Page 7 of Come Take Me Now

No truer words have ever been spoken.

“No fucking kidding.”

He clears his throat. “Almost there.” I glance up, and my heart sinks. What if I never see him again after today? We’re perfect strangers, but unless I’m imagining it, there is a damn vibe here.

Or it’s wishful thinking.

“You said this was a friend’s shop?”

Enzo nods, keeping his eyes on the road. “Yeah, one of my brother’s friends. He’s been working on my nineteen-ninety Saab for a while.” I nod, too, but I have no idea what a Saab is.

Enzo expertly maneuvers the truck and trailer into the parking lot of a legitimate mechanic’s shop. I press the power button on my phone, and it’s over thirty percent charged now.

I hop out of the truck and follow Enzo into the shop. The garage smells of gasoline and oil, but it’s unexpectedly pleasant. It reminds me of how the garage would smell after Rick tinkered with the lawnmower on summer weekends.

“Hey, Mick. Can you do a starter on a Camry?” Enzo asks a young man. He’s not as tall as Enzo and younger, with short brown hair and not nearly as handsome as Enzo, either. He’s wearing a mechanic’s coveralls stained with oil, with a white short-sleeve T-shirt underneath, but he has the suit unbuttoned and the sleeves tied around his waist.

“Shouldn’t be an issue. Hers?” he asks, writing on a clipboard.

“Yeah, this is Tilly. Tilly Vaughn,” Enzo says, craning his neck a little to glance at me. A spark runs down my spine, making me softly shudder.

He remembered my dad’s last name…? I wish I had my mom’s maiden name, which I could change to, I guess.

“Hi,” I say. Enzo walks away to look at something, and his calming aura, which I hadn’t quite noticed before, dissipates as the distance grows greater. My chest feels tight, like I can’t breathe as he steps further across the garage, but I force myself to take another deep breath.

“Mick. Nice to meet you,” the mechanic says. “Uh, this will probably take a couple of days.”

“Sounds good.”

“If you can jot down your number, I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

I write my number on a sticky note for him and add my name under it. I glance towards Enzo, and he’s stepping back toward me. I catch the way he’s so steady, nearly methodical in his movements.

“Want a ride to your dad’s?” Enzo asks. “We’ll get your car unloaded, and I can drive you back up.”

I smile at him. “Yeah, that’d be great.” His offer couldn’t have been better, as I really didn’t want to ask Dad to come pick me up now that my phone is on. This would be way too much to explain, and Dad never had the patience for long stories. Enzo and Mick head for the truck. I unload my luggage from my car, and Enzo helps me reload it into the back seat of his truck.

“What’s your dad’s address?” Enzo asks, pulling up the map app on his phone.

I give it to him as he types it into his phone and turns on the GPS. “Are you going to stalk me now that you know where I’ll be for the summer?” I tease.

Enzo lets out a breathy laugh. “Do I seem like that type?”

“I don’t know…you could be.” Am I flirting? I clear my throat and glance at the side-view mirror, where I notice the empty trailer behind the truck. “Is it hard towing?”

Enzo shakes his head. “Backing up is, but it’s pretty straightforward. Just have to be aware of your length.” I bet you do… “To not cut people off,” he continues.

“Thank you for the help, by the way. I was so screwed.”

He rests his wrist on the top of the steering wheel, and his Rolex glints in the sunlight pouring in from the windshield. “It’s fine. I’ve been cramped up in my office all day. I don’t get to do this sort of stuff anymore with my new job.”

“New job?” I ask.

“I’ve been in charge for a few months, but I’ve worked on the vineyard since I was a teen.”

“Does your family work there, too?” I ask.

“Nah. My brothers do different things, and my cousins are pretty scattered.”