Chapter Six Jess
Chapter Six
Jess
Wednesday afternoon, the simultaneous video call ringtone coming from her phone and laptop jolted Jess upright from her knees and she slammed her elbow into the edge of the shower door. Confused, she quickly dropped the scrub brush, got her hands out of her gloves, and hurried to her dining table. Steinem dropped down from his perch on the bathroom counter where he’d been supervising her cleaning and followed.
“Hey,” she said when Alice appeared on the screen. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. I think you sent me the wrong file yesterday, though. The doc is only like two pages long.”
Jess blinked. Alice had agreed to look over a paper Jess was going to submit for a conference at the end of the month. Her latest draft was much longer than two pages.
“Lemme check,” Jess said, opening her sent emails. Alice was right, the attachment name was incorrect.
“Yeah, sorry, brain fart,” Jess said. She found the correct file and sent it. “I didn’t mean for you to start on it right now. I know you have a lot on your plate.”
Alice waved Jess’s words away.
“I wanted to dive in. As crazy as it probably sounds, I’m starting to miss reading academic research.” Jess’s jaw dropped and Alice laughed. “I know, I know. When I had to, I couldn’t wait to stop. Now that I don’t have to…” She shrugged. Jess let her laughter die down with her friend’s. Alice’s face suddenly shifted to concern. “Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You keep rubbing your elbow.”
Jess stopped rubbing. She hadn’t realized that she was doing it.
“Oh yeah,” she said. “I banged it right before I answered.”
“Oh,” Alice said. But she squinted her eyes a little and looked off to the side. “You know, you kept rubbing one of your shoulders the other day.”
“I did?” Jess asked.
“Yeah. I’d meant to say something about it but got sidetracked. Are you sure you’re doing okay?”
Jess had been dealing with some achiness in her joints for a while—pretty much since she’d moved to Detroit. She might have jumped back into archery a little too quickly. She had had to put it aside during her final semester, and then after Cassie…Her forearms started aching a little. She cleared her throat.
“Just archer aches and pains,” Jess said.
“Oh, okay. Since I have you, catch me up. Do you feel better about being on that committee at the Folk School?”
Too frustrated after the ambush meeting to wait for their next scheduled call, Jess had emailed Alice and Stephanie to vent. Both agreed that the way she’d been recruited was problematic, but that it would be a good way to really get to know the people there. Alice, with her irritatingly good memory, had brought up a framed photo of Cassie dressed for a Faire that Jess kept in her bedroom in Sussex. Jess had significantly downplayed how much Cassie had enjoyed them. It would probably be best if she kept that information as sealed away as possible. Returning pain in Jess’s elbow drew her attention away from old memories.
“Yeah,” Jess said, rubbing again. “Mo and I talked about it. He’s uncomfortable with it, too. We said we’d participate, but we’ll have each other’s backs so neither of us feels railroaded again.”
Alice didn’t say anything. Her eyes had gone wide at the mention of Mo, but she’d remained quiet. Then she leaned forward, posed her elbow on the table, and rested her chin in her palm. She smiled.
“You and Mo talked ?” she asked. “Mo the Ax Murderer ?”
Jess was enraged that technology had not sufficiently advanced for her to reach through the screen and rub the smirk off Alice’s face.
“And?” she snapped. “ Yes, Alice, I spoke to Mo. I spoke to an empathetic human being who seemed massively uncomfortable at the meeting, like I was, and we agreed to help each other through this.”
Alice was dead silent, but she’d shot up in her seat and covered her mouth with both hands. She began to giggle.
“What now?” Jess asked, narrowing her eyes.
“How do you know he’s empathetic?” Alice asked.
“It’s…a vibe,” Jess said. Clearly, she’d provided too much detail and needed to change course. Alice squinted at her.
“He did forgive you for trying to kill him, so there’s that,” Alice said. “And now he wants to help you—”
Jess glared at the word “help.”
“You know, maybe it’s time to put your whole ‘Atalanta, epic female archer ever eschewing men’ thing to the side,” Alice said. “But…maybe not. If this Mo is willing to run with you—”
“Life does not reflect Greek myth. Even if it did, Mo is no Hippomenes,” Jess snapped. She crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. “More…Hephaestus.” She shrugged. “Physically intimidating, muscular, blacksmith…”
“Even better, ” Alice said, smiling broadly. “I like what I’m hearing. A little romance is just the thing for the new life you’re building.”
