Chapter Twenty-One
"Pump them up for me."
Jake grinned as he pumped the brake pedal in Savannah's Camaro.
When she'd driven it onto the lift, he'd been so tempted to tell her to stay inside and ask that she pump the brakes while he bled them, but he was proud of himself for holding back.
There was something damn sexy about watching her get out and collect the supplies that she needed before turning to him with a smile and saying, "How would you feel about sitting in there and pumping them for me? "
He'd been more than happy to oblige, and more than tempted to tell her that he'd do pretty much anything she asked when she was wearing her coveralls.
"And hold them," she called.
He pressed the brake pedal all the way to the floor and felt the give.
"That's great. Thanks. Nearly done," she called.
When she was finished, she let the lift back down and he climbed out.
"They weren't as bad as I thought," she told him.
"Have I told you today that I love you?" he asked with a smile as he watched her wipe her hands on a rag.
Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at him. "I believe you may have told me before you left this morning, but I hope there's not a quota on how many times we get to say it in a day."
He chuckled. "Far from it."
She came to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, rolling up on her toes to press kisses to his lips and then murmuring, "Good. Because I love you. I love you. I love you."
He tightened his arms around her waist. "And I love you. I love you. I love you more."
They broke apart guiltily when Harvey called from the office door. "How would you feel if I took myself off early, Jakey? I can stay if you need me for anything, but it is Friday afternoon and all."
Jake took Savannah's hand and led her over to him. "Of course you can go if you have something else you want to do or somewhere else you want to be, but don't feel like you have to."
Savannah nodded. "If you're going to leave, I want you to give me a list of things that you want to do instead. Otherwise, I’ll feel like I made you uncomfortable."
Harvey scowled at her. "Now, that's silly talk, and I don't want to hear no more of it. You've never once in your life made me uncomfortable, so why in tarnation would you say such a thing?"
Jake admired Savannah all the more when she let go of his hand and stepped forward to touch Harvey's arm.
"I think you know why, but just in case you don't, I'll spell it out.
I feel guilty that I was kissing Jake, and two seconds later you said you're going home.
I know you don't usually go home early, so it's not too much of a stretch to think that maybe me being here. .."
"You can stop right there, young lady." Harvey tried to look stern, but he wasn't pulling it off.
"You're not making me uncomfortable—you're making me happy.
But if you need me to give you a reason why I'm slinking off home early on a Friday afternoon, I'll give you one.
It made my old heart happy seeing the two of you the way you are together.
And if you want to know the truth, you reminded me of what it was like when my June was still here.
We used to fool around like the two of you were just doing, and I loved every minute of it, and I know she did too.
And even though there were people we loved, we didn't want them around for every second.
" He nodded at them. "So the reason I want to go home is to give the two of you a little bit of time by yourselves.
And there's another reason too." He glanced out front at the sound of a vehicle approaching.
"But I'll tell you about that another time if you remind me.
Looks like you've got a customer, so unless either of you have any complaints, I'll head on home. Have yourselves a good weekend."
Savannah stepped forward and wrapped him in a quick hug. Jake's throat tightened when she murmured, "I love you, Harvey. I didn't mean to upset you."
Harvey chuckled. "You did no such thing. I told you; you made my old heart happy. You always do."
He smiled at Jake, and Jake leaned in and gave him a quick hug as well. And he couldn't help it—he'd never said it out loud before, but he too murmured, "Love you, Harvey."
The old guy's lips moved a few times, but no words came out as he nodded and stepped back. He sniffed, then pointed toward the office and said, "Looks like your customer's here. I'll see myself out the back way."
They watched him go, and he turned back when he reached the side door. He gave them a watery smile and grumbled, "All right, all right, I'll say it too, I love you both. Now have a good weekend. I'm out of here. Good luck with your customer."
The door closed behind him. Jake had to swallow a couple of times as he smiled at Savannah, who had tears in her eyes.
"Isn't he awesome?" he asked.
"He is. I love him to pieces, but he's right—you should go see who's out there." She smiled. "And what kind of job they have for you."
