Another offer.

Scott and Lydia talked for roughly two hours, rehashing their childhoods, their chaotic teenage years, and the incidents that led directly to Scott leaving and planning to never come back.

It was therapeutic for Scott to get things off his chest, and he was surprised that talking to Lydia, when she was so involved, didn’t seem to drive a wedge between them, but actually made him feel closer to her, and for the first time in his life, he felt like maybe he could trust her.

As much as he was enjoying spending time with his cousin, he needed to stop by the bike shop and sign paperwork, and they didn’t stay open very late on Saturdays.

They paid for their meals, and went to leave.

“Is that your bike, Scott?”

“Yeah, you remember I was always tinkering with it.”

“You finally get it running?”

“Actually no, Jenn did.”

“You left it with Jenn?”

Scott was a bit shocked; Lydia didn’t know that Martha had pawned his bike?

“Yeah, she did a great job finishing it up too.”

“It’s weird you two never got together.”

Scott scowled. “Yeah, I keep hearing that.”

Lydia’s face got serious.

“Look, Scott, I know you aren’t looking to jump into anything serious. I’m not looking for that either, I’m doing well being on my own for the first time in my life, and I’m not ready to give that up.”

She paused for a minute, her face getting a bit red. Scott waited for her to continue.

“But I haven’t had sex in a long time, and it really sucks.”

“Seriously, Lydia? Look in the mirror, if you want to find a hook up, go to literally any bar, or walk into a fucking grocery store and point at someone.”

“I’m serious Scott, you know my record with guys is awful, last thing I want is hooking up with random douchebags, and the good ones are going to want more than a one-night stand.”

Scott scoffed, but he knew Lydia, her trying to avoid assholes probably wasn’t easy.

“What I’m trying to say is if you are looking for something casual, I’m here.”

“Didn’t you just apologize for using me for sex when we were younger?”

She looked hurt. “I’m sorry, I’m . . .”

“No, it’s fine Lydia, like I said, I never felt like you were taking advantage of me, it was pretty awesome to be honest.”

“So you’ll consider it?”

“Are you really that ****?”

She punched Scott. “Shut up, if it’s no just tell me, stop being mean.”

“I’ll need to think about it when you aren’t right in front of me, but I’ll let you know.”

She punched him again, playfully and with a smile on her face.

“Hope to see you soon cuz.” She yelled back to him as she bounced to her truck and climbed in.

Scott watched her pull away, the vision of her climbing into her truck lingering in his mind. He shook his head, trying to get Lydia’s offer and the vision of her ass out of his head.

“God I need a cigarette.”

Mary had been more right than she even knew, Scott needed to figure out what, and who he wanted. It didn’t help that he needed to go right now and see Jenn and fill out paperwork to start working at the garage.

Scott was torn. He didn’t like the way Jenn left the night before, and he wanted to see her and make sure that they were okay, that he hadn’t screwed things up with their friendship. But both Mary and Doug were convinced Jenn wanted more than that friendship, and he didn’t even know where to begin with that mess. It had been so long ago, he’d spent so much time with Jenn while rejecting any romantic ideas that he had ended up seeing her a lot like a sister, and the idea of a relationship with her felt a little weird.

He didn’t even know if he would want a romantic relationship with Jenn, that just wasn’t something he’d thought about, not for years. And now he felt pressure to figure that all out, weigh it against his other options and try to come up with a solution that didn’t cause him to lose the relationships he already had and valued.

He pulled into the parking lot slowly, buying himself a few more seconds. The garage door was open, he could see Jenn sitting at a table, she wasn’t in her coveralls, but a pair of stretch pants and a long blouse. He parked his bike, took off his helmet and took a deep breath. Whatever was going to happen, standing here wasn’t going to make it any better.

“Hey there boss.”

“Scott! I was beginning to worry you’d decided to bail on me.”

“No way, I love this place.”

"I laid out the forms on the table,” she said pointing to a small stack of forms, “I’ve got some paper work of my own so take your time.”

“Sure thing boss.”

“Are you going to call me that when you are working?”

“Absolutely, nothing but professionalism from me.”

Scott sat down and started filling out forms.