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I know he’s an addict I know he’s sick It’s just so hard to put myself in that mind frame, in that place where a bottle of booze is thein your life, soelse for it
"I guess I’m a l’il tired," Dad muo to sleep now"
My brother and I watch as he hobbles off, and then Jeff turns to ood"
"Yeah, sure" I clench my jaw and stalk back to the lift, where the sporty Jetta I’ve been working on awaits me "I need to finish up"
"John, he doesn’t knohat he’s talking about--"
"Forget it," I mutter "I already have"
I close up later than usual Much later than usual, because when eight o’clock rolled around, I couldn’t sto to the house for dinner Jeff popped in around nine to bring me some leftover meatloaf, and quietly inforhable, because even if he quit cold turkey this very second, there’s so h his veins that it would take days for it to exit his syste Dad will be asleep when I walk through that door No, I’ht now
I leave the shop through the side door, stopping to drop the keys of the Jetta into the little mailbox nailed to the wall Its owner, a cute brunette who teaches at Munsen Eleht, and I already parked it outside for her in the designated area
I double-check the padlock on the garage door, then turn toward the path to the house just as headlights slice through the trees and a taxi speeds up the driveway An olderme warily as the back door of the cab opens and Tori Howard hops out, her high-heeled boots raising a cloud of dust when they estures to the driver that it’s okay to go A second later, she sways her curvy hips eous She s her car to be serviced a few ti she wants serviced She hits on me every time I see her, but I haven’t taken her up on her very blatant offers because Jeff is usually around when she shows up and I don’t want hiht it’s just the two of us, with no Jeff in sight
A smile lifts the corners of her mouth as she approaches hts of the cab "You should’ve told me you didn’t have a ride Jeff or I could’ve picked you up"
"Oh, really? I had no idea this was a full service joint," she teases