He laughed as I pushed open the door to the store. Air con buzzed, all white-noise in the quiet store. Dex followed me in, and I made a beeline for the wiper section. By the time he’d joined me, I’d picked up the one I needed and, for good measure, grabbed a few spares of the ones I knew we’d need again.
I turned and dumped them in the cart Dex had.
He looked at them. “I thought we just needed one.”
I shrugged. “You’re the one with a shopping cart.”
“I like these places. It’s a weakness of mine. What can I say?”
“You have weaknesses? Except your lack of cutting wit, of course.”
He clutched his chest. “You wound me, darlin’. And yes, I have weaknesses. For example: I find myself uncomfortably addicted to staring at your ass on a regular basis.” He didn’t break eye contact as he said that. “And wishing you’d use your mouth to do something else other than talk all the fucking time.”
I pursed my lips. I didn’t have a response to that—to any of it. The ass thing or the mouth thing.
Especially not the ass thing.
I spun on the balls of my feet and headed down the aisle. I didn’t know where I was going, I was just walking in an effort to get away from him.
Holy shit, I still had to get lunch with him.
Yeah. I’d be sitting at a different table.
I liked tacos, and I liked eating them in peace.
And nothing about Dex screamed peace.
“Jamie?” A familiar voice came from the direction of the counter.
I glanced to the side and grinned. “Well I never, Carmella Duvall. What are you doing here?”
My blonde friend pouted and put down her nail file. “I lost a bet.”
I laughed. “You know better than to wager on a shift in this place.”
“I know, but Dad called me a chicken shit because I had no money. And you know how well that line always gets me.”
“That’s why he uses it.” I laughed again and hugged her over the counter. “How are you?”
“Good. How are you all doing? I heard your dad’s old place is open again.”
“Yeah—I’m actually working there.”
She frowned. “Awkward?”
“Something like that. He’s actually here…somewhere.” I looked around, but Dex had disappeared. “Like a kid in a candy store,” I muttered. “We only came for wiper blades.”
“Supplier back-ordered again?”
“How did you know?” It’d been a problem for longer than Dex knew. And it was always the damn blades…
“How’s the new boss?”
“A constant pain in my ass,” I admitted. “A total nightmare.”
“Ah, look, you’re describing yourself again,” Dex said from behind me. “You’ve got to stop doing that.”
“I swear to God…” I turned and glared at him.
He grinned. “Are you ready to go?”
I looked at the now-full cart. “Did you buy the entire store?”
“I needed a few things.”
“I’m starting to think you didn’t make me bring you for the tacos.”
“Think what you want. You’re being rude.” He nodded toward Carmella.
She offered him a sweet smile. “I’ve seen her naked. It’s all good.”
Dex stilled and looked at me. “Is that why you’re single?”
“I was four,” I said dryly. “Sorry to disappoint.”
He glanced down at my chest. “I’m undecided on the disappointed thing.”
“I swear I will hit you.”
“Why don’t I take those and scan them for you, Mr…?” Carmella interjected and gave me a “calm down” look.
She knew my temper.
I took a deep breath.
“Dex,” he said. “Mr. Ryne is my father.”
“You got it, Dex. Get them up here on the counter and I’ll scan them through for you. What brought you here then?” She grabbed the first thing and scanned.
“The garage.” He glanced at me. “My grandfather bought it and told me to run it before I knew what had hit me.”
“Me. I’ll be what hits you,” I muttered.
He coughed, rubbing his jaw, but I saw the glint in his eye. “I ended up with this one as my employee, and I think I found a gray hair this morning.”
“You should dye it again,” I said without missing a beat.
Carmella cleared her throat. She was fighting a smile. “Well, good for you, Dex. And I think you’ll be presently surprised with Jamie as your employee. She’s the best mechanic I know.”
Aw, shucks…
“So she’s trying to prove.” His tone was wry, and so was smile. “How much is that?”
Carmella told him the total and he handed her his card. She wiped and printed the receipt for him to sign. He did so, taking the card back.
“Thank you.” She took it with a flourish and dropped the pen into its pot. “Well, Jamie, it was great to see you. Don’t be a stranger again. And it was a pleasure to meet you, Dex. Good luck.” She offered him a wry smile with a simple twist of her lips, got up, and disappeared into the back room.
He looked at me. “Do you think she’d work reception since you won’t?”