The 22 days

Day: 3

 He kept telling himself it wasn't a big deal to have a strange person in his house. A woman with a child at that. He felt suspicious at first, he could confess that, and annoyed, but he wasn't a man that had something to hide or anything to fear, so what harm could she mean, really?

He glanced at his watch, "She'll be gone soon..." That satisfied him enough to relax. His next glance was for Darnell laying at the corner. The impact with the car had given him pain, but it didn't seem to cause anything else. He laid a bowl full of kibbles on the floor and the dog craned its neck to sniff before getting up dramatically slowly to eat.

"You're done acting like a girl, yet?" He shook his head as he sat down with his own bowl to eat his cereal. For a second he thought with himself if he should have set the table for breakfast, but then wiped it off. If she wanted breakfast, she could drive herself to a diner.

"Good morning..." He heard the small voice coming from his back door. He pulled down his newspaper and saw his guest standing there. "I'm leaving now, I wanted to thank you and... pay you."

He drew his brows together. "Pay me?"

"For letting me stay the night and for the food."

"This is not a hotel. Keep your money."

He almost lifted his newspaper, thinking she would turn around now, but she only sighed, "Look, I don't want to offend you, but I don't want any favors."

"Do me a favor, get out of my property and make sure not to run over my dog ever again. Then we'll be even."

That seem to offend her enough to have her backing out of his door and disappearing outside, and he was glad for it.

***

She loaded her suitcase back in the trunk of her car, then returned to the room to get Joey. She left a couple of bills on the bed to pay for the night, like she planned, and then left the room. The exchange earlier wasn't a total surprise for her, she knew he might refuse the payment, but she wanted to do it anyway. As grateful as she was, she wasn't looking for good will gestures and she definitely didn't want to count on them.

Just as she finished buckling Joey up in his seat, the man stepped outside, watching them. He walked up to his gate and use his key to unlock it, then started opening it up so she could leave.

"Who is that?" Joey asked before she started the car. She knew he was talking about the man at the gate, but she didn't answer him. Her attention was on the car and the weird noise it was making... again.

"No, no, no, nooooo!!!!" She groaned in frustration. She couldn't believe it was happening again.

She got out of the car so angry she slammed the door and then kicked a front tire. She went to lift the hood and saw a pair of hands help her with it.

"You've been driving with a leak?" The man asked focusing on the car.

"I don't know. It did that yesterday, but I got it fixed."

He shook his head and looked more closely at the engine, "No, you didn't."

"Well... I thought I did."

"If you don't fix it soon, you're going to ruin your engine."

"How do I do that?"

"You have to take it to a shop and get it checked."

She let out a deep sigh, "I tried that."

A small smile formed on his lips. She didn't know what was funny, but she was a little curious. "What?"