00077. Side Story 002: Ten years ago. 3/3

When they pulled up, the gate was open and one of the roll doors was up as light streamed out of it. Jacob stopped outside the roll door and honked the horn on his truck. After about a minute a young man and woman walked out of the opening and moved next to his driver side door. He lowered his window as they approached and the man said, "You're late. You should have radioed in when you were close, dad was worried about you."

Jacob scratched the back of his head as he said, "Sorry, I got distracted."

The man looked at the car on the flat bed as he said, "I am guessing that car and your passenger are the reason?"

Jacob had a goofy smile as he said, "Pretty much. Can you open up another door? I wanna park both of the cars in the garage for the night."

The man nodded his head as he walked back inside the shop to open another roll door as the woman said, "I know it's late, but are you hungry? We were talking about getting food when you came back."

Jacob smirked and pointed to his collar bone as he said, "You were talking uh?"

The woman blushed a little and she adjusted her shirt to hide the fresh hickey there as Jacob turned to his passenger as he asked, "You hungry?"

Daniel nodded her head as she said, "Yeah. I haven't eaten since noon."

Jacob looked back at the woman as he said, "Food sounds like a great idea."

"Good. Now are you gonna introduce me to your passenger?"

Jacob smirked before he said, "I will, just let me get these cars unloaded."

The woman shook her head before she said, "Fine."

It didn't take long before both cars were unloaded and parked inside of the garage. Once Jacob parked the tow truck in the outside lot area, he walked back over to the garage with Daniel next to him. Once they arrived in the shop area, Jacob made introductions between Daniel, Ben and May. Afterwards the four of them headed out to an all night dinner and spent a couple hours as they ate and talked.

Daniel found herself enjoying the company of all of them. She had learned early in life how to read people pretty well and could normally figure out someone's intentions within an hour of meeting them. The amount of people who tried to become friends with her in school just because of her last name was staggering and it only became worse when she was in college. It was the main reason she never had any friends, she would rather be alone than hang around with someone who was expecting benefits.

Which was the main reason she was enjoying her time with the people she had just met. She knew exactly the type of person Jacob was from their drive together. He was open, honest and liked to joke around even if most of his jokes were really corny. But she found herself enjoying his company. The same went for May and Ben, both of them were like Jacob. What you saw was who they were, they weren't hiding their intentions behind false words and empty platitudes.

While they hung out, both May and Ben took an immediate liking to Daniel and when it was time to leave, May invited Daniel to stay with her for the night. Daniel tried to refuse but May was really good at refusing her refusal. The next day Daniel joined May when she went to work at the shop in the afternoon. She wanted to find out what happened to her car and then she was going to rent a motel room for a week while she found a place to stay and start studying for her BAR exam.

When Daniel arrived she met Jacob, Ben and Ben's father. Ben's father was an older man in his seventies, with a head full of gray hair. Even though he was older he was still in good shape for his age and carried himself well. The man smiled at Daniel as he said, "You must be Daniel, Jacob couldn't stop talking about you this morning at breakfast."

"I did not!"

Ben laughed as he said, "No, dad's right. You didn't stop talking for almost half an hour."

Daniel smiled just the tiniest bit as everyone else laughed as Jacob turned to look away, his cheeks tinged a little red. Ben's dad extended his hand as he said, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Peter."

Daniel shook his hand as she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jacob told me a lot about you on the drive to New York."

As they released their hands he said, "And Jacob told me all about you this morning over breakfast. I think the boy is smitten with you the way he was talking."

"I don't think you're wrong with that one dad."

Jacob's face was a little redder and he still wasn't looking at anyone else as he said, "Can you guys please stop talking."

Daniel couldn't help but to smile at the family's interactions. She already knew Jacob had taken a liking to her. It wasn't hard to miss since Jacob was easy to read. But she had to admit, she didn't mind seeing him act this way. It was kinda cute.

Peter patted Jacob on the shoulder as he said, "Jacob here, already looked over your car this morning. He said it's fixable. But you would have to ask him for the details."

