22. River

RIVER

"What the heck are you smiling for? You get laid or something?"

The second Mike mentioned it, I realized maybe I had been grinning all day. Hell, I had a lot to grin about. I'd opened up about my PTSD. I'd explained everything to my old man—the war, the fear, the reasons for me distancing myself for so long. Then I'd told him all about Clarry, and his reaction was perfect. He just looked at me and smiled and said, "He's a good one." And to top it all off, I'd fallen in love. Or rather, I'd finally realized I'd been in love all these years and didn't even know it.

Yeah, I did have a lot to grin about…

Until the workshop phone rang and Mike picked it up. "You can't fix it yourself?" I heard Mike ask in a stunned tone into the receiver. "What do you mean, you can't fix it yourself? It's just a flat." I could almost hear the shrill response from where I was in the lift bay. "Alright, alright. I'd go myself but I'm in the middle of paperwork. I'll send someone to give you a hand." He listened to the voice on the other end of the line and rolled his eyes. "Yes, that ‘someone' will be River. I don't got no other ‘someones' working for me, now do I? "

With that he hung up the phone and turned to me. "Bad news. Roxanne's got a flat tire in her driveway and needs one of us to go out there and fix it."

I said goodbye to the smile on my face. "How the hell do you get a flat tire in your own driveway?"

Mike raised his hands like he was waving a white flag. "Search me. She said it looks like it's been slashed. I'd never be so bold as to suggest it was one of her ex-husbands who did it, but if I was a betting man I'd put my money on Daryl. Anyways, she started yelling and screaming and threatening to get Sheriff Garrett involved if we didn't help her out."

"Oh God, she's such a pain in the ass."

"And so is the gossip around town if Mrs. Roper sees the Sheriff's car parked out front. Would you mind driving out there in my truck and fixing it?"

I grumbled a sigh. "Sure thing, boss."

"I told you to call me Mike."

"Sure thing, Mike." I wiped my hands on a rag, climbed out of the lift bay and he tossed me the keys to his truck.

"Here's the address," he said, scribbling on the back of an old receipt and handing it to me. "Don't be too long."

"You really need to tell me that? Don't worry, I'm gonna change this tire faster than a pit crew at the F1." I grabbed a tire lever and a handheld jack off the workbench to take with me, headed outside and climbed behind the wheel of Mike's truck.

Roxanne's house was on the edge of town, a fancy place by Mulligan's Mill standards. I guess all those divorces added up to something. As I pulled into the drive I saw her standing beside her Toyota convertible.

"Well, hey there, you big lug." She smirked, chewing her gum and twirling a strand of hair around one finger. "Finally, you've come to my rescue. So how you been anyways? I ain't seen you around for a couple of days."

I was already pulling the spare out of her trunk and jacking up her car by the time I responded. "I had some time off. Wanted to get away for a bit, clear my head."

The flat tire came off.

The new one went on.

"I bet you did. It's Piggy who's annoying you, isn't it? Always chasing you around. That must get hard."

My fist clenched the wrench so hard as I tightened the wheel nuts that I questioned whether they'd ever come off again. "I told you not to call him that."

"I know, but you gotta admit, he's a clingy little weirdo, that one. So fucking needy."

I released the jack, not being at all gentle with it, and the car thumped back onto the ground. "Actually, Roxanne, that clingy little weirdo ain't fucking needy at all. He's my boyfriend."

Roxanne's mouth dropped open so far, her gum fell out.

In a flash my smile returned. "In the meantime, you have yourself a nice life, ya hear."

With that I climbed into Mike's truck, took off down the road and never looked back.