“Mel?”
She nodded, making her curly ponytail bounce. “My assistant, remember? She’s my step-sister, she lives here too.”
“Wow, so you and your husband had a roommate?”
Why did I ask about him?
Her smile faltered a little as she answered. “No. This was my house before I got married, he and I had an apartment in the city. After I filed for divorce, I came back.”
Tori didn’t look particularly pleased with that line of conversation, so as I turned to peer down at her engine, I changed the subject to one I thought would go over a little better.
“So… how did you get into matchmaking?”
I didn’t miss her little sigh of relief before responding. “Oh, I’ve always been the ‘hookup’ girl. Back in high school, all the way through college, I saw things in people that made them work.”
“I get that, but turning it into a business?”
“Well, I double majored in computer science and business but I ended up at a little start-up company, which I hated. Then, there was this black entrepreneur’s conference here in Dallas that I attended… changed everything.”
“The Black Enterprise Magazine thing? You went with Des?”
“Yep! But, anyway, I went in to listen to one of the speakers, and she talked about finding what you were good at, and channeling that passion into a career. That resonated with me… and here we are.”
I turned back to her. “That’s pretty damned cool. So you’ve been doing this how long?”
“Six years. Fifty-seven couples have made it past the six month mark , thirty-three weddings, and as far as I know, twenty-six children. But, full disclosure, that’s not counting some break-ups and two divorces that I know of, so… it hasn’t been all peachy.”
“But your record is still good. Things … happen between people, things that have nothing to do with them being good for each other or not.”
She smiled. “I know. I try not to take it too hard when one of my couples doesn’t end up working out, but I usually end up loving my clients like family. It’s hard not to grieve with them. I get really invested.”
“I can understand that,” I said, nodding. “But what about you… you ever used that computer of yours to match yourself?”
Almost immediately, the smile slid from her face, turning to a closed expression. “No,” she said, in an adamant tone that said it wasn’t a topic that was up for discussion.
I lifted an eyebrow, but she didn’t look inclined to elaborate, so I decided to leave her alone, and got back to fixing her car.
— Tori —
Avery knew I was lying. I could tell, from the raised eyebrow he gave me before turning back to the car. He shook his head at something he saw, then took something from the bag of things he’d brought along from Ignition. He fiddled with the car for a few minutes before climbing back into my driver’s side and starting it. It roared to life without a hitch, sounding as good as the first day I bought it.
I stood, walking over the car where Avery sat with an annoyed expression on his face. “What did the mechanic tell you was wrong when you took your car in before?” he asked as I approached.
“Something about the spark plugs… he said they were gonna replace them.”
Rolling his eyes, Avery shook his head. “Don’t ever take your car back to whoever the hell you took it to. Next time something happens, call me, or you take it to Nick, okay?”
“Why, what’s going on?” I asked, confused.
“Well, the first problem is they didn’t give you new spark plugs. It looks like they cleaned the old ones and put them back on. The second problem is they weren’t put in correctly. The third problem is that your spark plug wires weren’t connected well. Replacing spark plugs is basic shit, and they couldn’t get that right, but I bet you they were going to charge you another fee to get it towed to them, and then charged you again to do the job they were supposed to do the first time. It’s bullshit,” he huffed. He was pissed.