From the Damage 1 - Opposites Attract Read Online Free

he called.
    “Of course I’m here.” Sarah stepped into the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on her apron. “Bring that little darling over.”
    He smiled. “She’s in a really good mood today.”
    Sarah took Elizabeth and held the little girl in front of her. “How’s my favorite little niecey?”
    Elizabeth squealed in response, and they both laughed.
    “Mike’s waiting for you in the garage,” she said.
    “Right.” Gage handed the diaper bag over to Sarah and lingered for a moment, then bent down and kissed his baby on the forehead. She grabbed hold of his necklace and tried to pull herself back to him. “Lizzie, I have to work,” he explained in a gentle voice, his heart melting. He held her for a minute anyway, then kissed her again and reluctantly handed her back to Sarah.
    “Ah, he shows!” Mike called from under the hood of a Buick as Gage walked into the garage.
    “Yeah, sorry,” he said. “Shane crashed at my place last night, and I had a hard time waking him up this morning.”

    “I thought you didn’t let your friends do that anymore?”
    He shrugged. “He needed a place to stay.” He looked around. “What work do you have for me today?”
    “A car broke down over at the Stop-n-Shop on Elm Street,” he said. “You want to take that or work on this?”
    “I’ll take the pick up,” he said. “What kind of car is it?”
    “A green Neon.” Mike tossed him the keys to the tow truck.
    Gage headed toward Elm Street, unable to get Lizzie off his mind. He loved that little girl more than he ever thought he could love anybody. At six months old, she was the spitting image of her daddy, with sandy blonde hair and wide, round gray eyes. He had never wanted to have kids after the bang-up job his parents did, and of course he never saw himself as a single father at seventeen, but now that he knew Lizzie and had fallen deeply in love with her, he couldn’t imagine his life without her.
    Up ahead, the Stop-n-Shop came into view, and he saw the green Dodge Neon parked on the edge of the parking lot. He pulled over and stopped the tow truck behind it. “Did you call Mike’s?” he asked as he rounded the hood of the car.
    “Yeah.” The driver was short and skinny, wearing a pink tank top and khaki capris with designer flip-flops. She wore her blonde hair in a tight braid that ran down to the middle of her back. After looking at her for a minute, he recognized her from The D-UC. Kelly . He froze for a second and then turned to the car. “So what’d it do?”
    “I don’t know. It just...won’t start.”
    He chuckled. “Is it the battery?”
    “How should I know?” Kelly asked, shrugging her shoulders. “That’s your job.”
    “I guess you’re right.” He leaned under the hood and tinkered with a few things.
    “Looks like your fan belt snapped.”
    “Is that bad?”
    “Your car’s not going to work without it.” He started for the truck. “I’ll tow it to the shop, and you can pick it up in a few hours.”
    “But I need my car now,” she said. “I have school.”
    “I don’t exactly carry fan belts around with me, and we’re backed up, anyway.
    It’ll be after twelve before I can get to it.” He eyed her as he opened the door to the truck. “There’s no one you can call?”
    She looked down at the ground.
    He rolled his eyes. “Alright. So get in.”
    “No, no, it’s okay. I’ll walk.”
    “What school do you go to?”
    “Clearwater.”
    “Well, if you want to walk ten miles, that’s your choice.” He shrugged and hopped in the truck and pulled it in front of the sedan, then got back out to hook up the car for a tow. “But the offer still stands for a lift if you need one,” he said, as he bent down to hook up the towing rig.
    “Okay. Thank you.” She sighed and leaned into her car to get her backpack.

    They started down the road in silence, with Kelly nervously folding and unfolding her hands.
    “So, if you go to Clearwater, what are you doing on my