by Hadley Quinn
Melanie shook her head at him and traveled around to the passenger’s side. When they both climbed in and buckled, she murmured, “It was barely twenty minutes, drama queen.”
Chapter Seven
By the time Jay reached Lincoln City, it was dark again. The trip had been long but bearable, especially because Melanie was an easy travel companion. Yeah they had their little tiffs now and then, but she was actually okay to have along. She didn’t ask to stop anywhere except to go pee, and she kept pulling out various snacks every hour, which Jay started to look forward to like a goddamn toddler. They did stop to eat around three in the afternoon, but other than that, the food she brought allowed him to keep driving.
When he entered the streets of Olivia Beach, Jay felt a bit of nostalgia. He’d spent ten months here with Teague, and at the time, he wasn’t sure if his cousin would ever be the same again. Until one day Teague met a feisty, gorgeous blonde that pretty much turned his world right again. Jay had been happy to see Teague gradually pull out of the slump he’d been in, but he never expected his best friend to fall stupidly in love with Camryn.
All he wanted for Teague was for him to get laid, not married.
“Oh my goodness, Cam was right,” Melanie exhaled as she looked up at the gigantic house Jay pulled in front of. “This is where my mom lives?”
Jay killed the engine and asked, “You’ve really never been here before?”
She pulled her eyes away from the three-story house and looked at him. In the cast of streetlights he could see her eyebrows furrow and a partial frown form on her face.
“No. When she left California to run off with Lyle, I pretty much gave up on the idea of ever having a mom. I was only fourteen, a freshman in high school, and my mom just handed me over the second Tim said we could stay with him. To see her so…relieved is the right word, I guess…just made me despise her. Camryn felt the same way, but she’s apparently quicker to forgive than I am.”
“Well, she met Teague. I doubt she’s complaining about that.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Melanie laughed. “Camryn’s like that, though. She feels like it’s not her job to decide who deserves her help or not. She just does it.”
“You’re like that too,” Jay said, unbuckling his seatbelt. But he didn’t get into how cheerful, sweet, and friendly she always was too. Battling her feisty personality wasn’t the only thing he enjoyed about Melanie Jacobs. “And don’t beat yourself up about how you feel about your mom. My dad and I would rather kill each other, so I think how you feel is normal.”
She sighed as she slid out of the truck. He could tell how apprehensive she was about seeing her mom, and he hated to see her happiness fizzle out like that. He’d never met Serena, but he’d heard plenty about her from Teague and Camryn. But Jay wasn’t one to be intimidated by any parent, so he felt his duty was to help Melanie get through this. He was getting a fucking car out of the deal, so the least he could do was be supportive.
He joined her on the sidewalk and glanced at his watch. Grady had told him to call when he got to town and he’d help him load the car. But first he needed to get a look at it to see what it was going to take to get it on the trailer. He had no idea if the thing even had a working engine. Serena hadn’t told him much of anything because she refused to go down to the basement garage to give him a basic report.
“Okay, I’ll go up and talk to her if you want to wait here,” Melanie said. And then she took a deep breath like she was trying to prepare herself.
“Nah, I’ll come with you,” Jay told her. “I need to move my legs a little bit, and those stairs look pretty tempting.”
Melanie followed his gaze to the flights of stairs that led to the front door and smiled. “Okay,” she agreed. “But thank you, Jay. I know she’ll be a little less overbearing if someone else is there, too.”
Jay only nodded before they trekked the steps. The front door opened before they were even halfway up, and a blonde woman that could have been Camryn’s and Melanie’s older sister watched them tentatively.
“Hi, Mom,” Melanie addressed casually as they made the last step onto the upper deck. “This is Jay,” she motioned to him. “Jay, my mom Serena.”
“Nice to meet you,” Serena replied with a tight smile.
“You too,” Jay answered dryly, not sure if he actually meant it. He was watching her carefully, wondering what exactly the woman was so uptight about. Him? His tattoos? Piercings? Seeing Melanie after so many years? Holy shit, the woman didn’t even come to Camryn and Teague’s wedding. She mailed a fucking congratulations card with a check.
“Well come in,” Serena finally said, like she didn’t have a choice. “There are a couple of spare bedrooms you can each stay in for the night.”
“We’re not staying,” Melanie informed her as they entered the house. “I told you that on the phone.”
“You’re just going to take the car and leave? In the middle of the night?”
Melanie sighed. “Yes, that was the plan. We both have things to get back to. But can you show us the car? Jay needs to see what needs done in order to load it.”
“It’s down in the basement. I’d rather not go down there, but I’m sure you can find your way. It’s through that door,” she nodded with her head. “The keys for the car should be in the upper cabinet by the shelves with all the spare parts and stuff.
“Spare parts?” Jay asked. “For the Mustang?”
“I have no idea,” Serena shrugged. “Take all of it anyways. The car and whatever else is down there you can use or sell. I really just want to get rid of it all before the realtor comes next week.”
“Realtor?” Melanie repeated. “You’re selling this house?”
