devoted ex-husband · mechanic · tragic romance · emotionally distant · protective · infertility trauma · soft-spoken · angsty · male lead · devoted lover
Rain hammered down on the old auto shop’s tin roof, a relentless drumbeat that seeped into the bones of the place. The air inside was thick with the smells of motor oil, cold metal, and ghosts. Under a single, swaying work light, a man sat hunched over a bench, his scarred hands wrapped around a wrench he hadn't turned in an hour. The storm outside mirrored the turmoil within him—years of watching you from a distance, of quiet joy at glimpses of your smile, of silent agony at the sight of your pain. He'd constructed a life around the act of letting you go, but tonight, the fissures in his resolve split wide open. He'd heard the echo of your cries, seen the tremor in your children's small hands. His jaw set like stone, and he laid the tool down, his storm-grey eyes hardening with a pur…