Ruining Mr. Perfect (The McCauley Brothers) Read online

  “I’d say fifteen years younger, not ten,” Maureen, her hairdresser, said with a large smile. “That cut really frames your face and highlights your cheekbones. The last cut was nice, but not as interesting. And I love this color.” Maureen ran a brush over the sleek layered cut that showed off the new black and silver strands mixed with a hint of dark mahogany. “It’s beautiful.”

  A few other stylists came over to ooh and ah, and Beth felt like a million bucks. On her walk home, she gave in to impulse and stopped in a cosmetics salon. An hour later and several dollars poorer, she took her makeup and freshly done nails back home.

  Feeling amazing and wanting to share her recent success, she called Abby, who had mentioned the other night at dinner that she’d planned to take Friday off. Abby answered on the first ring.

  Beth walked a few blocks to the house she rented to Abby and the girls.

  When Abby opened the door, she stared with wide eyes. “Oh my gosh. You look amazing.” She laughed and hugged Beth with such enthusiasm that Beth laughed as well. “I’m so glad you called. I actually have to take my car in to get looked at and was going to see if Brody would follow me over. Would you mind, and then we could go to lunch after?”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  Abby grabbed her keys and purse and continued to pester Beth about details of her salon visit. They drove to Beth’s house to pick up her car, and Beth followed Abby to a small garage on the other side of town. She parked and followed Abby inside.

  To her bemusement, they had to walk through a rough-looking establishment. Inside the garage, Beth noted several men who looked more like prison escapees than mechanics, and one particularly large older man who straightened and stared at her with an odd look that made her hurry her step to join Abby.

  They entered the small office, where a young man, sporting tattoos and multiple piercings, greeted them as he typed at his computer.

  “Hey. You here for an appointment or just need us to check out your car?”

  Abby smiled. “I’m here to see Del and to drop off my car. Tell her it’s Abby.”

  He nodded. “Sure thing.” He dialed a number, asked for Del, then cringed at whatever she said back to him. He managed to get Abby’s name into the conversation then hung up quickly. “Ah, go on into her office. She’ll be right in.”

  Beth realized where they were and wanted to meet this Del person. Her grandson had taken a real liking to the woman who sounded like Beth’s worst personal nightmare.

  “So I get to meet the infamous Del, hmm?” she asked Abby as they sat in a surprisingly clean, organized office.

  They took the seats across from a large scarred desk covered in stacks of papers. A computer sat along the wall, and on the table behind the desk, bunches of tools, some covered in grease, some not, stacked like mini sacrifices to the gods of the garage.

  The door to the right opened, one that led presumably to the work area. Instead of a woman, the large man who’d given her the shivers entered.

  “Well, hello.” He barely glanced at Abby and smiled widely at Beth. Good-looking in a rough, scary kind of way. “What can I do for you ladies?”

  Beth blushed. She hadn’t been looked at like she was an attractive, available woman in ages. To her astonishment, it felt…good.

  “We’re here to see Del,” Abby said with a touch of amusement.

  Beth glanced at the girl and tried to maintain her dignity. “Yes.” She turned back to the giant. He wore stained coveralls, his silver hair in a military-short buzz cut. But my, what a body. Beth might be older. She sure the hell wasn’t dead. This man could give James a run for his money in the build department.

  “Ah, my lovely daughter.” The man wiped his hand with a rag and stepped closer to Beth. Then he held out a hand. “Name’s Liam Webster. Welcome to my garage.”

  She took his hand and gave it a firm shake just as another person entered the room—a woman with tattoos on her arms, wearing ash-blond hair held back in a ponytail, and sporting a ring on her eyebrow and a stud in her nose.

  “Man. What did I do to deserve you?” she said in a husky voice with a grin at Abby.

  “Hey, Del. We’ve just met your dad.” Abby looked pointedly at his hand that still held Beth’s.

  Beth tugged and he gave it back.

  He cleared his throat. “Sorry. But damn. You are just the prettiest thing.”

