Passion In James County IX
Indiscretions
By D.C. Roi
Chapter thirteen
Mitch was on his home from work, debating whether he wanted to go to the diner and see if Bonnie was available, or just go home, grab a sandwich, and got to bed. Then he saw a small foreign car sitting next to the road. The hood was open and a petite young woman, dressed in sweatpants and a snug T-shirt, was leaning into the open engine compartment.
Mitch braked, made a U-turn, and pulled his pickup off the road across from where the car was sitting. He turned on his four-way flashers and got out of his truck.
"Having problems?" he asked as he walked across the highway.
The girl turned and frowned at him. "My damn car just quit on me!" she exclaimed. She kicked a tire, then winced. It never pays to kick something harder than your foot. Especially when you're wearing sandals. "Goddammit!" the girl said. She began to cry. "Why the hell does everything in my life have to go to shit?"
"Hey, come on," Mitch said. The girl was reasonably attractive; petite and thin, with long dark brown curly hair she had pulled up into a fluffy shoulder-length pony-tail. She looked like she was in her teens, but could have been older. "You want me to take a look at it and see if I can get it running for you?"
She looked at him, tears streaming down her face, and sniffled. "Sure," she snorted, "go ahead. You sure as hell can't make things any worse! Damn!" This time she hit the door with her small fist.
Mitch bent over and looked into the engine compartment. Almost immediately, he spotted what he thought the problem was. The coil wire had, for some reason, come out of the distributor. "There," he said, shoving the wire back in where it belonged. "Try starting it now."
The girl got behind the wheel, turned the key, and the car roared to live. She let it run and got out. "Damn!" she said, "You fixed it! What was it?"
"Your coil wire came loose," Mitch said. "You been driving on rough roads or something?"
"Yeah," she said, blushing. "I was. My boyfriend's been running around on me and I was cruising some back roads looking for the asshole!"
"Well," Mitch said, "it's OK now."
"Hey, thanks for stopping and helping me," the girl said. "What do I owe you?"
"Nothing," Mitch said. "All I did was stick the wire back in where it belonged."
"You want to come to my place for a cup of coffee?" she asked.
"Sounds good to me," Mitch said. "By the way, my name is Mitch Hathaway."
"I'm Kristin Albrecht," she replied, smiling. "Nice to meet you, Mitch. God, I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't stopped."
"Somebody else would have," he said.
"Sure they would," she snorted. "You got any idea how many cars passed me before you stopped?"
"Not everyone's a good Samaritan, I guess," Mitch said.
"You got that right," Kristin snorted. "You want to follow me to my place and I'll get that coffee for you?"
"Sounds good to me," Mitch said.
They got in their vehicles and Mitch followed her as she drove through town and out into the country. Eventually they pulled up in front of her house. They got out of their vehicles and walked up onto the porch of a big old farmhouse. Kristin unlocked the door and they entered a big kitchen. It was very neat and homey, with a large round table covered with a red and white checked tablecloth in the center of the room and ladder-back chairs arranged around it.
"You want something to eat besides the coffee?" Kristin asked. "I was gonna make supper for myself anyhow."
"Sure," Mitch said.
"Make yourself comfortable," Kristin said. "I'll see what I can find."
Mitch sat down at the table while Kristin walked to the refrigerator. She turned to him. "You want coffee or would you prefer something else?" she asked.
"Whatever you have," Mitch said.
"Is soda OK?" Kristin asked.
"Soda's fine," Mitch told her. "I drink too much coffee anyhow."
She got a can out of the refrigerator and handed it to him. "I hope diet's all right," she said. "I don't have nothin' else."
"It's all I ever drink," Mitch replied. "So, I take it you and your boyfriend had a fight?"
Kristin got herself a can of soda and sat down at the table next to him. "Yeah. All of a sudden he says he can't handle living with me, so he takes off," she replied, a catch in her voice.
"Sounds like you didn't expect it," he said.
"I try, I really do," she said, "but everything seems to piss him off. Sometimes I get so tired of trying. I mean, it's like he's always pissed about something. If I don't do things exactly right, he's pissed, if my kid isn't good, he's pissed, if his kids aren't good, he's pissed."
"You have a child?" Mitch asked.
"Yeah, a little boy," Kristin replied. She swallowed some soda. "My brother took him to Canada fishing for school vacation."
"And your boyfriend thinks your son isn't well-behaved?" Mitch asked.
"Sometimes," Kristin said. "He's not a bad kid, actually, but when he isn't, my boyfriend always takes it out on me."
"You mean he hits you?" Mitch asked, feeling his muscles tighten. He'd never been able to understand why a man would hit a woman. It went against everything he believed. And hitting a woman as attractive as Kristin was a real crime.
Kristin rubbed her shoulder. "I still got bruises from the last time," she said softly. "I mean, I guess..." She shrugged again. "I mean, every time it happens he says he's sorry, after, but..."
