Page 57 of All Dressed Up

Will accepted the beer and took a long gulp and then another. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, right. Pop would find you moping in cars that he was servicing all the time.”

Will shook his head, pulling on his beer. That was true, but he wasn’t going to admit it. That was a long time ago.

“And you were usually stewing about a girl,” Dan continued, leaning back on the car. “So who caused my little brother to hole up this time? What’s her name?”

“No one. Just needed a moment alone.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” He drank in silence. As a young boy, he’d come here anytime something was on his mind, and his brother was right, he did stew about the elusive girl that would never be his. His dad would find him sitting alone in the cars he was working on and always made him get out.

But he wasn’t a kid anymore, and this current roller coaster of emotion was getting old. He thought he could give this friends thing a try. That was until he saw Rachel in another man’s arms.

Still frustrated, he glanced over at his brother, one lucky son of a gun. Dan had found love and was happily married to Betsy, a woman he’d had a major crush on for years. “How’d you do it, man?”

His brother’s forehead crinkled. “How’d I do what?”

“You and Betsy were friends way before you got together. Didn’t it kill you seeing her with other guys?”

“Yeah, all the time, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” Dan finished his beer. His lips turned up. They always did when he talked about his wife. He was crazy about her. “Patience, bro. Sure, I could have accepted defeat and given up, but being her friend had its advantages.”

That piqued Will’s curiosity. “How so?”

“For one, we hung out all the time, and that gave us time to really get to know each other. I knew she’d eventually come around.”

“Ten years later...” Will’s voice trailed. Could he endure Rachel dating other guys while they worked on their friendship? What if she got serious in that time?

“It was worth the wait.” Dan paused. “If it’s Rachel you want, be patient.”

“It’s not Rachel,” Will lied, pulling on his beer.

“Yeah, right. I doubt there’s really another woman in this town that could cause you to seek refuge in here like you did as a kid.”

“I was looking for you, dude.”

“Good thing you found me so I can knock some sense into your head.” His brother pulled him into a headlock, giving him a rough hug.

Will struggled to break free. “Cut it out, man.”

Dan let go and reached for Will’s beer bottle, throwing both in a recycle bin. “Let’s go to Ralph’s and grab a pizza. We can get underneath the hood of a car. It’ll make you feel better.”

Will followed his brother out of the auto body shop. Somehow, he doubted it.

---