Pretty Sweet - Christina Lee Page 0,3
my mom makes a mean turkey Swiss, but this is ridiculous.”
Of course, the guys were just messing with me. Tucker, especially, loved to pull pranks. But this time I’d gotten to the shop to open at six a.m., had skipped breakfast, and was starving, so I was not in the mood for jokes.
“Stop freaking out.” Mia bounded into the break room, donning yellow rubber gloves. “I cleaned the fridge because you guys are pigs. And don’t even get me started on the bathroom. I don’t know how any of you guys keep any ladies around.”
Mia was Tucker’s cousin. She pretty much ran the place and was also an apprentice in training. Having a woman mechanic show Tad and Brett up didn’t always go over well—because she could show them up—but they were softening to the idea. And I gave them shit about it too because my childhood was fucking rocky as hell and I’d seen enough misogyny to last a lifetime. But Mia was fierce, and without her we’d have way too much testosterone around here.
“The ladies don’t care as long as I keep giving them good pipe,” Tad said, making a ridiculous thrusting motion.
“Can they even find it? More like a pipe cleaner,” Mia replied, zeroing right in on his crotch, and Brett and Tucker cracked up.
But I was still cranky because I was hungry, so I grumbled and searched for my damned food.
“I put your lunch on the counter.” She pointed to the brown paper bag my mom had handed me this morning.
“Thanks.” I got shit for that as well—living with my mom. But by now, these guys knew our history. How my dad would go on drunken tirades mostly berating her but sometimes smacking her around too when I was a kid. Until I graduated high school and used the last two years of weight training to my advantage, giving the asshole a bloody nose and a few choice words before I’d bolted to the car where I’d asked Mom to wait.
I’d already placed a down payment on a shitty apartment across town before we left, and thankfully, we haven’t seen the bastard since we took off that night. Even though they’d never officially married, Dad considered their relationship to be common law. Except Oregon didn’t recognize such a union, so Mom never had to go through a messy divorce. Word on the street was that Dad had gotten himself cleaned up, met someone new, and moved away from Portland to be with her. I prayed that was true, though I wouldn’t wish life with that jackass on anyone. Tucker had even driven by the house for us and assured Mom he’d seen an empty house and a FOR SALE sign.
It was tough going at first because Mom had been a complete mess as she tried to adjust to her new normal as well as sort through the wreckage that had been our lives. It took months before she felt confident enough to even leave the premises. She was always on the lookout—and truth be told, so was I—thinking Dad might show up and drag her back with him. Sometimes I’d go out of my mind with worry from a simple grocery-store trip. I was determined no one would hurt her again.
I barely sat down at the table before I tucked a bite of sandwich in my cheek. I guzzled down the soda I’d purchased from the vending machine near the lounge, which only consisted of a couple of chairs and some magazines on a table. Most customers didn’t wait for their cars to be serviced, and I could see why; the place definitely needed sprucing up.
Had I not started working at the garage when I was fifteen, I would’ve never had enough money saved to get Mom and myself out of that house. Dad had discovered Mom’s secret stash weeks before I turned eighteen, almost thwarting our plans.
This garage was all I knew, and I was lucky that I enjoyed working on cars so much. I worked hard, and life was pretty decent, considering where I came from. Tucker’s dad had handed over the shop to his son two years ago, and when Tucker asked if I’d go into business with him, I was grateful. And when I bought the sweet little A-frame house we lived in now, it finally felt more like a home.
Mom, on the other hand, never had the opportunity to have any big ideas for herself, so I encouraged her to spread