Miss Mechanic

I paused, and then, “No. I’m not going to be responsible for you getting drunk before our parents have even shown up.”

“Oh, God.” She pressed her hand to her face. “Shit, they’re here. Be right back. I’m going to find water.” She got up and scooted past me, only just wobbling a tiny bit.

“Is she all right?” Jamie asked, watching after her with a twist to her lips.

“Fine. She just realized Mom will side-eye her all night if she’s already drunk. Now, quick, move into her seat, or else we’ll get blindsided by my family.”

“I can’t steal her seat!”

“Sure you can. You snooze, you lose in this family.” I moved to sit opposite her. “It’s either you move or you can stare into my eyes all night.”

“Ugh.” Jamie moved, and I bit back a laugh.

I peered over at her as she sipped her wine. She looked really different tonight, and not just because she was dressed up. No, there was something I couldn’t put my finger on exactly.

“Stop staring at me,” she muttered.

“You look different,” I said quietly. “It’s weird.”

“Is that the compliment you forgot to give me earlier?”

I dipped my head and smiled. “No. I’m still figuring out how you look so different. I’ll look at you and make you uncomfortable for a couple hours while I figure it out.”

“I’d really rather you didn’t.” She held her glass to her mouth. “Why is your aunt walking around with a huge tray of shots?”

I jerked my head around to where, shit, she was right. This entire area had been marked off for her private party, and Greta was going from table to table with a tray of whiskey shots.

“Is this what you meant when you said she’d corrupt everyone with whiskey?”

I took a deep breath and nodded as a table of elderly people at the blackjack table grabbed one each. “Yep. She’s a whiskey peddler. It’s terrifying. She can get anyone drunk.”

“So, avoid the birthday girl.”

“That will never happen,” Roxy slipped in to the seat Jamie had just vacated. “I see we’re playing musical chairs.”

Jamie sipped. “He made me do it. Oh no, she’s coming.”

Thankfully, Greta’s arrival made my sister forget we’d just moved seats.

“Shots!” She put three on the table, and before any of us could say a word, she was gone.

Jamie let out a long breath. “This is going to be a long night.”

I looked over at her.

She had no idea.

***

“That fourth shot was a bad idea.” Jamie sipped her water. “She could talk a pig into a visit to the slaughterhouse.”

I laughed and leaned right back. We’d stayed in our corner table long after my parents had arrived, introduced themselves, and we’d eaten. Roxy had disappeared to play poker not long after dinner, and Greta had caught on to Jamie not taking her shots.

She’d stood in front of the table with her own until Jamie gave in.

She’d been drinking spritzers to make up for it.

“She could talk an entire farm into a visit there,” I corrected her. Her cheeks were flushed from both the alcohol and the heat, and she looked fucking adorable.

The bonus? She’d only threatened to punch me in the balls once. It was in front of my parents. My mom had laughed, while Dad agreed I deserved it.

I didn’t mean to say she shouldn’t be in my garage. It just kinda…slipped out.

Roxy came dancing over to us, pointing at Jamie with alternating hands.

“No.” Jamie held her hands out. “No. No. No.”

“Yes, yes, yeeeeees!” Roxy grabbed her hands and pulled her out of the seat.

“Help,” Jamie mouthed, looking over her shoulder at me as my sister pulled her onto the dancefloor.

I laughed and just watched as she went. Her plea didn’t last long as Roxy twirled her around, laughing her ass off. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, either. They were surrounded by, pretty much, old people who were moving slower than a snail as they danced, and Jamie looked so awkward.

Roxy was so drunk she didn’t care, but not so drunk she was out of control. My sister was someone who didn’t really care what people thought in general, and despite what Jamie said, I knew they were total opposites.

Which made their newfound friendship a little hard to understand.

Jamie cared what other people thought.

That’s why she was here in the first place.

She cared about proving she was good at what she did.

I tilted my head to the side and watched as she slowly gave in to the music—and my sister—and danced.

Jamie cared enough that she’d come here tonight when she didn’t have to. That she’d spent the entire night with me when there were a hundred other things I knew she could have been doing.

Roxy looked over at me and winked.

I immediately looked away.

Shit. She’d caught me staring at Jamie. Now I was never going to hear the end of it from her.