Page 49 of Truck You

“What do you mean? I’m too close?”

She nods. “And he really likes you too. You might be the first girl he’s ever liked this much. That makes this harder for him. I know he acts like an ass toward you, but that’s his defense mechanism kicking in. He doesn’t trust women. Not after how his mom abandoned him. All their moms really. Except for Susanne. That’s Paul’s first wife. Liam’s, Warren’s, and Garret’s mom. She died right after Garret was born. But none of the other women stuck around for very long.”

“So the others all have different moms?”

“Yeah. Chase and Christian’s mom, Christina, is a piece of work. She still lives around here. Has a bad drug problem. She plays mind games with the twins. She’s also the one that got Christian hooked on drugs.”

“Christian does drugs?” I gasp. “He’s quiet and broody, but he doesn’t seem like he’s using.”

She shakes her head. “He’s clean now. But he struggles with it. Drugs are an issue around here. It’s hard to escape them. He’s relapsed several times. And every time Christina calls them, tensions rise. She triggers his addiction. Chase runs interference a lot. It’s hard on all of them.”

“That’s awful. I can’t imagine.”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop with Christina. Ash’s mom, Monika, isn’t much better. She didn’t stick around for long after Ash was born. Showed up several years later with a little girl, Ash’s half-sister, Alvara. She lived with them for a while. They all took to her and treated her like a sister. Then one day, Monika came back and took her. Paul didn’t even try to stop her, even though the boys fought it. Ash still sees them both. He’s close with Alvara, but his relationship with Monika is strained.”

“And Mac’s mom?” My voice is timid. I’m not sure I want to hear this, but my curiosity is piqued. Maybe if I understand his relationship with his mom, his behavior will make more sense.

“I heard she showed up.”

I nod. “It was ugly. He didn’t handle it well. I tried to get him to talk about it, but he refused.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. She left when he was five. As far as I know, this recent visit is the first time he’d seen or heard from her in over twenty years.”

“I picked up on that fact. I can’t imagine what that was like.”

“Me either. My parents can drive me crazy sometimes, but I know they love me. And they’d never leave me. That’s not the case for the Mutters. They have Grams, and, well, she’s awesome. But every one of their moms left. Mac’s mom stuck around the longest. I’ve always wondered if she said something to him when he was little that made all this harder on him.”

“And that’s why he has trust issues where women are concerned?”

Clara nods with a despondent look on her face. “That’s why he sees your omission to why you were really here as a deceit. Not that it is,” she adds quickly, “but to him, it was a betrayal of trust.”

“I didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth. As if he wasn’t worthy to really know me.”

“Yep.” Clara pops the P at the end before she takes a drink of her coffee.

I push my pancakes around on my plate, and suddenly I’ve lost my appetite. I really screwed this one up without even trying. My reasons for not telling Mac the truth from the start are because of my issues, not his. I hope I can convince him of that.

Because now my heart is involved, and I want to push past his hard exterior and really get to know the good man I’ve seen glimpses of underneath.

* * *

It’slate morning when Liam walks out of his office. It’s been quiet for a Monday. I’m three hours into my shift, and I’ve mostly been alone in the garage.

“Is Christian back?” he asks when he only sees me under the hood of a car.

“Not yet. He left right after I got here. Said he should be back in a couple of hours, but I haven’t seen him yet.” I shrug, not really sure what else to say.

Liam rubs the back of his neck and glances around the garage. “You okay if I run some errands? I don’t expect anyone to stop by until later this afternoon.”

“Yeah, I’ve got this. Do what you need to do.”

“K, thanks.” His shoulders relax slightly. I’m not sure if it’s because he really needs to go on these errands or he’s happy I didn’t object. “I shouldn’t be gone long. If anything comes up, just call my cell.”

“Will do.”

Once he leaves, I crank up the music and get to work. I have two cars to get done before I break for lunch. One is an oil change, which I’m almost done with, and the other needs new spark plugs and a battery. Both are easy jobs.

I already changed the brakes on a Jeep this morning, and I’ve got at least one tune-up this afternoon. I’m getting faster on these jobs, and I hope that means I’ll get more time to work with Ash on the engine rebuild.

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