Divine (5 page)

His eyes pierced mine
like he was looking into my soul. After a few seconds he broke his
stare and shifted his gaze toward my tire. “Yeah, it looks like
you need a new one,” he agreed, kneeling down to get a closer
look.

I took advantage of
that moment to explore the back of his well-built body. My eyes
trailed down his neck and over his tight white t-shirt, the prominent
muscles of his shoulders and back displaying themselves nicely
underneath the stretched cotton fabric. He leaned forward and
revealed the tight gray band of his boxers that stuck out from his
baggy jeans, making my mouth water with desire.

I don't even know
you, but I don't care; I want you.

“
Your tire looks
pretty worn, it should be replaced anyway,” he said as he stood
up to face me. “It'll take me about thirty minutes and I'll
have it ready for you.”

His shirt clung nicely
to the front of him as well and revealed his broad and powerful
chest, something I apparently missed when I was too busy looking at
his ravishing face.

“
Wonderful. Thank
you so much, Jonah.” The sound of his name rolling off of my
tongue excited me.

He smiled pleasantly
and got into my mom's car. I felt my face redden as he drove it into
the shop, wobbling the whole way there.

I decided to stick to
my plan and I headed over to the pet shop while Jonah worked on my
mom's car. The store was on the other side of the busy road, so I
went to the crosswalk and pushed the button to stop the traffic.

While I was waiting, my
mind wandered to the handsome stranger that I had just met.
How
old is he? I would guess twenty, twenty-one maybe? I'm glad I look
older than I do, but if he were to find out how old I really am . . .
The bright orange “walk” sign flashed itself at me,
taking me away from my thoughts as I darted past the row of stopped
cars to the other side.

The smell of wood
shavings and bird seed overpowered me when I opened the glass door to
the pet shop and stepped inside.

“
Hello,” an
elderly man greeted me from the front counter.

I gave him a small
smile. “Hi.”

“
You lookin' for
something in particular?” he asked.

“
Um, I'm just
looking around, but I would like to see the fish if you have any.”

He pointed toward the
back of the room with a nod. “They're over there in a little
room; you can't miss 'em.”

“
Okay, thanks.”

On my way to the back I
passed a wall of aquariums that were filled with fluffy hamsters and
whiskery rodents. I bent down and smiled, enjoying the sweet sight of
a group of pink baby mice that were huddled together in the corner of
one of the glass tanks.

“
Awe, you guys
are so cute!” I gushed quietly before moving along to my
destination.

I finally made my way
into the small fish room. It was dark, the overhead lights were
turned off, but it was filled with vibrantly lit fish tanks that made
the room glow warmly with color. I slowly moved past and admired the
swimming creatures in their glass houses; how free it must have felt
to swim endlessly in the water. There were too many kinds to count,
and they all had peculiar names written on the glass of their
aquariums: Calico Telescope Goldfish, Rasbora Heteromorpha Danio,
Tequila Sunrise Delta Guppy; they were all beautiful.

I searched through the
salt water section for my favorite fish of all: the Boxfish. There
are different types of Boxfish, my favorite being the Cubicus
Boxfish. It looked just like the name sounded, a cute little floating
cube.

I scanned the tanks and
bent over to get a closer look at the ones lower to the ground, but
there was no sign of my favorite little fish. I felt a bit
disappointed.

The bird room was next
to the fish section, so I decided to go over and check it out as
well. Bossy Cockatiels and colorful Parakeets bounced around their
cages with excitement, chirping and squawking as loudly as they
possibly could as I entered the area. Cockatiels were my absolute
favorite, so I went over to the large cage that housed about five or
six of them.

My eyes landed on one
that was sitting comfortably close to the side of the thin metal
bars. I stuck my pointer finger out and scratched the back of its
fluffy neck, feeling its warm skin beneath its feathers. It seemed to
like the attention at first, but after a couple of scratches it
turned its head and nipped at my finger, making me pull back.

“
Okay, okay,”
I whispered to the irritated bird. “I'll leave you alone.”

After strolling around
the shop some more I returned to the fish room again, just to make
sure that I didn't accidentally pass up my Boxfish.

The sound of passing
cars outside filled the building as someone opened the front door and
stepped inside. My head was midway up the levels of fish tanks still
looking for my fish, unaware that it was Jonah who had come in. He
walked past the entrance to the fish room and abruptly stopped when
he spotted me, taking a step backwards toward the open doorway.

“
Oh, hi,”
he said loudly.

I jumped up and flung
my hand to my chest. “Oh gosh, you scared me!” I
screeched breathlessly.

“
I'm so sorry,”
he said with a laugh while putting his hands out in a reassuring
manner. “I really didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay?”
He lowered his hands and crossed his arms in front of him, taking on
the stance of a body guard.

“
Yeah, I'm fine,”
I laughed. “I startle easily.”

“
I can tell.”
His warm, attractive smile melted me.

“
Yeah, um, well I
was just looking for a fish but I can't seem to find it.”

He moved away from the
door and walked over, taking a firm position next to me with his arms
still crossed solidly in front of him. “What kind of fish are
you looking for?” he asked.

“
A Boxfish. It's
a little square-looking fish; they're my favorite.”

“
Yeah, I know
which ones you're talking about. You know they're toxic, right?”

