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“Where is she?” he asked Travis when his friend picked him up to take him to his car.
“We had her trailered to Levi’s garage.”
Travis Sullivan, Zack Bannister and Levi Chapman were all part owners of Devil’s Rock Airport. Travis had brought Nate in early on when they needed another pilot, so he’d gotten to know all of them pretty well over the years. When Levi had learned Nate had a classic Corvette, he wanted to restore he’d offered to let him keep it and work on it at his garage behind his house. Since Nate lived in an apartment he’d jumped at the chance.
Levi’s ‘garage’ was a thing of wonder. At least fifty cars were housed there, some on racks reaching to the ceiling. Levi’s home collection was heavy on sports cars, but he had other types as well. He didn’t even keep all of his cars at the garage, housing some of them on some land out in the country with a state-of-the-art alarm system for the warehouse. A self-made billionaire, Levi was an inventor who equipped his houses, garages and whatever else needed them with state-of-the-art electronics, most of them his own inventions.
So Nate was familiar with Levi’s workshop, which had everything you could possibly need for restoring classic cars. But from what little he’d gleaned, Iris was going to need a miracle. Levi was waiting for them when they got there.
“You gonna try to talk me out of seeing her?”
“Nope,” Levi said. “But be warned. It’s not pretty.”
Not pretty was the understatement of the century. Nate barely managed not to throw up. Okay, now he understood why he’d been told he was lucky to have only broken an arm and a couple of ribs.
His beautiful Iris was a mangled mess.
“You okay, Nate?” Levi asked.
“No. Shit.” He thought of a lot more curse words he could say but this…disaster…was too much for words. “Shit,” he repeated.
“It’s not quite as bad as it looks at first glance,” Levi said. Travis didn’t say anything. He was probably struck dumb too.
“The only way it could look worse is if it was burned beyond recognition.”
“Not really. The worst of the damage is to the front end and the windshield. The rear bumper is messed up but the passenger side is fine. Luckily you didn’t roll it or you’d likely have been looking at total destruction.”
Nate started to shrug and thought better of it. “Have you looked at the engine?”
Levi nodded. “It’s in surprisingly good shape. You can fix this, Nate. It will just take time and money.”
“Thanks. I appreciate you letting me use your garage, but I’m not sure how long it will take.” Or even if he wanted to attempt to restore it. But then, now wasn’t the best time to think about that. Especially since with a broken arm and broken ribs it would be hard to do anything about it. Still, he could start the search for parts.
“Why don’t y’all come up to the house and we’ll have some tea.”
“Only if you or Dana didn’t make it,” Travis said.
Levi laughed. “Don’t worry. Muriel made it,” he said, referring to his housekeeper/cook/woman of all trades.
Neither Levi nor Dana cooked worth a damn, and that extended to making tea, Nate remembered.
As they walked to the house Travis said, “Let me know when you’re off the painkillers and I’ll take you to rent a car.”
“Why rent one?” Levi asked. “You can borrow one of mine.”
“Thanks, but you’re already doing enough letting me keep Iris here.” With his luck he’d wreck Levi’s car too.
“Okay, but let me know if you change your mind.”
“Thanks, but it’s not necessary.” Since the other driver had been at fault, eventually his insurance should pay Nate, but knowing insurance companies he wasn’t holding his breath.
He couldn’t drive, couldn’t fly, couldn’t do much to fix his car, and couldn’t see Damaris. Eventually he’d be able to do the first three things again, but seeing Damaris? He was shit out of luck on that front. It was her move, and if he knew Damaris, and he did, she was done with him. Game over.
And, he admitted, throwing her out of the ER when she came to see him after the accident had only made things worse. If possible.
Chapter Twenty-Five
For the next month after Nate’s accident Damaris only caught glimpses of him. She’d heard from Tobi that he was fixing up his car and was planning on being able to fly soon. Then one day she ran into him—literally—at Booze’s when she’d gone there for takeout. In one hand she carried a sack filled with Styrofoam boxes, the other held a cardboard cup holder full of drinks. She wasn’t paying attention as she left, and she walked right into him at the entrance. Damaris dropped the bag of food to rescue the drinks from hitting the floor. With his good arm Nate reached out to balance her. For a moment they’d just stared at each other.
