Chapter Ten Jess
Chapter Ten
Jess
Wednesday afternoon, Jess dropped her whiteboard marker for the third time and cursed under her breath. She’d been shaky and distracted the entire day. Mo’s dark eyes and gentle face kept bubbling up in her subconscious, spilling silly feelings like shyness and giddiness all through her insides. Taming those feelings should have been the easiest thing in the world, but she was struggling—in front of her most difficult class to manage, no less. She hadn’t been able to keep them engaged for the past fifteen minutes. Her newly unruly mind was all over the place.
She shook her head hard.
Stop being unprofessional.
“As I was saying,” she said, making her voice carry over the whispered conversations. “At the height of the Renaissance, women who wished to avoid being subjugated to a husband had no other real choice but to enter a religious order. While there were women who helped run their husbands’ businesses, such as shopkeeping, they could not…” Jess trailed off. She had the attention of about four students out of thirty. Everyone else was talking or on their phones. Between her own distraction and the strange new deep aching in her legs, she just didn’t have the strength to fight.
“Okay, let’s wrap it up for today,” she said.
Only the four began to put their things away.
“Hey!” Jess shouted. Most of the rest of the class looked up.
“Go home,” she said, packing her own things. She waited for the last student to leave and returned to her office.
Once the door closed behind her, she resolved to clear out her inbox, but her thoughts would not behave. She had some privacy, and her classes were done for the day, so she settled in behind her desk and let her mind wander. As she’d been fighting off thoughts about Mo during the day, he’d shown up in her dreams instead. The way his wary expression brightened with her when they had a little privacy. The deep, gruff sexiness of his voice when he spoke to her with full sentences. The shy little kid he’d turned into at her car and then in his.
A shy smile curved her lips as she remembered his kiss that had shocked her even though she’d been wishing it would happen. Then the smile fell.
This isn’t…a good idea.
She sighed. She’d had a plan. She was solidifying her footing in her “adult” life. She was settling into her job. Even though there was a bit of stress involved due to the threat to the Folk School, she’d picked up archery again and was being social, which could lead to real friendships. The decision to be open to new friends wasn’t that far off from being open to a relationship.
Why am I struggling with it?
She was too in her own head. Even though Steph would make fun of her, and Alice would say “I told you so,” Jess grabbed her phone. Thumbs over the keyboard, she hesitated, trying to find the right words for the group chat.
Fuck it.
Jess:
Emergency meeting, Ladies
The word “typing” and a dancing ellipsis appeared at the top of the screen.
Alice:
What’s wrong?
Steph:
You were with me the whole time. Wherever they said you were, no you weren’t.
Jess chuckled.
Jess:
Mo I’m getting back into—”
“Jess, I love you, but would you kindly shut that alleged ‘logic’ up?” Steph asked.
Jess blinked.
“I’m sure what she means is to shut the hyperdrive analytical part up and enjoy this arguably great thing that is happening to you,” Alice said.
Jess hesitated to reply.
“Avoiding a romantic relationship is not going to keep you safe. What happened to Cassie is not going to happen to you just because you let a man in,” Steph said flatly.
The connection slapped her in the face. She hadn’t named the concern.
“But this Mo situation doesn’t have anything to do with Cassie,” she said, blinking fast because the room had gotten a little blurry.
“Cassie’s relationship…resulted in something bad,” Alice said. “That doesn’t mean any relationship you have would be the same. And Steph, you could be more gentle, you know.”
Stephanie snorted.
“I could, but this is Jess, and she’s hardheaded and stubborn. We have to be brutal to get through,” she said. Then she sighed. “Okay, fine. Maybe I’m wrong. But maybe that’s what’s bothering you.”
Truly facing that might be the root of the problem…Jess didn’t want to go down that emotional road.
“This might not be the best question to ask,” Alice said softly. “But have you really spoken with your parents?”
Anger crackled through Jess, cutting off the impending tears.
“No,” she said. “My mom’s left a couple of messages, but I haven’t called her back. She wants me to come for a visit.”
