by Megan Bryce
“No. I just like my hands clean.”
She made a face. “Yeah, I’ve seen your office. But this!” She turned to stand next to him and stared at the car. “This surprises me. It looks great, inside and out.”
Mac took a deep breath again, not entirely sure how he felt about surprising her.
She said, “Which means you obviously can care about how things look, you just don’t.”
Mac rolled his eyes up. “I didn’t have to think about how to make the car look. I already knew. It’s different.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It is. Hugger orange was the original paint color. The vinyl was originally black. It’s paint by numbers.”
“I could see you liking that.”
“I do like numbers,” he said, making her laugh.
Gia leaned against the side of the car, crossing her ankles and sliding her hand along the prominent hood. She wiggled her eyebrows at him.
“You know what they say about a man with a long hood.”
Mac raised an eyebrow.
“He goes from zero to sixty in 7.9 seconds?”
“He’s overcompensating.”
He looked a long minute at her leaning on his immaculate car and belittling his manhood. The member in question stirred as if to say, Was someone talking about me?
Mac told him no forcefully.
But he walked around to unlock the passenger-side door and held it open for her.
He said, “Get in and you’ll see what the long hood is for.”
She pushed herself off his car, narrowing her eyes. “That felt menacing.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
He’d been going for calmly assured that he was not overcompensating.
He waved her into the car with hooded eyes and she said, “That didn’t help any with the menacing. And you should know that I’m packing mace and a mean right hook.”
He waited until she was sitting and her skirt tucked in before he said, “I have no doubt that getting in this car with you is like inviting in a honey badger,” and then shut the door firmly.
He watched her bounce in her seat a few times as he walked back around the car.
She smiled at him when he slid in next to her. “Was that your way of telling me that I’m small, cute, and mean?”
“Yes.”
She liked that, he could tell, and Gia said, “Maybe I should start collecting honey badgers.”
He put the key in the ignition, turning it slowly, feeling the engine roar to life under him.
Gia settled back into her seat with, “Oh, yeaaaahhh. I can feel the rumble in my bones,” and Mac shifted in his seat with a stern, No one’s talking to you.
He pulled out of the parking spot smoothly. Noon on Friday wasn’t a great time for a speed demonstration so he kept the car leashed as they headed out of the city.
Gia opened the glove compartment, turned around to look at the back seat.
“What else is there to finish with the car? It looks amazing, and it even smells like new car.”
Mac sniffed. “I think it’s the vinyl.”
New car layered with a hint of sparkles, and Mac’s eyes darted to Gia.
He wasn’t exactly sure what sparkles were supposed to smell like—maybe bubble gum and a hot glue gun—but it was uniquely hers.
He’d smelled her occasionally when he’d be trying on clothes and she got up close and personal, but in the tight confines of his Camaro it was even stronger.
He found a nice straight road with not too much traffic on it and pulled to the side of the road, turning the engine off.
If you wanted to test zero to sixty, you had to start at zero, and he turned to her.
“Ready?”
“Are you warning me?”
“I didn’t want it to feel menacing.”
She laughed at him. “Do your worst.”
Nope, she’s still not talking to you.
But Mac turned the ignition back on with anticipation. She laughed again, squeezing the seat bottom with her hands.
“350 cubic inch V8,” Mac informed her and she said, “Uh-huh, so…size matters?”
“When it comes to engines, it does,” he said, calmly assured, and revved the engine.
He checked to make sure no one was coming up behind them and then put her into gear and floored it.
Gia was thrown back against her seat and her hands flew up.
She whooped, and less than ten seconds later shouted, “Mac! You were not kidding about that zero to sixty thing!”
He was trying hard not to grin at her. Or with her. But the car roared underneath him and the miles flew by and he finally just relaxed. And he might have whooped right along with her.
Oh, yeaaaahhh.
Megan BryceThe Tie’s The Limit
Twelve
When Gia got home that afternoon, the house was empty except for her mother sprawled on the couch, or as close to sprawled as Gia had ever seen her.
“Ma, how do you make a roast?”
Loretta muted the TV.
“A pot roast?”
“Sure.”
“You need a cheap cut of meat, carrots, onions, potatoes. And you need a couple hours.”
“Oh, so it’s not for tonight?”
Loretta shook her head, still draped over the couch.
Gia eyed her. “You okay?”
“I am enjoying my time alone in my home.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Her mother unmuted the TV and Gia turned to go to her room. And then she stopped.
“If you wanted time alone, why did you make me move in?”
Loretta muted the TV again. “Because I want you to live with me. And I also want a few hours in the day where I can…”
“Let your hair down? Walk around without a bra on? Fart in front of the TV?”
“Giada.”
“What? I get it. I miss it.”
Loretta pinched her lips and Gia said, “It’s not that I don’t like living with you, Ma. I just liked living alone.”
“I understand. It’s a careful balance between self and family.”
“…are you watching Dr. Phil?”
