She shrugged in response, seeming uninterested despite the questions she’d come over to ask, and she left me to it. I shook my head, then drained the tea and got back to work. Maybe if I wasn’t living here practically for free I would have called her out on eavesdropping, but she couldn’t have heardthatmuch to feed into the town gossip mill. And even if she had, she didn’t have any context. I’d barely gotten into any details. I was trying to gauge how much she could’ve figured out from only my side of the conversation, when my phone buzzed again.
For a second, I thought it might be Alex, calling to let me know he’d changed his mind and his jet was on its way after all, but this time, it was Avery. I grinned as I took the call.
“Please tell me you have good news.”
“Yes and no. We got the parts, but we’ve also got a problem,” he said. “Can you swing by the shop sometime this afternoon?”
My stomach sank like a rock, but I nodded. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
First Alex’s call and now this. Maybe I was wrong about staying in Quartz Pass a little longer. The universe sure didn’t seem too happy with me right now, but plainly put, it could go fuck itself.
Alex had given me time, and I would take it. No matter what fresh hell awaited me when I got to the shop.
CHAPTER 8
RAQUEL
The diesel workshop out back was my kingdom. Most people preferred working up front where the air-conditioning occasionally functioned and customers brought in easier jobs, like sedans, but not me. I liked the heavy stuff, the engines that sounded angry and the trucks held together by the fear of getting deeper into debt.
I was working on an alternator replacement, crawled halfway into the engine bay of a Freightliner, and it was my version of paradise. Reaching deeper into the engine compartment, I tightened a bolt into place while sweat rolled slowly down the back of my neck.
The AC unit in the diesel bay had been struggling all week, which meant I was drenched in sweat and slightly hostile, but still in my happy place. I was so focused that I barely registered all the different voices drifting from the main shop until I heard a tell-tale, familiar laugh.
Theo.
I straightened too fast, immediately cracking the back of my head against the raised hood. “Son of a biscuit.”
Luis barked out a laugh from nearby. “You okay over there?”
“Mind your own business,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my skull.
Awesome. Because there’s nothing sexier than self-inflicted workplace injuries.
Finally climbing out from under the hood, I couldn’t even pretend I hadn’t heard that laugh—or that I didn’t suddenly feel ridiculously aware of myself, wearing stained coveralls with my sleeves tied around my waist. My tank top was streaked with grease and my hair was pulled back, but I could feel it was a mess without even checking the mirror.
Hell, I probably had dirt streaked across my face too. All very unladylike. But I’d never been super girly, and usually, I didn’t care. When Theo walked out into the diesel bay with Avery and Dad, I suddenly became painfully conscious of it all.
Heat climbed unexpectedly up my throat when his gaze landed on me, roving slowly across the length of my body before his eyes met mine. Girly or not, it definitely made me feel a certain type of way to be checked out like that, but then I realized that I was actually blushing.
No. No, I’m not. The AC’s broken, I told myself.It’s ninety degrees in October.This is an environmental flush, not a girly blush.
A faint smile spread his lips, but he slid his hands into his pockets and finally averted his gaze to glance at my brother instead. “So, I see I’ve found the scary part of the shop. Is this the inner sanctum?”
I crossed my arms. “What’s so scary about diesel engines?”
“Nothing. Let’s just say I respect a woman who could kill me with power tools.”
Avery chuckled. “Smart man, and yes. This is the inner sanctum, but don’t tell anyone. It’s Raquel’s domain. She’ll kill anyone who comes in here and messes up her space.”
“Don’t you know it.” I wiped my hands on a rag and inclined my chin at Theo. “What happened? Or did you three just come out here for a social visit?”
Dad grinned. “I’m always happy to hang out with my baby girl.”
“Oh my God, Dad, not in front of customers,” I said, feeling like I was back in middle school.
Avery sighed and scrubbed a palm over his jaw. “We’re going to need to get creative with the bike.”
I frowned. “Why?”
