Fully Restored Read Free Page B

on.
    I knew I looked different now. My life had been hard, post-high school. I was used to being the top dog, but bad decisions and worse outcomes had quickly shown me that life is hard. I went to college on a scholarship for football, but the partying soon took over my life and I lost the game. Soon after, I lost everything else in my attempt to drown myself in drugs and alcohol. Jail time served not only to get me sober and give me time to learn a new trade, rebuilding cars, but also to become who I wanted to be. I was out now, working, and reclaiming my life. I was proving that the messed up jock was gone and that I could be the man I wanted to be in the future. I was, essentially, a new person, but, so far, every woman I had known had recognized me and run up to ask for, or get around to me asking them for a date. All of which I said no to. I just wasn’t that person anymore. I was focused on myself and rebuilding, yet here I was, completely enamored by this woman next to me. This woman who has no recollection of who I am, and is the one person I want to know but can’t for the life of me figure out how to tell her the truth of who I am.
    So, here I am, walking a pinup, a beautiful one, to tea. Now that I look at her, again though, I think she would stand out in a crowd wearing jeans and no makeup, she was that stunning. This getup seemed to me like a disguise. Like the look was a way to separate her from people, to keep the world at a distance from her.  Maybe we would get to the place someday where we could discuss disguises, since if anyone understood the need for them, I did. But if we did get there, it would probably mean she would know I was the reason she thought she needed a disguise in the first place. So… maybe not.
    As we walked down the street I heard her dad yell goodbye and she waved back. People that passed us walking nodded and smiled, with her saying a shy ‘hello’ to any that approached.  We slowly walked across the fair, chatting about simple things. By the time we got to the little kiosk that she called a shop to get tea, I felt that I knew a lot about her, but yet nothing at the same time. 
    When I stepped up to order our tea, one sweet and one not, Teagan spoke up, “Two, un-sweet, please” I liked her even more. I had gone down South to college and ended up doing my time down there too. Sweet tea was a way of life there and as much as I had hated it, I had eventually grown used to it.  Now that I was out, I was damn happy to have my normal, non-syrupy tea back.  I think my jail time was making me appreciative of things that I normally wouldn’t have paid any attention to. Or maybe I had just been out of the game for so long I saw everything differently. Whatever it was, it seemed even the small, insignificant things about Teagan (like tea) made me happy.  By the time I got our tea, she had found a little spot in the shade to sit and drink and hopefully, to talk.
    “So, I work with your dad at the restoration shop.” Wow, I had officially lost it. First I practically follow her around all day, repeating the same stupid question over and over and now I was blurting stupid facts about myself? I grimaced inwardly at my inability to function around her. She turned me inside out. Trying to think of something, anything else to say that would save me from my own stupidity, I heard her start giggling.
    “Restoration shop?? You have to know all he does is pick the cars he likes to work on, we all repair the rest, right?” 
    I laughed because we did all know this around the shop but he was a good man and a good boss who stood beside you, so we just took it as it was.  Plus, he paid well. “I know this; we all know this. But, we also appreciate it and would never say it to him, so now you have to swear to secrecy that you won’t share that his staff knows his secret.”
    I tried to look as stern as I could. She busted up again.
    “I promise. But your stern face needs work, you look