The Relationship Mechanic (Peach Blossom #2)

Four

W alking to Vini’s shop was probably not the smartest idea, but despite questioning herself after each mile, Jessica refused to be defeated. Sweat beaded across her forehead, and she sighed in relief when Vini’s building came into view. The day was beautiful with blue skies and a few fluffy clouds. A cool breeze blew which was enough to keep her from being completely overheated, but the sun was enough to have her wishing for a wide-brimmed hat. At least she had been smart enough to put on her comfortable tennis shoes. She had thought about dressing to show off her best assets, but in the end, she didn’t want to seem like she was coming on too strong.

The overhead bell rang as she pushed the door open. Inside, cool air rushed over her, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the lower light. The place was empty with soft music playing from the doorway across from her. She walked up to the counter and paused. If she were in anyone else’s place, she would have walked around the counter without a thought. But she was trying to make a good impression. Vini had been hard enough to read during their first encounter, but Jessica was pretty sure just barging in and making herself at home was not the best way to go about things.

“Can I help you?”

Jessica jumped slightly when a voice called out from somewhere deeper in the shop. She leaned over the counter and tried to see beyond the doorway that looked like it led to some dodgy back room. A figure came around one of the shelves and walked into view.

“Did you need help with something?”

The man was tall and stocky with broad shoulders that looked strong enough to do some heavy lifting. He was tan, almost tanner than Jessica, with curly dark brown hair that flopped over his eyes making him look boyish despite his size.

“I was looking for Vini. She brought my car in yesterday.” That was mostly true. Jessica didn’t actually give a shit about the car. She had already called the rental agency to put them on blast about the dud of a vehicle they’d given her. When she mentioned being stranded on the side of the highway, they relented and let her know they would be reimbursing her for any costs of fixing the heap of junk. “I’m Jessica.”

The guy walked around the counter and held a hand out toward her. “Aiden. I’m Vini’s right-hand man around here.” Jessica shook his hand to be polite, though she glanced behind him. “You must be the one she dropped off in town yesterday, then. She mentioned you were pretty.”

“Oh, did she?” Jessica had been more interested in finding out if Vini was around, but now that she was here, she wondered how much more information she could get out of Aiden. Vini thinking she was pretty was a nice start, but that didn’t mean she was attracted to Jessica. Still, a girl could hope. “Did she mention anything else about me?”

Aiden’s smile morphed into a knowing smirk. “Maybe. Why? You interested in our mini mechanic?”

Jessica shrugged, not wanting to seem too obvious. “It would be nice to get to know my savior, considering I’m going to be spending a few weeks here.”

Aiden leaned closer. “Well, if you really want to know, Vini said you were the pret—”

“Aiden, did you finish getting those parts organized, or have you been standing around gossiping the whole day?”

Damn it , Jessica thought to herself. She was glad that Vini was here, but she would have liked to pump Aiden for a bit more information. She turned, her eyes once again drifting over Vini’s frame as the woman walked over to them. She wasn’t in overalls this time, instead sporting a tight T-shirt that showcased strong shoulders and a trim waist. Hips that had been hidden in overalls yesterday were now on clear display wrapped in black trousers that left Jessica whistling inside her head. Vini might be vertically challenged, but that didn’t mean she was lacking elsewhere.

“Jessica, what are you doing here?”

Eyes snapped back up as Jessica kicked herself into gear. It was time to turn on the charm. “I didn’t have anything going on today and figured I would get out an explore a little bit. My feet led me here so I thought I would pop in and say hello.”

Vini gestured outside. “I didn’t see Grace’s car out there. Please don’t tell me you walked all the way here.”

Sure fucking did, and I have the bunions to prove it. “Okay, I won’t tell you I walked all the way here.” Aiden’s bark of laughter made Jessica smile.

“You could have texted me.”

“I know. But I figured stopping by in person was a better bet.” Jessica leaned against the counter as she let her gaze wander over Vini again. She was perplexed when she saw her frown. Usually, people were happy when they realized she wanted to see them in person. Never had Jessica received a frown. “Did I come at a bad time?”

Vini shook her head, though the frown still painted her face. “I’m still working on your car, but it should be ready in a few hours if you want to keep checking out the town. I have your number on file so I can call you when I’m through.”

That was not what Jessica had been expecting. Nothing about this encounter was going the way she had envisioned, and now she was left scrambling to figure out how to recover. Was it possible that Vini really wasn’t attracted to her? It wouldn’t be the first time, of course, but it was the first time Jessica had dealt with so many mixed signals.

