Page 8 of Lady Luck’s Kiss

CHARLIE

The moment Charlie was back in her truck, the barrage began. The flurry of questions from Beth was overwhelming and she understood why she was asking so many. This was so out of character for her. It was all normally work, work, work… oh, and cars.

Never a guy.

Most guys were intimidated that she worked on cars or simply used her to get work done on their car. She felt like she needed to keep what was personal… personal .

The scent of his aftershave? The way his hands held hers? She shared what she could with her friend but there wasn’t much to tell. They didn’t talk much, and she didn’t want to be cross examined on how she felt while she was being held by Jack.

Dropping off Beth, Charlie thanked her for coming and promised to keep her informed if anything else occurred. Just then, her phone lit up with a text, causing the two women to look at each other in surprise.

“Spill it! What’d he say to you?”

Glancing at the phone, she smiled softly at the simple message. It was perfect and not overly mushy. She could hear the timbre of his voice as if he were right here and said the words aloud to her.

“It says ‘Sweet dreams, Lady Luck’.”

“Ha! He doesn’t really know you, does he?”

“Nope!” she said with a weak smile. “Not at all.” He may not know her, but it was apparent that he knew how to get to her. And she fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker. “Just a simple goodnight, see? Get some rest and I will holler at you later.”

“You better! Goodnight, chickie.”

“G’night.”

Charlie pulled out of the driveway and headed back to her little garage.

Pulling into the parking lot, the motion detector light came on and she hurried inside.

Setting the locks and the alarm, she headed upstairs to draw herself a bath and brush her teeth.

She was so relieved that he didn’t kiss her.

Relieved and dismayed. She felt like she had distinctly missed an opportunity tonight even if it was a night of firsts.

She dropped a bath bomb in the running water and took a second to text Jack back.

Goodnight, Cowboy.

Thank you for the dance.

Staring at the screen, she wondered if she should say more.

Instead, she saw he was typing, indicated by the three dots hovering on her phone screen.

She waited patiently as she scrubbed her teeth with a toothbrush.

Spitting into the sink, she heard the ding and knocked her phone into the bath by accident.

“NOOOOO!” she screamed aloud as she fished the renegade phone out of the hot, soapy water.

Racing to her tiny kitchen, she threw it in a bag of rice faster than humanly possible. Sealing it, she felt her frustration bubbling to a head as she hoped and prayed it would still work.

This was her third cell phone… this year.

The first fell out of her pocket and landed in a pan of hot motor oil, lesson learned.

The second phone flew off her dash and out the window when she was taking an exit ramp too fast. Another lesson learned.

This time, she’d just put the darned thing in bubble wrap on a tether cord.

If her phone didn’t boot up tomorrow, she didn’t know what she was going to do because she had about emptied her savings.

Turning off the water, she glared hatefully at the bathtub that awaited her.

She took two Tylenol and stepped into the water, sinking low.

As much as she hated the fact that her phone could be fried, the water pulled the stress from her body.

There was nothing she could do now other than wait and pray that Jack would understand why she wasn’t responding to his text messages.

The next morning was nothing but utter frustration.

The phone wouldn’t boot up and, according to the representative at the cellular store in town, there was nothing to be done.

They also wouldn’t sell her another phone until she paid off the balance on her current phone.

That was not going to happen this week unless she got a big job fast.

Heading back to the garage in a funk, she aimlessly thumbed through the yellow pages hoping to find that Jack’s name was listed so she could explain. She was sick to her stomach at the sudden loss of communication with him…and angry at herself for the clumsy mistake.

Sure enough, Jack Seguin was unlisted.

Sighing heavily, she opened the garage doors and flipped on the open sign. She certainly didn’t want to wish misfortune on anyone, but she hoped someone would come by sooner rather than later. Using the landline she had at the garage, she called Beth and found herself tearing up on the phone.

“Aw, sweetie! Want me to come and get my oil changed again?” Beth offered through the receiver.

“No, but I appreciate it. It’s my own fault and I just wanted to vent.”

“Well vent away, my dear!”

“I think I’m finished unloading on you.”

“Beer-thirty tonight?”

“Good gravy, Beth. Are you an alcoholic? I think I have one beer a week and that’s on a rough day. I’m at two so far this week and feeling pretty bad about it.”

“Meh. What else is there to do in Suburbia?”

“Point taken. Sure. I’ll boo-hoo my evening away in alcohol with you. Bring jammies in case we are beyond driving.”

“M’kay, Mom. Seriously, I know better.”

“I know, I know.” Charlie spotted a tow truck pulling into her parking lot with a large Ram truck on a hook. It looked pretty roughshod and she could see fluid dripping from underneath the front of the cab.

She disliked the tow truck driver because he always pushed for a date with her, but a smile here and there brought her steady business. She needed the work but it made her feel like a tease, something she wasn’t in the slightest.

“Hallelujah! Work just came in on a hook. I gotta go! See ya, bye!” Charlie rushed out and hung up the phone. Flying out the door of the garage, she smiled and waved.

“Whatcha got today, Buddy?” Charlie greeted.

She held back a grimace as he spat a wad of tobacco out of his window. Buddy’s Wrecker was the only towing facility in town and unless the vehicles had body damage, he dropped them off here first. He was just itching for a chance to go out with her.

“Mercy, Charlie! If that is how you greet me, I might think you were sweet on me!”

Biting back a groan and shiver of disgust, she saw that he had tobacco bits stuck in his wide, toothy smile.

