Not Quite Dating (Not Quite #1)(16)
Author: Catherine Bybee

“I don’t get it; darn car wasn’t acting up on the way over here.”

“Pop the hood.”

“You know about cars?” Jessie leaned in and pulled the lever.

Jack opened the hood, but the dimly lit parking lot made viewing the engine minimally possible at best. Jack fiddled with a couple of things anyway. “Try again.”

Jessie did, but nothing changed. She pushed out of the car a second time and stood with Jack over the worn-out engine. “I hate this car. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.”

“How many miles are on it?” Jack asked as he stood and lowered the hood.

“Two hundred and some change.”

“Thousand?”

“It’s an old car, Jack.”

He shook his head. “Here, give me the keys.”

“Why?”

“I’ll look at it in the morning, when I can see what’s going on.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can have it towed. Have a mechanic check it out.”

Jack kept his hand out, palm up. “Save your money, let me see if I can fix it.”

Jessie vacillated over what she should do. “You’ve already done enough.”

“Jessie, darlin’, give me the keys.”

She handed them over. “If it isn’t simple, or it costs you money, I wanna pay for it.”

Jack surveyed his greasy hands.

Jessie opened the back door and pulled out a package of wipes she kept there for her son. “Here,” she said, pulling a couple wipes free and handing them to him.

Cleaning his hands, Jack thanked her. “Let’s get you home.”

“I can call my sister.”

“And wake up your son? Come on.” He grabbed her elbow and led her toward the front of the hotel. “A friend of mine borrowed my truck, so we’re going to have to use a different car to take you home.”

“You have a second car?”

“Not exactly.”

Jessie walked faster to keep up with Jack’s steps.

He stopped in front of the valet porter and smiled. “Hello, Wes.”

Wes stood a little taller at the mention of his name. His eyes swept back and forth between her and Jack.

“Hello, Mr.—”

“Jack,” he interrupted. “Mister is so formal.”

“Jack,” Wes said, his eyes continuing to shift almost as if he was nervous or something.

“Wes, it appears that one of the hotels guests is having a bit of difficulty with her car.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, miss.”

Jessie smiled and Jack continued to talk.

“Is there a car available?”

Wes took short steps as he walked up to his podium to check a book sitting on top of it. “There is, but Mr.…Jack, it seems we are short a driver tonight. The other two are taking other people home at this time. No telling when they’ll come back.”

“That’s fine. I can drive the lady home. Can you have one of your runners bring the car around?”

Wes’s head bobbed up and down, his cheeks rippling slightly as he did. “Right away, sir.”

Jessie grabbed Jack’s arm and led him back a few feet. “What are you doing?”

“Getting you home.”

“In a hotel car?”

“Relax, Jessie, we do this all the time.”

First the dress, then the party, now this? Jack was sure to get canned, and it would all be her fault.

A few seconds later, a limousine pulled up into the circular drive and a porter popped out of the driver’s seat. Wes opened the back door and extended his arm to Jessie.

Her feet wouldn’t budge. This couldn’t be the car Jack spoke of.

Jack pushed her forward. “Get in,” he whispered under his breath. “Act like you do this all the time.”

Jessie plastered a forced smile on her lips and quickly slid into the backseat of the stretch limo.

Bedded lighting roped around the doors and seats. Eight or nine people could easily fit into the space. A minibar sat below a flat-screen television; a moonroof displayed the stars twinkling above.

When the front door closed and Jack pushed a button, lowering the glass separating her space from his, Jessie hopped into the seat closer to him. “You know, Jack, you’re crazy.”

“Nice, isn’t it?”

“Nice? It’s amazing.”

Jack pulled out of the drive and into what traffic milled about this late on a Saturday night.

“You were a guest at the hotel, and The Morrison takes care of their guests.”

“I was an impostor, and you know it,” she scolded as she ran her hand along the soft leather interior with a sigh.

“Darlin’, there is nothing about you that’s fake. Nothing!”

Chapter Five

Jack watched her from the rearview mirror. Jessie was grinning from ear to ear, pressing buttons and checking out the luxuries a limo provided. Adorable, there was no other way to describe it.

“Have you ever ridden in a limo before?” he asked, turning toward the airport.

“No, can’t say as I have. I can’t believe people live this way all the time.”

“Some do.”

“Can you imagine being able to do this anytime you wanted a ride?”

Jack swallowed and kept his eyes on the road. “I’ve met my share of silver-spooned kids…adults who have had access to limos all their lives. You’d be surprised how many of them are a lot like you and me.” He glanced in the rearview mirror to gauge Jessie’s reaction.

She shrugged her shoulders and petted the leather as if it were fur.

What would she think if she knew he had been riding in limos since before he was born? His dad couldn’t be there for him all the time, and he’d needed to get back and forth to school. A driver had been assigned to him and Katie at an early age. When junior high started, Jack asked his dad if the driver could drive a “normal” car so the kids wouldn’t get on him at school. Gaylord told him to cowboy up and set the kids right himself. He was a Morrison, and Morrisons had money. They spent it, too.

Jack took it upon himself to offer other kids rides all the time, ending the teasing and starting the party. In high school, Jack learned who his true friends were and who the moochers were. Mike, Tom, and Dean stuck; the others fell through the cracks.

“I guess anyone could get used to this. Lord knows I could.”

Jack smiled and wished he could record her words to use later, when he could tell her the truth about himself. “Is there wine back there?”