Maybe because if he’d been smart in the first place, he’d have stayed the hell away from her.
“Shane? You in here?”
Shane’s face creased in confusion as he pushed himself out from under the car with a booted heel. “Grady? What’re you doing here on a Sunday?” Even from his vantage point on the floor, Shane could see the concern on the old man’s face as he walked into the garage.
“Lookin’ for you,” he said, his gravelly voice going all matter-of-fact.
“You found me. Is everything okay?” Shane sat up, nursing a twinge of concern.
Grady gave a singular, solid nod in the affirmative and looked around the garage. Shane winced as Grady’s gaze swept over Bellamy’s convertible. It was obvious not only that Shane had pulled out the old tranny to make way for the new one, but that Grady knew Shane had done it without him. The last thing he wanted was to overstep his bounds.
“Been busy, I see.”
Shane would’ve rather heard anger than the recognition that went with Grady’s words, as if he’d pegged exactly why Shane had been spending so much time in the garage.
“Yeah, sorry. I was bored. I just figured I’d keep my mind straight by starting on it.” He nodded over at Bellamy’s car, trying not to let his thoughts slip to its driver.
“Jackson help you muscle the old one outta there?”
Guilt washed over Shane in the silence that followed. He should’ve waited for Grady, or at least called him to tell him he was going to pull the transmission. Shit.
Grady continued. “You’re good, but I got a feeling that tranny was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. It probably gave the two of you a run for your money, yeah?”
Hell if the old man didn’t miss a trick. It had taken all the muscle Shane and Jackson had to pull the fried transmission out of that car.
“Yup. It was a nightmare. Be glad you missed it.” The consolation didn’t work for a second. Not that Shane really expected it to.
“You want to tell me what’s goin’ on here? I know you need the cash,” Grady rasped. “But all of this workin’ feels like somethin’ else.”
Shane stood up slowly. He knew he owed Grady more than a bunch of double speak and canned excuses, but his ironclad defenses wouldn’t let the real reason past his lips.
“I’ve, ah, had a lot on my mind. Working just helps. I didn’t mean to overstep, though.” God knew this was the truth. Nothing else calmed Shane like working on cars, even the grunt work like oil changes and tune ups, but he wasn’t about to disrespect Grady in order to right his head.
Grady measured Shane with a knowing, steel gray stare. “You can’t hide from this forever, you know.” It wasn’t an accusation, just a simple statement of fact. And one that, deep down, Shane knew.
“I’m not hiding. This is who I am.”
The words made Grady chuckle. “Oh, no denyin’ that. You are who you are. But you got some loose ends to tie up, and they’re gettin’ pretty tangled while they wait for you.”
Damn it. Grady was nothing if not right to the point. “You don’t cut any corners, do you?”
“’Fraid not. You work as much as you need to, Shane, if it’ll get your head right. Just don’t let it get in the way of what matters.”
Shane frowned, looking around the garage. “This is what matters.”
Grady’s laugh was long and loud. “Boy, you got a lot to learn. Good thing you don’t have to do it all in one day.” His eyes glinted over Shane’s in a knowing glance that told Shane not to argue. Still, the look told him that Grady was onto him, which made his stomach ache with unease.
The expression lasted for only a second longer before it busted into a silvery-stubbled grin. “Now pop the hood on this thing and let an old fart see what’cha been doing with all your time, would you?”
12
“Surpriiiiiiise!”
Jenna and Holly could barely contain their excitement as they held up a cream-colored envelope, both grinning widely.
“Okay, you’re freaking me out. What did you do?” Bellamy eyed her friends from where she sat on her bed with pages of scribbled notes in her lap and her cell phone glued to her hand. She’d spent three hours piecing together what she could from various emails, trying to make heads or tails of the impossible task in front of her. Without the contract in front of her, the research was spotty at best. Not even taking a break for that yoga class had calmed her.
“Well, when you were out last night, we ended up chatting with one of the resort managers,” Jenna said. “He told us all about this little event they’re hosting this evening. It’s a very small, very exclusive and very hush-hush thing, but of course…”
Holly picked up where Jenna left off. “We just happened to run into the manager again after breakfast while you were getting your yoga on…”
Jenna took the baton and ran “…and he mentioned that he might be able to get us into this little shindig…” Her eyes shone like runway lights, and her grin was a perfect match.
“…and, since we knew you were having a really bad day and could use some cheering up, we convinced him to ask his boss to give us the last three tickets, and his boss said yes!” Holly squealed.
Bellamy lowered her cell phone to the bed and stared. “This must be one hell of an event for you two to be this excited,” she said with a soft laugh.
Jenna held the envelope out, waggling her brows. “Something tells me you’ll think so. Go on. Open it before Holly explodes.”
A current of excitement rippled up Bellamy’s spine as she took the envelope with the Pine Mountain Resort crest stamped in the corner. “Seriously, you guys, what could you possibly…”
Her voice trailed off as she read, then re-read, the square of cardstock that slid out of the envelope. “Wait.” Her heart went from zero to oh-my-freaking-God in about three seconds.
No. Way. Her brain had to be malfunctioning.
“This can’t be right. This says that—”
“Chef Carly di Matisse, direct from New York City, is doing a one-night-only tasting menu for an intimate crowd of people and we’re going?” Holly supplied with an ear-to-ear grin.
Bellamy’s heart launched against her sternum, the paper beginning to flutter in her hands. “Do you guys know who Carly di Matisse is? I mean, do you know who she is?”
Jenna laughed, nudging Holly. “Told you she’d do this. She gets all fangirly for those celebrity chefs.”
“You bet me she’d hyperventilate,” Holly said. “You haven’t won until she asks for a paper bag.”
Bellamy ignored their teasing and pressed on. “Carly di Matisse is only, oh, the most awe-inspiring human being on the planet. Her show, Couples in the Kitchen, is where I got all of the recipes for my parents’ anniversary dinner.” She stopped to take a breath, her mind spinning. “There wasn’t a peep of publicity about this appearance on her show, although come to think of it, they’ve been doing a lot of reruns lately. Still, how the hell did I not know she’d be here this weekend?”
“Nobody knows.” Holly motioned for Bellamy to move over so she could sit down next to her, and Bellamy relegated her pile of notes to the nightstand, making room for both Holly and Jenna on the bed.