Page 59 of Back To Our Beginning

“I’ve got to go. Holden just climbed up on the counter. He’s reaching for the top shelf where I keep the doggy treats. Last time, he fed Rufus all of them, and I had an ungodly mess to clean up.”

“Bye, Evie. Love you.”

“Love you too. Now tell Beau that.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I didn’t know if I’d get the words right, but I had to try. Because loving Beau felt too important to keep quiet about.

Chapter Fifteen

“What are you doing here? You want to hop up your rental?” Roan asked as he sauntered out of the first garage bay, wiping his hand on a blue cloth.

I chuckled and went over to him and shook his hand. “I don’t think souping up the Camry is worth the money. Do you believe this piece of shit the rental place gave me?”

“You’re right about that. What happened?”

I was still disgusted that the rental place couldn’t give me a better replacement for the truck than a Camry. They better get the truck fixed damned quick!

“The alternator conked out. They towed it away, after I specifically ordered an F-250 for this trip. Then they said this was all they had, unless I wanted to wait for something from Nashville.”

“Why didn’t you just have me tow it and fix it?”

“Because I’m an idiot,” I admitted.

Roan laughed. “You look good riding around in a white Camry.”

“Fuck you. So, why’d you tell me to meet you here? Why are you working as a mechanic in your father’s garage? I thought you worked for Onyx.”

“It’s not my father’s garage anymore. He retired. Lisa runs it.”

“Who’s Lisa?”

“She’s my fiancée. I’ll come pitch in when things get overloaded.”

“And she’s your boss?” I asked.

“It’s a long story. You want to go get a beer? I can tell you about it.”

“Does your boss let you leave early?”

“Fuck you,” Roan said without heat. “Let me just tell her I’m heading out. As a matter of fact, why don’t you come and meet her?”

I followed Roan into the office and found a beautiful blonde in jeans and a tank top on the phone ripping someone a new one.

Roan got a shit-eating grin on his face. “One of our vendors. He’s been late with the last two orders, and he keeps upping his price. Lisa is done. And I mean done. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.”

“I’ll make sure every auto body and repair shop in Sevier, Cocke, Jefferson, Knox and Blount County know about your double-dealing incompetence by the end of the day if you don’t get me my parts at the rate you originally quoted.”

She looked up and blew Roan a kiss.

“Hell no, I’m not going to call them. I said by the end of the day. I have every single one of them on an e-mail list. We trade information on vendors so we know who to and who not to work with. Now, do you want to be on the naughty or nice list, Al?”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t give a shit where you have to get the parts. I want them in my hands tonight. We’ll be closed, but you can drop them off at Roan’s place. I’ll give you the address. That means before midnight. Got it?”

She listened, then rolled her eyes again. “Midnight, Al. Otherwise, you’re going to move up to the shit list. You don’t want that, because you’ll be blackballed. You got that?”

I could see he was still talking.