Guilt

Julianne inhaled the scent of gas and oil that always hung in the air of the body shop as she entered the garage. Dr. Monger had finally deemed her mind healthy enough to deal with the daily stresses of returning to work. Julianne had begun to stagnate just sitting around in her house all day and was therefore thrilled to be able to return to work. Julianne was pretty sure everyone at the shop knew what happened, but she still felt better knowing the long sleeves of her mechanic’s jumpsuit covered the puckered pink scar etched into her arm.

“There’s my favorite female mechanic!” Poe exclaimed, standing up from where he crouched next to a car to rotate its tires. He strode quickly over to Julianne, enveloping her in a gentle hug before pulling away and gripping her upper arms in his grease-smothered hands. “We’ve missed you, Julianne. I was so happy upon hearing that you could return. Sorry there’s no cake.”

“That’s fine, Poe,” Julianne answered with a little smile. “I’ll be happy with a greasy wrench and a car that doesn’t work.”

“Haven’t changed a bit then,” Poe said, beaming. He released her arms, leaving two greasy handprints, before turning towards a man Julianne didn’t recognize and hadn’t noticed until just now. “Hey, Pete! Come over here, kid!”

Pete grabbed a rag and wiped the oil from his fingers as he walked towards them. He gave Julianne an once-over as he neared them. She really hoped he was simply sizing her up with a competitive mindset and not perving. There would be problems with the latter.

“Pete, this is Julianne, one of our top mechanics,” Poe said, clapping a hand on Pete’s back. Pete made no move to shake Julianne’s hand, so Julianne didn’t bother to offer her hand for a handshake. He just looked shocked. “We were short on guys while you were gone, so I hired this hot shot to make up for the lost man—er, woman—power. He turned out to be a pretty good mechanic, so he’s now on for full time. Pete, you can learn a lot from this woman.”

“You never said I was hired in place of a woman,” Pete sputtered. “Surely she can’t be a good mechanic!”

“She is,” Poe said with a nod. “Never underestimate the redhead.” Poe winked at Julianne before walking back towards the car whose tires he had been rotating. Julianne left Pete to stand and stare to ask Poe what needed to be done, and then she leaped right into the work.

A couple of hours later, Julianne stood bent over the engine of a car. She’d been working steadily ever since she arrived. Julianne had soon got back into the swing of things. It felt good to get her hands dirty again. They’d been too clean lately. There was always something wrong when a mechanic didn’t smell like oil and gas and had clean hands.

A hand collided suddenly with Julianne’s ass. She jerked upright, the back of her head making hard contact with the underside of the car’s hood. She swore, ducking out from underneath the hood. She’d knocked it off of its metal rod, and the hood slammed shut with a resounding bang. As Julianne rubbed the back of her head, she turned to find Pete standing near her. In response to her scowl, he winked and wiggled his fingers at her before turning and walking away.

Julianne decided she didn’t like the new guy.