Chapter 9
CHAPTER
NINE
CHANCE
I kick a rock downhill, staying close enough to overhear the ladies’ conversation.
“Why were you spying on me?” April hisses.
“You guys were standing outside yelling for the world to hear. I thought you wanted me to listen!”
“April, you should consider the offer.”
“No, I’ll find another way to drum up business for our shop.”
April plants both hands on her hips. Today, she’s wearing a blue tank top and a jumpsuit that’s peeled down to her waist. The outfit is fully utilitarian and yet seeing that contrast of her peaches and cream skin against the blue shirt and the way the tied sleeves emphasizes her tiny waist has me biting down on my bottom lip.
“How? We’ve been open for weeks and we can only fix the cars people sneak in at night. No one wants to go against the Kinseys.”
“We’ll prove ourselves eventually. We just need time.”
“We don’t have time. If we keep going like this, we’ll forfeit on our loan and neither of us can afford that.”
I wonder how much of a bad spot the shop is in. I could easily offer to pay the mortgage off but, I know, just as sure as the grass is green and the sky is blue, that April would beat me to a pulp with that wrench of hers if I tried.
“We don’t even know that guy!” April hisses. “What if he’s a psychopath? Would you sleep well at night knowing you sold me off to a psychopath?”
April calling me ‘that guy’ is only slightly less offensive than her thinking I could be a psychopath. She’s right that we’ve only known each other for a day, but what about my behavior yesterday screamed I’d kidnap her and keep her in a basement?
Given how much you’ve been looking forward to fake-dating her, she may have a point.
Hm.
“He’s a famous, well… infamous hockey player. The entire world has their eyes on him. What can he do right now?”
“It’s the ones who’ve hit rock bottom that you have to watch out for.” April fires back.
I snort out a laugh.
All the ladies stop and glare at me. I feel like a lone elephant in a pack of hunting lionesses. Shifting my expression into a respectful frown, I take a step back.
“Look at his face. I don’t know a single psychopath that’s as handsome as him.”
“Oh? Do you regularly hang out with psychopaths?”
“Ladies, we can argue about this all day, but the fact is we have an opportunity here. Chance McLanely mentioning our shop just once would be explosive for business. April, you know it’s true. However, you’re the one who has to go through with it. You’re the one who has to fake a relationship. May and I both have our opinions, but this is your decision.”
“If it sweetens the deal any, imagine how crushed Evan would be to see you dating his favorite hockey player .”
“Forget the shop. For that alone, I’d say yes to this.”
“It would be nice to get revenge. But lying about dating someone just to get back at my ex feels so wrong and petty.”
“Cheating is wrong and petty too. Seeing you upgrade to a hotter, richer, more famous hockey player boyfriend is what Evan deserves.”
The women glance at me, see me watching and huddle closer, lowering their voices. After a few minutes, April and Rebel go inside while the newcomer approaches me.
I smile at her. “Hey, are you a mechanic too?”
“Uh no. I’m April’s sister.” She peers up at my face. “Your eyes are much bluer up close.”
My smile widens. While April was chilly and guarded, her sister is the total opposite.
“I’m Chance and you are…”
“I’m May.”
“May… as in April, May… June?”
“Yup.” She bounces on the tips of her toes.
“Really?”
“June is our oldest sister, but she booked it out of here the moment she turned eighteen and rarely comes home.” May shrugs. “What can I say? Our parents like the calendar.”
“Wow.” I’m still digesting April and her two sisters being named after months when May says, “You should come inside. It’s hot out.”
“Oh… yeah, sure.”
I follow her into the shop and notice the lone car in the corner has been locked and the tools put away. Four chairs are stationed in the middle of the room.
May directs me to sit in the lone folding chair as the three women sit across from me in a line.
It feels like I’m about to be interrogated. My palms are insanely sweaty, and I want to pull out my fidget spinner, but I can’t. Flicking an anxiety tool won’t exactly help me bring the right image across.
“After a discussion with my team,” April says crisply, “we’ve decided to give this a shot.”
A grin unleashes on my face. It’s too soon to be this happy, I know, but there’s no controlling how pleased I am.
“In exchange, I’d like to service the exotic cars you supposedly own.” She puts bunny ears around the ‘supposedly’. “And I’d like it filmed for my social media accounts.”
“Of course. Is that all?”
“For me? Yes. However, this agreement isn’t just with me. It’s with everyone here at Pink Garage.”
The blonde woman in the pink jumpsuit straightens. “My expectation of this agreement is that you’ll feature our shop on your social media profile for every date you and April have.”
“And how many dates can we have?”
“Three,” April says. “Pre-planned and pre-approved. Like I told you yesterday, I’m busy with the garage and you’re busy with hockey. We don’t need to be all over each other.”
Three sounds like a pittance, but my role here is not as a negotiator.
“Speaking of being all over each other,” April says, clearing her throat, “there will be no mouth-to-mouth kissing, touching above the bellybutton or touching below the waist. There will also be zero overnight stays at anyone’s house.”
I nod slowly. “Whatever makes you comfortable.”
“I’m serious about that,” April says, eyeing me like I’m a dog with no self-control. “We’re going to write it down too, so you’ll have to sign.”
“Sure.” I nod.
The women glance at each other. They seem surprised by my easy agreement, but that’s fair. They don’t understand my predicament or how relieved I am that this crazy plan is progressing forward.
“I don’t want to disrupt your life any more than I have to. Whatever you want, whatever makes you comfortable, I’ll respect it.”
April’s shoulders relax a tinge and I know it was the right thing to say.
“Finally…” May smiles the way my older sister’s Labradoodle does when it’s five a.m. and he’s about to howl the entire neighborhood awake, “none of these no-touching rules apply around Evan.”
April whips around. “May!”
“Listen, you can be as stiff as a board all you want otherwise, but with my sister’s ex-boyfriend, I want you to sell it . Hard. I want him to think you guys are blissfully in love and you’re about to get engaged tomorrow. I want him to really, really regret it, do you understand?”
April’s mouth opens and slams shut in disbelief.
I chuckle.
“That’ll be written in the contract too,” May sings.
“No, it won’t.” April side-eyes her sister.
“Yes, it will.” She turns in her chair and faces April. “Evan was cheating on you for a year and all you did was throw his promise ring in the lake and cry. It’s bad enough that he had you fired from your old garage but what he did after?—”
“May,” Rebel warns.
April’s sister glances at me and then pins her mouth shut.
This new information makes me stiffen. I already knew I despised Evan, but now I want to burn the ground he walks on and sprinkle disinfectant over the ashes.
April stares me down. “Do you agree to my terms?”
I walk over to her, noting how her chin has to tilt back several notches the closer I come.
“I do,” I say quietly.
She blinks a couple times, swallows hard and then says, “Well, Mr. Chance McLanely, you’ve got yourself a girlfriend. For three dates anyway.”
She stands, offers an oil-stained hand and then retracts it sheepishly. “Oh, I… let me wash my hands?—”
I capture her fingers in my palm, swallowing them whole. Her callouses scrape against mine and something slips into place in my heart when I give her hand a squeeze.
In that moment, I make a silent promise to myself. I’m going to be the best fake boyfriend I can be.
Because this beautiful, precious woman deserves it.