Minnelli Love Stories

More Than

"Jai! Hand me a wranch (wrench)!" her grandfather yelled at her. The eight-year-old girl happily grabs the wrench for her grandfather and studied his every move. Instead of playing by herself with dolls, the rough and tumble child stayed under his shed with him for hours on end.

"You need to be playing with ya girly thangs, Jai."

"But I don't want to. This is fun to me." She protests.

"No little boy is gonna be interested in a little girl that can work around cars better than him." Even though Jai shared his love of cars with him, her grandfather was afraid of what would come later in her life. The bullying, lack of romantic suitors, etc.

Eight-year-old Jai Lawson looked at him and said, "The right boy will like me for me."

Over the course of the years, Jai lost her grandfather but his zeal for cars lived on in her. After high school she would go on to trade school and then on a whim, sign up for NASCAR Mechanic Training Camp. Being the first and only female there. Two others would come after her, continuing her legacy.

Meanwhile, thirteen-year-old Greyson Minnelli stretched his limbs as far as he could. He finished his first life-sized model car. It was always his dream to build a car from the ground up, and now he's completed it. Took him two years, starting at age eleven to do so.

When he was younger, his father Mekhi, encouraged him to build them as toy cars to see if he liked it. And the youngster excelled. Greyson wasn't particularly interested in athletics like some of his cousins and that was okay. His talent was clearly in something else.

Greyson moved on to real cars and his obsession with them grew exponentially. His mother, Emerie, worried that he may get burned out early. But now, at the ripe age of thirty, it was clear he wasn't slowing down now.

Greyson always wondered if there would be women interested in his hobby, like sports for Royce and business for Stone. Or horses for Everest. He knew he was the oddball of the Four Minnelli Brothers. Maybe his woman would be too...

A week later

Jai finished Old Man Jenkins truck in the two hours she'd promised and before long, several other men had asked her too. But in true small town, word of mouth traveled fast. Because they were so isolated from the rest of Denver, very few people found the value of going down one hour to the city for a lot of their resources. So, she had changed brake pads and all in the short amount of time.

Exhausted but fulfilled, Jai sat at her mother's table, scrolling her phone. An advertisement for a car podcast guest stood out to her while she scrolled on her social media. She sends in her resume before she lost the nerve. Maybe this will help me make some progress in leaving Ice Cliff, she thinks.

In the meantime, Greyson is taking a break from work in Montego Bay. The email inbox makes a noise to gain his attention. This noise, his favorite notification sound, was for his car restoration hobby. Vroom vroom.

Resume for Jay Lawyer.

Greyson is intrigued almost immediately. This resume is heavy! He thinks to himself in excitement. A real NASCAR mechanic... well, former NASCAR mechanic. But shit, those guys are always on the road.

He calms down and decides to weigh his options for other candidates. The sunset catches his attention as he takes a drink from his coconut. His ugly toes buried in the hot sand. The life...

After his trip, Greyson returns to work somewhat refreshed. "Got you some pussy, brudda?" Royce flopped in the chair in front of Grey's desk. He rolls his eyes.

"No. I just needed some time to myself. You, of all people, should know about spending time...alone." Greyson bites back just a little. Royce rolls his eyes, but the statement stings.

"Fuck you, Grey." Royce hopes his voice is neutral. "You know I'm past that part of my life."

"I'm gone to lunch." He grabs his coat to leave. "Get out my shit." His unjustified jealousy reeks all over him and he knows it.

Greyson rides in the back of his Maybach, his thoughts drifting to the ever-looming process of finding his Bond. His thoughts didn't gravitate to that while on the island, alone. Greyson accepted the Jay Lawyer as his guest speaker on the podcast before he forgot.

Everest always said he was more than a businessman, more than a horse breeder. And I'm finally understanding what that means. He is a father, a soon to be husband, a brother, a friend, and then everything else.

How do I rebrand myself to be more than a businessman, car customizer, womanizer?

Jai sat in the booth alone before making a choice on her lunch. Her childhood friend, Mari told her to make an online dating profile but that was out of the question. What does she put as her hobbies? Cars, car shows, and watching racing cars? Hell no. She blows an exasperated breath.

Jai Lawson

I should probably do this online profile just to have it done. Right?

I mean that's how people are meeting up these days? That's what eHarmony is promising and that Match.com site. But they want to know too much about me. My equal. Is that too much to ask for? I feel like it is. Accept me for who I am, my love for cars and helping people is not going to change!

All I've ever heard was 'get back in the kitchen, this is a man's game.' If I got paid one dollar for every time, I heard that since I was fourteen, I'd be a millionaire, comfortably too. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself to be somewhere I don't have to be just yet.

I get the invitation to do a radio podcast for Cars and Bullshxt with G.

Oh, I was picked. Well, Jay was picked. I snort.

I am clearly more than my career. More than a car expert. More than my past. But for now, that's all I can be until I can create my own terms. My own box.

My mind briefly goes to the man at the hardware store. His eyes were green, he was tall and wore flannel shirts. And his muscles casually rippled down. I'd seen him a few times after the first time there. We've never exchanged words and maybe that's best. But, he's cute. I guess...