Page 16 of The Relationship Mechanic

Dani turned back to Vini and pointed a fork at her. “I heard you had some excitement at the shop this week too.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you,” Dani replied before scooping up a forkful of turnip greens. “Tony popped into the clinic today for a checkup and told me all about the Mercedes guy.”

Vini shrugged. It had been a few days since then, and the guy hadn’t returned so she figured all was well. “Not much to say there. He was an ass, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”

Dani nodded. “She also told me you had a new cutie with you that she hadn’t seen before.” Vini froze. She had introduced Jessica to Tony, and they had chatted briefly before Tony had hauled the guy and his car away. There hadn’t been any indication that Tony was more curious about Jessica than she was about anyone else. Then again, it wasn’t often new people popped up at Vini’s shop.

Of course, that would be the moment Ava decided to pay attention to them again. “What new cutie?”

Vini took a silent breath and prayed to whoever was listening. “There was no new cutie. She met Jessica when she came by.”

Ava’s expression didn’t change, but Vini knew that didn’t mean anything. She was a teacher. Remaining expressionless was something she was trained to do. “And why was Jessica at your shop? I thought we decided to stay away from her.”

“We,” Vini said, “didn’t decide anything. You were talking, and I let you. Who I hang out with is my own business.”

Their dad chose that moment to speak up. “Well, if she’s a friend of yours, you should invite her over here so we can meet her.” He didn’t look up from his food, so he missed Vini’s wince and Dani’s smirk. Inviting Jessica to the Williams’ household seemed like a recipe for disaster, but he clearly didn’t get that memo because he continued. “Thanksgiving is in a week, and we already invited Grace. What’s one more mouth to feed?”

Ava frowned. “We don’t even know her.”

“All the more reason to invite her,” Dani replied. “Plus, she’s here to visit Grace. How are you going to invite her friend for Thanksgiving and not her? That’s so uncouth.”

“The hell did you just call me?” Ava asked voice rising.

“Girls,” Richard interrupted, his voice pitched the same way it always was when he knew there was about to be an argument. Vini bit her lip to keep from smiling as Ava and Dani stared at one another a beat longer before looking away. He turned to Vini. “Let her know and see if she wants to join us. It’s good to see you making new friends. I worry about you always being cooped up in the shop by yourself.”

Vini warmed at his concern but pushed back. “I’m not alone. Aiden is there pretty much every day.”

He nodded. “True, but you’re so young. Maybe it’s a good thing for you to be hanging out with someone else that isn’t an employee. Most kids your age are out traveling and seeing the world beyond their hometown. I don’t want you to feel like you missed anything.”

“Dad,” she whined, not wanting things to move into the direction it always did when he mentioned her not having as much of a social life as he wanted. Vini knew he worried about her, but she was fine. Sure, she didn’t hang out with too many people outside of her sisters, Aiden, and occasionally Tony and her wife. But she was fine with that. If she ever felt pent-up, she could always head up to Atlanta and be more social then.

“And anyway, Jessica is at the shop because I am tutoring her on car maintenance. Nothing more, nothing less.” That seemed to satisfy Ava more, because she nodded. It aggravated Vini that Ava thought she had any say in who Vini spent her time with, but she didn’t feel like getting into it. It was no one’s business what she and Jessica did.

“Just...be careful,” Ava said looking pointedly at Vini. “I’m sure she’s nice, but it wouldn’t be smart to get attached when she’s just passing through.”

Vini brushed off her words and changed the subject. There was nothing to be careful about. This thing with Jessica and her wasn’t long-term. It was just something fun for now to pass the time before Jessica flitted off to her next destination and Vini got back to the norm of everyday life.

Vini was ready to pull out a braid or two. Fridays were usually busy, especially when it was before a holiday, and today was no different. Many of the usual suspects from town had scheduled their oil changes in advance to prepare for heading out of town for the upcoming holiday, but a few hadn’t, leaving them with too many cars and two few hands. Aiden’s off-key rendition of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” wasn’t helping. Dolly didn’t deserve to have her song butchered nor did Vini deserve to be subjected to it.

“Fucking hell. Someone put him out of his misery, please.”

Vini almost banged her knee on the car bumper in front of her when Jessica’s voice came from right next to her. She glanced over her shoulder with a glare. “I’m going to put a bell on you so I can hear you next time.”

“Oh, sounds kinky,” she replied, not sounding at all repentant for nearly giving Vini a heart attack. “Make sure it’s purple. That’s my favorite color.”

“Just for that, I’ll make it black like your soul,” Vini countered.

“You say the sweetest things.”

Vini straightened as she shook her head. She wasn’t really angry. Not with how damn pleased she was to see Jessica in the first place. Jessica hadn’t come by the shop yesterday, and Vini had wondered if that meant she’d lost interest. Vini found cars interesting, but she knew not everyone did. She covered her excitement at Jessica showing up by grabbing the closest rag and wiping her hands.

“What are you doing here?”

Jessica held up a bag. “Figured I would bring you guys some lunch. Grace mentioned a really good diner in town that Ava’s friend owns, so I went by to check it out.”

“Did you saylunch?” Aiden piped up from the other side of the garage. Vini would have told him to go back to work, but now that he had stopped singing, she was in a much better mood. Aiden quickly rushed over, holding out his hands and making a grabby motion. “If that is a sandwich from the best diner in town, I will love you forever.”

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