A Simple Life: Chapter 156 (Patreon)

I made a push with Slave Girl 2 to get it finished and the mid-month short is complete, now I can get back to A Simple Life and Empty Nest.  Thank you very much for your patience.

***

With Winona and Amos gone to town Brutus and I suddenly had the whole place to myself. Out here you got a depth of quiet that was simply impossible in town. I liked that. With him held to my chest, his little motor running as I gently pet his neck and back, I stare out the window and marvel at the transformation this place had undergone. Until a week ago this was just an abandoned overgrown lot where I stop in on my way out of and into town to visit with Mama. It was a place frozen in the past and destined to a fate of slow, inexorable decay. But now there was life here again. Life, and more importantly, a future. For the first time in my life I had a place where I might actually put down some roots. As if by magic my rest stop had transformed into a place I could call home. All the cleaning up and moving in and new building the Crow’s had done was only the beginning and I felt very, very blessed to be a part of it.

“Okay.” I kiss Brutus’ teeny head and set him down at my feet. “I should g-get something done.”

On Winona’s computer I am able to access the files I’d started back at the apartment and soon I am back to work on the pamphlets for Sandra. After the stress of the night and morning I’d had followed immediately by the dizzying highs of this afternoon it felt pretty darned good just to lose myself in a task like this. My brief nature break had done wonders to calm the storm but emotionally I needed to find smooth sailing again, and diving into this new and super interesting work was just the thing.

The sound of an approaching vehicle echoing in through the open window pulls me from the work I am surprised to find that an hour had already gone by. I cock my ear and focus on the sound. That was not Winona’s truck. For a moment I am seized by a mild panic. Who was it? What did they want? Why were they here? The garage wasn’t even open yet! As I hear the engine shut off followed by the opening and closing of two doors I am forced to calm my nerves as best I can. The building was wide open and I was the only one here. Whether I liked it or not I was going to have to deal with this.

I take a bolstering breath then hurry out toward the source of the noise.

“I’m not sure they’re open.” I hear a woman’s voice say as I slip out of the suite and into the office.

“They look open.” Says a man before calling out. “Hello? Anyone here?”

I enter the bays to see a good looking couple in their early thirties peering into the open bay door from outside. Ethnically they were Asian but their accents were pure East Coast Americana. Boston maybe? “H-Hello?”

“Ah!” The man smiles. “Are you Win?”

“Me?” I say. “Um, n-no. That’s my g-girlfriend.”

“Right. Right.” He says cheerfully. The couple approaches as I approach them and we meet just inside the garage where we each shake hands.

“Nice slippers!” She says. “Are those local?”

“Hm?” I look down at my feet. “Oh, um, n-no. They’re, um, L-Lakota m-moccasins.”

“Lakota?”

“Um…they’re from S-South Dakota.”

“South Dakota!? Well, they’re beautiful.” She says. “Where did you get them?”

“Um…” I say. “These w-w-were a gift from Winona’s g-grandma. She m-made them herself.”

“Does she have a store? A website?”

“Um…I d-don’t think s-so.”

“Never mind the darn shoes.” The man chuckles as he slips his arm around her, she laughs and nudges his ribs. The pair were clearly crazy for each other. As a recent convert to the ways of love it lifted my heart to see it. “We were driving by and saw the door open.”

“We just moved to the island.” The woman says. “A beach front about ten miles south of here.”

“Oh. Th-The old Anderson place?” I ask. “Blue and white, with the four c-car garage?”

“Uh, yeah.” He says. “That’s it. How did you…?”

“Island b-born and r-raised.” I explain. “I s-saw the realty sign come d-down about a m-month ago.” This was tough, really tough, to converse with strangers like this. Back at work I’d have to do it all the time but those were just basic questions that could be answered with quick, canned replies. But right now I was representing the garage, I was a part of the garage, and I really wanted to give a good impression so I force myself to continue this small talk. “Um…w-welcome to Ehkolie.”

As one they smile. “Well, thank you!” She says. “You have no idea how FEW locals outside the college have said that to us since we arrived.”

“Yeah. W-We can act a bit, erm, insular s-sometimes.” I say on behalf of my home. “It’s an island th-thing. S-Sorry about that. You are w-welcome here though. V-Very much so.”

