Thankfully, Linc looked nothing like his blond-haired, blue-eyed sperm donor. He had the same dark hair and brown eyes my sisters and I had, and he was basically a mini-me of my dad. Over the years, Dad had gotten used to playing the dual roles of father and grandfather to Linc. He'd had a lot of practice considering he'd been mother and father to me and my sisters.
"Which one should I work on now?" I asked.
"Uranus."
"What color do I paint Uranus?"
Kennedy closed her eyes. "I'm seeing your anus as a giant, black hole."
While Linc doubled over with laughter as only a nine-year-old boy can, I shot my sister a look. "Wow, you're so mature."
"I'm just trying to lighten the mood."
"Try a different way."
"Fine," she grumbled.
When my phone rang, I put down the Styrofoam ball and my paintbrush to glance at the ID. "Crap, it's the shop," I muttered. I quickly used the wipes to remove the leftover paint on my hands. Rising out of my chair, I grabbed the phone and started into the kitchen. "Hello?"
"Hey Rae, it's Candy."
"Hey girl. What's up?"
"We have a VIP that needs a tow ASAP."
I snorted. "Did Ronnie Tillman get his boat stuck again?" Our mayor was known for throwing back a few too many beers at the lake on the weekend and somehow always managing to get his pontoon stuck in the shoreline.
"No, no. It's not anyone from here. It's Gabe Renard."
"Who?"
"Oh my God, how can you not know Gabe Renard? He's the drummer of Jacob's Ladder."
"Are they kinda country rock?"
"Yes!"
"Yeah, I think I've heard a song or two of theirs."
"We need to get you out of the house more and to one of their concerts. They're amazing. Gabe is hell of a drummer."
I laughed. "I'll make a note to go see them, but what's the deal with Gabe?"
"He's stuck off Vanderbilt road. Billy has two tows ahead of Gabe, one way out in LaFayette, and I can't get Wayne to answer his phone. He's probably hungover from painting the town last night."
"I see. Since all the usual weekend workers were occupied, you were kind enough to offer him my services on my day off?"
"I couldn't let someone like him wait. Honey, I never let a man as fine as he is wait."
I laughed. "Spare me."
"Come on, Rae-Rae, it won't take you that long to tow him. Then you can have the bragging rights that you not only met Gabe Renard, but you saved him." Candy gasped. "He might even ask you for a date!"
"A famous rocker ask me out? Ha! I think you've been huffing too many fumes from your essential oil diffuser."
"You never know. Stranger things have happened. You're a hot ticket, too."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." After putting Candy on speakerphone, I did a quick Google search of Gabe Renard. Hmm, not bad … okay, fine-he's incredibly good-looking. I especially liked the pictures of him shirtless at his drum set, dripping with sweat. Yeah, sweaty men got me hot. Sue me.
"If I go tow him, I'm charging him double the weekend fee, so make sure you note that on the paperwork."
Candy screeched. "You go get him, girl!"
I laughed. "Whatever. Send over the billing when you send the location and I'll have him do an electronic sign."
"I will." Before I could hang up, Candy said, "I want to hear every single detail about him just as soon as you leave."
"I'm not exactly sure how tantalizing a tow is, but I'll be sure to fill you in."
"And he's supposed to sign something for me as well."
"I'll try to remind him."
"You better. Don't make me drive out there and get him to sign my boobs."
Oh good lord. I was both horrified by her suggestion and by the mental image it conjured. "Um, goodbye, Candy."
"Bye, Rae."
I couldn't help eyeing the phone before I hung it up. I had known Candy pretty much my entire life, and I had never heard her quite so giggly. She would have rivaled one of the high school girls at a Bieber concert-not that I actually listened to Bieber.
Don't get me wrong, I got her enthusiasm to a certain point. We rarely saw anyone remotely famous around here, so it was understandable that Candy would be star-struck. I just couldn't help having a preconceived notion that this Gabe guy was going to act like an uptight jerk because of being famous.
Walking back into the dining room, I said, "Kennedy, are you going to be around for a little while?"
"Just until six. Then I need to go get tomorrow's breads started."
"Can you keep an eye on Linc for me while I go do an emergency tow?"
"You're doing a tow on a Sunday? Who is it, the governor?" Kennedy asked incredulously.
I laughed as I got my keys. "Not quite." Pointing at Linc, I said, "Listen to Aunt Kennedy. When you finish your box, you can watch TV. Not until then, understand?"
Linc didn't look up from painting Saturn's rings. "Yes, Mom."
Turning my pointer finger to my sister, I said, "And don't you be going behind my back and letting him watch television instead of doing his work."
Kennedy rolled her eyes. "You're such a killjoy."
"It's called being a parent," I called over my shoulder as I started for the door.
At Linc's laughter, I knew Kennedy must be making some sort of face or gesture at me. I decided to be the bigger person and ignore it. She might've been a year older than me, but it always seemed like I was the older sister. Since we were only fourteen months apart, it sometimes felt like we were twins. Where I was the somewhat mature and responsible one, Kennedy was the wild child. Regardless of how crazy she could be or how much she got on my nerves, I loved having her for a sister. I even loved sharing a house with her. Both Kennedy and Ellie had been my lifelines while raising Linc.
After pounding down the back steps, I slid into my Honda Passport. I drove past the residential area of Main Street and down into the business section. I'd lived in Haysville all my life. I'd had big plans of escaping for college at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on a soccer scholarship, but those plans had changed when I got pregnant with Linc. Instead of going out of state, I'd gone to the community college in the next town. When I graduated with honors in business management, it was a nice way to thumb my nose at all the naysayers who said I would never graduate high school, let alone college.
It was then I went to work for my dad. Although I could have earned more money other places, it was the best fit for me and for Linc since I could bring him to work with me. At first, I only handled the billing and payroll. Slowly, over the years, Dad immersed me more in the physical side of the business. While I wasn't out welding on new bumpers, I did know how to price parts and services as well as handling some minor repairs. After two years of me working for him, he had all the signs redone and the wreckers and trucks repainted to pronounce that it was no longer Hart Wreckers, but Hart and Daughter.
It wasn't exactly an easy transition for the people in town, and to be honest, it wasn't for me either. Sure, we were just a small-time operation, but having that sort of affirmation from my dad? The gesture touched my heart more than anything else ever would. Even after some of my missteps, Dad believed in me, and it was the best feeling in the world to have his support-well, next to the feeling of being Linc's mom.
After making the second turn off Main Street, I coasted down the road that dead-ended at Hart and Daughter Collision. Once I punched in the numerical code on the keypad, the barbwire fence slid open and I drove inside the lot. Usually at this time of day, the place was teeming with both workers and customers. Not only did we have an immense collision center, the property also included ten acres of land, and some of those acres were used as a junkyard. Thankfully, they were the ones on the back side of the property, so it wasn't such an eyesore.
Once I parked my car, I hopped out and started over to one of the empty wreckers. At the sound of a friendly woof, I turned around to see Demo-short for Demolition-running toward me. Demo had shown up in the demolition yard about two years ago, and we had decided to let him stay. In true junkyard dog form, he was a wiry pit bull with a nick in his left ear and part of his tail lopped off. "Hey boy, I'm just picking up one of the wreckers."
After scratching his ears, I patted his head and then hopped on up in the wrecker. Once I put the location Candy had given me into my navigation app, I started off to rescue the lost star.
Just as I was about to call Candy to check if I had the right location, I finally located Gabe's Jeep. "How in the hell did you manage to get yourself way out here," I muttered under my breath. Considering that the Jeep's tires were completely immersed in the water, there was no way in hell he would have ever been able to get it out on his own.