“Huh.Work. Tinkering with engines wasn’t supposed to be work though, was it?”
Fantastic. He was running through his greatest hits. What she wouldn’t give to have a real father-daughter chat instead of his constant jibes at how she lived her life. He hadn’t been this mean before her momma had died, but then he hadn’t been around that much tobemean.
“You were supposed to do something that mattered with yourlife,” he said, cutting into traffic. “I remember when you wanted to be an astronaut. Other girls your age had posters of Michael Jackson on their walls, but you had Mae Jemison. You remember that?”
“Yes, Daddy.” Of course she did, but it wasn’t just Dr. Mae’s pioneering she admired. She had other reasons to havethatbeautiful Black woman on her wall. “But I did do something that mattered; I went to war.”
“Huh.War. Because that was a good use of your 150 IQ—offering up your Black ass to be blown to bits by terrorists. You could’ve been engineering the bombs to blowthemup from the safety of US soil.”
Shay held onto the dash when he slammed on the brakes at a stop sign. “I wanted to do something on the ground, Daddy.”
“You wanted to get away from your family, girl, that’s what you wanted to do.”
She swallowed hard against the temptation to scream out why she hadn’t just wanted to get away, she’dneededto get away. Instead, she stayed silent because he was half right, and she’d been forced to sacrifice her relationship with her momma in the process. “I still don’t hear anything. Is it worse at speed?”
He gave her a sideways glance and shook his head slowly, the way he did to show his all-round disappointment in her as a daughter. Its impact hadn’t lessened as she’d grown older. If anything, it might’ve become even more powerful despite her best efforts.
“I guess it must’ve worked itself out,” he said. “It sounds just fine now.”
Of course it did, because it had probably never sounded anything other than fine. He’d just wanted another opportunity to mess with her life. “The charity auction for the Sanctuary is a week from Saturday. Have you decided if you can make it or not?” She heard the petulance in her voice and regretted it immediately. She didn’t even know why she’d invited him. If he did come, he’d spendthe whole evening looking down on her friends, and if he didn’t come, he’d find some way to make that her fault.
“Charity begins at home is what your momma used to say. If you spent as much time with your real family as you do your Armyfriends, maybe you wouldn’t be tempted to live the way you do. The Lord sees everything, girl.”
Shay pressed her lips together and bit her tongue. She sure hoped God didn’t seeeverythingand that She gave her children some privacy. The thought of the Almighty watching her bedroom antics would cramp her style. Speaking of, she checked her phone to see if Rosie had responded yet. She couldn’t help being a little amused when she discovered Rosie hadn’t even opened her message, if the checks at the side were accurate. A womannotafter her own heart. This could be a friends-with-benefits situation that could save her a lot of needless cruising time.
They continued in silence for a while until Shay realized he wasn’t heading back to the house. “You missed the turn home.”
“Home? Now you’re calling it home again,” he said and kissed his teeth.
Shay sighed and looked up through the panoramic sunroof he’d insisted on having. It had added even more to the build price and was only one of many add-ons and upgrades that meant she was still making vehicle payments. It was all a far cry from the old Pinto he’d driven into the ground. Still, the view of a clear bluebird sky calmed her a little, so maybe it was worth it.
She began to recognize the route he was taking and closed her eyes briefly. He had a nerve to talk about her abandoning the family when he spent more time with his friends, Sidney and Jo, than he ever did with them. “Do you need to make a stop for something before you drop me back at my car?” she asked, not ready to relinquish all hope.
He looked at her, his brow furrowed deep enough to drive a toy truck down it. “No use going all that way back just to turn around again.” He gestured down the road to the rec center theywere approaching. “A walk through town will be good for you. You might see some old friends. And I don’t like to keep Joe and Sid waiting.”
But he was okay making his daughter make the one-mile trip back. “I have to get back to the garage, Daddy.”
He turned into the recreation center’s parking lot and swung into a disabled space regardless of him not having a disability plate or placard. “Well, I hear we have one of those new-fangled non-taxi services around here now if you don’t want to walk.”
She got out, already checking her Lyft app for nearby cars.
“I’ll call you if the car starts acting up again,” he said over his shoulder as he headed toward the rec’s entrance.
She watched him practically jog to meet up with his buddies, trying to ignore the stab to her heart when he didn’t even look back to wave goodbye. Her phone pinged, and she switched over to WhatsApp.
Client being an asshole. Working late. I’ll be home at midnight if you want to drop by for round two.
Shay grinned and took a deep, cleansing breath. She could be back at the garage before three, put in an eight-hour shift, and still have time to clean up before heading to Rosie’s. She textedI’ll be therethen laughed out loud when a nail clipper emoji popped up in response. She extended her fingers to inspect her hands. They weren’t exactly talons, but she hadn’t manicured them for over a week, and they needed shortening a little.You got itshe replied and returned to the Lyft app.
Finding a long-term friend-with-benefits had always eluded her—deeper emotions from the other side of the situationship inevitably got in the way—but Shay could see Rosie was different, and damn, she needed the tension relieved after this. There had been no real emergency, and her daddy had been next-level dismissive. Maybe Gabe was right about him crying wolf, but if she didn’t come just one time, it could end up being something genuine. She’d been on the other side of the world the last timethat had happened, and there wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t regret not being able to make it home in time.
She looked up to the sky and blinked back the soft burn of tears. “I miss you, Momma.”
CHAPTER 4
Rosie heardthe throaty roar of Shay’s old muscle car and looked out the window in time to see her pull up and get out. God, she was stunning. Rosie couldn’t believe she’d actually managed to seduce Shay into coming home with her once. She really didn’t think she’d get a repeat performance, even it was a midnight booty call. She didn’t know what had possessed her to be so sexually aggressive last Saturday—thatsowasn’t her style at all—but Lori had inspired her. Rosie had watched her masterfully marionette Gabe into a giant marshmallow soldier-puppet under her strings, and it’d been wonderful to see her friend happy again. If the catalyst for that was Gabe, so be it. She seemed harmless enough, and if her puppy dog eyes that night were anything to go by, Gabe would probably walk over a bed of nails rather than hurt Lori.
And Rosie had Gabe to thank for more than just helping Lori recover from her ex-wife, because Gabe came with Shay…