“Told you I had good feeling about this place.” He says. “I’m David. This is Grace.”

“I’m Avery.”

“Good to meet you.” David says. “We were hoping to book some appointments for vehicle inspection. For registration and insurance.”

“Moving out here has been jumping through one hoop after the next.” Grace quips. “We assume you do inspections?”

“Yes.” I say as I recall Amos talking about it once. Something about a ‘great racket’ and ‘easy money’. “Um, unfortunately, w-we aren’t quite open yet.”

“Oh.” Both of their bright expressions fall.

“B-B-But…um, we’re opening v-very soon.”

“We were hoping for next week?”

“Um…” I hesitate, before taking the bull by the horns. I knew we were ready to go, they’d already done some work, and their schedule would never be more clear than it was right now. I could call them, I should call them, but to heck with it. Amos said that I was one of them now so I was going to make an executive decision. “…yes. W-We can do next w-week.” I wave them to follow. “Come in.”

Their moods upbeat again David and Grace follow me to the customer service desk. There I take their information. I already knew the pair were not hurting for money just from the fact of the gorgeous beach front property they’d purchased but that fact was driven home as I write down the years, makes and models of the cars they had to bring in. One Range Rover, one Porsche, and one Maserati…wow! I sure hope Amos and Winona knew what they were doing with such luxury vehicles. Thankfully, and to my amazement, the price isn’t once brought up. Just in the way they spoke I got the sense that money was not any sort of obstacle for these two. How nice that must be.

After I take down all the information I felt would be important I schedule the appointments.

“Okay.” I say as I jot down the last thing. “We’ll see you W-Wednesday then?”

“Wednesday it is.” David and I shake hands again.

“And you’ll ask Winona about the moccasins?” Grace asks.

“Y-Yes.” I giggle. Grace just wouldn’t leave the subject alone. This was a woman accustomed to getting what she wanted. “Sh-She’ll be here on W-Wednesday if you want to talk to her.”

“I will!” She and I shake hands.

I lead them back out of the garage, wish them a good day, then watch them in their shiny green Range Rover drive away. That had almost been…fun!

Twenty minutes later I hear the more familiar growl of Winona’s truck turning off the highway. Doing my best to hide my smile I hurry out to greet them.

“Hey Sprout.” Winona pulls me in for a smooch on her way to the back of the truck to start unloading parts where Amos was already pulling down the tailgate.

“H-Hi.”

“Everything good?”

“Mm hm.” I nod.

She stops her tracks and turns to look at me, suspicion in her eyes. “What?”

“What?”

“What’s up?”

“N-Nothin.”

She turns to me. “I know that grin.”

“What g-grin?” I say, grinning.

She laughs. “What?”

I give up and start to giggle. “Oh, nothing.” I say. “I just…” I pull the notepad from my pocket. “…made a c-couple appointments is all.”

“Appointments?” Amos’ head pops up.

“N-Nothing big.” I say. “Just some inspections.”

“Inspections?”

“Mm hm.” I nod. “Um, the Range R-Rover and Porsche are coming in Wednesday. Maserati on Thursday.”

“Maserati!?” Amos and Winona look at each other then back to me again.

“I w-wasn’t sure how long you’d need so I sp-spread them out.” I say. “Th-This r-real nice couple came in and wanted inspections.” Knowing it would have an effect I add. “Real r-rich too.”

Amos’ eyes light up just as I knew they would. “Rich?”

“Mm hm.”

“You just went ahead and booked them?” Winona says.

“Yeah. I d-didn’t want to r-risk them going s-somewhere else. They're new here and I th-thought they c-could be good c-customers.” I say, glancing back and forth between them uncertainly. “I h-hope that’s okay.”

Amos breaks into a big grin. “Yeah, Avery, that is okay. That is a-okay.” He says. “I respect the initiative. Ha ha!”

All pretenses of holding it back disappear as perk up, standing taller with a big, bright smile. I didn’t screw it up! They were happy!

He points at me before lifting what looked like an extremely heavy crate with ease. “This kid’s good luck, ya know. Good luck and good for business.”

“Told ya!” Winona rushes back to me to kiss me again. Nuzzling me nose to nose she whispers. “He’s my lucky charm.”

Chapter 157