I could feel my face glowing with embarrassment. “Jack, I don’t know what to say. This is a total answer to—” I stopped myself before saying it was an answer to prayer; I didn’t want to freak him out again. “Thank you. This is so beyond the call of duty; I can’t thank you enough.”

“It’s manual; do you know how to drive a stick?”

I laughed. “Are you kidding? It’s my favorite way to drive! Although I won’t be able to for a couple more weeks. But soon … ” The conversation died, and I couldn’t think of a way to resurrect it. I was just too flabbergasted. I threw up my hands. “You’ve floored me. I don’t know what to say. Are you sure you don’t want to come in?”

He smiled. “Thanks, but a friend of mine is waiting down there to drive me home.” He pointed to a black BMW purring in a spot a few yards away from the new car. My new car. “Glad you were home, though; I wasn’t quite sure what I’d do if you weren’t.”

“This is just unreal. I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

“Well, I hope you like it. Its a good drive; the previous owner took excellent care of it. But if there are any problems with it, give me a call, and I’ll get it straightened out, okay?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, then extracted a business card.

I laughed. “You have a business card?”

He grinned. “Well, yeah, why not?”

“Because everyone knows who you are.”

He grinned. “Ah, but not everyone knows how to get ahold of me.” He reached out to shake my hand. “But now you do. Nice seeing you again, Miss Winslowe.”

“Oh please; its Grace. Thank you so much. I know there’s probably no chance of it, but if there’s ever anything I can do for you … I certainly owe you one.”

He smiled and nodded. “I’ll remember that. Take care.” With a final smile over his shoulder he bounded down the stairs. He trotted through the rain to the BMW and slid in; it eased out of the space and roared like the Batmobile through the lot to the street.

I closed the door and fell against it, staring in awe at the keys in my hand. Jack Harrington, the Jack Harrington whose own car I had totaled, had just become the answer to my prayers and bought me a car.

God has a strange sense of humor.

JACK

“So WHAT DID she say?”

“Thank you.

“Well, I’d certainly hope so. Anything else?”

I laughed. “What else should she have said?”

“Oh, I don’t know … ‘Come on in and let me repay you’?”

I socked Todd on the arm. “You are so sick. She’s a nice girl, don’t talk about her that way.”