Lighthouse Way (Huckleberry Bay 1)

Dust can kill a car.

The floor gleams. Two of the bays have lifts, and there’s a big fan in the twenty-foot ceiling.

Benches and tools line the back wall. Hoses for air, oil, and fuel. There’s ample storage for parts and tires.

It’s as state-of-the-art as it gets and will be perfect for housing my personal cars, as well as any luxury custom jobs that come in.

I’ll recommend to Luna that we store the Ford here.

I walk to the staircase on the far wall that leads up to a small loft-style apartment. Windows open to the forest behind the building, and there’s even a great balcony where I can put a grill and some furniture.

The space is open, the kitchen, living, and dining spaces spilling into each other. The bedroom and bathroom are the only rooms with doors.

It’s everything I could need. Hell, it’s better than that.

I asked for a luxury garage with a living space, and that’s exactly what I got.

I walk back outside and find John and Zeke chatting.

“Where’s Sarah?” I ask.

“She walked up to see Luna,” Zeke says and then gestures to the garage. “Well?”

“It’s fucking amazing.” I shake John’s hand. “And I’m grateful that you were able to get it all done so fast, even with the stumbling blocks we had to deal with to get here.”

“This is what we do,” John replies. “And I’ll be honest. I’m jealous of this one. Ten garage spaces? I mean, it just doesn’t get much better than that. Not in a personal garage.”

“You did a great job. If you ever need a testimonial, I’ll be happy to give you one.”

“Are you kidding?” John asks with a laugh. “From Wolfe Conrad? Of course, we want one. That would be great. Well, I’m driving up to Seattle today, so I’ll pass it over to you. Enjoy.”

He waves, hurries to his truck, and then drives away.

“This is surreal,” I mutter when I turn back to the garage.

“It’s fucking badass,” Zeke says. “We’re going to do some incredible work in there.”

“Hell, yes, we are.” I meet his fist with mine when he offers me a fist-bump.

“Are you moving in there?” he asks.

“Not if I can help it.” I gesture to the Ford. “Let’s go show Luna her shiny ride.”

We climb into the classic car, and Zeke drives us up to the lighthouse. Sarah and Luna are at the gazebo, laughing.

At times, like now, when Luna’s smiling and carefree, she just takes my breath away.

There’s no denying it, I’m completely in love with her. Living with her over the past month has only cemented for me that she’s everything I didn’t know I was missing.

When the girls hear the engine, they look our way and hurry over to us.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Luna breathes as she runs her hand along the hood. “Look at this color. It’s so perfectly red.”

“Zeke and I did a lot of research. That’s the original paint color for this specific car. The leather, the instruments, everything is exactly how it looked when new.”

“It’s so cool,” Sarah gushes. “I got to ride in it. It’s not cushy, I’ll say that, but the novelty of riding in it totally makes up for the lack of comfort.”

“Yeah, they weren’t made the way cars are now, with better suspension and such. But I don’t think your customers will complain.”

Luna shakes her head and then hurries around me so she can sit in the passenger seat.

“It’s not so bad,” she says with a smile. “Everything in this thing is so different. I’ll have to learn how to drive it.”

“There will be a slight learning curve,” Zeke says. “But you’ll catch on. It’s not hard.”

“What do I owe you for this?” she asks.

“Nothing.”

She frowns and shakes her head. “No way. I know it wasn’t free to get it looking like this. I can pay for it.”

“Honestly, it was so much fun to do,” Zeke says. “That was payment enough.”

“You can’t run a business if you give your services away for free,” Sarah reminds us.

“No, but we can do favors for our friends,” Zeke says before I can. “And this was absolutely a pleasure. Now, how am I going to get home?”

“Oh, me, too,” Sarah says.

“Take the Porsche,” I say and toss Zeke the fob.

“Thanks.” He winks at Luna and turns to Sarah. “Shall we?”

“You bet. I’ll call you later, Luna.”

The two of them walk down the road leading to my place.

“Do you think something might happen there?” I ask Luna.

“No,” she says, still stroking the inside of the car. “She’s always had a thing for Tanner. How she ended up marrying that other piece of shit and moving away, I’ll never be able to figure out.”

“I haven’t seen Tanner around lately,” I reply.

“I think he’s trying to give her space to heal,” she says as I sit in the driver’s seat and start the car. “Are we going for a ride?”