well, it's like that today."

  Carl muttered something Axel couldn’t quite hear, but he caught the word "Mexican." Axel tightened his fists, but could no longer contain himself. He blurted out, “If you took better care of your car, it wouldn’t be cracked!”

  “Excuse me?”

  “When was the last time you got an oil change? It’s filthy.”

  “I changed it myself a few weeks ago,” Carl said with an air of self-righteousness.

  “You changed it?” Did he somehow managed to screw that up?

  “Of course. I do my own maintenance.”

  And he didn’t notice oil leaking all over everything? “Okay...”

  “I know cars.”

  “Then you should know that that crack should be repaired immediately!”

  Ralph shot Axel a look, then addressed the customers. “We highly recommend getting it fixed right away.”

  “I’d rather get a second opinion first,” Carl said.

  “Are you serious?” A second opinion involved driving the car. “You can’t drive this thing!”

  “I damn well can!”

  “You’re gonna fuck up your engine.”

  “Axel…” Ralph warned under his breath.

  Axel shut his mouth, but kept his arms tightly folded across his chest. What did it matter anyway? It wasn’t his car.

  “We’ll drive your car up front for you,” Ralph said, somehow keeping all disappointment and annoyance out of his voice.

  How could he do it? It took all Axel had in him to not yell right back at that man. He watched Ralph lead the couple back to the front lobby.

  “You’re lucky,” Ian said, once they were alone again.

  “Huh?” After that interaction with the customer, Axel didn’t feel very lucky.

  “You had a hot girl checking you out. She wanted you. Bad.”

  That was what Ian was focused on? Axel rolled his eyes. “Pretty sure she’s his wife.”

  “So?” Ian grinned. “That’s never stopped me. Or, it wouldn’t if it ever happened to me.”

  “Jolly. I’d worry too much about getting my nads kicked.”

  “Fine. But you should go after the next single woman who throws herself at you. God knows that happens to you every other week. I don’t know how you’re not married yet.”

  Axel was not out to Ian, nor did he ever want to be. Not that it would be hard for Ian to find out with a quick internet search. “I’m waiting for the right person.”

  “Wait any longer, and you’ll be too old to make babies.”

  “Jesus.” Axel squeezed his eyes shut. “You’re sick.”

  “And you’re a prude.” Ian’s tone was teasing. “At least flirt back next time.”

  The only person Axel had ever felt comfortable flirting with was Jake. With any luck, Ian will have forgotten about this conversation the next time a woman flirted with him. “Fine.”