The next day, the state of stress in which I presented myself was unusual and stupid. Yet I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen once I will be in the garage. And I was soon to be fixed, for I could see the little mechanical workshop open with a view of the back of a man leaning on the engine of a car.

I returned to the place stinking oil while observing inside. Apart from the almost black towels, the room was quite clean. A little music was played in the loudspeakers. I felt like I was going back to the therapist whom I saw when I was a kid, and who kept on playing music in the waiting room.

"You need something, ma'am?" asked the bearded man, causing me to jump on the same occasion.

"No, no. Actually, I'm looking for Alex. I start working today."

"Ah! The new secretary who he doesn't stop talking about!" he said with a laugh. "You don't know how hard it's to work when he's grumpy."

"Well, I'll try not to put him in a bad mood then!" I exclaimed, smiling softly.

"Serge, go back to work," Alex's grumbling voice commanded.

The man laughed before working on a car. I walked to the door where Alex had just left. It was a small brightly lit room with a table in the middle, surrounded by shelves. To my surprise, the colorful binders rest on wooden shelves. No sheets flying everywhere.

"Well, there are a lot of papers that aren't tidy in the binders. You can start with that. If the phone rings, you can note the name and time of the appointment on this notebook."

He then left the room not letting me say a word. I sighed and began my work. I took out the binders one by one, and checked that everything was in the right place. I answered the phone. Only one call in the morning. At noon, Alex came to tell me that I could go and see Elena to eat while he was with his friend Serge. The garage was open until at least eighteen hours without interruption. So Elena used to prepare a good meal that they could eat in the garage itself.

I went in to see Elena singing an air in the kitchen.

"I'm here," I said.

"Oh, hello my little one!" she said, leaving the saucepan to turn her attention back to me. "So that first day with Alex?"

"Well, I stayed in the room to sort out and check that the papers are tidy, and I also answer the phone. It's fairly well organized."

"Of course it is now! I threatened not to eat anymore if he hadn't clean a minimum that room before you came there. If you'd seen that before, it was a real mess!"

"You didn't have to help me. It's my job after all."

"Let's see my child, after the days you spent putting away his father's office, it was okay not to be overworked," she said, shoving the spoon into the saucepan.

"Thanks then."

After eating, I went back to the garage. But I was bored. The phone didn't ring, and I sat down and did nothing. I was surely going to have cramps.

Suddenly, raising my head, I saw a cardboard hidden behind filing cabinets. I got up and stretched out my hand to remove the binders in front, then tried to touch the cardboard, but it was too far away. A presence behind me made me froze. A hand extended to the cardboard and took it to place it on the table. I turned to see Alex just to my right. He didn't move and neither did I. Our eyes were captured without anyone turning away.

"Thank you," I said as soon as the use of my voice came back to me.

"What do you want to do with this cardboard?"

"Oh nothing. I just wanted to check that there were no other papers inside."

I lifted the blue top and looked at the contents. I was surprised to find pictures. Some in black and white and others in color, but the sides showed that they were several years old and that they had passed through several hands.

"I did't remember I'd put that here," Alex admitted, just as curious as I was.

He took some pictures of my hands, and looked at them with a nostalgic smile. I assumed it was his family.

"Your parents?" I asked, looking at the photo of a couple.

"Yes, just before they leave."

His voice vibrated with emotion, but very quickly he closed like an oyster hiding his pearl. Memories as precious as a treasure. He replaced the pictures in the box and put it back on top. In his usual corner.

"You've finished storing the files?" he almost scolded.

"Yes, I also took two appointments for the week," I replied calmly.

Not knowing what to do, I began to tell my life. Particularly about my parents. People who breathed the joy of life, but who loved to travel. Throughout my childhood I had been practically lugging around in their adventures around the world before I landed at eighteen in a town that I could call my home.

"My parents were very worried and called me every day to see if I was okay, if I had eaten well, if there was a problem," I laughed. "Sometimes they even tried to convince me to come back with them..."

My thoughts went back into that time and I saw all these phone calls scenes where I could hear the sound of their voices. My mother's worried voice and my father's grave voice. In truth, these sounds managed to confuse me. I had forgotten. The sounds, their faces, their laughter...

