Banks all said the same thing—I was too big a risk.
I knew we could improve with some investment in training and tools, and my sister was always on me about renovating the lobby. “People want to see a nice, welcoming room when they come in,” she’d say. “You don’t need a fancy chandelier, but would it kill you to get some nicer chairs? Some better coffee? A new rug?”
I always argued back that it shouldn’t matter what the damn lobby looked like. The important thing was the work, and I knew we did good work—excellent work, in fact. And we could be even better. But without the loan, it wouldn’t happen.
This was exactly why I didn’t get my heart set on anything that mattered.
You wound up feeling like a failure every fucking time.
Four
Blair
The first thing I did was water that poor plant in the lobby.
Grabbing my empty coffee cup, I found the tiny bathroom down the hall and turned on the faucet. As the cup began to fill, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror above the sink. I’d done the best I could with my hair, which definitely could’ve benefited from some shampoo and conditioner, but I hadn’t felt right using Griffin’s shower without permission. I wasn’t a homeless person. I was just . . . temporarily sans maison.
That wasn’t the same thing at all, was it?
I’d wanted to do something nice for Griffin this morning, since he’d seemed a bit moody and distracted when he left for work. He’d barely looked at me and only mumbled something undecipherable when I’d thanked him again. I thought maybe he was annoyed with my being there, but then again, he might simply have been tired. He couldn’t have been too comfortable all night, trying to sleep sitting up like that. I hoped the coffee and donuts would perk him up. He really was a nice guy.
With a hot body.
And a huge package.
My core muscles clenched up, as they had been doing every time I recalled accidentally grabbing at his crotch. My God, it was so embarrassing! He knew I hadn’t meant to do it, right? Every time I thought about it, I sort of wanted to die—but also sort of wanted to do it again. It was so cute the way he’d practically run out of the room afterward. It had made me feel even safer with him.
Turning off the tap, I carefully carried the full cup of water back out to the lobby and dumped it into the dry dirt. I did the same thing two more times before tackling the desk.
Griffin was right—it was a mess.
Stacks of invoices littered the surface, piles of folders threatened to topple over, paper clips and pencils and several staplers were scattered everywhere. It was the complete opposite of Griffin’s apartment, which was completely clean and uncluttered.
I got to work filing and organizing immediately, stopping only to answer the phone the few times it rang. Once a customer came in to pick up her vehicle, and I’d poked my head into the garage to let Griffin know, but it was a younger, skinnier mechanic who came to the desk with her keys.
Once the customer was gone, he turned to me and smiled. “Hi, I’m Andy.”
“Nice to meet you, Andy. I’m Blair.”
“I know. I mean, that’s what Griffin said.” He glanced over his shoulder. “He’s looking at your car now.”
“Great.” I smiled. “Fingers crossed it isn’t too bad.”
“Yeah, I’m—I’m not sure.” Andy looked a little uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Like I said, I’m not sure, I just . . . hear a lot of cussing back there today.”
I bit my lip. “More than usual?”
“A lot more. He’s in a real mood. But that might be because of the bank.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Business isn’t so great these days because of Swifty Auto. And he’s been trying to get this loan forever, see, and—”
“Hand me!” bellowed a deep voice.
I looked over Andy’s shoulder and saw Griffin’s huge frame filling the doorway. Hand me what? I wondered.
“What the hell are you doing up here?” he demanded, his eyes shooting daggers at Andy, his forehead creased with anger. It was the most intimidating I’d ever seen him.
“I was just giving Mrs. Stephens her keys.”
Griffin crossed his arms over his bulging chest. “I don’t see Mrs. Stephens here anywhere.”
“She only left a minute ago. I was introducing myself to—”
“Yeah, well I don’t pay you to stand around running your mouth,” Griffin barked, moving into the lobby and jerking his head toward the garage. “Get back to work.”
“I’m going, sorry.” Andy hurried back into the service bay.
I felt bad for him, and I was about to apologize and take the blame for keeping him out here, but I didn’t have a chance.
“Your car won’t be ready today,” Griffin announced abruptly.
My heart plummeted. “It won’t?”
“No. I don’t have the parts. And I won’t be able to get them quickly.”
“How . . . how long?” I swallowed hard. “A day or so?”
“Probably more like a week.”
“A week!”
He cocked his head. “You think parts for fifty-year-old British cars grow on trees around here?”
“No, I just—”
“You’re just used to getting everything you want exactly when you want it because no one has ever said no to you. I get it, princess. Welcome to the real world.” And with that, he stormed back into the garage, pulling the door shut behind him.
I stood there for a moment in complete shock, one hand over my mouth, one flattened against my stomach. No one had ever spoken so rudely to me before. I sank onto the chair behind the desk, my face burning.
What had I done to make him so angry? Wasn’t I the customer? And wasn’t the customer always right? No wonder business hadn’t been so great lately, if he spoke to people like that. And how dare he make fun of me!
This Griffin was nothing like the guy from last night—obviously, he had a mean streak. Or maybe last night had been an act. Figured! No one was ever who they pretended to be, millionaire or mechanic.
