Continuing her journey of sexual surprises, Jane gets a full service at a roadside garage...
Cash? Like I carry loads of cash with me? Oh well, I'm sure there'll be a cash point in the village somewhere. I swung the now-unlocked door open, wondering if it were ever really locked last night. I was still sleepy, but the cold air of the dark morning was bracing and I pulled my down jacket tight around me and followed him to his Portakabin.
A greenish fluorescent light flickered overhead, doing little to dispel the damp gloom.
"So!" he beamed as he dropped himself into his patched-up office chair. "Miss...?"
"Oh, Jane," I blushed. "Do you need to see the car documents?"
"Don't be in such a rush, Jane. Certainly no Plain-Jane are you?"
"Oh please! Cut the nonsense Mr...?"
"Tom. Everyone knows me as Tom, but the full name's in two foot letters over the garage if you need to know more. Cuppa tea, Jane? I'm having one meself and it's a drech morning is it not?" he said leaning across to flick the kettle on his desk. "Please - sit yourself down. What's your brew? I have builders tea for the men folk and either Earl Grey or fruit for the ladies - what'll it be?"
I perched myself opposite him on the edge of my chair and kept my arms folded. He seemed raffish to me, maybe in his thirties and a bit too forward for me to feel at ease.
"Well, a fruit tea would be nice, thank you," I replied, casting my eyes around the standard garage décor.
"Where are you from, Jane? I detect a southern accent."
"Manchester. I'm on my way to Fort William to meet some friends."
Tom looked up with surprise.
"Manchester? I know it well. I did my masters at the university - was there for two years. Are you at the Uni yourself? Student are you?"
I was taken aback: I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.
"Really? What were you reading?"
"French literature. Ô lac! l'année à peine a fini sa carrière,
Et près des flots chéris qu'elle devait revoir... Fucking lot of use that is round here, so I fix cars in the day and write wistful poetry by night. Sugar?"
For just a moment, as he poured out no-doubt hot classics with the tea, I could indeed see the wistful Tom beneath the oily boiler suit. I began to warm to him a little.
"Sorry - wasted on me I'm afraid, Tom. I'm science. I work in the Geology department at the Uni. Go on then, half a spoon - for the cold."
"La vie est une fleur dont l'amour est le miel. Sorry, I'm showing off, but I'm sure Hugo sweetened more than tea with his words. Right! To more mundane matters. It's a Hertz isn't it? I need to contact them to see what cover they offer, but they won't be open till nine. Let me have the keys and I'll give it a once over. You stay in the warm and I'll see if I can seduce a Seat with some saucy French strophes."
I dropped the key into his open palm as he stood by the open door. He paused just so long for me to look up and meet his eyes and for a cheeky smile to lighten the corners of his lips. In a flash, he placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder and was gone, pulling the door to with a bang.
I glanced over to watch him stride over to the car: the bewitched car, and wondered why I had never been to Scotland before, if it was full of such surprises? I checked my phone - no signal, which was unsurprising since the village was in a narrow little valley. I shifted back into my seat, the warmth of the room making my eyes droop.
"All fixed Jane! My, you're a sound sleeper," Tom's voice boomed heartily.
"Why, what time is it?" I spluttered awake.
"Nearly nine o'clock. I hope you don't mind - I didn't want to wait for the office wallers at Hertz to wake up, so I just went ahead and sorted it out. Probably best not mention it to them 'cos they get sniffy about village idiots tinkering with their motors." Tom dropped the key onto the desk in front of me and slumped back into his chair, a pleased-with-himself smile on his face and smudge on his nose.
"Oh well, thanks. What was the problem, if you can put it terms I would understand? What do I owe you?" I replied, reaching into my purse.
"Very tricky stuff, Jane," said Tom staring at the ceiling and swinging his seat. "Loose connect is all it was: they just take a while to find without a computer. So, no expensive spares, just a bit of time. No - don't think to reach for money. Lets swap time for time. Care to join me at Maureen's over the road for breakfast? You can bring me up to date with the gossip from Manchester and I'm starving."
"Oh! Well the thing is Tom my -" I began.
"My friends will be worried about me and I've got no signal on my phone?" Tom interrupted. "I know, no signal here and I know you'll have checked. Very sensible. Here, phone ya friends from here and let them know where you are."
He pushed the phone across towards me.
"It would be a privilege for me, honestly. It's a nice enough village, but dull as dish water. I'll let you pay for breakfast - and we don't boil up young 'gurluz frae' Manchester. They don't fit in the pan. Whaddya say?" He gave me a theatrical big wink and that smile again.
I went to say something, but found myself torn between 'sensible' and 'what-the-hell'. Instead I reached for the phone and Tom stood to leave the room with a whispered "I'll let you talk." I spoke to Phil and explained the situation, without going into too much detail. I gave him the garage address and said I'd be with them near lunchtime.
Outside Tom was waiting, kicking his feet against the cold.
"All set? You've no changed your mind or let common sense prevail? No? Good, come on then - I'm ready for some black pudding and sausage. Do you like sausage, Jane?" he said body-nudging me as we walked.
"Stop that!" I laughed back at him. "This is a business breakfast, remember?"
"Oh yes! It's a serious business: breakfast. Especially with an appetite like mine."
"Always hungry then, Tom? Maybe you have worms."
"Ugh - you're disgusting! Ma mother warned me about girls like you. But you're right, I am hungry. Insatiable..."
I felt comfortable with Tom: he was funny and genuine. One of those people you almost feel you've seen before somewhere. We chatted our way through his mountainous 'decent fry up' while I kept to toast. I kept noticing his hands, too big somehow to be the stuff of French poetry. I liked the way he hooked an errant lock of black hair behind his ear when it threatened to fall into his food. He stood back as I paid, which pleased me instead of having to play that game of pretend politeness.
"So, we're all square, Jane," he announced, embracing an imaginary day with his out-stretched arms as we walked back. "Come and collect your things and you can be on your way."
He opened the office door with a cheerful flourish and let me in. He stepped to his side of the desk as I lingered at the door.
"Well I suppose I should be on my way..." I spoke quietly, pushing the door closed with my bottom and fixing him with my eyes.
He looked up from his desk with a double-take and then stepped over to me.