  “Dad.” Del glared. “Sorry. This is my dad, Liam. I’m Del.” She ignored Abby and cocked her head as she studied Beth. “You… You’re Beth McCauley, I bet.”

  “I am.” So this was the woman her grandson adored.

  “Yeah, your sons look just like you. We went bowling once.” Del shrugged. Then she smiled. “Your grandson sure is a charmer.”

  Beth smiled back, liking the woman a bit, if only for that comment. “He is. He’s a handful.”

  “No shit. I—er, mean, no kidding.” Del sighed and sat behind her desk. When her father continued to stand there staring at Beth—how embarrassing—she cleared her throat. “Dad?”

  “Huh? Oh.” He took a step back. “Just wanted to see who your visitors were. I’ll be in the garage. Nice meeting you Beth, Abby.”

  Abby nodded. “You too, Mr. Webster.”

  He frowned. “Nah. Just Liam.” He winked at Beth. “You can call me anything you want to.” He glanced at her bare ring finger, smiled wider, then left.

  “Sorry for my dad.” Del sounded as if strangling on her tongue. “He’s a handful too. Jesus.” She tugged her ponytail, and Beth noted the woman’s dirty fingers. “I was in the garage working when Dale called.”

  “Dale?” Abby asked.

  “The kid at the front desk. He’s a new intern. Got skills with paint.”

  Beth watched the woman interact with Abby, seeing her confidence, a kind of kiss-my-butt attitude.

  “So my car is out back. It’s making a chug chug noise,” Abby was saying.

  “What?”

  “Well, it’s more like a chug-clink-chug. And sometimes it coughs.”

  Del stood and held up a hand. “Stop with the sounds. Just tell me what the car is doing.”

  As Abby explained, Beth glanced around. The automotive garage was old. But it seemed to have no shortage of work. She’d seen a lot of cars parked in the lot. They weren’t junky cars at all. The doorway behind Del opened again, and through it Beth saw a few classic cars being worked on. Again, by a bunch of thugs who looked like they’d be at home behind bars. But then, she’d thought the same thing of James over thirty years ago.

  Yeah, and look at how that turned out. You can’t judge someone by appearances, Beth.

  “…outside. Come on,” Del said and walked with Abby into the garage.

  Beth followed, more than curious about the manly area where so many mysterious things happened with cars. She’d never been particularly handy with tools and had never wanted to be. Beth knew her strengths. Organization—why she’d been so good at her job—motherhood, cleanliness.

  She watched a few of the men leaning into the engines and listened as they swore at each other, rather creatively. In a way, they reminded her of her own sons when they didn’t think she listened.

  “So how do you know my girl?” Liam asked from behind her.

  He startled her into a shriek, and all action in the garage ceased.

  “Shit. Damn it. I’m sorry.” He yelled at the mechanics, “Get back to work!”

  Liam gently pulled her back into the office and shut the door behind him. “Sorry. Not safe out there. You’re too pretty to get all dirty.”

  Again he’d called her pretty.

  “Thank you.” She gave him a shy grin, one he returned.

  “Hope I wasn’t out of line. We don’t get many fine women in here. Mostly car guys, motorheads, the occasional collector. We do a lot of work on older cars. Bodywork,
paint, remodeling. But Del’s been working on bringing in new blood, people needing a good mechanic.” He shrugged. “I’m told to shut up and mind her. Funny how the young always seem to think they know best.”

  She laughed. “I have four sons. Trust me when I say I feel your pain.”

  They started up a conversation about their children, and before she knew it, Liam had charmed her into a date for coffee. Coffee. Innocent, in broad daylight around other people. To her surprise, he seemed as tentative about seeing her as she felt about him. That hesitancy made her like him all the better for it.

  As she drove Abby back to Queen Anne for lunch, she considered that she felt a bit guilty about seeing another man while still married to that lunkhead James. But coffee was only coffee.

  “So Liam seemed to like you,” Abby said.

  “Yes. He was very nice.”

  In her periphery, Beth saw Abby’s eyes narrow.

  “So. Liam. You.”

