I left the garage about 3:00 PM and headed for home. I had only driven about four miles when in the distance I saw a small car stranded on the side of the road. I could see a petite frame possibly female maybe a young male underneath the hood. I usually tried to stop and help the stranded on the side of the road not because I owned a garage in town and it was good for business but because I had a mother and I hoped that someone would stop to help her if she ever found herself in a predicament. I pulled in behind the car and as I got out of my truck a familiar face came from around the side of the car. I was almost in shock and to be quiet truthful if I had known it was Susan I don't know if I would have been able to stop.
Let me explain! When I was younger I had become very close to Susan and her husband Rick. The three of us had been very close friends. Susan and I shared a love of music, reading and writing while Rick and I spent many hours with our heads stuck under the hood of a car or in some junkyard looking for our next project. At the time I felt like they were friends I would grow old with. However, things soon changed after I admitted being a lesbian. Don't get me wrong I never came out to the whole town just the people who mattered. I knew it would be hard for some but never imaged how things would play out. I told them on the way to a race we and some other friends were attending. Both of them seemed to take it well and confirmed that our friendship was not based on my sexual preferences. After a couple of months had passed Susan admitted that Rick had some serious problems with me. He no longer felt comfortable in my presence and thought it would be best if I did not come around anymore. I must admit it hurt me I looked up to Rick like I would and older brother but there was nothing I could do. Susan swore that she did not agree with him and that she still wanted to be a part of my life but slowly she too slipped away. It became more difficult for her to deal with him when he knew she had been with me. Therefore, we just stopped talking all together. I had not seen either of them in nearly four years until today.
"Oh my god!" she said as she threw her hands over her mouth as if she had tried to catch the air and force it down her throat. She threw here arms around my neck and hugged me as I got closer. Everything was so familiar but in my mind I new that things had not changed.
"How are you?" I asked.
"I've had better days." She sighed.
For just a moment I felt my heart ache as I realized that somewhere in the back of my mind I still cared for her. I had tried to make myself believe that I was over it and that my life was better for it. I broke an awkward stare and moved around to the front of the car.
"What's wrong with it?"
"The battery I think. I let it die in traffic and could not get it started back. I let it coast off the side of the road."
"Will it crank?"
"No." She moves to the door, reaches in and turns the ignition over. The only thing that is heard is a clicking noise from the starter. "I told Rick something was wrong but he is too interested in anything other than me to listen to what I say."
"Well I think it's your alternator. I can check it back at the shop. Or I can take you somewhere until Rick can take a look at it. It's up to you."
"If I wait on him I'll be waiting a while. He's in Miami on business if you could fix it I would be grateful."
I could tell by the sarcasms in her voice that Miami was not the only reason that the car would not get fixed. I gave her a ride back to the garage and sent one of my employees with the rollback to get her car. We sat in the back office and talked while she waited. She commented on how well I had done with the garage and that people in town had said that I was honest. I was surprised to know that she had silently sat back and watched me build a part of my dream. It seemed that this garage had kept me going over the years.
"I try to stay busy." I replied.
"So what about you?" I asked.
She forced a smile to her face and told me of her accomplishments and although she was very proud of the children's' books she had written and had published there was something missing in her eyes.
Todd, the mechanic, come to the office door to tell us it was going to be about an hour before her car would be ready and as he left I closed the door and walked over to sit down on the couch beside her. I could see tears welling up inside her eyes so I look away so she would not be embarrassed. She gently touched my hand and smiled the first real smile I had seen from her this evening.
"I've really missed you? I am sorry things have happened the way they have. I know it is not fair to you . You have loved so unselfishly. You were the last person I would've expected to stop and help me."
I did not dare mention my initial regret. I tried to enjoy the conversation as if all things were well but I could get past the pain I saw in her. Not just her eyes but her whole body even the way she sat on the sofa was that of a woman that had been pushed to the edge. The edge of what I did not know.
"Susan. Is everything okay?" I asked.
"What do you mean?
"I mean are you okay? You sit before me almost in tears and I am pretty sure it is not because you are so overwhelmed with joy to finally see me again. So what is it?"
She sat there a few moments frozen in my sudden bit of reality. Unable to speak she dropped her head and began to cry.