“That’s okay. I don’t mind waiting here. In fact, I sort of had a favor to ask.” After a few well-placed questions last night, Jessica had come up with a backup game plan for accidentally on purpose spending more time with Vini. She figured there was no harm in being nice. And shouldn’t she be trying to make friends while she was in town? It wouldn’t be good for Grace’s reputation if she had a friend come to town who snubbed the locals. “The whole mess with this car has shown me how little I know about vehicles, so I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind teaching me a few things.”

Vini’s frown grew deeper. “Teaching you a few things?”

“Yeah. Grace mentioned you sometimes teach a few auto-shop classes at the high school.” That had been another surprise. Vini in her twenty-two years of life seemed far more worldly than her age and left Jessica feeling a bit ashamed that she was damn near thirty and hadn’t achieved half as much. “I’m lucky the car didn’t crap out on me until I was close to Peach Blossom, but I hate to think about what might happen if it does that again on my way back to Atlanta.”

“True,” Vini agreed. She crossed her arms and looked over her shoulder where Jessica could see her rental was propped up. “Getting stuck somewhere unfamiliar with no working vehicle isn’t the greatest.”

Jessica nodded and kept up her earnest routine. “And if I’m somewhere with bad cell service, I might have to wait hours. At least if you teach me the basics, I can handle a few things that might happen.” Vini’s expression still seemed unsure, making Jessica wonder if she was pushing too hard. Maybe Vini really didn’t want anything to do with her. She wasn’t trying to force someone to be around her if they didn’t want to be. She wasn’t that desperate for human companionship.

“Never mind. It was just a thought.” Jessica shrugged before moving to leave.

“Wait.” Vini took step forward her expression clearing. She scrunched her nose as she looked to the side, and Jessica wanted to groan at how unfair it was for her to be that damn cute. “I’ll do it. I’ll help you.”

“You don’t have to. I can ask someone else.”

Vini smirked. “You could try, but they wouldn’t be as good as me.”

That had Jessica raising her eyebrows. From anyone else’s mouth, she would assume they were flirting with her and would respond in kind. When it came to Vini, though, the jury was still out on that one. Getting a read on her was quickly becoming one of the most frustrating games Jessica had ever played. She decided to keep it fairly neutral for now.

“I don’t doubt that. I look forward to our first lesson. Will we be starting today?”

“No,” Vini replied, shaking her head. “I need to finish checking out the damage, but I know it’s far outside of the basics.”

“Fair enough,” Jessica said not doubting her expertise. She didn’t know the first thing about cars, and she wanted Vini to feel comfortable so she would let her lead things. There was no point in asking for lessons and then not listening to her teacher. She looked around and spotted a small table with two chairs. Neither of them looked super comfortable but they would have to do for now. Her feet would not put up with her attempting the trek back to town on foot. “Do you mind if I post up here and get some work done?”

Vini shrugged. “Yeah, that’s fine. The Wi-Fi password is Jordan212 if you need it.”

“Oh? A boyfriend’s name?” Jessica breached the topic with a supposedly nonchalant question. She glanced at Vini whose face was marred by a confused frown.

“No. That’s my nephew’s name.” She gestured to a side door that led to the attached garage. “I’ll be out there working. Holler if you need anything.”

Jessica smiled widely. “I definitely will. Don’t worry about me. Act like I don’t even exist.”

Vini nodded but didn’t say anything more before heading to the garage. Aiden shot Jessica a quick thumbs-up before he, too, disappeared back into the back room, leaving her in the lobby alone to pick apart everything that had just occurred. It was true, she did have some things she could work on, namely reviewing her social media for damage control. She had locked her social media profiles down as soon as the first whispers of scandal had started brewing, but that didn’t mean people weren’t still having a field day with the whole thing. Gossip was a favorite past time for many, and unfortunately, Jessica found herself the topic of conversation instead of just observing from the sidelines.

Her mom had accepted her apologies with the grace she always seemed to have in abundance, but that didn’t mean Jessica didn’t still feel bad. Thankfully, the pictures that had surfaced of her kissing her mom’s castmates had been grainy, but she wasn’t exactly able to blend in when she was back home in Korea. Defamation laws kept the whispers at a minimum, but there had still been talk about her mom losing the role. After having been gone from the entertainment industry for so long, this should have been her mom’s triumphant return. Jessica hadn’t meant for her bit of fun to affect her mom’s career and had quickly decided that making herself scarce was the best solution to let everything die down while the management company did its thing.

