Chapter Two
She was a squabbling little tornado of a woman. She strutted out of Tilly’s with a huff. The air right in front of me still smelled like her, all sugary sweet, like a waffle cone on the boardwalk in the summer. I’d seen a couple of flashes of her sweet disposition last night, but it had melted away as quickly as it’d come. Now I was in a sticky situation.
Watching her cute, little pixie ass bolt from the tavern was painful. Trust me, I wanted to chase her, but after last night, I didn’t know how much pride I had left to lose. I was so used to people leaving, I’d gotten used to it. But I kinda, maybe, wanted Maisie to stay.
It was a foreign concept to me. I’d just have to wait for this whole thing to sort itself out next spring at the wedding. I wasn’t one to play the long game—life was too short. I’d lost too much already. I didn’t let a single moment pass wondering if I should take a risk or not. I just did it. Sure, it’d gotten me to some interesting places, but those always had the best types of friends and even better lovers. Maisie was neither to me right now. We were in some murky gray area I’d never been with a woman. A half-hearted hatred and a full-blown obsession.
I lay in bed last night thinking of her mahogany-brown eyes lit by the autumn sun when we’d first met. They were so large and curious as they scanned my face with slow blinks. I loved how the warm, tawny skin of her cheeks blushed to almost match her hair when I made her laugh. She reminded me of a faerie with her little swoop nose with a golden ring fit snug against the left nostril. She was short and slender, with a delicate frame. On the contrast, her voice wasn’t high and airy, but instead packed a punch with a confident tone accompanied by a slight Southern drawl.
She was smart as a whip, with instant comebacks and jokes. I could’ve talked to her for days. I got the feeling she was just as taken aback at me as I was her. Kaylee had really downplayed her best friend all these months. I was starting to think it was on purpose.
But everything had gone sideways last night, so when Maisie had strutted in front of my shop before entering Tilly’s moments ago, it was like a Hail Mary to go talk to her. I’d only known her for less than 24 hours, but we’d been through it. I’d seen her stunned, playfully horny, and completely crestfallen. I’d also had her little foot square in the middle of my chest as she kicked me away with a string of curse words even my buddies couldn’t replicate.
Things weren’t great right now, but that was fine. That was the lie I told myself while I snarfed down the rest of her French fries before leaving some money on the counter and returning to my shop.
A stench immediately slapped me in the face. “Lennie, what the fuck did you cook this time? It smells like a god damn biohazard in here!” I sucked in another puff of air, willingly torturing myself. “Dear lord, it’s like something died in something’s ass that was already dead!”
Gangly legs stuck out from underneath an old Toyota Camry, the same shade as flat Champagne. Digging his heels into the shop floor, he rolled his creeper out from the car, crunching up to talk to me, a wrench in one hand, a sandwich in the other.
“Hey, man, it’s pastrami, gouda, and some sprouts. Want some?” He shook the sandwich, letting the meat flap a little.
Lennie looked like John Lennon if he got caught in a bog for too long. I’d told him that the first week he’d worked for me and it had cracked him up. So the nickname Lennon had slid into effect, then over the years had shortened to Lennie. With the little, circular glasses, hawkish nose, and feathered hair, I wasn’t wrong. His hair was now white with age and his skin had leathered to a nice maroon shade since the man had never heard of sunscreen. He was a sight that caused sore eyes.
“You’re hella old. Why do you eat like a frat bro?” I asked.
“Because I never went to college. So why not?” He chuckled before chomping into a side of the sandwich, causing sprouts to sprinkle out like Listeria-ridden confetti.
He hadn’t gone to college because he’d bought a VW van to drive to California to be a hippie, then he’d followed the band Phish around America. The last place his van had broken down was Maine, so now we claimed him as some artifact. He still couldn’t keep a VW running, but in his defense, who could?
“Open a bay or window if you cook. Now it smells like sketchy cheese and motor oil. And while I’m bitching you out, which you know I hate doing, I want to remind you to lock up when you leave. Just because Maine has the lowest crime rate in the nation doesn’t mean you can just leave without shutting the door, okay? This isn’t some Burning Man shit where we trust our tribe or whatever.”
The man didn’t believe in doors. It was horrifying.
”Fair enough, brother.” He tucked the sandwich in the breast pocket of his coveralls and slid back down under the car. “So did you get to talk to the little lady?”
I pulled coveralls out of the washer, wringing out the damp fabric before hanging them up. “Yeah, she wasn’t much for talking.”
“You couldn’t convince her to stay a couple extra days? That’s usually your specialty.”
I glowered at his legs sticking out of the car. “Guess I’m losing my touch,” I said dryly.
“What’s her name?”
“Maisie Quinn. She’s Kaylee’s best friend from Texas and a real pain in my ass.”
“I like her already,” Lennie said. “So is she your date to the wedding?”
“No.” I shut the washer with a loud thud. “She’s unfinished business.”
“Yeesh.”
“I meant what I said, lock up and don’t stay past six o’clock. You deserve a life.”
“Okay, boss.”
I went upstairs to my loft above my shop. Harley had helped me fix it up a couple of years ago, but sometimes I disliked living so close to where I worked. I hated living in Pine Bluff in general. It wasn’t a secret I was friendly to the tourists. People around here thought I was a manwhore, but I didn’t think I was doing anything a normal 31-year-old guy wouldn’t be doing anyway. I just so happened to be one of the few people in town single and not old enough to be on Medicare. So what if I dated some of the women who rolled in through town. Big deal.
My biggest secret? I kind of wanted to leave.
My family? Dead.
My career as a mechanic? Dead end.
My social life? Slowly dying.
So when I’d met Maisie last night, I’d gotten a little carried away. She was different. Instead of batting her eyelashes and playing the coy card like most visitors, she was bold, busting my balls and challenging me immediately, all while remaining playfully alluring. She was this intoxicating mix of come hither and you better back the fuck off . For a simple man, it was a complex brew I couldn’t help but partake in.
I thought maybe she could be my last bang, my send-off. Then maybe I could put my dick into retirement and stop putting it in every willing participant.
But Maisie wasn’t out of my system yet.
I still needed to unpack that.