Take a Chance on Me(41)

Shit. What was happening here? He’d known her for less than two days, so why in the hell was he having this reaction?

It was too fast, too quick.

Whether it was today, tomorrow, or next week, Maddie was leaving. If her leaving was already an uppercut to the jaw, another week together would only make it a hell of a lot worse.

He cleared this throat. “Sorry about that. So, how much is this going to cost?”

“About three to four hundred.”

Mitch’s chest tightened, and he rubbed at it while he stared blankly at his kitchen table, worn and scratched by time and use. He’d spent hours playing gin rummy there and drinking his grandma’s homemade lemonade—simple, warm times, completely unlike the cold, sterile nights around the dinner table in the six-thousand-square-foot house he’d lived in with his parents.

When he’d hug his grandma, she wouldn’t let go until he did, and his grandpa would take him fishing until Mitch was tired, sunburned, and happy. Even his sister had been different here. As the long days passed, Cecilia’s hair would become a little messier and her dress a little more rumpled. Before long, she’d be swinging from the rope attached to the tree and screaming like a banshee as she splashed into the river.

Revival, this house, the river out back, they were good places to remember. To find some peace.

“Mitch?” Tommy’s voice pushed away the memories and brought him back to the matter at hand.

Maddie had the cash. She had more than enough.

“I’ll pay you two thousand dollars if you stall.” Mitch blinked, surprised to hear the words that had just come out of his mouth.

“What?” Tommy asked, his own surprise clear in his tone.

“I will pay you two grand to stall the repair,” he repeated, ignoring the little voice in his head telling him this was wrong. If there was another way, he’d take it, but every other option had variables. And he couldn’t risk variables.

“And how long am I supposed to do that?”

Mitch calculated how much time he could get away with while not raising Maddie’s suspicions. The small-town thing would only get him so far before it became unbelievable. “Can you make it the end of the week?”

If he pushed it until Friday, maybe he could convince her to stay through the weekend instead of making her way back home. That gave him about a week.

One week, then he’d let the chips fall where they may.

“So let me get this straight, you’re going to pay me two thousand dollars to let the car sit in my garage for a week?”


“Plus the cost of the repair,” Mitch added, knowing Maddie would insist on paying for the car herself. “I’ll bring her in this morning, and you tell her the repair will be three to four hundred but will take until Friday to fix. I’ll pay you two thousand dollars on the side.”

“You’ve got a real hard-on for this girl.” Tommy laughed, repeating Charlie’s sentiment from last night.

“Never mind that. And for f*ck’s sake, don’t tell your wife.” It was only right to point out that Tommy was the *-whipped one, not him.

“Now, that’s going to cost you a little more,” Tommy said in a thoughtful tone.

Mitch narrowed his eyes. “You’re telling me two grand isn’t enough?”

“It’s plenty for me, but Mary Beth’s silence will cost you something extra.”

Ah, hell. He was about to get hustled and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. “Don’t tell her and we won’t have a problem.”

Tommy made disapproving sounds, and Mitch could practically see the big, blond ex-captain of the football team rocking back and forth on his chair. “Now, you know I can’t. A good marriage is built on honesty.”

Mitch’s grip tightened on his mug, and he silently cursed. “You don’t give a shit that your wife carries your balls in her purse, do you?”

Tommy’s chuckle was pure evil. “It’s a small price to pay for matrimonial bliss.”

Mitch tried to think of a way out, but for the life of him he couldn’t see one. Between lack of sleep and deprived blood flow, his normally agile mind failed. “And this is nonnegotiable?”

“Well, I’m reasonable.” Tommy’s voice took on the tone of a resigned man. “But, you know Mary Beth, and she does like her gossip.”

Everyone in town would know about the plot by noon, and as much as Mitch wanted to delude himself, he didn’t think Maddie would stay locked in the house for a week.

“Fine.” Mitch ground out through clenched teeth. “I’ll look at your nephew’s case. But I’m not making any promises.”

Mary Beth’s teenage nephew, Luke, had gotten in with the wrong crowd and landed in some trouble with the law. Tommy and Mary Beth had asked Mitch to defend the boy, but Mitch had refused, despite their repeated requests. Mitch couldn’t bring himself to play at something he could no longer be a part of.

Tommy and Mary Beth knew the whole story. The whole town did, although no one spoke of it. Mitch couldn’t figure out why in the hell they wanted him, but they’d been damn insistent.

“I cannot wait to meet this girl,” Tommy said, and Mitch could practically hear the grin.

“Just play your part when I get there or the deal’s off.”