Page 2 of Mechanic’s Christmas Match

They were only ten minutes outside Trinity Falls when the steering wheel started jerking in her hands and the check engine light popped on.

“Oh, no,” Ana sighed, pulling over onto the side of the road and turning it off.

“What happened?” Theo asked immediately.

“The car isn’t working right,” she said.

“Why?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” she told him honestly—when it came to cars, she didn’t know a steering wheel from… whatever cars had under the hood. “But I’m going to call someone who will help right away.”

At least I hope they will, she thought to herself.

It was sundown on the day before Thanksgiving. A tow truck would cost a fortune, and there would probably be a really long wait. And the repair shop in town would probably be closed for the long weekend already, which meant a taxi ride after they dropped the car off.

But there was no point crying about it, as her friend Valerie would say. She pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped on the contact for the local shop, trying not to think about who might answer, and definitely not hoping it was a certain handsome new mechanic.

“Wilson’s Repair,” Beau Wilson replied.

Ana was sort of stunned that the owner was working on the night before Thanksgiving, but mostly she was relieved that anyone had answered at all.

“It’s Ana Gutierrez,” she said with a twinge of guilt.

Her car was old and Ana couldn’t afford to replace it, so she came in a lot and always opted for the cheapest fixes. She was probably his least favorite customer.

“Oh, hey, Ana,” Beau said, not giving the slightest indication that he was unhappy to hear from her, if that was the case. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m out on Route One,” she told him. “About five minutes from Ambler Road. I was coming back from the city and my check engine light came on, and now the car’s acting funny.”

Please don’t let this be an expensive problem…

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Beau said kindly. “But you lucked out. Rory’s still here. I’ll send him out to find you and have a look.”

Ana’s stomach did a funny little flip at the idea of Rory Dunn coming to help. She wondered if he’d come in the company truck, or…

“Okay,” she managed. “Thanks so much, Beau. I know this is the worst possible time to have car trouble.”

“We’ve got you, Ana,” Beau said. “You know that. Tell your mom I said hi.”

“I will,” she promised, ending the call.

“Who’s that?” Theo asked.

“That was Beau Wilson,” she told him. “He owns the car repair shop, and he’s sending someone to help.”

“Look,” Theo said, his eyes back on his drawing board.

Ana got out of the driver’s seat and climbed into the back with Theo.

“Hi,” he said, surprised but giving her a happy smile.

“I wanted to watch you draw while we wait,” she told him. “Is that okay?”

He nodded, dimples popping as he nudged the drawing board closer to her.

Ana looked at the hand-turkey, admiring the big smile on its little thumb-face.

“That’s such a nice, happy turkey,” she said. “What’s his name?”