“What if you did? I think, maybe, you’re kind of stuck because of the pain. If you started unraveling it, that might make things better, easier,” Alice said.
Jess wasn’t ready to deal with her parents. They’d known that something was off between Cassie and her husband. But her father had turned a blind eye, and her spineless mother had followed his lead.
“I don’t think I can be in the same room as them yet,” Jess said.
Alice sighed.
“I can understand,” she said.
“Okay,” Steph said. “Cheat yourself, then.”
“Myself? How?” Jess asked. She certainly didn’t miss the fights that blew up like clockwork between her and her father every time she set foot in her parents’ house.
“With Mo,” Steph said. “What if you’re cheating yourself out of something great because you aren’t dealing with what happened to Cassie and your parents’ part in it?”
All of Jess’s joints were aching. Which made no sense because she hadn’t shot too much, and her legs never hurt after she’d practiced. She rolled her wrists. A stabbing pain went through the left one, and she winced.
“Jess?” Alice asked. “What was that?”
“Nothing,” she said, trying to find a good spot to rest. “Just my wrist being annoying.”
“It didn’t sound like nothing,” Alice said. “Wait, did you ever go to the doctor about your stomach?”
“Her stomach?” Steph asked.
“Um, I forgot,” Jess said.
“It’s been bothering her for a while,” Alice said.
“And it still is?” Steph asked.
“Sometimes.”
Alice narrowed her eyes.
“I really think you should see someone,” she said. “And ask about your wrist.”
Jess sighed.
“All right. I’ll make an appointment,” she said.
“Mmkay,” Alice said. “But about Mo. He sounds…perfect for you, actually.”
Jess didn’t get the perfect part.
“How so?” she asked.
Stephanie let out a huge sigh and rolled her eyes.
“He’s a unicorn, Jess,” Steph said. “A man who puts himself in your shoes, makes you things with his hands, and stands up for you. Grab the unicorn, Jess. Fucking ride the unicorn.”
Jess and Alice burst out laughing.
“You really think it’s okay?” Jess asked, still chuckling.
“It is okay,” Alice said. “We’re telling you it is.”
—
Later that afternoon, Jess thanked her Uber driver as he pulled up to Mo’s shop. After hanging up with Alice and Stephanie, she’d seen that Mo had sent her a message that her car was ready. Glancing around for him, she returned to the reception area and waited for her turn with Beverly.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m—”
“Jess,” Beverly said. “I remember you, hon.” She shifted through some papers in an inbox on her desk until she found the right one. “Here you are.” She slid the paper onto the counter as Jess was taking out her wallet.
“No need,” Beverly said. “Just your signature accepting the car back, please.”
Jess didn’t understand. The estimate had made her teeth hurt, so what was Beverly saying “no need” for? Jess looked at the bottom line on the paper. The total was zero dollars and zero cents. She looked up higher. The work done on the car was detailed, with the prices in a column down the right side. But the total said zero.
“I don’t understand,” she said, looking up at Beverly.
Beverly shrugged, focused on her computer screen but with a smile playing at her lips.
“I only follow orders,” she said, clearly fighting a smirk.
Jess seriously doubted that she was the type of woman to “only follow orders.”
“But I—”
Beverly looked at her sharply over her glasses.
“If the big boss says that’s your bill, then that’s your bill, hon,” she said.
Mo wasn’t making her pay for it? She leaned closer to Beverly.
“But—”
“Young lady,” Beverly said, lowering her voice. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. You got the friends and family discount and then some. I was also surprised; that’s never happened before. But if Mo says it’s that, it’s that. Now, I don’t know exactly what that means, and it isn’t any of my business. But I do find it interesting that after you left, he immediately started working on your car and stayed late on his own to finish it.”
Jess slowly stood up straight. That was what she’d been concerned about, and even if he’d done only that, it would have been too much. But not charging her at all?
“Oh,” she said.
“Now sign here, and grab a seat until they can bring it around front, okay?”
Jess nodded, signed, and sat down.
Why would Mo have done that?