My first instinct was to get the hell out of there, leaving him high and dry without a receptionist, but as I was grabbing my purse, I realized I couldn’t leave.
Not only did I have nowhere to go and no way to get there, but I’d offered to do a job, and I wasn’t the kind of person to go back on my word. Not to mention the fact that I needed him to repair my car and give me a fair price on it—if I abandoned the desk, he’d have no reason to offer me a discount. But I didn’t have to let him speak to me like that. He had no right! And since I’d never been one to stay quiet when I had something to say, I marched into the garage all fired up to speak my mind.
I spotted him at a tool cabinet in the back. “Excuse me!” I yelled.
He turned around and frowned at me. “What now?”
I stuck my hands on my hips as I approached him. “For your information, I’ve been told no plenty of times in my life.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes,” I snapped. “Just because I grew up with money doesn’t mean I always got everything I wanted. I told you yesterday how my parents ran my life according to their rules—what I wanted never even mattered!”
He sneered. “Tell me you never had a pony.”
“I never had a pony!” I paused and sniffed. “I had a horse.”
Griffin rolled his eyes.
“But that’s not the point!” I yelled, throwing my arms up. “Okay, yes, it took losing everything I had to realize I had to stop letting my family call all the shots. And yes, I am somewhat clueless about mechanical things like cars and how they work. Yes, I had a horse.”
“You realize all those yeses are making my point, not yours.”
I stopped moving and held up my palms. “I know there’s a lot I need to learn about the real world. But I’m trying, okay? I want to start a new life, one where I don’t depend on other people’s mone
y or connections to fix my problems, so it really stinks to be so broke and stranded and helpless right now.” I crossed my arms over my chest and lifted my chin. “I don’t need your rudeness on top of it.”
Griffin stared at me, his scowl deepening. “Fine.”
“Fine!” Angry that I hadn’t heard an apology, I whirled around and stomped toward the lobby door.
“Are you leaving?” he shouted.
“No!” I called over my shoulder. “I said I’d do the job, and I’ll do it!” Then I yanked the door shut behind me with quite a bit more force than necessary.
I’d never slammed a door before. It actually felt pretty good.
But the satisfaction dissipated pretty quickly. In fact, I started to feel bad about mouthing off to him. He’d been so nice to me last night.
Maybe he was just having a bad day. Maybe the call from the bank had been bad news. Maybe Andy was always slacking off and needed to be kept on task.
Bottom line, he was the closest thing I had to a friend in my new life so far. And friendship took patience and understanding.
By one o’clock my stomach was growling, and I decided I’d offer an olive branch in the form of lunch. Maybe I could bring him a sandwich or something—I’d seen a little place called Main Street Delicatessen while walking back from the diner this morning. I was just about to get up from the desk and go ask what he’d like when the phone rang again.
I picked it up. “Good afternoon, Bellamy Creek Garage.”
“Hello, Lanette?” said the woman loudly. “It’s Doris Applebee.” Right away I had the feeling she was older and hard of hearing, so I spoke up.
“Lanette isn’t here today, Mrs. Applebee. This is Blair.”
“Oh, hello there! You must be the lucky lady. I heard the big news this morning—congratulations!”
“Thank you,” I said, although I had no idea what she was talking about. “Can I help you?”
“Well, I don’t know,” she went on. “My car is making that noise again.”
As I was picking up a pen to take notes, I saw Griffin open the lobby door and lean against the frame. We made eye contact, and my stomach flip-flopped, but his expression revealed nothing. “What kind of noise, Mrs. Applebee? Can you describe it?”
“You know. The noise. The same one it always makes. The clunk-clunk noise.”
“The clunk-clunk noise?” I frowned and wrote down Doris Applebee, clunk noise. As I did so, Griffin started mouthing something at me.
“Yes. I remember Griffin fixed it for me last time,” Mrs. Applebee said, “but I can’t recall exactly what the problem was. He was so sweet, he didn’t even charge me.”
“I’m sure he can fix it again.”
Griffin was still trying to tell me something, but I frowned at him and held up one finger.
“Mrs. Applebee, could you hold on for just one second, please?”
“Certainly, dear.”
I covered the mouthpiece of the phone and whispered, “What?”
“It’s her bowling ball,” said Griffin wryly, something close to a smile on his face. “She goes bowling with a bunch of old ladies on Tuesday nights and sometimes forgets to take the ball out of the trunk.”
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “I guarantee it.”
I uncovered the mouthpiece. “Mrs. Applebee? Griffin is here, and he wonders if it’s possible you forgot to take your bowling ball out of the trunk?”
In the silence, Griffin’s eyes held mine, and for a second I couldn’t catch my breath.
And then in my ear, “Oh, my stars, that’s right! That’s what the noise was last time! Heavens to Betsy, if my head wasn’t attached to my neck, I’d probably forget that too. That’s what happens when you’re eighty.”
I laughed. “We all forget things sometimes.”
