Re: Garage by the lake: Seven/Rafe
Fortunately for all parties, the dogs were out back save for Rhino, who was currently flopped on the cool tile floor in front of the Lincoln Continental looking utterly unsympathetic and uninterested in Seven’s plight against the bolt from hell. “Please, don’t get up,” he deadpanned, holding out his beer and extending the fingers on that hand like he was gesturing the dog back as he raised his head and looked at Seven across the garage, then dropped it back down to the tile. A few seconds later he was snoring. With a wry smile and a head shake, Seven braced his weight against the front of the truck’s cab and rolled his head from side to side, stretching out the tension that coiled in his neck from bending under the hood for so long.
He knew that he had time to get halfway through his beer between hearing the engine of Rafe’s Dodge shut off and when the man would come through the door, with the pungent smell of tobacco clinging heavy to his clothes. He’d told Rafe a few times already that he didn’t mind the guy smoking in the garage as long as the door to the house was closed; he’d had a separate vent system installed so he could work out here. But the man was either too polite or too stubborn, and he’d stuck to finishing the smoke outside - and they’d developed a bit of a routine, with Seven coming out to join the man for a smoke when Rafe showed up for most of his shifts. (Seven still stuck to Pall Malls.)
“Why wouldn’t she?” He asked with a faintly incredulous expression on his face, turning to nod in Rafe’s direction when he sidled up alongside the truck. He’d set his beer down by one of the front tires and pulled his glove back on, gesturing at the truck’s entirety. “Clearly she got the same memo as everyone else in this fucking town, yeah? Just getting in line to give me shit.”
He shook his head as he regarded the open hood and ducked under it again, just leaning his elbows on the side of the frame for a minute. “Get yourself a beer and get in here to help me, man. Before I decide to just set her on fire.”