Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare was an Auntie #1)(94)

Dave, her crusty, middle-aged mechanic, climbed out of the driver’s seat. He had clean clothes on for the first time since she’d met him years ago, and held up a set of keys. “She’s done!” he proclaimed proudly.

Kareena ran her hands over the rear of the small sedan, tears pouring down her cheeks in earnest now. It was finally here. The vehicle she’d been working on for years. “I thought I was supposed to come to you! I have to pay for all the work.” She’d been worried about that, because the bill was going to take a huge chunk out of what she was hoping to use as a down payment to her father.

“The bill has been taken care of,” he said, grinning.

“Oh, Dave. You can’t comp me—”

He snorted then let out a wheezing laugh. “Girl, I love this car, but I ain’t stupid. Rims, custom paint, all that body work was a fortune!” He named a figure that was thousands higher than what she anticipated paying. “Your boyfriend paid for it.”

Her brain stopped and stuttered like a Microsoft application. She brushed away her tears under her glasses. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Your boyfriend!” He reached in the driver’s seat and pulled out an envelope with a stack of papers inside. “Here is your repair and restoration records. On the top is the invoice. A man named Dr. Prem Verma called. Said that you’d mentioned that you gave us your car to work on. He paid for everything, including a rush fee and a delivery fee.”

Kareena took the envelope, then opened it to see the invoice on top.

Oh my god, Prem paid thousands for her car.

Was this a way to apologize to appease his guilty conscience? She had no idea what it meant, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to text him to ask.

“Thanks, Dave. I really appreciate it.”

“Thank you. If you need a repair job, let us know. But I think you can handle most of it yourself. You did a bang-up job on restoring what you did.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “I can always tell when beauties like this are going to be in good hands.” He patted the hood of the car. “You’re going to be okay.”

She smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m going to be okay.”

A massive Tacoma roared down the road toward them and stopped right in front of Kareena and Dave.

“That’s my ride,” Dave said, and pulled open the passenger-side door.

“Thank you again. Seriously, this is the best present ever.” She had her car now. She felt like her possibilities had to be endless.

“No problem,” Dave replied. He hauled himself up into the truck. “Oh! I forgot. Your boyfriend asked me to include a document in the back of that folder. You may want to check it out when you get a chance.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks.”

Dave waved, and Kareena turned back to her car. In the bright light of the early evening sun, it sparkled. The interior leather looked polished and new. It even had the new car smell again. The simple dashboard was clean, and the only upgrade was a music system that allowed her to connect to Bluetooth on her phone.

Kareena looked up at the house, at her grandmother’s car in the driveway, then down at her car. She then opened the envelope and flipped to the back where there was a journal article from the Cardiology Journal of America called “The Illusions of the Heart and Misconceptions of Love.”

“Prem,” she said with a sigh. She was about to toss the article when a highlighted line drew her attention to the second page.

“The physical pain we feel from loss, the damaging effects on the heart, may be linked to an illusion that we call love, but that doesn’t make love any less real. Regardless of how the subjects find each other, whether through a cultural practice such as arranged marriages, or through childhood friendship turned life partners, studies show that feelings of love can grow stronger and affect other parts of the brain as well.”

She stared at the line for a long moment, rereading it a dozen times over.

“Damn,” she whispered. This man played dirty.

She began to tuck the documents back in the envelope when a small slip of paper fell out. She turned it over to read the simple block letters on the front.

I’m sorry I couldn’t say the words. But I’ll tell you them as often as you want to hear them if you’ll let me be in your life. This is my grand gesture. Does it work for you?

Kareena began to sniffle. She took the note and tucked it into her bag next to her mother’s note she’d found in the kitchen. After inspecting her beautiful pride and joy, she got in behind the wheel. She’d have to examine the buttery leather seats, the beautiful trim, and the finishing work under the hood some other time. Right now, she had to come up with a game plan. Prem could’ve brought the note to her himself, but he’d always made the first move. He was letting her decide now, and she had to respect him for that.

She had to go see Bobbi and Veera. Her besties would know exactly what to do.

And maybe she’d pick up some Taco Bell along the way.

Kareena turned the keys in the ignition, and the purr of the engine boosted her spirits. It was time to secure her happily ever after.





Chapter Thirty-Four

Prem




Prem checked his phone again for missed messages. Nothing. Dave at the mechanic’s shop said that she’d gotten her car, but Kareena still hadn’t reached out.