She turned to look at Jacob and he waved her towards her car that was up on a lift. As they walked over to her car Jacob said, "Like dad said, it's fixable. The bad news is when it snapped, it broke a few other things."

"How'd it happen?"

As they stopped next to the car, Jacob picked up a couple broken bolts and showed her where they sheared in half. He pointed at some discoloration in the metal as he said, "Looks like there were some defects in the metal which caused weak points. It was probably like that from the factory. If the previous owner never drove the car much, that would explain why it didn't break before."

As he placed the bolts back down he said, "Your prolonged drive time during your trip here caused the bolts to finally fail. The drive shaft snapped off your rear diff when the bolts gave out. I checked your rear differential and that's fine."

Jacob moved under the car as he pointed to the middle of her car where something was missing and said, "The drive shaft was ruined and needs to be replaced, along with part of your exhaust system. It also looks like the transmission was damaged. It might not need a full rebuild, but it needs to be taken apart and gone over."

Daniel looked up at her car for a few moments before she looked back at Jacob and asked, "How much is it to fix?"

"I already priced it out, parts alone will run you around fifteen hundred dollars. That's if the transmission needs to be rebuilt. If it doesn't it will be closer to a thousand."

Daniel frowned as she looked back up at her car. She let out a sigh as she said, "I just bought this car for forty two hundred and now I have to spend a quarter of the price to fix it…"

"That price didn't include labor…"

Daniel was depressed, while she did have money. It was just disappointing she would have to spend it on something like this so soon. She dropped her head down and asked, "How much will that be?"

Jacob had a bright smile as he said, "Not much, just a date."

Daniel paused as she looked at Jacob's smiling face. After a few seconds she shook her head as she said, "No, I don't want handouts."

Jacob's smile faltered slightly as he said, "I knew asking you out wouldn't be so easy."

He let out a sigh and said, "I would only charge you a few hundred in labor. It's not my normal price, but I also don't do regular repairs like this."

Daniel studied Jacob for a few moments before she said, "Alright, I accept your proposals."

Jacob had a guilty look as he rubbed the back of his head and said, "Alright, I kinda already ordered the parts. Most of them will be here in a couple days, I should have everything finished by the end of the week."

Daniel laughed lightly as she asked, "What would you have done if I refused to get the car repaired here?"

Jacob looked lost for a few seconds before he saw May talking to Ben near the front office. He smiled as he said, "I would just have May talk to you about it. She did a good job last night…"

Something clicked in Jacob's mind as he realized something and said, "Hold on just a minute."

Before Daniel could reply, Jacob bolted over to May and started to talk animatedly with her for a few seconds before Ben and May both looked over towards Daniel and then burst into laughter at whatever Jacob was saying to them. Daniel was curious what was going on so she walked over to the group and heard May as she said, "I am not going to ask her out for you, do it yourself idiot."

Daniel burst into laughter herself when she realized what Jacob was trying to do. She shook her head as she said, "You're an idiot, I already said yes."

Jacob, Ben and May all turned to look at Daniel before Jacob dumbly asked, "You did?"

Daniel nodded as she said, "I told you, I accept your proposals."

"Wasn't that for the repair?"

Daniel smirked as she said, "It was for the repair and the date."

"But you said you didn't want handouts?"

Daniel nodded as she said, "I don't, I plan to pay for the repair and the date."

"Oh…" "Ooohhh!"

Jacob had a goofy smile as he said, "Good! Great even! When do you want to go?

"I don't really have any plans, I just need to find a place to live and study for my BAR exam. So whenever you want, I guess."

May smiled as she said, "You can just stay with me."

"I appreciate the offer but I really don't want any handouts."

May shook her head as she said, "I wasn't offering for free. We can split my rent and you can use that extra bedroom you stayed in last night."

Ben cut in as he said, "She used to have a roommate but the bitch left without notice and May has been stuck with an apartment she can't really afford."

May slapped Ben's arm as she said, "She was not… Okay maybe she was, but you don't have to say that."

Ben shrugged his shoulders and looked at Daniel as he said, "I'd also appreciate it if you'd move in with May. I've been helping her with rent for the past few months since we haven't been able to find her a new roommate."