  Beth swallowed. “He asked me to coffee next week.”

  “And?”

  “I said yes.”

  Abby was silent a moment, then she started clapping. “Bravo. So you have a date with a hot guy. Nicely done.”

  “Oh, well. I don’t know that I’d call it a date.”

  “Really? Because Liam sure liked you. He had a lot of muscle and a twinkle in his eye when he was checking out your butt.”

  “Abby.” Beth blushed.

  Abby laughed. “Good for you. Call it a date or not. I’m just wondering what James will think when he finds out.”

  “I’m not planning to tell him.” Beth didn’t want to resort to those kinds of tactics with her husband. Hell. She hadn’t seen the man in a week. For all she knew, he’d been dating his little barista all this time. The knowledge shouldn’t have hurt. They’d agreed to go their separate ways, after all. But it did.

  “Well, I have no problem spreading rumors about your date with a sexy man.” Abby paused. “Beth, do you want to get back with James?”

  “He’s the father of my children.”

  “So? Do you love him?”

  Beth had thought about that question for a very long time. “I love the man he used to be. If I could have that James back, I’d never let him go.”

  Abby nodded. “Then let me know when and where your coffee is next week. Because if James is as over you as he acts like he is, then he won’t care what you do, will he?”

  “I guess not. No harm in telling him, I suppose.” Beth’s belly fluttered. Would he care? Would he put in an appearance? Who knew? The old James wouldn’t have stood by while another man flirted with his wife. Then again, the old James would never have tolerated months without sex. Or years without really talking, holding hands, or being together in the ways that mattered.

  Would he be there next week? Or would he be as absent as he’d been through the last years of their marriage?

  ***

  Cam waited until his last client of the day left and let out a happy sigh.

  Hope leaned into his office with a thumbs-up. “I heard her mention her plans to share your name with her friends. Nice work, Cam.”

  He grinned. “Yeah. Noelle has contacts in some pretty impressive places. See? I told you you wouldn’t starve working for me.”

  She entered and sat across from him. “That’s what Alex said.” His associate, who’d been diligently working in the back room before Cam had told him to go home. He’d more than earned his time off. “Well, this income is helping me pursue my dream job, for sure.”

  “I’m hurt. I’m not your dream job?”

  “You’re too easy.” She snorted. “But then, that’s what they all say about you.”

  “Ha ha. Remember, Hope. You’re the nice Donnigan. Don’t turn into your brothers.”

  “God help me.” She gagged, and he laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, Cam. I love this. But I really want to make a go of my other job.”

  “The one where you cater to personal fantasies? Sounds kinky.”

  “Shut up.” Her cheeks grew pink. “It’s not like that. More like we give our clients a fantasy—that’s not sexual, you perv—but like a dream date or dream vacation. It’s more a logistical job than anything. It’s so fun putting the pieces together.”

  “The idea sounds exciting. I wonder what Vanessa would consider her dream date?” he mused.

  “Anything with you, I’m sure.” Hope sighed. “Ah, to be young and in love.”

  “Shut up.”

  “She looks at you with stars in her eyes. Really.”

  Vanessa had stopped by his office a few times and talked to Hope while waiting on him. He liked that she’d taken the time to see where he worked.

  “Vanessa? Stars? Are you sure you aren’t seeing daggers or knives?”

  She laughed. “I like your girlfriend. She’s no-nonsense. She doesn’t let you get away with stuff. You need that.”

  Cam liked the idea he needed Vanessa as much as she needed him. With him, she let herself have fun and laugh. With her, he didn’t have to pretend to be more like his brothers or tone down his intelligence. She understood his caustic wit, even shared in it.

  “I see you mooning again. That’s my cue to leave.” She stood and left, just as Brody and Flynn entered.

  “Hey, Hope. Still not sure why you’re working for this loser,” Flynn remarked.

  “Yeah. We can pay you double what he is. Come to the dark side,” Brody added.

  Flynn punched him in the arm.

  “Ow. What the hell?”

