Can you guess the secret song that inspired this sweet romance short story? That’s the challenge in my Name That Song Reader Circle contest, beginning today!
Everyone can enjoy the story excerpt below. The complete story and contest entry are exclusively for members of my free Reader Circle. Join to read the full romance, then email me your song-title guess! Only one guess per week.
Reader Circle members will also receive a free printable copy of the Color Me A Love Song version of the contest story when it’s released after the contest ends.
The winner gets to name the hero and heroine in the next contest story.
~Happy reading and guessing
The car shook as Josie Banner slowly entered the parking lot. She’d been to this garage many times, but things had changed after her last appointment. First of all, Frank, the owner of the garage, had cut back his hours. And second, the new mechanic filling in for him was young, knew his way around a grease pit, and was extremely handsome.
Just the thought of seeing the new mechanic again took her breath away and made her hands shake.
New-to-town Zachary River had the kind of face that made a woman lose her train of thought. Thick, dark hair swept back from his forehead, strong brows framed deep-set eyes, and high cheekbones sharpened the angles of his face. Even his nose and jaw looked as if they’d been carved deliberately. He was lean and muscular, with broad shoulders that filled out his coveralls to perfection, tanned skin, and grease-stained hands.
But then he would smile, and all those severe angles softened into something so captivating it could sweet-talk wallpaper off the walls. When she’d first met him, she’d barely said five words to Zachary. He made her so shy.
She turned the engine off and then headed into the waiting area of the garage.
There was no one behind the desk, so she sat gingerly on one of the white plastic chairs that had grease marks streaked across it. While she was there, she noticed a woman driving up in a fancy car and parking next to Josie’s. The contrast was mortifying. Where Josie’s was a tin can on wheels, the woman’s was sleek, polished, and new; the kind that came from blue-blooded Europe.
An older mechanic entered from the back room, and she smiled at him.
“Hi, Frank,” she said.
“How you doin’, Josie?” the white-haired, gravelly voiced owner of the garage asked her.
She had known Frank for at least five years, since bringing her fourth-hand auto to him for servicing. He’d always personally done the work on her car, but lately he’d been complaining of arthritis and how getting into the grease pit was becoming more difficult all the time.
“How's the wife?” she asked him.
“Junie is doing great,” he said. “As are the grandbabies. You’ll have to drop by for pie again soon so she can show you the pictures.”
“You betcha. They must be at least six or seven years old now,” she said.
He chuckled. “They start school this year.”
“Already?” she teased. “My goodness, the time went fast.” She shook her head.
“You got that right. Do you want a cup of coffee?” he offered, standing by the pot of coffee that was still steaming.
“No, I'm good,” she said.
He nodded, filled a mug for himself, said he’d see her later, and then headed back out the door he came in through.
She sighed and sat deeper in her chair then glanced around the interior of the room.
Above the stand where the register was kept and the appointment book, which was heavily stained with grease, there was a sign on the wall near the door where Frank had just left.
On it, it said, FLASHY MODELS USUALLY COME WITH WARNING LIGHTS.
She grinned.
The sign had been there for as long as she could remember, and she always liked the message behind it. It was rare to ever see a fancy vehicle show up at the garage until the new mechanic had arrived. Then the two wealthiest women in town suddenly seemed to have some kind of car problems constantly.
She got that information at the office where she worked; water cooler gossip. Everyone whispered about Wilhelmina and Nancy’s antics with any young, attractive males who were new in town. At the moment, they were competing with each other for Zachary River. Because of their rivalry, Josie was tempted to find another garage, but it seemed disloyal to go somewhere else.
Since meeting Zachary, thoughts of him consumed her. A natural cook, all interest in food had disappeared and according to the scale, she’d dropped ten pounds. Early one morning after a sleepless night, she'd seen him outside her apartment building jogging and wished she had the strength and courage to join him.
Josie watched as Wilhelmina exited the car. She was dressed to the nines, her bottle-blonde hair exquisitely coiffed. Even though the woman had to be in her late thirties, she wore a short skirt that barely covered her thighs, her face paint was flawless, and her red high heels brought her petite frame up at least 6 inches.
The woman meandered over to Zachary as he stood outside drinking coffee. There was a definite flirtatious flutter to her unnaturally thick eyelashes. Josie smiled into her hand when there was no charming smile on Zachary's face as she approached him. In fact, he looked almost leery.
Wilhelmina pointed to something on the side of her car and he glanced over at it, said something Josie couldn't hear, and Wilhelmina started puckering her painted lips in what Josie assumed was meant to be a seductive pout.
Not wanting to watch Wilhelmina’s antics, Josie reached for the magazine on the seat next to her, a mechanics periodical, but she leafed through it anyway to pass the time.
Frank came out of his office again. “You still waiting?” he asked.
“It’s no big deal, really,” Josie reassured him.
He went to the appointment book and checked it. “Shouldn’t be long now,” he said.
Josie nodded. “Thanks, Frank.”
“You've met Zachary, haven't you?” he asked.
“I have.” Her heart fluttered at the mention of his name.
“He's a good kid. You know I'm thinking of retiring,” Frank said. “And Zachary seems to have his head on right. I’m considering letting him buy the place. What do you think?”
Josie raised her shoulders. “I think that if you retired, it would be a real loss to our community.”
“You're a real peach,” Frank said, giving her a glowing grin. “You know, he's single, right?” He thumbed towards Zachary, who was heading to the garage.
Josie felt her face heat up. “I—”
She was cut off when Zachary entered the waiting area.
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