Page 15 of Give Me a Shot

“Yep. It’s easy to do. The challenge is getting the new one into position from the top and the bottom.”

He walked her through verifying that the new belt and old belt were the same size, pointed out the signs of wear on the old one, and handed her his phone. She glanced between it and the pulleys a few times then rested it on the frame so that she had both hands free to thread the belt in place. She was focused, and Mo watched, letting her approach the task the way she saw fit. She’d taken quickly to all the projects they’d worked on together so far—changing the oil, the spark plugs, and the battery. Changing a tire had required extra help from him, but he was confident that she’d be able to do it on her own when she was older and stronger. That one was particularly important to him. He wanted to be sure shecould handle that even if it was cold or dark or raining. He hoped she’d never find herself in a position to have to depend on someone else to do it for her. She was already pretty fearless, but he wanted to add a layer of confidence from extra skill.

“Okay. I think the top is good,” Madison said.

He took a look.

“Nice job. Down we go.”

Madison grabbed the phone from the frame, and he held the light. He started to help her tug at the belt, but she wanted to do it, so he only watched. Once everything was in place and she’d tightened the tensioner, he gave it one last tug. He handed her the phone so she could verify with the photo she’d taken. Suddenly it rang.

“Here, Daddy,” she said, handing it to him.

“Jess” was lit up at the top of the screen. Shocked, Mo barely noticed Maddie sliding out from under the car.

“Hello?” he asked, answering as he followed her.

“Hi, Mo? It’s Jess, um, from the Folk School.”

He caught a whisper of timidity in her voice. She hadn’t sounded like that in front of the School the other day.

“Yeah,” he said. “Hi, Jess.”

Maddie had just finished standing and was pulling off her gloves.“Who’s Jess?”she mouthed, a grin pulling at her lips. A hot blast went through Mo’s chest, and he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t know why Jess would be calling him, and the look on Madison’s face was messing with his head. She looked like—

“I’m calling about the meeting this week,” Jess said, drawing his attention back to the call.

“Oh, right,” he said. Teaching Maddie was important for her development, but it also gave him the chance to forget about any outside stressors. Although it was Sunday and the organizational committee’s meeting wasn’t until the end of the week, he’d already had to start his mental pep talks about feeling trapped in the room and preparing an overstimulating event. He’d been out to the School and taught classes over the past couple of weeks with zero problems. It had even been nice to see Jess at a distancewhen he’d been there. But the meeting would force him to faceThis Thingand the threat to one of his safe spaces.

“Actually,” Jess said, helpfully interrupting the anxiety cycle set to begin, “I’m surprised to be calling you. Probably as much as I imagine you’re surprised to get a call from me.”

“Uh, yeah.” She had a point.

“From what I understand, you aren’t a fan of texting. Since you hadn’t replied in the group chat, I was nominated to call and check that you’re coming to the meeting,” she said.

Mo smothered a small chuckle. She was absolutely right about him and texting. Maddie was the only person he ever texted with voluntarily. He’d seen the progress of the discussion in the chat. There hadn’t been anything for him to add, so he hadn’t thought to say anything. And he certainly wasn’t going to spontaneously participate. Jess’s word choice had caught his attention, though.

“Nominated?” he asked.

“Well, they nominated, I volunteered, potato-potahto,” Jess said.

In Mo’s opinion there was quite the gulf between those two options, so he wasn’t sure what to say. A weak “um” was all he could get out. Looking down, he kicked at the tag that had been on the serpentine belt with the inside of his shoe. Maddie strolling by caught his attention in the corner of his peripheral vision. She was smirking a little. He raised an eyebrow, and she dropped the smirk, walking toward his office and out of the garage.

“I…” Jess said. She paused and then sighed. “I don’t know about the dynamics at the Folk School, but it seems like everyone…gives you a wide berth. Which I don’t get. Yes, you can be intimidating at first glance. But it seems like…well, like you can also be empathetic.”

Mo’s face flashed hot.Nobodycaught on to his empathy without knowing him for a long time. They just took his exterior at face value, not understanding that it was there to keep all his stupid empathy inside. The empathy that wouldn’t let himnotfeel what other people were feeling and get submerged by it if he let them get too close. He crossed his free arm around himself andsqueezed. Then he caught Maddie peeking at him from the open shop door. He tilted his head and raised his eyebrow again. She disappeared.

“Um, yeah…I…” He wanted to say something. To thank Jess for seeing that, for using the word “empathetic” with him, about him. But he felt kind of exposed, and that feeling always made him retreat into himself to get away from the sticky prickliness blooming over his muscles. He hugged his arm even tighter around himself for courage.

“It’s…uh…Thanks for noticing,” he croaked out before his throat closed up. He immediately wanted to kick himself. He should have been able to say more, but he just couldn’t. Plus, his face was on fire, and it was keeping him from thinking straight.

“Sure,” Jess said. There was a little pause and Mo figured that maybe she didn’t know what else to say. He wanted to push the conversation along—which surprised him—but he didn’t know how. She cleared her throat, and he figured she was about to say goodbye.

“Actually,” she said, “I noticed something else, too.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t seem to want to do this Faire. At least, you didn’t during the meeting. But when we were outside, you said that doing it would be for the best reason.”

---