1969 | a.u. a.i

3

Ashton's P.O.V

I'm working on a car when my boss calls my name. I drop the tool I was using grabbing a towel to wipe my hands. I walk over to Mr. Nolan's office, closing the door behind me. "Take a seat Ashton." He gestures towards the chair. I take a seat in my dirty navy coveralls.

My heart beat rising onto why I'm in here. "Ashton, you've only been working here for about a month and you've fixed over twenty cars. That's impressive." he compliments me. I give him a wide smile, "Thank you sir." My anxious state calming down.

"You're in here because you're getting a raise." he tells me. My mouth drops at the news. "Really?" I asked dumbfounded. Mr. Nolan smiling at my reaction. "Actually you can go home early today. You've earned it." He smiles. I stand up extending my hand out. He takes it and gives it a firm shake. "Thank you once again." I thank.

I walk out of his office and clocked out. I wash my hands and my face to get rid of the grease on my skin. I dried my hands and head towards the store to get some supplies for supper tonight. I walk into the nearest grocery store grabbing a hand basket. I'm going down the isles until I hear something hit the floor.

"Shit!" the person curses. I walk to the next isle seeing an Caucasian woman groaning at the can that's on the floor rolling away from her. I jogged down the isle to get it for her. She looks at me with wide eyes. I bend down and grabbed it. I look at the woman. Why does she look familiar? I hand out the can to her, "Here you go." I smile.

She takes it from my hand and placing it in her hand basket. She gives me a smile. Then it clicks. This has to be Grace's mother. "Thank you. We need more men like you young man." She points at me. I smile at her. "Yeah we do." I agreed with her. "Harriet. And you are?" she asks, bringing her hand out for a hand shake.
"Ashton." I say, giving her hand a warming shake. She smiles. "Would you like to come over to dinner? Save you the trouble of shopping for one day?" she asks.

"Just us?" I ask, with an raise brow with a smirk on my lips. She shakes her head, "No. My daughter is going to be there." She walks towards the registers. I nod. "I'm in." I smile. "Great!" She cheerily says placing down her items on the belt. I put up my basket, that had nothing in it, back onto the rack. Harriet gets done paying for her items and motions me to follow her.

The walk to her house is all too familiar. We had small talk all the way to her house. We make it to her home and we walk up the steps to the porch to enter her home. She opens the door while, telling me a funny story about Daryl her husband that passed away a few years ago. That's when my eyes look past her into the house. And there she was standing in all her beauty.

Grace's P.O.V.

"Ashton?" I ask, questioning my eyes. He gives me a wink with a smirk playing on his lips. My mother looks between us. "So you guys know each other?" she asks with an raised eyebrow. I nod, looking at the man that's standing in my living room. "We met at the party Mary Lou dragged me to this weekend that passed." I tell my mother.

She nods, "Well you guys catch up while I get supper ready." She walks to the kitchen leaving me and Ashton alone in the living room. He walks closer to me. "So how you been?" He asks placing his hands in his pockets. I play with the hem of my blue shirt. "I've been good. Just doing a lot of home work." I say, avoiding eye contact.

I hear him chuckle. I finally look up into his eyes. Still beautiful as before. "Why is it so hard for you to look at me?" He smiles. I shrug my shoulders not answering his question. He walks over to our couch taking a seat. I walk over sitting in the recliner placing my left leg on top of my right.

My eyes finally land on his face and he's looking around the room examining the photos. He looks at the picture of me as a baby with my father holding me. He smiles at the image. "What?" I ask, with a raised eyebrow. He looks up at me and goes back to the photo. "You're just so cute here. What happened?" He asks jokingly. I gasp and threw a throw pillow at him. He laughs at my action.

"Not cool." I smile at him. He runs his fingers through his hair making his curls bounce back to his forehead. I noticed he's in his mechanic uniform. I bet he's hot underneath all that. I get off the recliner, "I'll be right back." He nods going back to looking at the pictures. I walk into the kitchen where my mom is pre heating the oven.

"Hey mom?" I ask leaning against the island. She looks at me, "Yes?" I walk close to her so Ashton won't hear our conversation. "Did dad have any sweats that he didn't want? Or a shirt that was too small for him?" I ask her. She looks at me with a soft smile, "You want him to feel comfortable huh?" Heat rises to my face. I nod.

She laughs and stirs the meat sauce for the spaghetti she's cooking. "Okay, go in my room. Look in the last drawer of my dresser. There should be some black sweat pants and a shirt that your father couldn't wear anymore." She tells me. I nod and left the kitchen.

Moments later, I walk down the stairs with the clothing in my hands. I walk towards Ashton and he looks up at me with a smile. His eyes go to my hands, "What you got there?" His accent thick. "I noticed you were still in your work clothes and I just want you to be comfortable. So I got you some clothes to change into." I tell him, offering the clothes. He takes them and our fingers brushed against each other.

I clear my throat and let go of the clothes. He stands up towering me. We lock eyes. I actually look at him. His eyes are close to a light green color. Just beautiful. He smiles, "You're staring." I look away taking a few steps back away from him, "I thought you want me to look at you."

He chuckles, "Yeah look at me. Not stare at me like a creep." I look up at him with narrow eyes. "You're difficult to please aren't you?" I ask crossing my arms over my chest. He gives me a smirk and takes a few steps towards me. He leans in towards me. My arms fall to my side when I feel his hot breath on my ear.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." he says, walking past me to go to the bathroom. I look at him with wide eyes and he looks up at me. He gives me a wink and close the door. What did I just get myself into?