Fixing it quickly was super helpful, but she certainly expected to pay for it. Was he one of those guys who wants women indebted to him so that they’ll have to “pay him back”? No. That was in sharp contrast to the way he’d reacted when that woman brought the cookies. If there’d been a time to take advantage, the night they’d met would have been perfect.
She was still chewing things over when David walked up and told her that her car was out front.
“Is Mo out there?” she asked.
“No, he’s supervising a newbie,” he said.
“Oh.”
“Do you want me to get him for you?” David asked.
Jess looked around. It was probably best not to attempt a discussion with so many people in the reception area. They’d want a discount, too, and having an audience would make Mo uncomfortable.
“Could you ask him to meet me at my car?”
“No prob. Here are your keys.”
He handed them to her and went back out to the shop. She thanked Beverly on her way outside. Reaching her car, she realized that the whole thing had been washed. She opened the door and looked at the carpet. It had definitely been vacuumed, and the whole car smelled really, really clean. She checked the dash—not a speck of dust.
They detailed it, too?
“Hi, Jess. Everything okay?” Mo’s deep rumble startled her, and she jumped, almost slamming her head on the doorjamb. She stepped back and stood up slowly.
“Mo, you didn’t have to do this,” she said, looking up at him.
“Just cleaned a little. Always try to.”
“But it smells…” She leaned back over to sniff the inside again. “Did you shampoo the seats or something?”
He shrugged, his cheeks getting a little red.
She closed the door and took another step back.
“Did you figure out what was wrong with it?” she asked.
He nodded.
“No tune-up before sale, I think,” he said.
Jess squinted.
“They told me they had,” she said.
Mo nodded slowly, pulling his lips to one side.
“Should be good now,” he said. “Faulty fuel pump. And the check engine light. It was dead.”
Jess looked at the car again. At least that was why she hadn’t realized that something was wrong.
“Well,” she said. “Thank you.”
He shrugged again and tucked his thumbs into the pockets of his coveralls.
“I appreciate it a lot,” she said. “The whole thing, the inside, too. It’s more than I expected.”
He shrugged again, then scratched at his beard.
“You’re welcome,” he said.
“But you have to let me pay you,” she said. “At the very least for your time.”
He shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
He was doing it again. Turning into a giant little boy right in front of her. His cheeks were completely pink, and he wasn’t really looking at her.
“I can’t fix the Ren Faire, but I can fix this.” He gestured at the car.
Jess was going to melt into a puddle. In spite of reaching for it, her logic was completely outmatched by her reaction to his sweetness. Her friends said that her need to analyze got in her way. And Mo was so refreshing as a human being; Stephanie was right, he was kind of a unicorn. Jess’s heart was going a little too fast, her face felt too warm, and she was clutching her purse strap again.
“You mad?” he asked, sneaking a glance at her.
“No! No, not at all,” she said, as much to reassure him as to get the growing jumble of emotions out somehow. “I…I don’t want you to feel taken advantage of.”
He shook his head.
“You’re not like that,” he said softly in his rumbly voice.
Jess needed to get away from him. He was being far too sweet, and she was responding to it far too much. But she wanted to address the other night.
“I, um…about—”
She was cut off by a loud crash from the open garage doors of the shop. Her knowledge of auto body shops was nil, but she was sure that a car on one of those raised contraptions shouldn’t have two wheels in the air and two on the ground.
“I better see to that,” Mo said, eyebrows furrowed as he looked back at her.
“Yeah,” she said, opening her driver’s-side door and getting in. She adjusted her seat. “I’ll find a way to repay you, or at least show my appreciation, but it won’t be chocolate chip cookies.”
He tilted his head, looking like a big, confused puppy.
Stop thinking like that!
“No cookies?” he asked.
“Mo!” a voice called out from the shop. He didn’t turn, his attention still on her.
“You’re not a fan of chocolate,” she said.
He looked completely taken aback but didn’t say anything.
She started the car and rolled down the window.
“See you at the School?” she said once she’d carefully backed out.
“See you,” he said back, waving slowly, still looking very confused.