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“He’s never going to let me drive it, it’s his baby.” TK explains, putting on the turn signal. He looks in both the side mirror and the rearview mirror before switching lanes.
“Well that’s too bad.” Nancy answers, adjusting the air conditioning. “Tell him you’ll just have to babysit for a few days.”
“You’re hilarious.”
“I always am.” Nancy scrolls through the radio, settling on a Top 40 station. “Look, with your car in the shop and mine being out of commission on account of a curb hitting it.” Nancy shrugs, “We’re gonna need wheels, and soon.”
“I don’t know, Nancy.” TK says, uneasy.
“Come on, TK. He’s your husband, the worst he can say is no, which,” Nancy holds up a finger. “He probably won’t.”
“Can’t be too sure,” TK mutters to himself. Nancy eyes him from the passenger seat.
“What are you hiding?” Nancy asks and TK briefly side-eyes her before focusing on the road. “No, don’t do that. You’re definitely hiding something."
TK releases a heavy sigh. “When we first got back together after the break up,” He slows down as they pull up to a red light. “I might have accidentally spilled an iced coffee all over the passenger seat.”
Nancy winces as she pulls down the sun visor. “Yikes.”
“Then, when panicking to clean up the spill, I might have accidentally dinged the passenger door against a parking bollard.” At Nancy’s confused look, TK clarifies. “Those big yellow concrete poles in parking lots.”
“Yikes,” Nancy says again, drawing the word out. “You really went two for two, huh?”
“You’re telling me. He was visiting his sister in Colorado at the time so I paid to have it fixed without him ever really knowing. Had to pretend I bought coffee scented air freshener for about a month, but no harm, no foul.”
“Except to his car.” Nancy jokes as TK presses down on the gas pedal as the light turns green. “Alright, I know you so I know you feel bad about this still, but TK, it was a simple mistake. One that you fixed right away, I might add.” Nancy continues. “I know you, you’re someone who tries not to make the same mistake twice. And, we really need a way to get to CHCP.”
TK parks the ambulance in the firehouse and Nancy grabs his phone from the cupholder, handing it to him. “Call him.”
TK grabs his phone, looking at it dejectedly.
Nancy grabs his shoulder. “He’ll understand.”
TK sighs. “Fine.”
TK hops out of the elevator and walks to the sleeping quarters of the firehouse. He sits listening to sound of Carlos’ phone ringing. Carlos eventually picks up and TK can hear the smile in his voice. “Hey baby, what’s up?”
TK answers, rushing through his words. “CanIborrowyourcarsoNancyandIcanhaveawaytogettoaconference?”
Carlos pauses before asking, “Huh?”
TK takes a deep breath and tries again. “Can I borrow your car so Nancy and I can have a way to get to the CHCP conference?”
“Oh, uh, yeah sure.” Carlos says.
“Really?” TK asks, perplexed.”
“Of course. How long will you need it for?”
“Just the day of the convention. I can drop you off and pick you up, if needed. I’ll just need to coordinate that with Nancy, but that shoul-”
“TK,” Carlos interjects calmly. “It’s fine. I’ll just carpool with Mitchell. Our apartment is on his way to work, it’s not a problem.”
TK takes a beat. “Are you sure?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Carlos questions.
“Well, it’s just, this car is your baby.” TK answers. “I know you wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.”
He hears Carlos chuckle to himself before he asks, “Is this about the dent that happened when I was visiting Sofia?”
“Wait,” TK eyes widen. “You knew?”
“You know Oscar can’t keep anything to himself,” Carlos laughs. “He might have mentioned it when I took the car for a check-up a few weeks later. Asked me what I thought of the coffee car freshener.”
“Wait, so you knew,” TK continues. “And you weren’t upset?”
“Why would I be? It was an accident, and you did what you could to fix it.” Carlos replies. “I’m just happy you weren’t hurt. Though I don’t know when I’ll be able to stand the smell of coffee again.” TK hears a shuffle on the other end of the line and Carlos says, “Hey, I got to go, but I’ll see you at home, yeah?”
“Yeah.” TK answers and Carlos can hear his smile through the line. They say “I love you” as their goodbyes before TK joins Nancy in the kitchen.
“So?” Nancy asks, pulling her lunch from out of the fridge.
“You were right.”
Nancy smirks, “I always am.”
—
“I’ve already filled the tank up so you shouldn’t need to stop. Watch the tire gauge light. With the weather fluctuating so much, it’ll probably go off. There’s a tire gauge in the glove compartment. If it goes under 32, you’ll need to put air in it, but”
“Baby,” TK looks up at Carlos from the driver’s side window. “I’ve driven a car before.” He jokes and Carlos smiles.
“Alright, well drive safely, okay? I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to my baby.” Carlos says, hand the hood of his car.
“I’m going to take great care of your car, Carlos, I promise.”
“No silly,” Carlos leans down into the open car window. He places a hand behind TK’s head, bringing his lips to TK’s. When he pulls away from the kiss, he smiles. “I mean you.”