Miss Mechanic

His withering look turned a little darker, and his jaw twitched.

He’d talked himself into the most undesirable trip a mechanic in this town could ever make, and he knew it.

Dex: Nil.

Jamie: One.

I licked my finger and swiped a one in thin air. Then, with a wink and a grin, I shut the door and went back into the garage.

Wow.

That cheap point was way more satisfying than it should have been.

***

The loud rumble of the tow truck as it pulled up into the garage’s lot.

Clambering over the sofa, I peeked through the blind on the window. A smile crept over my face. It was smug, because on the back of the truck was the ancient Ford that Mr. Daniels had been driving for as long as I’d been alive.

It was impressive, to be honest. But there was something to be said for those old cars—especially one that was as well looked after as his was.

“Mr. Daniels,” I heard Dex say as he got out. “I told you. It’s not your battery, it’s your alternator.”

“I think you’re wrong!” The belligerent old man rounded the truck, finger waving at Dex. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. The alternator is as good as new.”

I snorted. If new was the better part of a decade old, then sure…

“Where’s Jamie? I want her to look at it. I don’t trust this new blood. Jamie!” He started looking around the lot as if I were hiding in the bushes.

“Mr. Daniels, please go inside to the reception while I unhook your car and bring it into the workshop.”

“You’ll do nothing of the sort. Jamie will do that. Jamie! C’mere, child. Stop this damn hooligan manhandling Bettina!”

I let the giggle burst out of me as I jumped off the sofa. Thankfully, the walk through the garage was just long enough that I was able to wipe all traces of amusement from my face. I also grabbed a cloth and wiped my hands as I walked out.

Mr. Daniels didn’t miss a thing, and if I didn’t look like I’d just been working, he’d call me on my spying.

“Mr. Daniels. Always a pleasure.” I sent a playful grin his way. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” He waved a wrinkled finger in Dex’s direction again.

“Please stop doing that,” Dex said wearily. “It’s giving me a headache.”

Mr. Daniels leaned forward and did it right in his face.

Good God…

Did I leave Dex to his fate, or… No, no. That would be cruel.

Fun, but cruel.

“Okay, okay.” I tucked the edge of the dirty cloth into the pocket of my overalls and stepped between them. “Someone explain.”

“He says it’s my alternator. I don’t believe him. He didn’t try hard enough on the jumps! I had to cancel my doctor appointment for this mess.”

“I tried fifteen times,” Dex said. “I looked, and I’m pretty sure it’s your alternator. I told you I can’t be one hundred percent certain until I can get it into the garage, but you’re refusing to let me do it.”

“All right. Mr. Daniels, why don’t you go take a seat in reception and I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea, hmm?” I raised my eyebrows at him.

He glared at me. I’d cut him off before he could respond, clearly.

“While you’re enjoying that, I’ll help Dex bring in Bettina and take a look. How does that sound?”

“Two sugars,” he demanded. “And none of that weak crap your mother tried to serve me once. Let it brew for a minute.”

“Yes, sir.”

He shuffled off in the direction of the front door.

Dex let out a long breath and slumped against the truck. “Is it always like this here?”

I side-eyed him. “You’re a city boy, aren’t you?”

“You say that as if it’s an insult.”

“No insult.” I whipped the cloth from my pocket and ran it through my hands. “Just an observation.”

“How’d you observe that?” he asked dryly.

I shrugged a shoulder. “Old people in towns like this are set in their ways. You’re new—and belligerent old codgers like Edward Daniels won’t trust you until he feels like you’ve proven yourself. He’s not trying to be a pain when he wants me to look at it. He just trusts me.”

“Really? Because it seems like he’s going out of his way to be a pain.” He followed me inside.

I tossed the cloth to the side of the sink. “You’re probably not wrong. He is known for being…difficult.”

“Difficult.” His tone was wry. “You don’t say.”

I set the tea kettle on the stove top to boil. “Like I said, the old people here are set in their ways. My family have been the only mechanics for eighty-something years. Trusting someone new is hard for them.”

“I’ll make sure to bring my grandfather and great aunt to the old people center. They’d get on like a house on fire with everyone else.”

I laughed and prepared the tea. “You’ll get used to it.”