“I’m watching Thor: Ragnarok. Hemsworth is a little too young for me but he’s pretty to look at.”
“Gross, Ma.” Gia laughed. “I watch for Loki.”
Her mother smiled at her but kept the TV muted.
Loretta said, “What happened to your hair?”
Gia’s hands flew to her hair, feeling the tangled mess of a poof.
“Mac took me for a ride in his car.”
Her mother stared at her expressionless for a long time and then said, “I’m sorry I asked.”
“What? He has an old Camaro, can you even believe it! And that sucker can fly.” She dug through her purse hoping someone had put a mirror in there without her knowing about it. “He didn’t let me keep the windows open too long but I guess it was long enough.”
“Oh. A ride in his car.”
“He restored it with his own hands and it’s beautiful. He thinks he doesn’t care about how things look but he does. Now I just need to find out what that means for his wardrobe.”
“Speaking of wardrobes, your grandmother hasn’t stopped shopping since we got here. Her closet is overflowing.”
“Have Teresa deal with it. She started it.”
Although the bathroom counter was overflowing too. Nonnie had more makeup and face creams than Gia did.
Maybe even more than Teresa did.
Maybe.
“Where is Nonnie? And Dad?”
“Your father drove Nonnie to the senior center. He said he was going to try a deli he heard about in Lakeland.”
Finding a good New York deli, and a good New York pizzeria, and a good New York barber, had become her father’s life’s work. So far he had been happily disappointed.
“Nonnie is at the senior center again? She’s found some friends.”
Loretta nodded. “She’s been happie
r here. Florida is good for her, I think.”
“Good! Why don’t you ever go to the senior center, Ma? It’s a careful balance between self and family and friends. Hemsworth doesn’t count.”
Her mother sat up, gasping.
“Because I still have a child living at home! I’m not a senior.”
“Uh-huh,” said her twenty-seven-year-old child. “You sure like asking for your senior discount.”
“That is different. I’m old enough for a senior discount, just not a senior center.”
“That makes sense,” Gia said with a roll of the eyes.
“Besides, your grandmother should have some time alone too. To be someone other than a mother and a grandmother.”
Gia didn’t know what to say to that and Loretta said, “You’ll see when you have your own kids, Gia.”
“See what?”
“How you’d give up everything for them, how you do give up everything for them, and they just want to leave you.”
“But isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?”
“Yes. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”
“I’m sorry I hurt you, Ma.”
Loretta smiled at her slightly. “I know. And I’m not saying this to hurt you, but my alone time isn’t over yet. Why don’t you go to the store and get the makings for a roast and we’ll do it tomorrow.”
“Okay. I’ll bring home an inferior pizza for us tonight.”
When her mother nodded agreement, Gia said, “Be sure to open the windows and air the place out when you’re done with your alone time.”
“Don’t be disgusting, Giada,” her mother said as she flopped back on to the couch.
Gia apparently had some hours to kill before she went back home, so drove to the grocery store and sat in the parking lot.
She called Nicole, one of her besties. One of the fashionistas.
Gia had met Nicole and Victoria at boarding school. She, of course, the chubby Italian kid only there because of a scholarship. Nicole and Victoria because they were the daughters of the rich and the famous.
Gia had been so excited that first week.
Scared. And excited.
Alone. And excited.
She’d never been alone before. She’d never had to stand up for herself without three big brothers backing her up, and she’d learned rather quickly that it wasn’t any fun.
But then she’d met Nicole and Victoria, and when the other students had nicknamed them the Brunette Mafia, it had cemented their friendship. Through thick and thin, they were family.
Even now, years later, and Gia said, “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good,” Nicole said. “What about you?”
“Good. Now tell me the truth.”
“I was telling you the truth. It’s good.”
“Okay, then I’ll be more specific. How’s it going with Flynn because last time you were flipping out and hyperventilating.”
“Good,” Nicole said, and Gia could hear a smile in her friend’s voice.
Gia waited. She knew her friend. Knew how Nicole had to work it out in her head before she could say it with words.
“Really good. He liked his suit.”
“Uh, yeah. You made him a Superman suit and probably smiled at him when you gave it to him.”
“I think I was crying when I gave it to him.”
“Did you tell him you loved him?”
There was a long pause before Nicole said softly, “I tried to. It kept coming out as maybe I love you.”
Gia flipped down the Escalade’s visor and stared at herself in the mirror.
One eyebrow raised, a frown, and a shaking head.
Yep, that’s what she thought her expression would look like.
“I’m surprised things are good then,” Gia said, trying to pat her crazy hair down. No wonder her mother had thought a ride in Mac’s car had meant something else.
“He told me he maybe loved me too.”
“Awww. I do like Flynn, you know.”
“Me too. I like him too.”
Gia chuckled. “You’ll get there. But it’s a good thing you’re beautiful because I don’t know how many people could get away with making their perfect man just sit around waiting for a no-maybe I love you. Even Victoria could see how right he is for you.”
“How do you know? Did she tell you that?”