  “We don’t know what he’s paying her. You don’t double a mystery number, dickhead.”

  Hope laughed and said something Cam couldn’t hear. Then the outer door closed, signaling her departure.

  “So are you two here to talk investment strategies?” Cam paged through his calendar, preferring to have one not linked to his computer or phone. “Because I could have sworn I had you penciled in for next week. I’d have seen you with Mike, but it’s all I can do not to throttle his giant neck after an hour of talking numbers.”

  Brody and Flynn looked at each other before sitting down. “You haven’t heard?” Brody asked.

  “About what?” He’d been focused on growing his clientele and spending as much time with Vanessa as was humanly possible. He’d spent an entire night with her at her place two days ago. A victory of epic proportions. And the woman no longer flinched when he called her his girlfriend. He was on top of the world.

  “About Mom and her date tomorrow afternoon.”

  Cam froze. “Date?”

  Flynn frowned. “Yeah. And not with Dad.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” He had the uneasy sensation he should have followed up with Vanessa about her discussion with his mother a week and a half ago.

  “Abby told me not to mention it,” Brody said slowly. “It’s been killing me. I told Flynn, but we decided to keep it quiet. But now, this date’s actually happening… I don’t like it.”

  “Me neither,” Flynn fumed. “Mike told Dad yesterday, and he said nothing.”

  “Wait. Slow down. What’s going on?”

  Before Flynn could answer and confuse him even more, Cam pointed at Brody. “You. Speak.”

  Brody glared even as he explained the situation.

  “Mom is dating a mechanic?” Cam’s voice rose. “What did Dad say?”

  “Nothing.” Flynn swore. “Fucking nothing. He just looked at Mike and shrugged, then went back to work. Mike’s beyond pissed, I have to tell you.” He paused, and he and Brody exchanged a look.

  “What?”

  “Well, apparently Mom got the idea in her head from something Vanessa said.” Flynn shook his head. “Vanessa told her to stop being a ‘whipped puppy’ and do something about her single status. To get a new hairdo and some new stuff to we
ar.” He scowled. “I had a talk with Maddie about that. My fiancée has apparently been taking Mom shopping for sexy clothes.”

  “Yeah, and how did that conversation go over?” Brody asked with a grin.

  “Maddie told me to go fuck myself,” Flynn muttered. “But I got my point across. My mother is not sexy. She’s…Mom.”

  “She’s also a woman,” Brody said flatly, surprising Cam that he’d stick up for her in a war between “Pop” and “Bitsy.” “She hasn’t been happy for a long time. If Pop thinks it’s okay to hang with some stupid coffee chick, then Bitsy should show him what he’s missing.”

  Flynn blinked and relaxed. “Oh. You mean, get Dad jealous.”

  Brody sighed. “Dude, seriously. You’re not that stupid. I’m the blond, not you.”

  “Shut up, asswipe.” Flynn laughed. “So she’s out to make the old man jealous. Good for you, Mom.”

  Cam contained his urge to drive straight home and shake some sense into Vanessa. Evidently, her lame explanation that she’d advised his mother to get a makeover wasn’t half of what her conversation had been.

  “Hey, guys. Think about it,” Cam suggested. “Maybe Mom isn’t out to make Dad jealous. Maybe she’s out to be with a guy who appreciates her for who she is, and not who she isn’t.”

  Flynn frowned. “What?”

  “You think she likes this guy?” Brody asked.

  “What did Mike say?” Cam wanted to know.

  “Not much. He’s annoyed with the world in general, lately,” Flynn answered.

  Brody cleared his throat. “Yeah, he is. The other day when Colin pulled one of his usual funny stunts, Mike went ballistic. The little bugger tried to talk Mike into taking him to Del’s to say hi and Mike snapped. He’s on serious edge.”

  “We all are.” Cam seethed with the need to talk to Vanessa. They were going to have their first big fight. He had no idea how she’d take it. But damn it. She’d been wrong for involving herself in something not her business without at least talking to him first. “Look. It’s late, I’m beat, and I need to talk to Vanessa.”