Loving the Country Boy. Mia Ross
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know what we’d do without you.”
Because no one had ever viewed her as more than just a pretty face, she’d never gotten that kind of praise in her life. Hearing it now felt incredible, and despite the very grown-up situation she now found herself in, she was smiling when she hung up. Her privileged upbringing had given her plenty of novel adventures through the years, but there was a lot to be said for being in a place where people valued you more for what you could do than how you looked.
When she was ready, she assessed her reflection and was stunned by the enthusiasm lighting the face that stared back at her. Without a drop of makeup, she looked better than she had in months, and she shook her head in amazement. After enjoying herself so much at Scott and Jenna’s wedding, she’d expected to appreciate the change of scenery here, but this was something else again.
Buoyed by the energy she felt, she all but skipped down the stairs into the kitchen. Gram was waiting there with a small paper bag and Tess’s stainless-steel travel mug, which was giving off the enticing aroma of something exotic. Taking them from her, Tess inhaled and grinned. “This is my favorite blend. Where on earth did you find it around here?”
“Diane brought it by on her way to the teen center earlier,” Gram explained. “She picked up a bag of it over in Cambridge for you.”
“I’ll have to thank Auntie later.” Taking a sip, she continued. “I’m assuming that was Paul on the phone a few minutes ago.”
Anxiety shadowed her grandmother’s eyes, and she nodded. “I’ve been praying ever since.”
“I’m sure they appreciate that.”
While Tess wasn’t big on religion herself, she knew it brought her grandmother a measure of comfort to feel as if she was doing something constructive rather than just worrying. Then again, if God listened to anyone, it wouldn’t surprise her to learn Olivia Barrett had a direct line to heaven.
“Have a good day, dear,” Gram said, giving her a quick hug. “If those cousins of yours give you too much trouble, you let me know and I’ll set them straight.”
Tess laughed, mostly because she knew the Barretts’ petite matriarch was only half kidding. “I think Jason and Scott know better than to mess with me, but it’s good to know you’ve got my back.”
Waving good-bye, she headed out to where the old mill truck sat in the driveway. Tess was certain Heath had fixed all its annoying idiosyncrasies, so she was totally unconcerned as she buckled herself into the driver’s seat and stowed her breakfast before blithely turning the key. Almost as if it was protesting the early hour, the engine began whining but refused to catch.
The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, and Tess wasn’t overjoyed about starting yet another day with car trouble. She couldn’t wait to get Gram’s stalwart Buick back, she groused silently. It might not be fancy, but it was a large, solid car, and while it wasn’t hers, it hadn’t given her a bit of trouble.
Unlike that fussy little sports car Avery drove, she thought with a frown.
Born into one of Napa Valley’s original vineyard families, at first he’d been enchanted by her undeniable independent streak. More than just a pretty face, she could still hear him saying during their engagement party, smiling proudly at the woman he’d chosen to spend the rest of his life with. If she’d known just how short-lived his devotion would be, she would have shoved him into the pool at his family’s estate instead of accepting the five-carat diamond ring he’d slipped on her finger.
Water under the bridge, she reminded herself, letting out a frustrated breath to cool her temper. Right now she had to get to work, so she notched the key back in the ignition the way Heath had showed her and tried again. Same result, with an annoying little ping thrown in to test her rapidly fleeting patience.
Someone tapped on the window, and she all but shot through the roof in alarm. When she saw it was Heath, she rested one hand over her racing heart and cranked the window down with the other. “You scared me half to death.”
“Sorry about that, but I was driving by when I heard the engine straining. What’s up?”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with this thing. It started just fine all day yesterday. Then this morning—” She blew a raspberry, which wasn’t very ladylike but expressed her feelings perfectly.
He laughed, and she trailed after him, watching him lever open the hood and peer inside. After about five seconds, he muttered, “Don’t look now, but your grandmother’s eyeballing us. Think she knows enough about cars to manage some basic sabotage? Maybe hoping I’d stop and help a damsel in distress?”
Tess groaned. “Definitely. That would explain the hushed conversation she had with Chelsea last night. We already knew she and the baby were okay, so I couldn’t figure out what else they’d be whispering about. When I asked Gram about it later, she pulled the innocent act on me. ‘I have no idea what you’re referring to, dear,’” Tess mimicked her huffy response. “She had me convinced I was overtired and my imagination was playing tricks on me. She even sent me up to my room to get a good night’s sleep, like I was seven years old or something.”
“That tracks with what Chelsea said to me yesterday at the mill,” Heath’s voice rumbled from under the rusty hood. “Apparently, she thinks we’d make a great pair.”
“Of what?”
“Good one,” he said, letting out another laugh.
“They’re loony, both of them. Only crazy people would even think of putting us together, much less conspiring to make it happen. We’re like night and day.”
“No argument here.” Extracting himself from the engine compartment, he took a brightly colored handkerchief from the back pocket of his jeans and wiped his hands before dropping the hood. “I think you’re set now. Why don’t you get in and give it a whirl?”
She did, and the truck started right up. Of course it did, she thought, glancing at the house. She couldn’t see anyone, but she was confident Gram was still watching them to gauge the results of her trickery. “It’s kind of sweet, really. Don’t you think?”
“Sweet and sneaky,” he said with a good-natured look. “Southern women can be that way, and I guess the Barretts are no exception. How ’bout you?”
“Not me. If I like you, I’ll tell you straight to your face.”
“And if you don’t?” he asked with a grin.
“I’ll tell you that, too.” Pausing, she let out a sigh. “It got me in no end of trouble with my ex’s family. All his sisters-in-law are the polite, proper type. When we got serious about each other, I tried everything I could think of to be more like them. I thought I did a pretty good job of fitting in, but it turned out I was wrong.”
“Why would you even bother?” he demanded with a disapproving scowl.
His question sliced through her with a precision that made her hackles rise in self-defense. She told herself it had nothing to do with the fact that she’d asked herself the exact same thing at least a hundred times. “I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”
“It’s not,” he admitted in a gentler tone. “But I hate to see anyone close off who they are just to try and fit in. God made us who we are for a reason, and it’s up to us to figure out a way to work with what He gave us.”
Tess was stunned by the little sermon. The easygoing mechanic didn’t strike her as the preachy type. To be honest, she couldn’t help feeling a little jealous of his certainty. Knowing there was a purpose to your life must be comforting when things got tough.
“You really believe that?” she asked. When he nodded, she frowned. “I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“Most folks don’t, until something goes wrong. Then they start looking around and realize if they’d just had a little more faith, things would’ve