He reached into the engine one-handed to tighten a bolt that had magically come loose, painstakingly turning the wrench until it was tightened up.
He ran his fingertips through his hair, felt beads of sweat at his temples and scratched an itchy spot at the back of his head. He pulled his hand back and realized he probably just put a wide grease stain in his hair. Whatever. He should grab a quick shower before anyone showed up.
Axel heard a sound behind him. He ducked out from under the hood and turned in time to see Francine’s surprised look, her mother’s horrified expression and Duvall’s demonstratively disapproving face.
None of them spoke as Valene and Lucy walked around the corner, Valene talking a mile a minute and not paying attention to the situation.
“We’re set, then, with the food, right?” she asked Lucy. By then, Lucy had spotted Axel and his sweaty, grease-stained bare chest. Unlike her family, she failed to exhibit surprise, horror or disapproval. She just looked hungry.
“Hey!” Axel said to the assembled crowd. “This here is my fav-o-rite hobby. Working on cars.” He took the wrench he held and casually used it to scratch a non-existent itch on his shoulder.
The reaction was as expected, a deeper version of whatever the initial assessment had been of his appearance. More surprise. More horror. More disapproval. A glance at Lucy yielded more hunger.
Francine stepped forward gamely. “Well, it’s certainly an interesting hobby.” Her mother grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back as if he might infect them all with his apparently startling hillbilly appearance and more disturbing redneck country boy pastime.
Axel looked at Lucy’s father, pointed beneath the hood and said, “Want to take a look?”
“No. I would rather not.”
“Suit yourself.”
Lucy took a step closer to Axel. She stared at his chest unblinkingly, mouth partially open, the tip of her sweet tongue resting just behind her teeth.
“Lucinda!” her mother said sharply. “Come over here, right now!”
She broke the stare and turned toward Francine and their mother as if she’d just woken from a dream. Swallowing hard, she moved a few steps toward her sister.
Francine asked Lucy, “What do you think of the car he’s working on?”
“Car?” Lucy looked at him again, and then at the vehicle as if it had been invisible until Francine mentioned it. Perhaps she hadn’t seen the car, only him.
Axel smiled at both sisters with sincere affection as Francine whispered something in Lucy’s ear that made her smile.
“This is a barbaric Earther display. I wish to leave now,” Adeline Duvall said in a tone that did not brook further discussion.
With one last look of contempt for Axel, the outraged parents swept Francine and Lucy away. Valene followed, trying to explain it wasn’t as bad as all that and lots of guys in the area worked on cars.
His sister shot him an apologetic look before she disappeared from sight, chasing after the Duvall family and their sizable contempt for hisfav-o-ritehobby.
Axel basked in the fantasy that Lucy’s parents would call the wedding off after seeing this “barbaric” side of his character. Fat chance.
Besides, if he wasn’t good enough for Francine, he wasn’t going to be good enough for Lucy.
Axel tossed the wrench onto his workbench and closed the hood of his pride and joy, wondering what fresh purgatory he’d have to endure from the Duvalls for having the audacity to play with cars.
He already faced a lifetime married to a very nice woman hedidn’tlove.
Chapter Seventeen
Two days before the wedding
Lucy dressed carefully for dinner. The rehearsal dinner was to be held at the upscale basement restaurant, Superior Galactic Gastronomy. As the name implied, snotty wait staff would be serving minimal portions of creative Earther and Alpha-Prime delicacies to the wedding party in several courses as the families did their best to get along until the nuptials were complete.
She applied perhaps a bit more makeup than usual, wanting to look especially nice. Time was running out on her chances to see Axel and spend time with him.
Since there was only one maid of honor, Lucy, and one groomsman, Cam—as Lucy predicted, her parents only unbent enough to allow a single attendant for each the bride and groom—the lone sibling invited from Axel’s side of the family was Valene because she was helping with the Earther wedding preparations.
