the fact that she was a tomboy didn’t make it easier. But the two had stuck by her and protected her from mean girls who made fun of her for being a grease monkey’s daughter. Yes, the three of them had always been tight, and they’d been with her through thick and thin, but, well … none of them were the sentimental type.
“J.D.?” Gabriel asked, the corner of his mouth turning up. “Are you crying?”
“Fuck no. It’s all the dust in here.” She turned around and sniffed. “Don’t ya have to be somewhere else? Like counting the gold bars in your trust fund or something.”
Gabriel laughed. “All right, all right. So, I’ll see you tomorrow? We’re all helping out Dutchy with the decorations, and Temperance is bringing the desserts, so we’ll be there early. Feel free to show up anytime, but we eat at five.”
“Sure.” She turned her head and flashed him a smile. “See you tomorrow. Tell Temperance I said thank you for the pie.”
“Will do.” The lion shifter waved goodbye and strolled out of the garage.
After cleaning up her tools and calling one of her mechanics to move the Toyota, she headed out to the trailer–office in the main garage lot.
“Hey, Pop,” she greeted the photo that hung up behind the desk inside the office. Jimmy McNamara smiled down at her as he always did, frozen in time. He’d been too young when he died in that accident; barely fifty. Shifters couldn’t get most illnesses, and they healed fast, but the truck that struck him down as he was crossing the street killed him on impact. His death had been a shock, and even now, a decade later, she still felt his loss keenly.
Even though she had taken over the business, this office was like a shrine to him—pictures of her as a kid and her mother, old school road signs, a black-and-white photo of the Brooklyn bridge, a classic James Dean on a motorcycle photo, and a framed and signed Billy Joel poster hung on the walls.
Sitting down behind the desk, she went to work checking her emails, inventory, and her accounting software. Finally, after what seemed like hours she was done, and she closed the laptop with a satisfying click.
“Whew!” Stretching her arms over her head, she leaned back on the worn leather office chair. This was not her favorite part of owning J.D.’s Garage, but it had to be done. “Yikes!” She winced as she saw it was already dark outside. It was the Monday before Thanksgiving, so they were busy trying to get all the repairs done before the holidays. But at least I’ll have the long weekend to look forward to. Grabbing her jacket from the back of the chair and the keys to her truck, she headed out the door.
“Hey, J.D.”
The unfortunately familiar voice made her freeze before she managed to finish locking the door to the office. With a deep breath, she turned around. “Hey, Roy,” she greeted back, pasting a smile on her face. “It’s pretty late. What are you doing here?”
Roy Jorrell grinned at her sheepishly. “Well … I’m having trouble with my car.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Again?”
He nodded. “Yeah. There’s this clunk, clunk, clunk sound whenever I start it up.”
“It’s late, and I should be getting home. Maybe you can come back after the holidays?”
“But what if there’s something wrong and I get stuck at home? Or on the side of the road?” He flashed her a boyish smile, his blue eyes twinkling. “Please, J.D.? You’re the best mechanic in town.”
Pop always said that you should never turn away business and to always treat customers well, but Roy was trying her patience. It was the third time this month he’d been in for some phantom sound or strange malfunction in his jacked-up GMC Sierra, but whenever she or one of her guys looked into it, his truck turned out to be perfectly fine. Why he kept coming back, she didn’t know.
“Oh, all right,” she said, resigned. “Let’s go take a look.”
She followed him to where he’d parked just outside the garage. “Go and start the car, and I’ll check under the hood,” she instructed him.
Minutes later, it was just as she thought—his truck was perfectly fine. “Nothing’s wrong here,” she said to him as she shut the hood.
“Oh?” He was suddenly behind her, startling even her own cat-like reflexes. “I could have sworn I heard something,” he said, rubbing the back of his head with