Jessica had always been a free spirit when it came to relationships and occasionally it blew up in her face, but this was a totally new level and not one she wanted to repeat. Her sexuality had never been an issue with her parents, and for that she was grateful. They had always presented a united front which was something she envied even if she didn’t like the thought of always having to compromise. Her mom had done it for the sake of her dad’s army career, but Jessica wasn’t sure if she could have done the same.

“Six weeks of self-imposed isolation and I can get back out there and pretend like none of it ever happened,” she muttered before dropping her bag on the table. She sat down and winced at just how uncomfortable the chair was. Still, she had said she planned on waiting, so wait she would. Even if it meant getting next to nothing done as she watched Vini work her magic.

The next few hours seemed to fall away as Jessica pretended to be doing anything other than stealing glances at the woman just beyond the glass door. Vini’s face was almost serene as she moved this way and that carrying tools that Jessica couldn’t even pretend to know the names of. Even the sounds faded into the background as she watched Vini in what was clearly her element. The woman moved like poetry Jessica wished she understood. Every now and then, their eyes would meet, and once or twice, Vini’s lips would twitch like she wanted to smile. It gave Jessica hope that maybe she wasn’t totally off base. It also gave her time to think of how to use their time together to get to know more about her. Vini didn’t seem to be the type that gave up personal details easily, but Jessica wasn’t trying to court her like some duke in a historical romance novel. Things didn’t have to get too deep to be worthwhile.

By the time Vini had the car back down on the ground, Jessica knew what her next moves would be. Keeping it simple seemed like it would be the key here. Being coy didn’t appear to be the way to go. She could appreciate it in a way. Too often, the women she dealt with moved in a series of chess-like starts and stops. It was exhausting sometimes to navigate that push-and-pull dynamic. That didn’t seem to be something Vini utilized, but there were other things Jessica knew she had to take into consideration. Small towns were notorious for running on word of mouth, and Jessica knew firsthand how quickly things could spread when a whisper network got ahold of them.

“Your car is ready to go,” Vini said, drawing Jessica’s attention again. Her once-clean shirt was smudged with grease as she wiped her hands on a towel. Her expression was even, and Jessica followed her to the counter. Neither of them said anything as Vini printed out the paperwork and handed it over. “Here’s everything that was done. I know you said the rental company was reimbursing you, but let me know if they push back on anything.”

“Thanks so much,” Jessica replied as she looked over things. She raised her eyebrows when she saw the quoted final price. “Wow, that’s much lower than I thought it would be.” She kept reviewing when she heard another door open and close.

“I see you’re giving her the friends and family discount.”

Jessica snapped her eyes up at Aiden’s words in time to see Vini swatting at him and making shushing motions. When she saw Jessica’s attention, she froze.

“The friends and family discount?” Jessica asked forcing her expression to stay neutral when really she wanted to grin. “Are we friends, then, Vini?” She dropped her tone, slightly crowing internally when Vini’s eyes widened. Not wanting to make her feel awkward, Jessica pretended to turn her attention back to the papers. She set them on the counter and signed without prompting. She wasn’t worried about the price after her conversation with the car company.

“So are you going to the bowling match tomorrow?” she asked without looking up. “Grace said it was going to be a big one. I figured I would go to lend some moral support and cheer them on.” Before she could overthink things, Jessica wrote her number and a little note telling Vini to call her on the paperwork.

“Yeah. If I don’t, Ava would probably lose her shit,” Vini replied softly. “She’s my sister, so I have to support the family.”

Jessica looked up in surprise but slid the paperwork across the counter with a smile. Grace hadn’t thought to mention that little tidbit when they were talking last night. This would complicate things slightly, but with another glance at Vini, she was thinking it might be worth it. “Great. It’ll be good to see another friendly face there.” When Vini reached for the paperwork, their hands brushed against one another. “And it will be good to see you again. I’m looking forward to what you plan on teaching me.”

At her words, Vini paused, their fingers still overlapping as she looked into Jessica’s eyes. There was heat there, Jessica was sure of it. Vini was into it, and Jessica had to figure out a way to let her know that she was more than a little interested. Besides, when everyone was on the same page, there was nothing wrong with a fun little fling.

Nothing more, nothing less.