After meeting David and working like a fierce woman, I had no time to call them. In fact, it was often them who called me. And the last time they'd done it, I'd chastised them for calling me once again.

My eyes pricked with confined tears. In the end, I had acted as if they'd been dead all this time. How many Christmas, New Year's Day had I missed out only thinking about myself? So much, that it was impossible to count them. I answered only a few of their message so that they left me in peace, but that was all.

"Alicia," Alex whispered, bringing me back to reality. He took my hand and stared at it without moving. I was too afraid to spoil that moment I needed. A moment with just a little attention.

"I haven't seen them for a long time. Since I met my husband, I no longer call them."

"You're married," he asked, pulling his hand away like it was burning him.

"Divorced since a few months," I announced, looking at him.

A silence followed my declaration. He seemed hermetic. I didn't know why, but it hurt to see him so distant. I would have liked to see his vulnerable side, like before, with his family photos. However, I didn't want to see him sad.

So many things I wanted about him that make me want a good slap to dare to think so. My feelings began to play tricks that I didn't need.

"My parents travel a lot, I don't even know where they are now," I confessed with a sigh.

Perhaps a real good slap would prevent me from spreading even more things of my life before this stranger.

"You should call them. You never know when someone leaves. "

His voice was only a murmur, but the emotion reached me with strength.

"Yes, I know," I said.

I looked at the box now hidden behind filing cabinets, but from where you could see the blue top. I had to call my parents. Tonight. A resolution that gave me an uncertain hope. I was afraid they wouldn't forgive me for ignoring them for so many years. Fear of their own parents. I felt like I had become a teenager who had done a big mistake. I didn't think they would miss me that much. And it was only with the help of solitude that I realized it.

A moment after, a hand came to caress my cheek. My head leaned toward the heat. It seemed to give me the appeasement I needed. Alex's blue eyes clung to mine. Troubled, I remained fixing it. Contrary emotions glittered in his eyes. Maybe my own pupils had the same confusion.

My eyes went down to his mouth. I passed my tongue over my lips eager to taste his. His thumb touched my lip with a nice softness. I raised my eyes to his. A look troubled by desire.

"My boy, where are you?" There's a customer for you!" Serge yelled, breaking all the atmosphere and the warmth that was beginning to rise.

Alex drew back from me to leave. Embarrassed, I remained in my little room and sighed as soon as the door was closed.

What was happening to me? I lost my head. He was my employer and it was out of the question that I would get trapped by a man. Out of the question to fall in love again then to receive a dagger in the heart.

I went back to work trying not to think again of his regard and his touch that didn't leave me indifferent.

"By the way, why didn't you want a secretary at the beginning?" I asked as he walked me back to the bus stop. I tried to stay at a respectable distance to avoid physical contact with him. Dumb. I had become a real teenager now.

For a moment he didn't answer me. I had thought he hadn't heard my question while he was too much in his thoughts, but an answer escaped from his mouth as I got on the bus.

"To avoid complications."

Astonished, I thought I saw a slight smile forming on his lips as he went away. I was stunned. Had he just insinuated that women were annoying? I laugh alone, shaking my head.

Once back in my apartment, I stared at my cell phone. I had changed my number to avoid David calling me, but I hadn't thought about my parents who could have asked for my news.

It was stupid to tremble while typing the number of his parents. And yet my hand took a long time to press properly on the screen. Simple numbers on a simple device that could connect me with their voices that faded from my memory. The last message they sent me was about the divorce with David. Few months ago. I hoped they were still in Canada and that they always had the same number.

Dressed simply in jogging and tank top, I sat cross-legged on my bed and carried the cell phone to my ear. The buzzing sounded like an alarm in my eardrums. The moment when the sound stopped and I recognized my father's voice, a tear escaped my eyes.

"Hello Dad?" I said in a hoarse voice.

I smiled as I heard my father swear and my mother screaming in the background. Never was I happy to find the sound of their voices. Never was I more enchanted to ask me all the barbarous questions. And I was never more delighted than to weep for joy. An non-stop chatter filled with laughter and tears lasted all night. For my biggest relief.