hand.
“Look, Grace, it seems like we’re both in a bad way right now. But you have to believe me when I say I have to have this car. You see, my brother stole my car, and I’ve got to get back to Atlanta and…”
“Today was supposed to be my wedding day and I found out my fiancé has been cheating on me with his assistant…”
“Okay, that does sound bad, but you see, I’ve got a business and…”
“And she’s pregnant with his baby,” she continued. “Oh, and he was planning on divorcing me in six months, so he and his baby mama could be together. He was just using me to get a promotion.”
Finn’s shoulders sagged even as he bowed his head.
Yeah. She had him beat.
Without a word, he motioned toward the desk and simply gave up. There had to be other rental places in town, right? And if not, he’d call for another Uber and do…something. There was a row of chairs against the wall and he walked over and sat down. He found this place by searching on his phone, so he’d just have to do it again and hope he’d find another one.
Scrolling…scrolling…scrolling…
The rustling of wet satin had him looking up. Grace was two feet away and still staring at him hostilely. “Problem?” he asked, letting his own annoyance come through.
“Listen, it seems to me we’ve both had a crappy day and…well…I’m heading across country too. So, if you want to share the car…”
He was instantly on his feet. “Seriously?” Then he got suspicious. “Why? Why would you even offer? You know nothing about me, and for that matter, I know nothing about you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Both Carl and Tammy mentioned there not being another rental place nearby. The closest one is about twenty miles from here and is closed for the day. Your only other option is the airport and…”
“I’m not flying!” he snapped and immediately regretted his reaction. “I mean…I don’t really like flying so…”
“No, I mean there are car rental places there you can try, but it’s still a bit of a drive to get there too.” She paused and fidgeted, and Finn figured her dress had to be a bit of a pain to move around in–even more so now that it was wet. “Nothing today has gone as planned and I’m not looking forward to driving across the country alone.”
“I get that, but still…how do you know you can trust me?”
“Honestly? I don’t. But Carl and Tammy have your license and would know I was leaving with you, so if anything happened to me, you’d be the guy everyone would go after.” Then she paused, and her gaze narrowed. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t trust you?”
“What? I mean, no! There’s no reason,” he stammered.
“Tell me about yourself,” she said before turning to the curious agents. “You guys listen in on this too. You’re witnesses.”
“Witnesses? That’s just…”
“I’m just trying to be practical, Quinn,” she said.
“It’s Finn,” he corrected and then cleared his throat. “I’m Finn Kavanagh and I’m from Atlanta, Georgia. I was born and raised in East Islip, New York, and moved to Atlanta when I was eighteen. I’m thirty years old and I own my own auto repair shop, Kavanagh’s. You can look it up online. We have a website and a Facebook page,” he added.
“Tammy, can you check on that please?” Grace called over her shoulder, not breaking eye contact with Finn.
Finn glanced toward the counter and saw both agents typing and nodding, and when Grace looked over at them, they both gave her a thumbs up.
It was ridiculous for him to sag with relief, but he almost did.
“Anything else?” she asked. “What about your family? You married?”
“No.”
“Girlfriend?”
“No.”
“Boyfriend?”
“No!” he shouted a little too defensively.
“Any siblings other than the car-stealing brother?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Just Dave.”
“Why’d he steal your car?”
“It’s a long story…”
And for the first time since he’d met her, Grace gave a small smile. “Good thing we’ve got a long drive ahead of us and you can tell me all about it.”
This is crazy, he thought. There was no way he was going to drive cross-country with a complete stranger. He didn’t do things like this! He was fairly practical and cautious, and this had disaster written all over it.
Grace walked back over to the counter and Finn followed. “My turn,” he said.
“For what?”
“Tell me about yourself.”
She leaned against the counter and looked at him with mild annoyance. “Why? It seems to me I’m the one at