Page 16 of A Gift for her Festive Firefighter

Cade – it’s Holly from Beary Garage.

I looked at your truck. I have a belt and pulley coming already. I’m still working on locating a radiator, and I'm not sure if I can repair the seam. How fast are you needing your vehicle back, because I’ve got a few others I’ve got to finish up?

Hello?

Is this Cade Pruitt’s number?

Frowning, she saw that the messages were ‘delivered’ but he never responded. Maybe she had a wrong number, or perhaps his phone was on silent? Was he ignoring her deliberately?

“Hey-a Beary!” one of her neighbors hollered at the same time she smelled smoke. “You hear that Lourdes has finally done it?”

“Done what?”

“Lost her marbles – and there’s a grass fire at her place that’s just a-ragin’… wooo-wee!”

Was Cade out there? She immediately thought, glancing at her phone in her hand once more as the man ran off to see the commotion. The Martinez farm was far outside of town, but the wall of smoke rising in the distance now was a little eerie for sure. Thick black rolling smoke was rising high into the sky, and with each heartbeat, she wondered if he was out there before doing the unthinkable.

Be safe out there, and we can talk about your truck later.

Then, surprising herself, Holly grabbed the set of keys to the truck and pressed her lips together, determined. This was going to be a job, but a welcome one for sure. When she had seen the truck in the parking lot the next morning with the deep dent in the metal fender – it bothered her. She loved older cars because there was a character to them. To her, there was no better sound than a carburetor or a real motor.

“You better play nice,” she told the truck as she slid into the seat… and smiled. Starting up the truck, she quickly pulled it in under the other minivan that was waiting for a transmission pan to arrive so she could get started.

Hours later, lots of four-letter words uttered under her breath, using a mini grinder, plasma cutter, and nearly stabbing herself in the hand with a screwdriver – there was a pile of rusted-colored debris under the side of the car. Years of dirt and who-knows-what crust had fallen from her while removing the old fasteners. Hefting carefully, Holly lifted the piece of metal onto a bench and smiled. This wasn’t too bad and she could repair the bead along the edge, roll out the dents, and manage to make it look seamless once again.

It certainly wouldn’t be quick work. No, it was meticulous and would take a while, but yes – she could undo what she’d damaged.

Hesitating, she rolled her stool toward the car and peered under the side panel of the hood, looking it over with a critical eye. It was in really good shape but in need of some cleaning, replacing a few wires that had been repaired instead of replaced.

“I bet you purr like a kitten, don’t you?”

“More like she rumbles like an angry tiger,” Cade’s voice said from the open garage door as he stood there in his uniform. “It wasn’t enough to kick in the fender, but now you are dismantling the thing?”

His eyes were full of pain and disbelief as he stared at her in shock. He looked so tired, his face covered in soot and sweat stains, and even his lips had a pale ring around them. She planted her boots down on the concrete floor and pushed back toward the mini-fridge, recognizing heat fatigue, and threw him a small bottle of Gatoraid.

“The heat wears a person out,” she said simply as he caught the bottle, his mouth dropping open in shock. “And I thought I’d take a look at the fender to make sure I can fix it.”

“I got your text,” he said simply, as if he was unsure what to say.

“Yep,” she acknowledged, rolling back toward the truck, pointing as she adjusted her greasy baseball cap once more. Yeah, she wasn’t out to win any beauty contests right now and could smell her own sweat despite her deodorant. “It’s in really great condition, and a few parts will be here next Friday – but that radiator is hard to source. I’m not giving up on it, but welding the thing may or may not work. If it freezes here, it might spring another leak…”

“This is Texas. It doesn’t hardly freeze here.”

“Got snow here last year,” Holly shrugged and pointed at the truck. “You’ve got three leads that are crimped and repaired with butt connectors – I’d recommend replacing them. I mean, the connectors will hold, but if you are…”

“Can you do it?” Cade asked bluntly, not stepping foot inside the shop but asking from a distance. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest as the fire engine waited behind him in the background. She could see two faces practically hanging outside of the windows, trying to get the latest scoop.

“Yeah. I can fix those easily.”

“Go ahead.”

“You don’t want to know the price? I’m not doing it for free, you know. I’ve got your estimate on the pulley and belt on the counter and…”

“Go ahead, Beary. I’m in no rush, so long as it’s done right,” he said bluntly and started to turn back to the truck, but something in her broke free.

“My name is Holly – not Beary.”

Cade paused in his step, looking back at her and nodded simply before walking off. She stared at him from her seat, knowing she had to look atrocious. The dirt from the old coupe, the sweat, the grime, all of it left her filthy beyond reason each night, and her shower suffered for it. She had a showerhead with one of those spray wands simply so she could continue to rinse the grime off the shower floor when she was done, making cleaning up a breeze.

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