She nods. “Yep. Luca and Avery. They don’t really go together if you ask me—Luca doesn’t say much and Avery is always talking. But hey.” She shrugs in a whatcha-gonna-do way. “Dad’s office is this way.”
She leads me farther into the back of the shop and stops in front of a wooden door. She knocks two times and a gruff, “What?” greets us.
“It’s me, Dad. I came to see you. We came to see you,” she amends, looking up at me.
The door opens and her dad looks at her with a huge smile. “Well, isn’t this a nice surprise. Come in.” Then he looks at me and spits out, “Oh, and you.”
I expect him to slam the door in my face but he surprisingly lets me in without a problem. The office is small and cluttered with papers, tools, and car parts. Her dad’s arms are covered in tattoos and grease. The plaid shirt he wears hangs open over a t-shirt and he sits down in his office chair. I suppress a laugh when he picks up a cup full of fries and slathers them in ketchup. A burger also sits on the table. Grace was right, we didn’t need to bring him something to eat.
“So what are y’all doing at the shop?” he asks, shoving some fries in his mouth.
“I wanted Bennett to see the shop.” Grace shrugs and picks up a long, slender, metal tool and spins it between her fingers. “We just came from ice-skating.”
Trace snorts and looks to me with a genuine smile. “I bet she fell on her butt as soon as she stepped on the ice.”
“Dad,” Grace whines.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Trace chortles.
“Yes.” I chuckle. “But I picked her right up.”
“Good man.” He tips his head at me.
Even though the conversation is good, I don’t even let myself think for a second that he might actually like me. I think he’s just moving into the zone where he knows he has to tolerate me and it’s better to be semi-pleasant. But I still wouldn’t be surprised if he slammed the door behind me on the way out.
“Do you mind if I show Bennett around?” she asks.
“Not at all.” He eats some more fries. “There’s not much to see, though.” He shrugs.
Grace laughs. “That’s probably true. But this was practically my second home growing up so I wanted Bennett to see it.”
Trace waves his fingers to the door. “Just say goodbye before you leave.”
“Will do.” She bends and kisses his cheek before grabbing my hand and pulling me out the doo
r. I don’t miss the flash of sadness in Trace’s eyes when he sees my hand joined with Grace’s. I’m sure it’s hard seeing your kid growing up.
Grace leads me through the shop. It’s a nice size, but not large, but I’m sure in a small town it’s not necessary to have a big car shop. The tour consists of seeing the cars the guys are working on and tools, lots of tools.
At the end of her tour, Grace hops up on a work table. I place my hands on either side of her hips and lean in.
“What do you think?” she asks.
“I think it’s pretty adorable how excited you get showing me pieces of your life.”
She smiles and kisses me quickly, afraid someone’s going to see us. “You know, I’m glad you came here with me.” She wraps her arms around my neck.
I chuckle. “Me too, Princess.”
At first, the thought of spending the holidays with Grace’s family sounded like torture—I mean, we weren’t even really dating at the time—but they’re not so bad, and to have things work out with Grace the way they have … Well, that’s pretty damn awesome.
I’ve never been one to believe in fate—in fact, I think it’s pretty fucking stupid—but maybe everything really does happen for a reason.
“We better go,” Grace says, pushing me away so she can climb off the table. “I promised my mom I’d go Christmas shopping with her.”
I snort. “You mean you haven’t done that already? I would’ve expected you to have your shopping done three months ago, Little Miss Perfect.”
Grace sticks her tongue out at me. “I have a few more things I need to get, and knowing my mom, she needs to get everything. She’s a notorious last-minute shopper. Thankfully, my dad is not when it comes to Christmas. He used to go all out when we were kids. He’d leave glitter on the floor and say that it was magic dust left behind by Santa.” She smiles wistfully at the memories. “You can wait in the car. I’m going to say bye to my dad.”