The Trouble With Angels Page 0,39

the evening was over and he could be done with her.

While her father checked Edith's innards, Joy wandered around his shop. It smelled of grease and tires and gasoline. These scents had been like perfume to her when she was a little girl. Her brothers came down to the garage often, but it was only on rare occasions that Joy was allowed in her father's domain.

A BMW similar to Ted's pulled up out front, catching Joy's eye. A door slammed, and she watched in shocked disbelief as Ted Griffin nonchalantly walked into her father's shop.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, looking past him, certain Blythe would be with him, too. That he would bring his fancy girlfriend to her father's shop infuriated her. Blythe was sure to wrinkle her nose at the very thing Joy loved about this old shop. She waited, but apparently Blythe wasn't with him.

"As I recall, you were the one who mentioned that your father's a mechanic. It's time for an oil change, and I thought I'd give him the business. Unless you have any objections."

Eating her own words had never appealed to Joy. She suspected they tasted a good deal like crow. "Of course I don't object," she said, stepping down from her high horse. "I do remember mentioning Dad's shop."

Her father straightened, closed Edith's hood, and wiped his hand clean on the pink cotton rag. He studied Ted briefly and then looked to his daughter. "You know this young man, Joy?"

"Dad, this is Ted Griffin," she said, making a half-flopping motion with her hand. "Ted, my father, Ray Palmer."

"Hello, Mr. Palmer," Ted said, and stepped forward to offer his hand.

The two men exchanged robust handshakes. "Have you been having any problems with your car, son?"

A grin teased the corners of Ted's mouth. "None to mention. But I'd prefer to be on Edith's good side in light of what happened to my friend's car. I'd be grateful if you had the time for an oil change."

"So you were around the other night when Edith pulled her little trick." Ray chuckled and stuffed the pink rag into the hip pocket of his gray-striped coveralls. "I always said it's never a good idea to turn your back on a frustrated woman."

"Daddy."

"Sorry, sweetheart, but it's true."

Joy noticed that Ted was doing an inadequate job of hiding a smile.

"Pull your car in here and I'll be finished with her in a jiffy." He walked over to the large garage doors and raised them so Ted could ease his car into the slot next to Joy's infamous Edith.

Her father directed Ted into the spot and then suggested, "Help yourself to the coffee. This shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes."

"How fresh is it, Dad?" Joy asked, knowing her father's penchant for strong coffee.

"It's fresh," Ray insisted. "I made it myself yesterday morning."

"Thanks anyway," Ted managed to say around a smile.

"If you two want to make yourselves useful," her father said as he raised the hood to Ted's car.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Lunch," Ray told them. "There's a deli two blocks down. Get me something to hold me until dinner, will you?" The question was directed to them both.

"A sandwich," Joy offered.

"Anything."

Ted followed her out of the garage. They walked side by side for about half a block. "You don't need to come," she said stiffly. After all, she was perfectly capable of walking two blocks without an escort, especially him.

"I want to come."

"Why?" she asked, and briefly closed her eyes. Clearly he was looking for ways to make her miserable.

"Do I need a reason?"

Joy pinched her lips together. "Yes. I want to know why you're here."

"You know why."

"Okay, so I told you about my dad's shop, but did you have to come this morning? Did it have to be while I was here, too?"

"Yes," he murmured as though he were admitting to a fault. "I followed you here."

He couldn't have shocked her more had he confessed to a crime. "You did what? That's crazy!"

"I had to talk to you."

"About what?"

Ted's shoulders compressed with a sigh. "Last night."

"Why?" Joy asked in a small voice. "So you can tell me how bad you felt about going out with me when you're practically engaged to another woman? That's what I tried to explain. You don't need to come to me with a list of excuses. I don't need any explanations."

"Maybe I do," Ted said, his voice hard and loud. "I want to know why I can't stop thinking about you. What is it