Chapter 10
Blair
Ibounced Sophia on my good arm as I talked Missy through jacking up the front driver’s side of the truck.
My truck is my baby, but it’s also a work truck, so I didn’t mind having an inexperienced person working on it—with close supervision, of course.
I stood back and watched as Missy, in another dress and pointy flat shoes, got down on her knees in the dirt and carefully positioned the jack under the front differential before slowly starting to pump up the jack.
Her eyes were glued to her work, and she seemed oblivious to the fact that she was getting filthy and looking damn fine doing it.
I got down on the ground as best I could with a sling on one shoulder and a babbling, wiggling baby in the other.
“That’s high enough,” I told her, and she stopped working the jack and stood up, wiping her hands against each other.
There was a determination in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before.
I talked her through retrieving the spare tire from where it was mounted under the tailgate, and she rolled it over to where we needed it.
“Alright what’s next?” she asked.
“Next is the part where you need a little bit of muscle.”
“Well, that works. A little is exactly what I got.” She flexed her bicep, and I resisted the urge to move closer.
Seeing the more confident side of Missy was a breath of fresh air.
I knew it was in there somewhere under all the self-doubt.
She grabbed the lug wrench and placed it over the first lug nut.
She put both hands on the handle and pushed.
Nothing happened. Her lips pressed together into a hard line, and she put her weight into it, muscles straining, face turning a little redder with each second that the wrench didn’t turn.
“Maybe I can—”
She cut me off with a glare. “If it were just me and Sophia on the side of the road, I would have to do this myself, so let me try.”
I stepped back. She was a woman on a mission.
Plus, she was right. This is a skill everyone should have in case of an emergency.
I wanted her to know what to do. The idea of Missy and Sophia stuck on the side of the Coquihalla Highway in an area with no cell service set my teeth on edge.
I made a mental reminder to make sure she knew where the jack and the spare were in her SUV and how to use them.
Finally, the stubborn nut started to turn and then came loose.
Suddenly, she was taking them off like an experienced, albeit pocket-size, mechanic.
Six times, she put all her weight onto the wrench, arms shaking, and six times, the nut fought her.
But ultimately, it gave up and slipped off.
Sophia was starting to fuss, wanting to be shifted to my other arm, which unfortunately was not an option.
I mentally berated myself for the stupid shoulder injury.
I opened the door of the truck and dug around until I found an empty water bottle in the cooler.
I handed it to Sophia, and she grabbed it with both hands, staring intently at it before putting it in her mouth.
Crisis averted for the moment. Poor kid must have been teething.
While I was dealing with that, Missy managed to pull the old tire off and wiggled the new one into position.
She got each lug back in place, with me helping to get it to the right tension, and just like that we were done.
She lowered the truck back to the ground, holding her breath like the whole thing would explode.
When nothing bad happened, she jumped to her feet and rushed over to me.
She looped her arms around Sophia and me and gripped us both in a long hug.
“I did it. I can’t believe I did it,” she said.
“You did it perfectly. I’m really proud of you.
” I could feel the softness of her hair against my neck and smell the sweet perfume she was wearing.
Her body fit so nicely against mine, her head coming almost up to my chin when she was on her tippy toes.
I didn’t want to let her go, but when she pulled away, I had no choice but to follow.
A swirl of emotions moved through my chest.
This started out as a knight helping a damsel in distress. Then the knight jerked himself too hard and spent half the night in the ER, and the damsel stepped up to the plate. I had her back, and she had mine. Sophia had us both—and the more people a child had to love, the better.
Jesus, was I really thinking like this? After all those years of playing parent to my siblings, I finally had my freedom, and the first woman to not just catch my attention but hold it came with a baby attached. And I didn’t hate it. In fact, I think I kind of liked it.
“Aren’t you proud of your mummy?” I cooed to Sophia. She gave me an odd smile I’d never seen before, then spit up milk and strawberries all over the front of my shirt.