Page 51 of Filthy Little Midlife Fling

The sun dips, setting her skin aglow. A sense of peace settles over me, a feeling that wells up from somewhere deep and forgotten in the hidden chambers of my heart. As we walk away from Wilma’s house, the sky blazes with a beautiful sunset. We cross the street, pausing at the top of the hill to look at the view of the ocean.

Audrey’s hand is warm in mine. Her presence is a salve on my rough and calloused soul. She said this fling would last one month, but as we enjoy a moment of quiet solitude, I don’t think I’ll be able to let her go.

The following week, I find myself working on a Jeep that’s a regular visitor of the garage. I’m trying not to count down the minutes until I can call Audrey and tell her it’s time for our lunchtime visit. I’m half-hard just thinking about it. It took barely two weeks to train myself like Pavlov’s dog. Midday means sex with Audrey. It means tasting her kiss, touching her body. It means one more hit of the drug she provides to see me through another lonely night.

Every day over the past two weeks has only served to stoke the fires between us. I’m desperate for her.

But before I can indulge in my favorite addiction, I hear a familiar booming voice.

“You ready to buy this place, or what?”

Jeff Owens is a tall, lanky man of about seventy. A career mechanic, he built this garage with the help of his wife as a bookkeeper and a steady stream of young apprentices, one of whom was me. With dark brown skin and sharp, near-black eyes, he’s always cut a striking figure. His hair is gray now, but he has hardly any wrinkles and he moves like a man twenty years his junior. I started working for him when I was seventeen, and he taught me everything he knows about cars.

I stand up and shake his hand, grinning. “Hey, Jeff.”

The older man gives my hand a couple hard pumps and slaps me on the shoulder. He cuts straight to the chase. “Rose and I are ready to retire for good. You buy this place now, or I put it on the market.”

“You can’t just spring this on me, Jeff.”

“Spring it on you?” He guffaws. “Remy, I’ve been wanting to sell the auto shop to you for years. What’s the problem? You’ve got the skills. You’ve got the customers. Shit or get off the pot, kid.”

I was nearly ready to take that plunge…and then my sister was killed in a car wreck, and the trajectory of my life changed forever. She and her husband had life insurance, which helped with some of the expenses of suddenly having to care for a kid. But I had to change my entire life plan, and buying this garage no longer seemed like a priority.

But maybe that’s an excuse. Danny and I are good, so what am I afraid of?

Is it possible that I’ve been using my responsibility for Danny to avoid taking any risks? Did my sister’s death and my divorce scare me that badly?

“Is it because you haven’t been able to find an apprentice? Get another mechanic, Remy. Hire someone to help you out. If this place is yours, you won’t have to run any decision by me ever again.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble, stalling. I head over to wash my hands and then lead him to the office.

When Jeff whistles at the sight of the new office, I feel a burning flame of pride for Audrey.

“You’re already making the place your own,” Jeff says, smiling wide. “Name a price. Let’s do this.”

Fear grips me. If I own this place and I fail, I won’t be able to provide for Danny. I won’t be able to keep my promise to my sister.

I’ve learned over and over again in the course of my life that no one will be there for me when things get difficult. My wife walked away from me when I needed her most. My sister died. My parents cared more about their contentious, bitter marriage than they ever did about the well-being of their children.

I’ve been on my own for so long that I don’t even know what it means to have a safety net.

What if I buy this place and it becomes too much? What if I’m not good enough to handle it on my own?

An image pops into my head: Audrey, sitting across from my desk, hearing just how much it would cost to fix her van. Pure panic swept over her expression, and then she set her jaw. She straightened her spine. She took a deep breath, and she met my gaze.

She’s a woman who isn’t afraid to take life on. She wouldn’t hesitate to grasp this opportunity. After her divorce, she didn’t curl into a ball and barely survive; she built a business, a life.

Would she walk away from me if things got tough? Or would she prove that she’s exactly the woman I think she is?

I meet my mentor’s gaze, and I nod. Then I tell him my price. I know exactly how much this business generates. I know how much Jeff wanted for it three years ago. At that time, I had pre-approval from the bank for a business loan, so I know roughly how much they’ll let me borrow.

Pride shines in his eyes, and then Jeff nods. “I think we can make that work,” he tells me. “I’ll have the lawyer draw up the papers. You talk to the bank and get the money together.”

My heart thumps. For three years, I’ve lived with Danny at the forefront of my mind. I’ve pushed aside every other priority. Career, companionship—it all got left behind.

Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe being a good parent is showing your kid how to go after what you want. It’s putting your kids first while modeling what it truly means to live life to the fullest. Judging by the way Danny has taken to Audrey, maybe being a good parent could also include a loving relationship with a partner.

I stand, shake Jeff’s hand, and walk him back out to his car. As long as the bank agrees, this garage will be mine.

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