“Well, you tell Griffin I’m going to bring him some nice cookies this week.”
“I will.”
“And make sure he shares them with you. How lovely he’s finally found a bride!”
I glanced up sharply at him. “Um . . .”
“He was my student, you know. Tenth grade English. He sat in the back row and he was always late, but he was always so apologetic about it, I could never be mad at him. Plus, he used to fix my broken pencil sharpener for me all the time. He was so handy!” She laughed. “You’ll appreciate that around the house, I’m sure.”
I thought about correcting her on the whole bride thing, but she was eighty years old and obviously confused, so I didn’t think it would be worth it. “Yes,” I said. “Well, have a nice day.”
“You too, dear. Thank you again.”
I hung up the phone, tossed the note I’d written about the clunk-clunk noise in the trash, and looked over at Griffin. He was back to leaning on the door frame again, arms crossed. “I take it she’s a frequent customer.”
“She is.”
“She says she’s going to bring you some nice cookies this week.”
“She’ll forget.”
I smiled. “She also mentioned tenth grade English class.”
“She was my teacher. Funny how she could probably name every kid in that class from sixteen years ago, but she can’t remember to take her bowling ball out of the trunk.”
I smiled. “For some reason, she thinks we’re married.”
He groaned, his expression pained. “Jesus. I really hope that rumor is not going around.”
“She was probably just confused. She’s eighty, after all.” Taking a deep breath, I put the pen down and tightened my ponytail. “So I was just about to ask you—”
But at the same time, he spoke up too. “Look, I wanted to apologize for—”
We both stopped. Our eyes met, and my heart skipped a beat.
“Sorry,” he said. “What did you want to ask me?”
“Just, um, about lunch. I was going to ask you if you wanted me to go get sandwiches or something?”
“Oh. Sure.” He came off the door frame and moved toward the desk, putting both hands on the counter. “Listen, I’m sorry about earlier. I was pissed about something and I took it out on you.”
“What happened?”
He exhaled. “It’s complicated, but the short version is that first my dad died, and then Swifty Auto happened. We’ve lost a good amount of business to them.”
“Why?”
“They’re cheaper and faster. And they have a fancier lobby. Gourmet coffee and fucking cookies.” He frowned. “But their work is shit. People don’t realize they’re going to have to go back there twice as often, because they’re thinking short-term—they want it done now, for as little money as possible. It’s hard to compete with that.” Pausing, he took a breath. “But that’s not your problem. And I’m sorry my temper got away from me. It sometimes does.”
“Well, I shouldn’t have come back there yelling and pointing my finger. I’m sorry too.” I shrugged. “The truth is, for all I know, car parts do grow on trees.”
He shook his head. “Not for your car, they don’t.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I’m still checking things out, but in addition to the tire and brakes, you’ve got damaged cylinders, some corrosion, plenty of rust. There’s a lot of wear and tear on a car this old, and this one obviously hasn’t had a lot of maintenance.”
“No wonder I got it so cheap.” Closing my eyes, I put my fingertips at my temples. “God, I’m so stupid.”
“You’re not stupid. You just didn’t know what to look for. What to ask. I’ll give you the best deal I can on the labor and make sure it’s safe to drive, but I can’t get the parts here any faster.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
Griffin looked slightly uncomfortable. “Blair, do you have somewhere to go in the meantime?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Somewhere to stay, I mean?”
“Not yet. But I will,” I said firmly. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I’d be glad to help you find—”
&n
bsp; I shook my head. “No. I don’t need rescuing. I am not a helpless fairy tale princess trapped in a tower.”
That made him smile.
“What’s funny?” I asked.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but that’s exactly what you looked like last night when you got out of your car in that dress—a lost fairy tale princess.”
“Oh.” I tried not to be offended. “Well, maybe that was the old me, but it’s definitely not the new me. I can take care of myself. I just might . . . need help.” I sighed, feeling my pride deflate. “Do you think that’s the same as being rescued?”
“Not at all. If you were trapped in a tower and someone offered to lend you a ladder, it would be stupid not to use it, right?”
“Right. It’s just not how I wanted things to go.” I caught myself. “But it’s okay—not everything in life is going to go exactly like I want it to. I’m tough. I can deal with setbacks.”
“We all have them.”
“And this is temporary, right?” I perked up a little. “I’ll get through it.”
“I have no doubt.”
I opened my mouth to ask the next question, then hesitated.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s just . . .” I took a breath and told myself to be brave. “I hate asking you this. But do you think I might continue to work for you at the desk until my car is ready? I’m worried about being able to afford a place to stay and the repairs.”
“Actually, that’s perfect. Lanette was sort of an emergency hire. Every qualified person we interviewed wanted a permanent job, and my mother is planning to come back as soon as she can. In fact, I’m still paying her.”
I smiled. “I’ll take the temporary position, if it’s available.”
“It’s all yours. But after lunch, I should probably show you how to schedule appointments in the computer.”
I smiled with relief. “Great! I’m starving, and I saw a little deli this morning that looked nice.”
Drive Me Wild Page 5