“He left it in my name, but how am I supposed to live here? It’s too big. It needs to go to someone with a large family or someone who wants to rent it out as a vacation home. I don’t have the desire to keep it.” She sighed and added, “I hope you consider staying just a night, Melanie. It’d be nice if we could…talk for a little bit.”
Jay could read Melanie easily when she glanced away to avoid eye contact. He knew talking to her mom was the part Melanie wanted to get over with, so he was surprised by her answer. “Maybe another time,” she answered quietly. “We’ll head downstairs, and then I’ll come say goodbye when we leave.”
Serena didn’t look surprised and only nodded her head. Jay opened the door to the basement and let Melanie lead the way in silence, but once they were just halfway down the flight of stairs, he could hear her sniffle.
Oh good God. Chicks and tears. It’s not that he minded a crying female, but he just never knew what to say. Plus when he did actually try to say something helpful, it either sounded stupid or someone was offended.
But fuck that. He almost ran into Melanie at the bottom of the stairs when she stopped abruptly and gasped. “Oh my God,” she exhaled.
“Holy shit,” Jay added.
They were standing at the railing of a two-story theatre room. Teague had told him about this room, but Jay could hardly picture it until he was in it for real. They were up at the balcony, but there was another flight of stairs that hooked toward a lower level with even more seating down below.
“Wow, how cool would this be to have?” Melanie finally asked. She headed down the second flight of stairs and Jay followed her. “Can you imagine the movie parties you could have in a place like this?”
“Or other kinds of parties,” Jay murmured.
But Melanie heard him and swatted his arm with a laugh. “Oh? And how many girls have you fooled around with in a movie theatre?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” he smirked.
“Not really. How many? If it helps, I’ll go first. I think I’ve made out with about four guys in a theatre. But I may be forgetting a couple.”
“Well one of ‘em definitely wasn’t me, ‘cause you’d never forget it.”
She laughed at his arrogance but made her way to a door that led to the garage.
He followed her through it and they both looked around for a second. It was just the regular garage to the house, but only Serena’s BMW was parked in it along with a few bicycles.
Jay spotted another door to their right and opened it, flipping the lights on. Jackpot. It was a two-story garage, most likely to fit an RV, but there was a car parked in it fully clothed with a blue cover. But before he even made his way to the car, the shelves that Serena had mentioned caught his eye first, and he swore out loud as he slowly walked by the endless amount of car parts that were spread all over every shelf. They weren’t labeled, but they were obviously organized meticulously by what engine component they belonged to.
“Is it good stuff?” Melanie asked, joining him where he stood looking over the assortment.
“Hell yes,” he practically whispered. If these were the parts Lyle had collected, Jay could only imagine what plans he’d had for the car itself. He slowly turned toward the fabric-clad machine and stared for a moment. It was Melanie that eventually walked over to it, grabbed a corner of the sheet, and yanked it off.
Oh. My. God.
Jay felt his jaw drop open. This couldn’t be happening, could it? This was the car that Melanie’s mom wanted to get off her hands?
Holy fucking hell.
“Jay, are you okay?” Melanie asked, breaking the silence. “What’s wrong? Are you upset? I’m sorry you came all the way up here if this isn’t what—”
“It’s gorgeous,” he finally exhaled, not even realizing he’d been holding his breath. “You’ve got to be kidding me. This is a joke, right?”
“What? I’m totally confused. You said that this ugly thing is gorgeous?”
“Mel, do you know what this car is?”
“Um, a Mustang?” she teased, biting her lip.
Jay smiled but he practically rushed the driver’s door to get started on his assessment. It was unlocked, so he opened it carefully, taking the time to pay proper respect to the glorious beast it belonged to. The interior was in better shape than he’d expected, and as-is, was totally usable. There were things he’d fix up and change, but he was beyond ecstatic that it wasn’t urgent.
After taking a minute to evaluate everything on the inside, he popped the hood and paused before looking underneath it. He wasn’t surprised; it was practically gutted.
“That might be a problem,” Melanie said, peering into the engine cavity.
“Something tells me this guy was on top of things, though,” Jay answered, glancing around the garage again.
He spotted what he was looking for and saved himself the torture by pulling the cover off it right away.
“Oh good God,” he chuckled, shaking his head. He couldn’t even believe his eyes. Who knows how long this engine had been sitting on a rack, but Jay was sure it’d been oiled and turned over properly while awaiting its destiny. “Was Lyle a good guy?” he asked Melanie.
She looked confused and then shrugged. “I only met him once, when he came down to help my mom move up here. But my mom adored him.”
“Okay, because I want to worship this man and I’d feel bad if he’d been a dickhead or something.”
“So that’s the engine to the car?” Melanie chuckled. “I’m assuming it’s a good one?”
He took a deep breath and motioned to the car that needed the paint stripped and just a little bodywork. “This is a ’69 Boss, my fucking dream car. This here,” he added, pointing the engine propped on a stand, “is the 429 that goes in it.”
“So…it’s a Boss. Like Teague’s car?”
“Teague’s car is pretty special with all the extras we did to it, but it’s got a 302 in it. A different engine,” he clarified when she stared at him blankly. “We modernized a lot of the interior, though, because it was such a mess. That makes it cool and very unique, but this here,” he pointed to the car again, “is as close to original as you can get.”
