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 FOUR | CHRISTMAS MENU
Charlotte Hastings
Eli looked like he knew what he was doing as he fiddled around. I, on the other hand, knew close to nothing about cars. I was sat off to the side, but close enough that I could watch him work. My hands were wrapped around a cup of tea, but it wasn't the warmth that turned my cheeks a bright shade of red. As he reached across the car his shirt lifted from his side, while the muscles in his back flexed. I would have to be blind not to notice how attractive he was.
He turned back to me, wiping the grease on his hands off on a rag and pulled up a chair. "Well the heat actually looks like an easy fix, but the alternator is what's concerning me. You wouldn't have made it much further. Unfortunately, I don't have any on hand so we'll have to order one for you but that shouldn't take too long."
"H-how much will that be?" I stuttered, my voice quiet. I reached into my bag and pulled out my wallet. My savings were dwindling quickly. From a quick glance, there were less than five hundred dollars left and I was still a ways away from my final destination. I gulped, feeling my heart sink into my stomach.
Eli reached forward and placed his hand on mine. My body froze at the unexpected human contact but quickly relaxed from the sincere look on his face. "It will be around four hundred, but you don't have to pay me now. The part won't be in for a few days at least."
"I don't know Eli," I sighed, shaking my head. I looked down, counting the bills in my head. Could I really afford it? I had no source of income, no way to pay him back for his kindness.
His phone vibrated against the workbench. He quickly jumped up, checking the caller ID. "Sorry, it's my mom, I'll just be a minute."
He paced the garage as he spoke to his mom, a big smile on his face the whole time. From what I heard they seemed to have a good relationship, the kind that I was longing for. Throughout high school, girls were constantly complaining about their mothers. Some were too overprotective, or too embarrassing. Sometimes I just wanted to yell at them to shut up. A mother was an important figure in a girls' life and I didn't have one.
Eli hung up and shoved his phone in his jeans pocket, lightly jogging back over to me. "My mom needs some help at the cafe, do you want to come with? It's not far from here. You don't have to if you don't want to..." He rubbed the back of his neck as if he was flustered.
"Yeah sure, I'll come." What else do I have to do? I bit my lip and put on my jacket. "What does your mom think of a strange girl staying with you?"
He chuckled lightly and shrugged. "She was surprised at first, but she said she would have done the same thing if she saw you on the side of the road."
