Chapter 19

"Hey, Jimbo, come check this out!" one of the guys in the shop yelled.

Andy didn't bother to look up from his desk. He was balancing the books for the end of the month. Business was good; a little slower than he'd like, but even in a tough economy, car repairs aren't things people usually put off. He was also thankful that his job wasn't one that could be outsourced to Bangalore or shipped overseas to Shenzhen.

He did notice that more and more people were paying with credit cards instead of cash, and he was doing fewer minor repairs. It seemed that folks were waiting until major things broke instead of bringing their cars in for regular maintenance. It wasn't smart for the car owner, but it was good for his business.

"What is it?" the other boy sounded annoyed. He'd been working on an alternator all morning and was having a heck of a time getting it back in.

"Come look at this Skylark!" the first mechanic said. "And check out the babe that's driving it!"

Not bothering to look up, Andy chuckled. Twenty years ago, he would have been the one with one eye on the job at hand and the other eye on the lookout for girls.

"Hurry up! She's coming this way ... Wait ... she's pullin' in ... Holy crap! It's Bailey!"

His eyes wide, Andy walked out of his office into the shop. Sure enough, his daughter was behind the wheel of Gabriel's gorgeous Skylark convertible. She was just turning the corner but he could hear the distinctive rumble of a big American V-8.

"When did she get hawt?" one of them asked to no one in particular.

"She's always been hot," Andy said, a little more defensively than he'd have liked. "You boys just never noticed."

"What were we thinking?"

"You were too busy chasing her sister," he snorted. "You all had your chances and now she's found herself a TV star."

Andy couldn't help but smile as his daughter pulled to a stop in front of one of the garage's empty bays. Her hair was pulled back to keep it from blowing in the wind. In the warm spring air, it was no surprise she would be driving topless ... er, with the top down.

She got out to the admiring gazes of the guys who worked in his shop. Last summer, their eyes would have been squarely fixed on the car. Now, they were ogling the girl, too.

Even Andy noticed—disapprovingly—that the young men who worked for him were eyeing his daughter. These were some of the same boys who never would have given her the time of day before. He knew what changed: Bailey was more confident. She stopped wearing baggy clothes that covered up her curves. She put on a little bit of make-up and dressed better. She felt pretty because Gabriel had convinced her that she was. There was a new spring in her step, a broad smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

"Hi, Daddy," she smiled, seemingly oblivious to the stares of the other mechanics at the garage. The younger guys who worked for him were a year or two ahead of the twins in school. Over the years, he'd had over two dozen young men come through his shop and these boys were no different. They had come up through the vo-tech school and would either move on and open up their own shops soon, or they'd move away once they realised that doing business in Washington County was going to be a lot tougher than they thought.

"Hi, Pumpkin," he said as she gave him a big hug. Since school started, he found that he really missed his daughter. Even if she hadn't been living away, he would still be seeing less of her. In their second semester of college, both girls were taking a full load of classes and working two jobs to try and save some money for the next year's tuition.

"Do you like my new car?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

"Your new car?" his eyebrow shot up.

"Gabe sold it to me," she said.

"How much?"

"A dollar," she replied.

Andy frowned. First of all, Gabe's Skylark was worth closer to twenty thousand dollars. Second, he didn't like the idea of being given things for free; Andy Crawford was a proud man, and disdained even the notion that his family might be accepting a handout. And third, he was jealous that Gabe had three cars that he could simply give away if he wanted. "Just a dollar?"

"Well ... I had to tell him I loved him, too," Bailey blushed.

He did his best to not roll his eyes or make a face. He didn't like the idea of his little girl telling anyone other than he or his wife that she loved them. But he knew there was no avoiding this. Gabriel MacKenzie was Bailey's first love. And Andy was just going to have to live with it.

"Do you?" Andy asked despite himself. "Do you love him?"

"Yes, Daddy," she replied with that dreamy smile. "You know I do."

With a sigh, Andy led her in to the office while the guys gathered around the car. He noticed that their eyes lingered on Bailey's backside as she walked past.

"I need your help, Daddy," she batted her eyes at him.

Andy knew he was in trouble whenever she did that. "What do you need, Pumpkin?"

"Well, I need insurance," she said. "And I need you to look at the car to see if anything is wrong with it."

That second part was a lie. If his other things were any indication, Gabriel had certainly taken care of the car. And Bailey knew enough about cars to tell if it was in good shape or not by herself. Still, he appreciated that she would come to him.

"I've never had to buy insurance, so I was wondering if you'd go with me to get a policy on the car," Bailey continued. "Then I thought we'd put the car up on the rack and take a look at her."

Andy looked over at the clock on the wall. It was early afternoon and business wasn't going to pick up. Besides, the guys in the shop didn't need him to finish the jobs they were assigned.

"Shouldn't you be in class right now?" he asked with a frown.

"School got cancelled today," his daughter said. "A water main broke down on Fourth Ave last night so BCC closed down. We might be out tomorrow, too."

"Okay, let me get my jacket." On his way out the door, he stopped by to say something to Mike, one of the older guys who worked for him. Many years ago, he had also been a graduate of the Washington County vo-tech school, but he didn't have the ambition or the business acumen to run his own shop. He was a hard worker who could figure out just about anything, so Andy kept him around to help mentor the younger guys and run the shop when he was away. Over the years Mike had become a good friend and trusted confidante.