The Car Mechanic and the Skier - Part 1 - He Fixed Her Auto
Chap 1 - We Meet Again
I was just finishing with a customer when a tired looking Volvo pulled up in front of the shop. The driver walked hesitantly into the office, but I didn't recognize her until I looked up from the invoice in front of me.
As I thanked my customer, I realized that I knew this woman. Her memory was better than mine, and she said, "Eric! It's nice to see you again."
"Katherine! I heard you had moved back here. How are things going?"
Her husband had been killed in a skiing accident in Europe last winter, leaving Katherine a single mom with a four year old son.
"Well, I guess you know about Sean. It was such a shock. We were skiing gypsies, and I decided to accept my folks' offer to come back to Valley View. So here I am." She looked more than a little sad.
"What can I do for you? The Volvo is sick?"
"My dad is very sentimental about that car, but it has a hundred thousand miles and it's missing. Can you fix it or do I start looking for a replacement?"
"I'm not very busy this afternoon, pull it over to the second bay and I'll take a look."
It was a late enough model to have the automated scan feature in its computer. When I got things connected up and had Katherine start the car, three error codes showed up.
I said to her, "Shut it off and I'll show you what this says."
She came around and stood next to me. Katherine had been two years ahead of me in school, and I remembered the awe with which I had observed her teenage beauty.
"It says that it is plug #4 that isn't firing, and also that the gas-air mixture isn't right. It also may have converter problems. Do you know when your dad had it tuned up last?"
"Not a clue. Isn't there supposed to be a sticker?"
We looked and found a two year old sticker from 20,000 miles ago. Not a good sign.
I told her, "This could be fairly simple, like some water in the gas and fouled injectors, or it could be several sets of worn out things that mean a five hundred dollar repair bill."
She looked unhappy and said, "Sean's insurance settlement hasn't come through, and my folks don't have a lot beyond their social security, so cash is tight."
I made a suggestion. "These Volvo's are pretty tough, and I'll bet your dad isn't ready to part with it right now. Why don't you leave it with me and I'll do a few things that won't cost much and see where that gets us while you warn your dad about not falling into a repair spiral with an old car. I'll drive you home if you'd like to do that."
"Oh my god, Eric, you're the same solid guy I knew in school. Except you're not a kid anymore." She hugged me and kissed my cheek.
"Hey, that's nice! But you better save your thanks for after I get it running without costing you a mint."
As we drove across town to her family home, I asked what she was planning to do with herself.
"I'm too old to go back to the circuit, so I need to find a new career, I guess. Any suggestions?" She looked at me with big brown eyes framed by heavy lashes. I remembered how popular she was in school and what an athlete. She won everything in girl's skiing, and went on to Colorado, where she and Sean captained the men's and women's ski teams. It wasn't a surprise when word filtered back they had married and Sean was racing in the World Cup.
We stared at each other quietly, and I said, "Why don't you let me buy you dinner and we'll talk about it?"
"If your car is ready tomorrow, I'll bring it by at the end of the day and we can find a place to eat after that."
"Sounds nice. My mom will look after Robbie." She squeezed my hand, "You're being awfully good to a single mom trying to get herself sorted out."
In the morning, I told Tony, my junior mechanic, "Drain a quart out of the bottom of the tank, then put some super in it and some of that injector cleaner. Then drive it on deliveries and see if the miss goes away."
At noon, he reported, "Doing a lot better, no miss. But the oil is black and the filters are all shot. I'll bet the coolant is bad too."
"OK. I promised Ms. Sweeney I'd bring it back late today, if I could. Can we handle all that by 5?"
"Sure enough, boss. I'll wash it too. She seems like a nice lady."
"Yes, she is. We were in high school together, years ago. She married one of the best skiers in the world, but he killed himself last winter in Austria. Sad story."
"So what's she going to do here?
"Good question. She asked me for suggestions. We're going to talk about it over dinner."
Tony smiled at me. "Well, that's why you get paid so much, boss, so you can solve problems for pretty women!"
I punched his arm. "Yeah, right. Get back to work."
I called Katherine, told her the car was running ok, and asked when she would like to go to dinner.
She said, "We're pretty early with meals around here. I should have something ready for Robbie and the folks by five-thirty. Is that ok?"
