Know Me Well (Wishful 3)

“If he were here, he’d have some kind of sneaky ass plan to deal with this.”

“Why do you need a sneaky ass plan?”

“Because in truth she needs a new car, period. And since she bought the business from you, she’s taken on all she can handle.”

His mother frowned. “I worried she bit off more than she could chew buying me out completely. But she wanted so much to prove that she could do it on her own. For the most part, she’s done that. Made some expansions in product lines, modernized a few processes.”

“Do you ever regret selling?”

“I don’t regret relinquishing control. I steered that ship for a long time. But sometimes I’m bored with retirement. It’s part of why I’ve been so active with the coalition. It gives me something to do, keeps me active in the community. You understand that need to keep busy or you wouldn’t be taking on projects everywhere.”

Liam grimaced. “Busy isn’t necessarily productive.”

Molly stroked a hand over his hair. “You know if you want the garage, it’s yours, no questions asked. Your brothers wouldn’t take issue with it.”

He looked around the office, where he’d spent countless hours growing up, doing homework, answering phones, helping out. So many memories soaked these walls, but he couldn’t get past the bitter to the sweet. “It wasn’t for me at eighteen. It’s not for me now. I know dad was disappointed—”

“You know no such thing,” she snapped. “Your father was proud of you. He never once took issue with the fact that you chose a different path. Neither did I. I’m not upset you don’t want the business, baby. I just wanted to put it out there as an option. I’ll support whatever you choose now, just like I supported you joining the Corps.”

“Thanks Mom.” Liam slid his arms around her, thin

king that for all she was half his size, she still gave the best bear hugs.

“I’ll let you get back to it. I’ve got a meeting with Norah to go over some final details about the playground renovation at Waldrop Park.”

Alone again, he took a breath and opened the file. As his dad had been working on Riley’s car since she got it in high school, the stack of paperwork was thick. Every oil change, every tire rotation, every new part or repair was recorded in John’s neat block print. He’d rebuilt the transmission six months before he died, so that, at least, was probably okay. The list of repairs and replacements made to the engine were extensive, increasing in frequency over the last couple of years. At the last service, he’d made note of problems he expected to be facing before the year was out, and Liam thought Riley had been lucky that they hadn’t popped up until today. In the margin he’d written, Rebuild or replace?

That was the question, wasn’t it?

As he flipped to the next page, a loose Post-it note fluttered to the floor. Retrieving it, Liam read the brief notation he knew referred to a location in the parts racks on the far side of the garage. There was no indication what was stored there. It might’ve been from a repair already completed. But he had to check it out.

The fluorescent lights flickered and caught, illuminating the wide, cavernous space. Industrial shelving lined the walls, most of them still filled with an assortment of parts his father always kept on hand for regular jobs. Years of oil and engine cleaner scented the close, hot air. He checked the shelves, looking for the relevant section. The crate had been shoved aside at some point, so somebody could retrieve something else. It was tucked in a corner, half beneath a tarp. Liam muscled it around and found the manifest from one of the parts auctions his dad sometimes attended. Sliding it out, he read the contents and began to laugh.

“Sneaky, sneaky, Dad.” Still laughing, he went to get a crowbar to uncrate Riley’s new engine.

Chapter 4

“Well, it’s happened!” Ruby made this pronouncement in tones of The end is nigh, as she marched up to the counter.

Riley looked up from the computer. “What’s happened? And what are you even doing here? It’s your day off.”

“Walgreens is opening a store out on the highway.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I just had it from Pearl.” Ruby’s sister, Pearl Buckley—Mama Pearl to everyone else in town—ran the local diner, Dinner Belles, and was the undisputed queen of gossip in Wishful.

Jessie paused in the midst of inputting the prescriptions that’d been called in. “How on earth did we not know this?”

Riley wondered the same.

“I don’t got a clue, but what are we gonna do about it?” Ruby demanded, shifting her attention back to Riley.

“What do you mean do about it?” It wasn’t like they could engage in some kind of corporate espionage or something. “We’re going to carry on with business as usual. It’ll take them time to build and stock a store. We’re fine.”

“They’re not building. They bought up the old WingStop building. Won’t take much to convert that. Pearl says they’re supposed to be open in a month.”

Jessie’s eyes widened. “A month? That’s not much time to prepare.”