My dad studies me, his eye sweeping over my face carefully as he considers my question. Then he crosses his arms and pulls his mouth into a straight line.
“I’m honestly not sure. People are quick to remember the worst version of a story, and that doesn’t disappear overnight. But…”
He pauses, his eyes dropping to the floor.
“But what?” I press, stepping closer.
“But people do remember consistency. If you can show them that you’ve grown up and you take things seriously now, then they’ll come around eventually.”
Eventually? That could take time—time I didn’t have. Sal was giving me until the end of summer to get my ducks in a row. After that, he was selling the shop to someone else.
“And how exactly do I do that?” I ask, running a hand over the spiky stubble on my chin. “Volunteering? Baking pies for the local church bake sale? Adopting ten dogs from the local shelter?”
Dad huffs out a tired laugh. “Those are all a good start. But maybe not the dog thing. You’re renting one of my places, and ten dogs won’t fly with this landlord.”
I smile and even offer a light chuckle, but the wheels in my head are turning. I need to make this happen.
“You just need to show people that you’re not just the guy who wrecks relationships. You’re also the kind of guy that they can depend on to do things like fix their car.”
I wince at the title I’ve seemingly been saddled with.The guy who wrecks relationships. I don’t want to be that guy. I’m not that guy.
But if I want the loan, if I want this shop… Then, I need a new story. And a good one.
And suddenly, I’m hit with a ridiculous, yet kind-of-perfect idea that might do the trick.
If people think I ruin relationships, then maybe I need to show them the flip side of that. I need to show them a man soin love that he would never dream of becoming the town pariah again.
But of course, that isn’t something I can pull out of thin air. I’m not looking for love, and love sure as hell isn’t looking for me, but if I can find someone willing to fake it, that would be perfect.
At some point during my internal brainstorm, my dad must have sidestepped me and headed for the door. I call out, stopping him before he can leave.
“If I do something that makes people talk in a good way, would you reconsider?”
He glances back with his eyebrows raised. “If you manage to pull that off, I’ll reconsider.”
Then he walks out, and I hear the soft whoosh of the door closing behind him. I stand there for a moment before I head back into the shop to get started on my next car.
As I reach my tool bench, faces and names whirl around my head, but one blast from the past seems to stand out above the rest.
Emery is perfect. She is new to town, so no one would question why they haven’t seen us together yet. We could play it off as two people who fell in love as teenagers and reconnected as adults. We could have the perfect second-chance romance, and they’d eat it up. Small towns love a good redemption arc.
I grab a wrench and twirl it in my hand. The cold metal that presses against my hand grounds me as my master plan starts to take shape.
The main thing I can’t wrap my head around is how to get her to agree. She hates me. Loathes the fact that we now live in the same town. But if there is one thing I’m good at, it’s getting the yes.
And as my eyes settle on the rusted-out pick-up sitting a few stalls over, I know exactly how to get that yes.
CHAPTER 5
EMERY
“Ugh,” I huff, tossing the paint roller back into the tray and rising to my feet. I wipe a few rogue dabs of paint down my jean overalls and step back to admire my handiwork.
I still have so much work to do inside the shop, but I was sick of being cooped up with the dust bunnies and relics that were older than me. And what better way to get fresh air than to repaint the front of the store?
It was a beautiful summer day, and the sun was streaming down at its peak. The sky was the perfect shade of baby blue with lazy strokes of white clouds mixing into the hue. We didn’t see clear skies like this in the city. It felt like the intro to the kind of feel-good movie where the guy always gets the girl, and the girl never has to worry about silly things like red flags and emotional availability.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