“
Really? I didn't
know that.” I was surprised, both at the new fact and the ease
in which he recalled it. I felt a little silly that he knew more than
I did about my favorite fish.

“
Yeah,” he
continued, “when they get stressed out they emit a toxin into
the water. It kills the fish around them and sometimes they even die
if they're in a small aquarium. A lot of people don't get them for
that reason; maybe that's why they don't have any in.” He
paused for a moment and took on a slight look of embarrassment at his
continuous flow of knowledge. “Did you look over there?”
he said as he uncrossed an arm and pointed at the corner of the
narrow room. “I think they keep more salt water fish in that
tank.”

“
No, I didn’t
look in that one.”

We walked together to
the lone water-filled fish house that was nestled in the niche of the
space. There was something about this Jonah guy helping me that
tickled my curiosity; there was a mystery in why he was being so
friendly. But, I wasn't complaining. I was thrilled at his attempt to
assist me.

He crouched down in
front of the large, rounded aquarium and peered through the water,
only to find a little shark inside. “Ah, I guess they don't
have any. You could always order one, I'm sure.” He turned his
head and looked up from his low position, planting his blue eyes on
me.

I was thankful that the
sun had allowed me to face the day without a sweatshirt; I wanted him
to take in my shape. “Yeah,” I said bashfully, “I
might have to do that.”

He stood up and flowed
back into his guarded position, respectfully keeping his eyes to
himself. “I saw you walk over here after I took your car and I
wanted to come tell you that it's done already, so you can come pick
it up now.”

I wished that our
conversation was still on the subject of finding my fish, that way I
could spend some more time with him; but, my mom's car was done, so I
had no choice but to pick it up and say goodbye.

“
Oh, good,”
I said hesitantly, stepping toward the door to leave the fish-filled
room; I didn't know what else to say.

He fell into place
next to me as we walked out of the pet store and onto the sidewalk.
When there was a break in the traffic we hurried across the cross
walk, slowing our pace once we reached the other side. We stayed
silent during our walk until we reached the door to the auto shop.

“
Ladies first,”
he said as he opened the door for me, sending the bells ringing
again. I smiled at his gesture and walked inside.

The big guy was still
sitting at the counter, his auto magazine in one hand and a chocolate
donut in the other. I came to the conclusion that he must have owned
the place; a regular employee who needed his job wouldn't be caught
dead eating donuts and reading magazines all day.

“
Okay Uncle Lou,
her car is all fixed up and ready to go,” Jonah told him.

I guess the big guy
is Jonah's uncle, and apparently he isn't the owner because the name
of the shop is Dan's Auto Repair, not Lou's Auto Repair . . .

“
Okay, let's see
what you owe,” Lou said, rolling a bite of donut around in his
mouth.

Jonah grabbed a
note-filled clipboard off of the counter. “
I'm
not charging her for the labor; I got it done quicker than I thought.
Just the tire is all she owes.” He glanced up and shot me a
quick smile before dropping his head back to the clipboard.

“
Oh, no, that's
okay. I'm using my mom's credit card to pay for it so it's okay to
charge me for the labor.” I pulled my purse off of my shoulder
and sat it on the counter to search for my wallet that was buried
somewhere amongst the mess of receipts. It took a few seconds but I
finally found it and pulled out my mom's card.

Lou sat his magazine
down and took it from me, looking over his bifocals and holding it at
a distance to read the print more clearly. “Do you have an
I.D.?” he asked.

“
Yeah, hold on
I'll get it.” I slid my license out from underneath the plastic
sheath and handed it to him. My license picture wasn't the greatest
in the world, but it wasn't too embarrassing.

“
Okay, let me see
here,” he grunted, holding it up as if he were looking at a
hundred dollar bill to find its watermark.

My breath caught in my
throat as I saw Jonah look up from his clipboard and peer at it.

Please don't look at
my age!

“
It's
your birthday tomorrow; Happy Birthday,” Jonah said cheerfully.
He
was
looking
at my age.

“
Yeah, I'll be
seventeen.” I felt a little embarrassed that I was so young. I
knew that Jonah was older than me, and I had the feeling that my age
had blown any chances that I had with him.

Lou gave me a delighted
smile. “Well, let's celebrate early.” He pulled a pink
half empty box of donuts from underneath the counter and rested it in
front of me. “There's not too much to choose from, but you can
have your pick.”

I smiled at him and
looked down at the box. The only ones that were left were a bear
claw, a small round glazed one, and a chocolate bar with sprinkles. I
chose the sprinkles. Yeah, pretty much the same one a little kid
would have chosen . . .

“
Thank you so
much,” I said, speaking to both of them.

“
No problem at
all,” Lou replied. “And here's your license back. Your
last name matches the one on the card, so that's good enough for me.”
He handed it over and I gently took it, sliding it back into its
usual place in my wallet.

“
Well, have a
nice day, Summer,” Jonah said as he breathed out a deep sigh;
he must have read my name on my license as well. He gave me one last
attractive smile and then headed back through the door, disappearing
from view.

And that was it.

After Lou charged my
mom's card and gave it back to me I threw it in my purse and thanked
him again. I left the office and went back out to the car, taking a
moment to look at the new tire before getting in.