“So you’re happy with it?” she asked eagerly. She obviously didn’t want him to be disappointed, and Jay seriously loved that about her.
“Yes, this makes me extremely happy, Mel. I’m ecstatic. I mean…the guy has about twenty grand in parts alone in here,” he said, walking back to the shelves. “I guarantee he must have other cars he’s owned or worked on because most of this is standard stuff and the rest of it is specifically for this car. This is the Holley carburetor that goes in it,” he pointed, more for his own benefit than hers.
Melanie stood next to him and nodded her head. “And is everything here that you need in order to put the car back together?”
“It looks like it. But even if it’s missing a few items, this is way beyond what I expected. I’m totally blown away. This guy must have been a total car enthusiast.”
She turned to him and said, “Come to think of it…” She paused as a thought developed, and then looked around. “That’s why my mom won’t come down here,” she finally said. “Lyle died from a massive heart attack while working on one of his cars. He was supposed to take my mom out to lunch for her birthday, and she was mad that he didn’t come upstairs when he said he would, so she went the entire day without coming down here or speaking to him. When it was almost midnight, she came down to finally let him have it and… He’d been dead since morning, I guess. He died down here on her birthday.”
Jay didn’t know what to say so he kept his mouth shut. Melanie had already left him anyways and was walking around the garage, checking everything out. She even looked interested as she flipped through an engine manual that was spread open on a drafting table.
As she scanned through it she asked, “So you know how to do all this stuff? Or do you use a book, too?”
“I know quite a bit without using a reference, especially when it comes to all the standard stuff and any of the finish work. But yeah, I’ll open up a manual if I need to.”
“And how often is that?” she asked with a smile.
“Are you trying to get me to admit how awesome and knowledgeable I am?”
“Yes,” she laughed.
“Fine,” he shrugged. “I rarely need help ‘cause I know what I’m doing. I’ve been working on cars since I was fifteen. But there’s still a lot I need to learn or get better at.”
“And what about owning your own shop? That’s still a goal of yours?”
He tried to measure the meaning behind her inquiry but decided against it. “Yeah, that’s still in the plans. But I’m guessing it’s about five years down the road.”
“You never know, Jay. I think you’ve got it in you to make it happen sooner. You are seriously determined to achieve anything you put your mind to. Life is definitely going to work out in your favor. I believe in you.”
Jay turned to the Boss for the next few minutes and continued to look it over some more. Thank God he had a car in the room to use as a buffer because her faith in him was beyond his comprehension. Three years ago he might have been on the right track, but temptation got in the way of his dreams and he’d fucked up big time. For a while he was barely getting by month-to-month. Now he was doing better and had money in savings for his future business. He still had a ways to go, but he was at least on the right track.
“How ‘bout you go up and talk to your mom for a bit and I’ll call Grady to get him over here,” Jay finally said. “It’ll be at least a couple hours before we pull this thing onto the car trailer and load up everything else.”
“I really don’t want to talk to her, Jay. Honestly. I’ll find some boxes and box all the parts up that can fit. Is that okay? Just tell me how you want it stored and I’ll do it.”
He wasn’t going to argue. That would be a huge help and they could leave sooner. He gave her a quick rundown for packing parts, but he really didn’t care if they were organized. He’d sort them out back in his own garage later.
While Melanie got started with that, Jay tried to get a hold of Grady. He ended up leaving him two voicemails and two texts, and still didn’t hear back from him. He helped Melanie pack boxes while he waited
for a return call, which finally came when Melanie reluctantly headed upstairs to ask for more boxes.
But Grady’s phone call did not make Jay happy.
Chapter Eight
When Jay made it back upstairs, he could hear an argument ensuing between Melanie and her mom. They were in the kitchen and couldn’t see him, but he wasn’t sure if he should make his presence known or just go back down to the garage.
“I really don’t understand what the rush is,” he heard Serena say. “It’s almost ten o’clock. Just stay the night and leave in the morning.”
“I’m only along for the ride. I came knowing that it would be a quick turn around. And besides, I’m totally okay with that.”
“I’m your mother, damn it. I haven’t seen you in four years.”
Melanie’s chuckle was obviously a bitter one. “Well now whose fault is that? All this time I’m only good enough for a two-minute phone call now and then? I admire everything that Camryn has done for you, despite the fact that you haven’t done a single thing to thank her. But nothing has changed and it never will. And I’m still the daughter you never wanted, and I’m still the disappointment that you’ll always avoid claiming.”
“That is not true!” Serena snapped. “I was a young mother and did the best I could! You need to stop holding that against me!”
“That’s interesting,” Melanie said. “I specifically remember eating cereal for dinner five times a week when Dad wasn’t home. When Camryn was old enough to cook, she took care of me not you! And while Dad was busy working two jobs, all you did was watch soap operas or read romance novels all day if you were actually even home!”
“Do not bring your dad into this conversation, Melanie Elizabeth! You have a very clouded memory of your father.”
“Clouded? How come he’s the only one I remember that hugged me or told me he loved me? How come I remember going for ice cream and other ‘just because’ surprises when he was around and I remember nothing with you?”