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Her eyes widened even further. “Are you in the practice of not advising your clients about the costs before you do the work?”
I shook my head. “I’m not. Like I said, it was a simple fix. If you have an issue with the bill, I’ll cover it.”
Lily looked like she wanted to continue, but she stopped. “You will?”
“I screwed up. I don’t want to get a reputation for not listening to clients. Our intent is to make women—people—feel comfortable here.”
“It is?”
“We’re aware that some women feel uncomfortable going to garages. I don’t want to exacerbate that. I don’t want you to think I wasn’t listening. We want to be different, and I fucked up. I’m sorry.” The fact was, I didn’t trust myself to call her. I tended to be an ass where she was concerned. Considering my attraction to her, I thought it was best to create distance.
Her mouth dropped open slightly, then closed, like she didn’t know what to make of me. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you works.”
A flush traveled from her neck up her cheeks as she shook her head. “Of course. Thank you. I just didn’t expect that.”
“You didn’t expect an apology?”
She waved a hand at me. “You’ve been a little testy every time I’ve been in your presence.”
My jaw tightened. “I’m not a nice guy. Ryan’s the people person.”
Lily smiled widely, and my heart sped up in response. It was clear my words weren’t hitting how I wanted them to. I intended them to be a warning, but instead of deterring her, she seemed to relax.
“What was the problem?” Lily asked, wandering over to her van that sat just outside the bay window facing the street.
“You had a faulty distributor cap, which means your spark plugs weren’t working. It took a few days to get the part, but other than that, it was an easy fix.”
Lily opened the driver’s side door. “You cleaned it?”
I shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable with her scrutiny. “I washed the outside. Detailed the inside. It’s standard procedure.”
A car wash was. Cleaning the inside? Not so much. I’d done that for her. Because I’m an idiot, and something about her love for her van got to me. I had a feeling she wouldn’t be restoring it anytime soon, and I wanted to do something to make it better for her.
“This is more than I expected.”
Something twisted inside of me. Was that because no one gave her special treatment, or was it because she didn’t expectmeto be nice to her?
She easily climbed inside and settled on the cracked leather seat.
“She’d be a beauty if you’d let me fix her up.” I wasn’t ready to tell her about Ryan’s idea yet. It was a good one, but it would require me to work closely with her to make sure it was preserved exactly how she wanted it.
When I saw her waiting for me, the determination in her eyes, the tilt of her head, I couldn’t do it. I needed space from her.
She ran a hand over the steering wheel. “I’m sure Berta would love that too, but I doubt it’s in the budget.”
It was what I’d expected and wanted, but I was still disappointed. There was so much I could do for her van.
“I wrote up an estimate for it.” I pulled the folded-up estimate out of my back pocket and smoothed it before handing it to her.
Her brow furrowed as she read down the extensive list. “This is—I can’t—I just opened my business. I’m trying to keep my head above water.”
I sighed. “I just wanted you to have all the information.”
She held up the paper. “This is really sweet of you.”
Sweet? I didn’t think anyone had ever called me that. Not even Hailey, and I’d been somewhat of a father figure to her since she was six.