Gia said, “I know because Flynn is still alive. I know because she left you there alone with him.”
“You left me too.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Was this adulthood? Being sorry for things you had to do?
But Nicole just forgave her and moved on.
“Have you heard from Victoria? I haven’t talked to her since I told her Scott didn’t cheat on her.”
Gia shook her head. “A few texts. I’ll give her a call today or tomorrow. Why aren’t you talking to her?”
“She’s mad at me. I’m just giving her time to…”
“Cool down? Stop being mad? Get over it? We don’t have that kind of time before we die.”
Nicole said softly, “But she’s mad at me. And stressed out about this latest business. And worried about her dad.”
“She’s not mad at you. She’s mad at the situation. And she needs her friends more than ever so you just send her a text and remind her that she has friends who love her.”
Nicole let out a long breath, then said, “I will. She can ignore a text if she wants.”
“She can’t ignore my texts.”
“You have a special gift,” Nicole said dryly and Gia laughed, saying, “I’ll call her right now and let her know you’re going to text.”
“I said I’d do it.”
“Good. I’ll just prepare her.” And maybe point out to Victoria that she was mad at the situation and not Nicole.
Nicole said, “Tell her I hope things are working out better with her dad.”
“Tell her yourself. But you can tell Flynn maybe I said hi.”
Nicole tsked.
“I don’t know why I’m still friends with you.”
“Yes, you do. Let me know if anything else exciting happens with him.”
Gia hung up and texted Victoria.
Talked to Nicole. Said you were a dodo head and she’d text you. Need help with my client.
She couldn’t remember a specific time she’d had to be the buffer between Nicole and Victoria, normally Nicole was the buffer, but Gia had stepped in between her friends and the world plenty of times.
Honestly, if those two weren’t gorgeous, wealthy, and successful…
Gia rifled through her bag, this time looking for a magically appearing brush, and waited for Victoria to text her back.
It could be a long wait. Maybe she’d just sit here and think about the wind whipping in her hair and Mac whooping beside her. Think about how he did have personality and it wasn’t anything she could’ve guessed.
Sit here and try and figure out what a Camaro and restoration work meant for his wardrobe ‘cause she still had no clue.
Her phone chimed.
Victoria: You and me both. Trade?
Sure! Nothing could be worse than wearing the same tie every day for years.
Victoria: Try pleated navy dress slacks and a hoodie.
Yikes. San Francisco yikes. But is it the same hoodie? Nope, I win.
Gia smiled when her phone rang and thought that maybe texting was her superpower. Victoria didn’t like losing at anything.
Victoria started the conversation with, “The difference between us is that my job is not to fix the atrocious attire but yours is. And you haven’t yet.”
“I am making progress though. I think.”
“I don’t understand what the problem is. You buy clothes that look good on him and you’re done.”
Gia said, “I’m trying to buy clothes that he likes wearing.”
“One of us is not sure what your job is.”
“It’s you. My repeat business is based on custome
r satisfaction.”
Victoria hmmed. “Maybe.”
“Good thing we’re not in the same kind of business?”
“Maybe. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to help you though if you can’t just steamroll him.”
Gia grinned. “I don’t think you can help me. I really just wanted to yell at you about Nicole. Stop being mad at her.”
Victoria huffed. “I’m only a little mad.”
“That’s like saying it’s only a little nuclear warhead.”
“I just can’t deal right now with Scott suddenly being her brother.”
“Yes, it must be really tough for you.”
Cold silence greeted that statement until Victoria said, “Don’t try and make me feel selfish. It won’t work.”
“I was going for guilty. Let me try again.”
“I do not have time for this, Giada.”
Cripes, how many times was she going to get Giada’d today? First Ma, now Victoria.
Gia said, “You’re not mad that Scott is her brother. You’re mad that you doused him in gasoline and lit him on fire when he never cheated on you.”
“Says Nicole. He’s her brother, of course she would take his side.”
“Are you listening to yourself? Nicole’s not taking his side, she’s been his sister for a hot minute. She loves you, I love you, and we will always have your back. Even if you were utterly and royally wrong.”
Hot fury laced Victoria’s voice as she yelled, “So I was wrong! So what! What do you want me to about it! What am I supposed to do about it!”
Poor Victoria. She was so used to being sure of herself, of never being wrong.
Gia was intimately familiar with being wrong. Failing. She hardly even felt the prick anymore.
“You’re supposed to let us help you. You’re supposed to call Nicole and bitch to her about her brother. You’re supposed to cry on my shoulder. You’re supposed to say you’re sorry.”
“I won’t do any of that.”
“I know. And I still have your back. And so does Nicole. So stop ignoring us.”
Victoria said, “I’m not ignoring you, I’m busy.”
“Too busy for your friends? You know I was the one who had to talk Nicole down when she called crying about Flynn.”
Victoria sucked in a breath. “What did he do?”
Gia couldn’t help her smile. And then she couldn’t help her frown.