May smiled at Ben before she gave him a kiss on the cheek and then she said, "You have no idea how hard it is to find a decent roommate in this city."

Daniel turned around to glance at her car for a few seconds before she turned around and asked, "If Ben is already paying rent, why doesn't he just move in with you?"

May smiled as she said, "His dad is very traditional and doesn't think a man and women should live together before marriage. While we don't feel the same way, we both respect him too much to not honor his wishes.

Ben nodded his head in agreement as Daniel smiled before she asked, "How much is rent?"

"Four hundred and that includes the utilities."

Daniel stuck out her hand as she said, "Nice to meet you, roomie."

After May and Daniel shook hands, they ended up unloading Daniel's car and with the help of Jacob took everything to May's apartment. The rest of the week passed in a blur, Daniel spent most of her time at the shop hanging around with May, Ben, Jacob and Peter. She still took time to study for her test, but she wasn't in a rush. She could finally relax a little for the first time in her life and enjoy herself a bit. So that's exactly what she did.

At the end of the week, after her car was fixed is when Jacob decided they should go on their date. During the week, Daniel had asked a few times where they were going to go, but each time Jacob said she would just have to wait and find out. She didn't mind too much, but she mostly wanted to know so she could have an idea of what to expect from the menu.

On Sunday, Jacob came by her apartment and picked her up a little past noon and drove her out to a city park. At first she thought they were going to a restaurant nearby, but Jacob pulled out a picnic basket and a blanket from the trunk of his car before he led her into the park. He laid out the blanket on a nice spot under a tree with a good view of the park and then sat down.

As Daniel joined him she said, "This is not what I expected when you asked for a date."

Jacob smirked as he said, "I know, but I wanted our first date to be memorable."

Daniel raised an eyebrow as she asked, "You're already planning on us having a second date? You're a little over confident aren't you?"

Jacob's smirk became bigger as he said, "You'll see, I came prepared to make sure we'd have a second date." Jacob opened the picnic basket and pulled out some sealed containers, silverware, along with some cups and a bottle of what looked like diluted tea.

He filled up her glass and as he handed it to her he said, "You said an arnold palmer was your favorite drink so I made this myself. Sun tea made with black tea leaves mixed with some homemade lemonade. It took me a while to figure out a good mix, hopefully you like it."

Daniel studied the drink for a few moments as Jacob started to open up the containers he brought. She took a sip and was surprised with how good it was, it was almost perfect and she couldn't help but appreciate the fact he made this just for her. While she was enjoying her drink, Jacob placed a container of garlic cheese bread down between them. He then handed her one of the containers along with some silverware and a napkin.

She glanced at the container of steaming lasagna before she looked back up at Jacob who had a cocky grin on his face. He motioned to the food as he said, "I finished making this just before I picked you up. I also remembered you said this was your favorite food."

Jacob winked at her and then dug into his own thing of lasagna. Daniel shook her head for a moment before she took her first bite and froze. It was good. Actually it was really good, a lot better than she expected it to be. It wasn't the best lasagna she'd ever eaten, but it's hard to top some of the chef's her parents employed over the years. But it blew away all of the lasagna she ate while in college and was leagues ahead of the few she tried to make herself. She couldn't help herself when she asked, "How long have you been making lasagna for?"

"About a week."

Daniel paused and looked at Jacob who smiled as he said, "It was on my list of things to learn how to cook, you just gave me a good reason to learn it sooner."

"You spent the whole week learning to cook lasagna?"

Jacob laughed as he said, "Ya, I experimented with small batches for dinner every night until I had something I thought was good. Dad and Ben both enjoyed the final product. How about you? Do you like it?"

Daniel just smiled lightly and then went back to eating. The rest of their date was spent sitting and talking in the park for a few hours until they watched the sunset together. Over the next year Jacob went on numerous dates with Daniel. They even started a tradition of visiting the park together each Sunday which they continued to do with their kids. It was also on one of those Sunday park trips where Daniel proposed to Jacob.