It was a Friday night and Erica had decided to work late tonight instead of coming in any during the weekend. Her reasoning for this was that her husband was out of town with his boss and the kids were gonna spend the weekend with some of their cousins. No since rushing home to an empty house and besides, Bryan would be back in tomorrow and she hoped they could do some catching up on much needed alone time. At about eight o'clock she finished up the last of the paperwork she needed to go over for her presentation Monday morningLate Night In The Parking Garageuck her how quiet the floor was with everybody gone and heads off towards the elevator.
Riding down the elevator she let her mind drift to the hot, soothing bubble bath she planned on getting once she got home. The ding of the elevator as its doors opened brought her out of her little daydream and she stepped out on the third level of the parking garage that was attached to the building she worked in. She had parked down close to the end of the row this morning cause almost everything else was full. As she got close to her car she noticed that a few stalls up was another car, which she found peculiar since she thought she was the last to leave. When she was even with the back of her car she saw a lady stand up and lean against the car door, her back to Erica. Seeing how it looked as if she might need something Erica continued on. The lady turned towards her as she heard the click of Erica's heels on the concrete.
"Hey there, do you need some help" Erica asked as she came around the cars back end.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that I do. When I tried to start the car my battery ran down and then when I tried to use my cell phone, it too had a dead battery. Frustrated when I popped the hood to look at the battery the door closed and of course it was locked, so now my keys and phone are inside of a locked car. Sorry to ramble on like this."
"Hey, if I was in your shoes I would probably be in hysterics by now so you're holding up pretty good. Don't I know you from somewhere?"
"I work down in the shipping part of the office, we have come across each other in the break room and in a couple of meetings, I am Anna."
"Erica, and it's a nice to meet you, albeit under wrong circumstances. Look, it is starting to rain so why don't you come with me back to my car and you can use my cell phone and call someone about your car and wait there and stay warm and dry."
"Thank you so much Erica, I really do appreciate this."
The two ladies head back down the alleyway towards Erica's car and she unlocks her doors with the remote and they both climb in. Erica starts the car and turns on the heat to low and so it is blowing down on their feet and digs out her own cell phone and hands it to Anna. Anna dials a number off of a card and is speaking with an operator. Erica tries not to eavesdrop but can tell that what Anna is getting is not good news. She hangs up the phone and hands it back to Erica with a sigh of disgust.
"Well, that was my auto-club and the dispatcher said it could be anywhere between and hour and a half to two hours until a truck and get free to come for me, apparently this storm has them stretched out all over the city already with other breakdowns. Guess this means I am gonna have a long wait by the car. I can't thank you enough for letting me use your cell phone though Erica, glad you happen to come along."
"Nonsense, I am sure you would do the same for me and besides, unless you just don't like my company you are not gonna get out of the car to go and stand by yours, I plan on staying here until the Calvary arrives for your car."
"No, I don't wanna keep you from going home to your family" Anna said.
"Well, just so happens I don't have anyone to rush home to tonight. My husband has gone out of town for a couple of days, will be back tomorrow sometime after lunch, and the kids have gone to stay the weekend with their cousins. So see there, no inconvenience for me at all."
"Thanks, I really do appreciate this Erica."
The two ladies drifted into a silence as they relax in the soft seats. As the car warmed up they both talked about the job and so forth.
"Are you married" Erica asked Anna.
"Yes, I am" Anna said, " most the time anyhow. Ron, my husband is working for a new company that makes gaskets for industrial use. The downside of that is he is gone a lot during the week and sometimes that carries over into the weekend."
"How long have you been married?"
"Right at ten months now. We dated for a year then got engaged and was engaged for four months. We met thru some mutual friends at a Labor Day cookout. We haven't got the start on kids yet but have decided once he settles down with the business we are gonna hop to that."
Erica told her that she and Bryan had been married going on seven years and have three children and just recently did she go back to work, she had waited for the youngest one to get into first grade. Once again silence filled the car as they both relaxed. After a few minutes Anna spoke.
"Erica, would you mind if I took my heels off, my feet need a break from these shoes and the heat feels really nice on my legs making my feet jealous" Anna said with a giggle. Of course Erica told her that would be fine and she would most likely do the same.
The car was dimly lit by the lights of the dashboard and the lights that shone from the garage filtering in thru the dark tint. Unconsciously Erica looked over at Anna as she pulled her skirt up a little to give her a little more room to bend forward and pull off her shoes. Finished she sat back up and stretch out her feet and wiggled her toes.
"Ah, that feels much better, thank you so much. Do you mind if I recline the seat back a little while we wait?"
