COMPLETE ✓| Charlotte Hastings found herself between a rock and a hard place when she aged out of the foster system. With only a car to her name, she set out on the open road, hoping to find long lost relatives. Winter hits her hard. When she meets...
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CHAPTER ONE | OUT IN THE COLD
Elijah Blackwood
The wind whipped across my face as I opened the door of my truck. The winter air bit at my cheeks as my eyes watered from the impact. I pulled my hood up over my ears and pinched the front of my jacket closed as I made the short trip from my truck to the shop.
The bell dinged as I made my way through the customer entrance of the shop.
"What are you doing using the customer door, Eli?" Joe was acting every bit the boss he was.
"Well, Mr. Parker," I used his proper title, "in case you haven't noticed, it's eighty degrees below ice cold out there so I ran for the closest door."
"Well, get yourself ready to work, we already have three cars waiting for us." I walked toward the shop office as he continued, "First one's just an oil change and tire rotation, so you can take that on your own."
After I took off my jacket and turned up the shop radio, I made my way to the car Joe had pointed out to me and began the oil change by draining the old oil.
My day danced along with the songs on the shop radio as I tended to the tire rotations, oil changes, basic diagnostics, and other fascinating mechanical issues. Despite the speed with which we were working, there was still a backlog when lunch rolled around.
"Take your break, Eli." Joe was barely audible from his place underneath the Chevy he was working on. "I don't need your mother coming down here to speak with me about your nutrition again."
I couldn't help but laugh at his joke. "It's amazing to me that you're more worried about her than you are about the law," I stressed the last word as I finished washing my hands. "I mean, she's just my mom. What's she going to do to you?"
"Give me an earful and waste six hours of my time, if the last time is any indication." Joe rolled out from under the car and sat up before finishing his thought. "And . . . I actually think people work better when they are fed." He stood up and washed his hands as I stepped back to give him room. "So we are both going to get something to eat."
I bundled inside my jacket and gloves once more before opening the door and racing to my car. It wasn't until I had the door shut that I realized I hadn't remembered my wallet, which sat atop the desk in the shop office, mocking me.
There was no way I was braving that weather for an extra time, so there was only one thing to be done. I was going to visit my Mom.
I put the truck into first gear and pulled out of the parking spot my truck had shared with a snowbank for the last four hours. The streets were nearly empty as I took the four block trip to my family home.
"Mom!" I called as I stomped the snow off of my boots in the foyer. "I forgot my wallet at work so I'm going to borrow some lunch, okay?"
I didn't hear anything, so I took off my boots, gloves, and jacket and set them on the bench near the door. A small breeze nipped at my heel after sneaking in the crack at the base of the door.