Romance?
“I would like to invite you to shut up now,” Jess said.
—
Grocery list freshly typed into her phone, Jess checked that it was safe and headed to her car after locking her door. Even though she’d taken the time to finish cleaning her bathroom and make a thorough list after her call with Alice, she was still shaking her head. It was rare for Alice to push her about dating. What was even more rare was that Jess kept finding her thoughts returning to a man someone had nudged her toward.
So what? He seems like a nice human. That doesn’t mean I have to throw myself at him.
She got in and locked the door.
Pretty sure I’ve never met a guy who looks like that and is empathetic.
She put on her seatbelt and dropped her keys into their spot.
And who’s willing to help me with something difficult, even though I haven’t told him why it is .
She pressed the ignition. Nothing happened. She looked down, watching the button move as she pressed it again. She glanced at her keys. They were with her; it wasn’t like they weren’t close enough. She pressed the ignition again. Still nothing. She sighed.
Looks like I might have to call and ask him to help me with something else.
—
The tow truck pulling Jess’s car parked in the lot of Mo’s shop an hour later. Jess shouldered her bag and climbed down along with the driver. Mo had sent the truck when she’d called and explained her problem. Without her asking, he’d stressed that the driver was trustworthy and safe, so she’d felt better about getting into a vehicle with a strange man.
“I’m not sure how this works,” she said to the driver once she joined him beside the controls to lower her car. “Do I pay you now? Or will you send me a bill?”
The older man shook his head, the ends of his gray beard grazing the potbelly straining against his overalls.
“Don’t worry about it now, ma’am,” he said. “I’ll settle it with Mo.”
“Oh, okay,” she said. “Well, thank you again for arriving so quickly.”
He shrugged as he walked around Jess’s car in the spot he’d chosen, seeming to check that everything was as he wanted it.
“Like I said on the way, Mo’s good people, raised right. He’s not a talker, so when he does, says something’s important? Means it is. Gonna take care of that right away. You have a good one, young lady.”
He climbed back in his truck and waved at her as he pulled away.
Jess stood in front of her car for a moment and watched the tow truck roll down the street.
Very forgiving. Empathetic. Respected by his elders. Made sure to let me know that I’d be safe with the tow truck driver. Maybe Alice could have a tiny point?
Jess turned toward the shop and caught sight of Mo walking around a raised white sedan in one of the open garages. He was looking up at it, rubbing his hands on a cloth mottled with dark stains. There was a younger man in similarly stained coveralls following him closely, talking to him, but from where she was, it looked like Mo was only nodding or giving one-word replies.
“Doesn’t talk much.” I mean…in a way that’s kind of refreshing. Guess he chooses his words carefully?
By the time she’d woven through the cars exiting the lot and made her way to the small reception area, Mo was well out of sight.
“May I help you?” an older Black woman asked, looking over a pair of glasses, once it was Jess’s turn at the counter.
“Yes, hi,” said Jess. “I’m here about….” She got a little annoyed with herself. She wanted to be precise in naming the problem with her car, but she didn’t know what it was. “My car wouldn’t start a little while ago, and Mo sent a tow truck. We just arrived, and it’s in the lot. He said he would look at it.”
“Oh, you must be Jess. Mo said a friend’s car was coming in. Grab a seat, and I’ll let him—”
“Beverly, I finished the Caddy. Mo’s gonna be busy all day, so—” a different young man in stained coveralls had cut the woman off, approaching her from the side. She’d silenced him with one look.
“David. Did you interrupt me while I was talking?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” David said, dropping his gaze.
“Have we discussed this?”
“Sorry, ma’am,” David said, his cheeks reddening.
He took a step back and tucked his hands behind him. Beverly looked at Jess with her lips pressed together.
“Just grab a seat, hon. I’ll have David let Mo know you’re here.”
“Thanks,” Jess said, turning and following her instructions.
There were several open seats, but they were all next to men. Jess didn’t want to make a thing of it and took a step toward the vacant one next to a nicely dressed gentleman who looked to be in his seventies. A different man got up, freeing a seat next to an earnest-looking woman with a Tupperware-style container on her lap. Jess took that seat.