Buddy was nice and polite, but he wasn’t Jack for darned sure.

Sweaty hair and a dingy ball cap hid his receeding hairline.

The coveralls he wore daily did not hide a thing.

They were pulled tight across his slightly expanding middle and looked like they’d not seen a washing machine in years.

“Just saying hello to a longtime friend who brought me a present on a hook,” she replied amicably and hoped he would take the hint. Buddy’s smile dropped and was replaced with a frown.

“Friend? Girl, you know we could clean up in this town together, right? Between those weirdoes at the fire station singing and hanging off the truck as they drive down Main Street like it’s some sort of production to those know-it-alls in Yonder.

I swear, sometimes it’s like we’re the only ones who know what work is sometimes… ”

“Buddy, I appreciate it as always. I just really am not looking for a relationship and you know that. You’ve always been there for me anytime I’ve needed you.”

“Yep. Just wish you’d need me in other ways, too,” she heard him mutter aloud as he stepped out of the truck.

She wasn’t sure if he intended her to hear him or if it was a slip of the tongue.

He was getting bold in the last few weeks.

She had just kept pushing him away and would continue to do so.

Especially until he got the hint and separated business from pleasure .

She swallowed back a gag thinking of Buddy and the word ‘ pleasure ’ in the same sentence.

I think I’m gonna be sick…

“No owner today?”

“Nope. AAA dispatched me out to the sticks to get this one. Fuel pump,” he said simply as he worked on removing the truck from the hook.

Charlie grinned. According to Buddy, they were all fuel pump issues or batteries and that was very rarely the case.

Unfortunately, once he told the owner it was a fuel pump, it made it tough for her to convince them otherwise because she was a girl.

Stereotypical, yes.

Honest? Absolutely.

“Does it crank?”

“Yeah, you should be able to get it in there on a lift.”

“Great.” That would make it so much easier to find out what was going on with it. If she had to push it, she’d need Buddy’s help. The last time he helped her push a car, he ended up hanging around for an hour before he was called out again. She just wasn’t up to the small talk today.

Opening the door, she breathed deep the woodsy smell and sighed. She just adored that scent. Clean and fresh. Turning the key, she heard the truck give a mighty groan and then nothing.

“Thought you said it cranked?”

“I thought it did. Lemme give you a push and you steer. Got any coffee, Charlie?”

“Yep. Sure do. Did you get the owner’s info?”

“Got a name and number for you – that’s it.”

“That will work. Ready?”

“Sure am, put her in neutral and let’s get it inside. Coffee sounds really good about now.”

A sharp stick in the eye sounds better! she thought and pulled the steering wheel heavily to turn the large vehicle. There would be no getting out of having coffee with Buddy unless there was an Act of God at this point.

She was so glad to have the truck right now to look at.

Unfortunately, that meant pushing the Camaro out so she could still work.

She only had two lifts in the garage and the Camaro sitting on one of them was a waste of space.

But at least it was running now, she thought.

That would make it much easier to get it in and out of the garage in the evenings.

Pulling forward slowly, she got the truck into place and yelled for Buddy to stop. Setting the emergency brake, she got out of the truck carefully so as not to scratch the doors on the lift posts.

“Cream and sugar?” she asked politely.

“You know how I like it: sweet,” he started with a knowing grin.

“Just like I like my women,” she chimed in, rolling her eyes at the worn cliché.

He was consistent, she had to give him that.

Every time he saw her, he made a comment.

If this was it today, she was out of trouble.

Pouring coffee into two cups, she handed one to him with the lidded glass jar of sugar she kept out for customers.

Sprinkling creamer in her own cup, she set it down and exchanged with him simply to avoid touching his hands.

They were grimier than hers and she had been tinkering on the Camaro while she waited for the next job. Taking a big sip, she sighed in delight at the taste.

“Truck belongs to a Jake Seguin and the number is…” he droned on, but Charlie was too busy trying to keep from choking on the scalding liquid. Grabbing a tablet, she hurriedly wrote down the phone number.

“ Jack Seguin,” she corrected.

“You know him?”

“Met him once or twice,” she answered evasively and took another sip. Apparently, his truck broke down on the way home. That sucks , she thought, almost as much as me trashing my phone in the bath. Lady Luck, my foot!

“I’ll call in a bit to find out what happened.

” That, and she wanted him gone when she had an opportunity to talk to Jack.

What if he showed up to get stuff out of his truck?

She almost dropped her coffee mug and smiled awkwardly at Buddy who had noticed the bobble.

Thankfully, she caught it at the last second.

“Problems?”

“Just busy, you know?” she said offhandedly, hoping he’d take the hint. Seeing his crestfallen expression, she knew he had. “I appreciate you bringing it here first, Buddy. Thank you again.”

“Maybe you can thank me over dinner?”

Dang, he just didn’t stop…

“Beth is coming over tonight.”

“Tomorrow?”

“I have to go to the grocery.”

Charlie flinched. That sounded lame, even to her ears. Taking a deep breath, she smiled politely. “Buddy, look. I appreciate the work, but I don’t want to complicate things and I am just not ready. Please understand that.”

“Just call me when you decide that you are ready.” The frustration was written all over his face. His dingy cheeks were ruddy in hue and his eyes looked hurt. Nodding politely, she couldn’t answer what she wanted to say which was “ when pig’s fly” or “over my dead body” .

There was no reason to put either of those ideas out for the Universe, right?