It was only when he reached the office that it struck Jake as odd that Harvey would leave just when a customer arrived. He was usually eager to be the first to talk to them and to upsell them on anything and everything he could think of.
He was surprised to see Ben, who owned the resort in Summer Lake, standing in the office looking around.
"Hi, Ben. What can I do for you?"
Jake didn't know him well, but from the few times he'd chatted with him, he really liked the guy. Everyone in town spoke highly of him.
Ben smiled as he came to shake hands.
"That's what I'm here to talk about."
Jake raised his eyebrows. It seemed like a strange thing to say.
He glanced out through the window at Ben's truck.
It was a new GMC Sierra, the kind that cost as much as many people around here made in a year.
He would have had Ben down as the kind to take his truck to a dealership for regular services rather than come out here to see him, but he pulled himself together. "Do you want to take a seat?"
"Actually, would you mind if I come in the shop and take a look around?"
It wasn't the kind of request Jake was used to, but he didn't mind. If anything, he was glad to show the place off to someone who was interested.
"Sure. Come on through."
It only dawned on him as they stepped through the door that there might be liability issues with inviting a customer into the workplace. He really needed to look into that kind of stuff.
When he hesitated, Ben smiled as if he was reading his mind. "Don't worry. I'll be careful, and I won't touch anything. And I promise, if I trip myself up, I won't sue you. How about that?"
Jake let out a nervous chuckle. "Thanks. I do have liability insurance, I promise. I just didn't know if it would cover me if I invited you in here."
"The same thought hit me," said Ben, "so I wanted to be clear. Oh, hey, Savannah."
Savannah came to join them and greeted Ben with a little wave. "Hey. It's good to see you. I won't give you a hug—I'm filthy."
Jake liked Ben all the more when he leaned in and hugged Savannah anyway. "You're barely dirty. It's good to see you back in here."
Savannah's smile lit up her face as she nodded. "It's good to be back in here."
"It's been a long time," said Ben.
"Yeah. Too long." She smiled at Jake. "Art was a good friend of Ben's grandpa, Joe."
"That's right," said Ben. "Joe used to bring me over here sometimes.
I think he hoped that I might learn to fix things, but my brain just doesn't work that way.
" He smiled at Savannah. "I was totally out of my element in here and totally outclassed by this little blonde girl who could only have been.
.. what were you, Savvie, about twelve or thirteen at the time? And there you were teaching me."
Jake loved the way Savannah smiled. "You were fine," she said. "You did a good job. You just needed a little bit of help with the things you weren't familiar with."
"You always were too kind," said Ben. He turned to Jake. "Now that I know Savannah's working here with you, I feel better about asking you this."
Jake gave him a puzzled look, not understanding what exactly he was asking about.
"There was a time when Art used to have the contract—the maintenance contract—for all the vehicles at the resort.
After he closed up, I brought in a couple of guys to work on staff, but it never really worked out.
A few different guys came and went, but nobody stuck, and it never really panned out. "
Savannah took a step closer to them, and Jake held his breath.
Ben smiled. "What I came out here to ask you is if you want the contract.
I was thinking it might be something you'd need to build up to.
" He shot Savannah a quick smile. "But now that I know you have the best mechanic I've ever met working here, I reckon you could probably handle it all between the two of you.
You might need a third person, I suppose.
I heard you're getting busier with regular customers.
The resort jobs aren't usually urgent—they can mostly wait a day or two, but if you’re already busy with regular work. .."
Jake grinned. "We'll figure it out."
Ben laughed. "I had a feeling you might say that." He turned to Savannah. "How would you feel about working on the golf carts and minibuses and everything else that we have over there?" He frowned. "Are either of you familiar with riding mowers?"
Savannah laughed. "I am. Art used to let me help out with them when he had the contract for your grandpa." She grinned. "What about the boats? Will you want us to work on those?"
Ben shrugged. "That'd be up to you guys." He cocked an eyebrow at Jake. "I heard you were an avionics technician. Do you have any experience with marine engines?"
“No, but we’ll figure it out if you want to give us the chance.”