As she sat down, the woman smiled at her, then returned her expectant gaze to the open door leading to the garage. Her body language was much different from everyone else’s. She was sitting at the edge of her seat, back straight, her leg tapping and shaking the container a little. Maybe she was running late and needed her car. But she didn’t seem annoyed. Jess shrugged it off, got settled into her seat and started to reach for her phone as Mo stepped through the door. Catching her eye, he nodded, then saw the woman next to her. The color drained out of his face.
“Mo!”
The woman leapt out of her chair, knocking it against the wall and made a beeline for him.
“Mo, I had to come by and say thank you!” she said, throwing an arm around his neck and hugging him. Mo looked like he was terrified. Jess had no idea it was possible to return a hug so awkwardly.
“Uh…was nothing,” he said.
“Nothing? No, no, it wasn’t nothing, not at all,” the woman said, letting go of him and wiping away tears that had started running down her cheeks. Jess glanced around. The entire reception area was watching. Mo’s eyes darted around, too, and he turned bright red.
“Um…glad to help,” he said, looking horribly embarrassed. He slowly ran a hand down his beard.
“My lawyer said finding the tracker was so important.” She wiped at her tears again. “You were so smart to have known what it was.”
“I just…uh…knew it didn’t belong there,” Mo said, looking at the ground.
“Here,” she said, thrusting the Tupperware at him. “I wanted to thank you but I’m kind of low on cash right now. I hope you like chocolate chip.”
Mo took it and nodded.
“My favorite.”
The woman sighed.
“Oh good. I was worried. Okay. I won’t bother you anymore. The container’s disposable, I don’t need it back.”
Mo’s relief was palpable. She hugged him again, and he looked like he was going to throw up.
“Thank you, Mo,” she said, putting a hand on his cheek.
His smile was close-lipped, and it looked like it pained him.
“Welcome.”
She patted him on the upper arm and walked through the door to the parking lot wiping her cheeks. When Jess looked back at where they had been standing, she saw that Mo had disappeared.
He found a tracker in that woman’s car.
Jess folded her arms across her cramping stomach. A lump began to form in her throat, the room spinning, her nose burning. She wasn’t going to start crying in this room full of people. There was no reason to cry. She had already cried over Cassie. But the “what if” question wouldn’t stay stuffed down.
What if someone had found…What if I had been here and protected my little sister like I was supposed to?
A single tear escaped, and she wiped it away instantly. Mo knew enough to help the woman, but he didn’t go rushing in and try to be the hero. The ache in Jess’s stomach became almost unbearable. If she squeezed any tighter, she’d cut herself in two. David came out of the garage, munching on a cookie. He had two on a clean paper towel and offered them to Beverly, who didn’t look up from what she was typing.
“Why are you eating Mo’s cookies?” Beverly asked.
“He said we could have ’em,” David said around a mouthful.
“Oh, that’s right. He’s not a fan of chocolate,” she said, accepting them.
Jess took a deep breath. Then another. Her nose stopped burning, the room came into sharper focus. Mo had lied to that woman, but it was a kind lie. So she could feel that she’d done something to thank him. Beverly pointed at Jess with the end of a pen, and David gestured at her to follow him.
Through the door leading into the garage, he paused, looking around.
“Can you wait here a second?” he asked. “Maybe he went back into the office.”
Jess nodded. The smell of oil and gas displaced the last of her overwhelming emotions, and the chorus of drills and shiny bright car bodies brought her back to herself. It seemed like there were men all over the place, going back and forth, deeply engaged in their work. Jess was fighting the instinct to sink into herself, to make herself less visible in a room full of men, until she caught the black ponytail restrained by a bright red elastic on a shorter mechanic who walked past. Another quick look around and Jess saw a second female mechanic and another person who didn’t seem to fit the macho mold of most of the other employees. They’d slid out from under a car and stood up. Even with the coveralls, there was something different about them. It wasn’t so much the short blue hair, or the small, thin stature. It was something in the way they moved. Jess couldn’t read their gender.
This is his shop; he must have final say on employees. Has he tried to recruit a gender-diverse staff?
“Um, hello,” Mo grumbled as he walked over. His voice was barely audible over the background noise of the shop.
