In Your Corner | ✓

Eight

"So," Dad begins, leaning back in his office chair and folding his arms over his chest. "Are you going to tell me what happened last Wednesday?"

I pause mid-way through tying my long hair up into a pony tail and scrunch my nose at him in confusion. "What do you mean? What happened on Wednesday?"

His lips twitch. "You picked up a car with the truck, stayed late to repair it and hardly charged a dime for it at all."

Right. That's what happened on Wednesday.

I sigh, finishing sorting my hair and then rubbing my palms together nervously. "Uh, well, I can explain."

He gestures for me to take a seat opposite him and doesn't say anything, but his expression isn't unkind. It's just a little hard to read.

I sit on the edge of the seat, aware that I'm in my overalls, about to start my afternoon shift the following Wednesday. "Well, my friend had a problem with the brakes on his car and I wanted to help him out."

Dad frowns. "From the looks of the records, you didn't charge for anything other than the part. On top of that, you gave them a discount on."

My palms start to sweat. Despite his smaller height and generally kind persona, my Dad can be intimidating when he wants to be.

"Uh, well, I deliberately did it outside our working hours so it wouldn't be seen as working on the garage's time," I mumble quietly. "Just, uh, money isn't great for him, so I didn't want to charge him the earth. Anyway, it hardly took me any time at all to fix it up."

Dad exhales, studying me. "Natalie, I'm not upset with you about this. I think it's great that you want to help your friends out. I just feel like you were trying to keep it from me."

I know he's right. I pretty deliberately didn't really tell him about it, but I can't really figure out why that is. I had plenty of chances to tell him this past weekend, at our Thanksgiving dinner, but I just didn't.

I think I just haven't wanted it to be a big deal at all and by telling people about it, it would become more of a thing than it was. Josh already feels mortified about it.

"Sorry," I sigh. "I'll definitely tell you another time, all right?"

He nods, looking appeased. "How's the car doing now?"

I fiddle with the sleeve of my overall, my gut twisting a little. "Yeah, good, I think. I haven't had any complaints."

I got a message from Josh the following day, thanking me profusely and saying that the car was up and running again with no problems.

I've not heard since, so I imagine it's all fine.

That, or I did a really bad job and he took it elsewhere because he felt awkward about telling me. Somehow, I doubt that though.

Dad smiles. "That's good, sweet pea. I'm glad that you're doing your friends favours. It shows the good kind of person that you are."

Instantly, I feel my cheeks warm, even though it's just my Dad complimenting me and it's practically his job to me nice to me. Not to mention that he raised me like this, so if anything, he's probably just complimenting himself.

"Um, anyway. I should probably get started at work," I say, hooking a thumb over my shoulder. "I'll see you in a bit."

In the garage, Jonny has jacked a Corsa up and is lying underneath, working away. Andrei has the bonnet of a Range Rover open and Pat is looking at a Panda.

I'm supposed to be working on a Focus at the far end of the garage today. It just needs a regular service, so it shouldn't be too complicated.

As I leave Dad's office, Jonny chooses that exact moment to extract himself from the underside of the Corsa and he sits on the ground, smiling at me. "Hey!" he shouts, waving enthusiastically. "Natty!"