"See you then."
"Is this dress up?"
"I thought we could go to Rosano's. Nice view, good food, not fancy."
Tony had the car looking a lot better than it did yesterday. As I walked up to Katherine's folks' house, it was even shining a little in the late sunlight.
Katherine was at the door by the time I got there, and stepped outside. "Oh my, what did you do to it? How broke am I going to be?"
I decided suspense was in order, "Let's talk about the bill after you've had a drink." Her eyes widened and she shook her head. After introducing me to Robbie and her mom and dad, we were on our way.
We rode in silence for a while. The car was humming nicely, I thought. She had a look that was part smile and part frown. "It sounds like a new engine. You didn't do that, did you?" she asked anxiously.
"You're very beautiful when you're worried and the color is in your face."
Now she looked fierce. "Eric Johnson, are you just trying to soften me up before you show me a big bill?"
Fortunately, we were pulling into the restaurant parking lot and I didn't have to answer that right away.
After we were settled at a window table and sipping a dry Riesling, I said, "I have a favor to ask."
We stared at each other while she thought about that. The cream colored blouse flattered her impressive chest.
"Don't I have to know about the bill before considering favors?"
"The Volvo had a bad case of water in the gas. We fixed that and a few other things, and it's back to being old reliable. I'd like you to forget the bill. Call it a welcome home present."
"Eric, you can't do that! It's not fair. My god, I almost had a heart attack worrying how I was going to pay some enormous bill just to have wheels." She gushed on, and then looked up at me, "Ok, but you have to let me buy dinner."
"No, I won't do that. I'm old fashioned. But I would like to take you on a regular date. If you're not seeing someone."
Silence while she thought about that. She reached out her hand and took mine. "I'd love to go out with you, but life is pretty complicated for me right now. You sure you want to date someone who has a lot of baggage?" She looked at me softly, wondering, I think, what my reaction would be.
I sipped the very nice wine, collecting my thoughts. "I have some history too. A marriage and a divorce, a couple of career changes."
"Kids?"
"No, fortunately." I added, "Susan and I get along. We just weren't meant for each other. She's moved down to Sacramento and gotten a real estate license. Says she likes the work."
I looked down. We were still holding hands. I raised hers up and kissed her knuckles. We stared at each other and she said, just as the waiter headed our way, "Is there some kind of connection going on between us?"
The food was very good and the conversation was easy. We didn't get around to talking about her future. Neither of us wanted dessert or coffee, so I paid the bill and we went out to the car. As she drove us back to town, I said, "You still want to talk about what you should be doing, jobwise? We could go to my place. I'm living in my parent's house, just rattling around. It's quiet."
Her hand was on mine again. "I do want to talk about that, even more now that we've had a nice dinner together. But Robbie and I have an early date in the morning to get him registered for school."
I said, "It's ok. I'm no fountain of wisdom on careers."
After a minute, she said, "What if I come over to your place and make us dinner Friday night? I have to check, but I think mom will look after Robbie again. They really get along together."
"Sounds fine to me, do I get to buy the groceries?"
"No, absolutely not. Especially after your miracle with the car."
***
I was closing the shop the next day when the Volvo pulled up. Katherine had a yellow summer dress on and looked great.
She stepped into the office and looked around before giving me a quick kiss on the lips.
"What did I do to deserve that? Oh, I know, the car is sick again."
I smirked at her and she punched me.
"Can't a girl get credit for anything around here?" She put her arm around me and I hugged her back.
"Hey, I came by because my sister called and asked if Robbie and I wanted to go up to the cabin at Quincy this weekend. When I told her I might be seeing you, she got all excited and said to invite you. She said she remembered you from high school."
"Melanie is a great person. We worked together on the class paper, but didn't date, except once."
"Once?"
"There was an end of year pool party for all the people who worked on the paper. The two of us got smashed and went almost all the way."
"Almost?"
"You want all the embarrassing details, eh? Going to blackmail your sister?" I kissed Katherine's ear.
"I do. I do. Reminds me of all the times some guy had his hand in my pants but I managed to avoid him having something inside me."
She looked at me. "So, would you like a weekend in the mountains?"