“Hi,” she said, surprised out of her thoughts. “Thanks again for agreeing to take a look at my car.”
He shrugged. Then he turned a little and tipped his head toward the open garage doors. Jess guided him out to her car in the lot. She wanted to say something about the woman with the cookies. Ask him how he knew what to do, or even thank him again on her behalf. But with the way he had responded in the reception area, she decided not to bring it up. At her car, she handed him the keys. He unlocked the door and popped the hood.
He leaned over the engine with his hands on the frame. She followed suit.
“Won’t start, right?” he asked.
“Exactly.”
“Had it a while?” he asked, glancing at her.
Jess shook her head.
“It’s used,” she said. “I bought it a month ago from a dealership in Illinois. I’m not into cars, really. Just a means of transportation.”
He nodded, gaze roving over the engine.
“They check it out first? Certify it?”
“Yeah,” Jess said.
Mo nodded again. He crossed his arms as he stood back up and ran a hand down his beard. Jess stood straight as well.
“You buy it on your own? No one went with you?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He ran a hand down his beard again, brows furrowed. Jess sighed.
“I should have taken a man with me, huh?” she asked.
Mo shrugged one shoulder.
“Or your crossbow,” he said.
Jess laughed and to her surprise, Mo smiled at her. A full smile. Probably the first display of happiness she’d ever seen from him. It even reached his eyes. She was so surprised that she stopped laughing. His smile disappeared and he looked down to kick at nothing with his toe.
“Got a couple of ideas,” he said, leaning over the engine again. “May take some time, though.”
Surprising her again, he looked bashful, almost sorry. If he was sensitive to other people’s emotions, she was worried about how his own were treating him. To go from deeply embarrassed to laughing to maybe sorry so quickly was quite the ride.
“I’m not…I’m not in a rush,” she said.
Rumpling his brow, he looked at the engine again.
“You need it for tomorrow,” he said.
Right. She’d forgotten about the committee meeting. She had class, too, but he couldn’t know her schedule.
“Please,” she said, waving a hand. “Don’t worry about my schedule. I’ll Uber around if necessary.”
Mo wasn’t looking at her. He was chewing his lip, his gaze intent on the engine block. His eyebrows tight together, fingers crimping on the frame of the car, he looked like he was trying to make a decision, and it was costing him. She began to feel really bad about bothering him, but she was also wary about just taking a guess and choosing a random shop.
“I can pick you up,” Mo mumbled with his eyes closed. Jess had barely heard him.
“I’m sorry?” she asked, leaning in. He let out a puff of air.
“I can pick you up,” he said. “Give you a ride to the meeting. If you want.” He slowly turned to look at her, and Jess’s heart started hammering in her chest.
Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare get all weak at the knees and googly-eyed at some adorably sexy—Stop it!
She cleared her throat and straightened her spine. Which was a bad idea because it made the woozy feeling she was getting from looking in his dark eyes lined with lush eyelashes even worse. She clutched the D-ring on the strap of her purse to ground herself.
“I—” She stopped to get her voice back to the correct pitch. “I would really appreciate that, Mo. Thank you,” she said.
She saw a little pink in the skin above his beard as he looked back at the engine.
“Okay, good, you’re welcome,” he said.
“You know,” she said, speaking before she could stop herself, “there’s nothing wrong with accepting credit for having a positive impact on someone’s life. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
He was looking at her car again, but he turned bright red, and his eyes got big.
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but I hope you weren’t uncomfortable because of what you did,” she said in a rush. Her knuckles were aching again. She probably should have loosened her grip on her purse, but she was too nervous. He shook his head but still didn’t look at her.
“Just…a lot of people,” he said, scratching at his beard.
“Okay,” she said. She left it at that because she’d said too much already.
He cleared his throat and tipped his head back toward the shop. At the desk, Beverly had her sign an estimate that made her eyes swim a little. Then Jess sat down to order an Uber. It arrived much more quickly than she expected, and as she was walking through the parking lot to meet it, she saw Mo leaning over the engine again, shaking his head. As she got into the car, she remembered what David had said, that Mo was going to be busy all day. She hoped he wasn’t starting on her car right away.
Nah, he’s got so many employees. I’m sure someone else can handle it.