Page 13 of A Gift for her Festive Firefighter

She was wearing a filthy get up, and he smelled axle grease from her when she shoved him. Maybe he should have tacked on an assault charge, but right now, he was just pretty ticked that she’d hit his truck. He had liability only, which meant he was out of pocket for the damages – which really weren’t too bad after all. Yeah, it was dented, but he could live with that so long as it didn’t leave him stranded. The dent could be repaired later when he got around to having it repainted.

“Someday…” he muttered, pulling into the gravel parking lot of the shop. Looking at the sign, he saw that the lights were off downstairs, and the ‘closed’ sign was hanging on the door. He could see the trunk of the mustang around the back of the building – along with a Ford Escort on the lift in the garage. Yeah, this was a quaint little place and packed to the gills with all sorts of belts, filters, and repair manuals on shelves along the walls.

“Huh,” Sheriff Hart began. “I guess Beary is taking the day off or opening a little later than usual. Why don’t you put your keys in the mail slot, and I’ll give you a business card, so you can write your name and number down. I’m sure she’ll text or call you when she gets your truck pulled in.”

Cade looked at his beloved truck and the hole-in-the-wall repair shop skeptically. Yeah, it wasn’t exactly a dealership, but it looked well enough. He’d certainly seen worse garages.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Give her space, and she’ll contact you. She might need to finish Sawyer’s car first.”

“You just know everyone in town, don’t you?”

“I get paid to – and it’s a joy.”

Cade sighed and looked at the other man, realizing that he could use a little attitude adjustment, and this would not be a bad mentality to have. Slow down, breathe, and let the process work – because it had for years and years, obviously. He was straining to make things fit his demands, but maybe he needed to take a moment to realize that it wasn’t exactly ‘broken’ here, and he was the one who was different.

“I appreciate the advice – and the business card.”

“Of course,” the sheriff smiled, handing Cade a pen too. “Give it time to get used to us here. I know you’ve kinda been thrown in the deep-end, and now this – but I promise. You’ll love Sweet Bloom as much as the rest of us. Don’t give up yet, Captain. We need your expertise and fresh outlook on things.”

“I’m no quitter,” Cade muttered, jotting down his phone number quickly and depositing it in the mail slot on the front door. He winced as his keys hit the linoleum floor just on the other side of the glass. “And yeah, this has been a heck of a welcome, to say the least.”

“Let’s get you home.”

Cade nodded, glancing back at his keys once more – and climbing into the patrol car. Thankfully, it was early enough that not many people saw him, and he was able to dip down in the seat, so maybe he wouldn’t be privy to being the talk of the town once again.

Three dates, three different girls, one place, and now Cade just wrecked his truck into the town’s favorite mechanic, who happened to be a girl with a crush on him – and the whole town knew it. To top it all off, he would need her help getting his car repaired.

“Dang it, I’m never going to live this down,” he muttered under his breath and ignored the knowing smile from the sheriff.

A day later, Cade was starting to wonder if his cell phone was working. Two days later, he was beginning to panic because he had yet to hear from Beary about his truck. He tried calling the shop several times, but with no answer and after the fourth try – he left a brief message.

“Hey, Beary, this is Cade Pruitt, calling about my truck. If you can call me when you get this…” and rattled off his phone number before hanging up and staring at the phone – willing it to ring. Silence greeted him, and finally, he was getting frustrated. He had to go back to work day after tomorrow and could really use his truck or an update if they had to order parts.

Throwing on a clean T-shirt, Cade began the long walk toward the town square and hesitated. Maybe he would make this a ‘purposeful’ walk so that way the people in town didn’t start to put the pieces together about him walking over to the shop.

Popping into the general store, he smiled and greeted a few people shopping about. He really didn’t need anything, but he might as well pick up a few items just to make sure he was seen in a few places. There was no way he was going to be the butt of the town’s gossip, especially when everyone seemed to know everything – and they effectively worked to bring everyone together.

The town was like a big family, and Cade had never felt more like an outsider than he did right now. Crossing the street, he saw the open garage doors of Beary’s shop and nearly saw red. His truck had been moved and was parked, and she obviously hadn’t bothered to call him.

Sighing heavily, he strode forward trying not to blow his top as his mind swirled with frustration. As he got closer, Cade saw Beary do a double-take and then look away, focusing on whatever she was doing on the bottom of the car in the air.

Not his car, mind you, someone else’s car.

“Well, hello,” Cade called out, trying to be friendly.

“Hey,” she said simply, not looking at him – and he frowned. This was not going to plan, and he gnashed his teeth. She was supposed to have a crush on him, right? Why was she deliberately ignoring him?

“I see you moved my truck,” he began again. “Did you hear the noise from the engine? I was hoping to get it worked on and thought you might have called when you saw it parked out front.”

Hint, hint, he thought sarcastically. And nudge, nudge?!

“Yep.”

“Yep, you heard the noise?” he tried once more, keeping his temper in check. “Yep, you moved the truck… or yep, you’ll work on it?”

“Yep,” she repeated, pulling something off the car, and a fount of oil poured forth, splashing into a large flat pan on top of a weird pole-looking thing that had a barrel on the bottom.

---