I pulled the mid-nineties ford pickup into the dirt parking lot and came to a stop. The motor was rumbling loudly as I sat in the driver's seat, mentally preparing myself for my first day of work – ever. I sighed, killing the engine and watching the dust the old truck had stirred up settle behind me in the rear view mirror. I took a few more moments to calm myself before opening the door and stepping out into the warm Georgia sun. The heels of my shoes sank into the dirt as I started toward the shop, I grumbled to myself as I tried to walk on the balls of my feet to spare my poor shoes.
The building was solid and squat, made of concrete with huge garage doors across the front. The red and white sign above the doors read: Walker's Towing and Mechanic Garage, it was owned by my Uncle Jeff, everyone called him J.W. including his wife, my Aunt April. They had offered me a job doing paperwork and arraigning tows, and a place to live after my parents kicked me out of their house.
"There you are!" J.W. beamed when he saw me entering the shop. The smell of gas and oil hung heavy in the air, making me scrunch my face, "Don't worry, you'll get used to the smell. Glad to see that old truck gotcha here okay."
"Did you think it wouldn't?" I asked, wondering if he'd given me a death trap to drive. The car I'd left behind at my parent's house was a 2014 Lincoln MKZ, the switch to the old truck was night and day and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss my car.
"Just glad she didn't blow up on ya," He said seriously, looking out the window as my eyes doubled in size. He started chuckling, "I'm just messin' with ya, Charlie."
"Very funny," I rolled my eyes at him as he clapped me on the shoulder. I looked around the nearly empty garage. Three men were seated at a foldout card table with a box of doughnuts in the middle, talking and drinking coffee.
"Well, let's start by introducing you to some of the guys," J.W. offered, steering me towards the card table. I tried watching my step, not wanting to get oil on the bottom of my my shoes, "Alright, this here is Charlie, boys," He announced, J.W. had always insisted on calling me Charlie despite my Mom correcting him every time she caught him. After elementary school my Mother insisted I be called Charlotte, she said it sounded more polished, "Charlie, this is Jasper, Ricky, and Mertin. We got a few more guys that work here, but they're our tow truck drivers and they're all out on calls." The three men offered up hellos and I returned a smile and a pleasant 'Good Morning' before J.W. showed me the rest of the shop.
"This is the break room," He gestured to a small, closet like space that held a small fridge, a sink, and an old, blackened coffee pot.
"What happened?" I asked, pointing to the charred appliance.
"Started smoking this morning, and that is your first task," He smiled, "I need you to run and get us a new coffee maker," J.W. pulled out his wallet, "Get one like your Aunt's got at the house."
"A Kurig?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm tired of them leaving stale coffee that's fulla grounds in the pot and it burning," He handed me three hundred dollar bills and a Costco card, "Get a bunch of them little cups too."
"Okay," I nodded, "Where's there a Costco?"
"You're gonna have to head into Alpharetta, you need a map?" He pulled a pen and small notebook from his shirt pocket and began sketching out directions.
"I've got my phone," I said, "I can use the gps."
"You're gonna lose the signal for a bit, kind of a dead zone up the road, April's always getting' mad when she loses service up there," He finished up his directions and handed them over to me, "Just in case, don't want ya getting' lost."
"Thanks," I smiled, tucking the sheet of paper into my purse and putting the money in my wallet, "Do you need anything else?"
"Nah, just the coffee maker will be good," He said, "If you want to take my truck out there you can, it's hot and that little Ranger don't have air in it," He unclasped his keys from his belt, "Just be careful with her."
"No worries," I smiled, thinking that spending a few hours heading to pick up a new coffee brewer would be better than spending them in the garage.
"When you get back I'll show you your office and we'll go over how to schedule tows and all that boring stuff," J.W. grinned, "Be careful and call if you need anything."
"If I have service," I joked.
"Send a smoke signal," He returned, "See ya in a few hours."
I exited the building, again walking on the balls of my feet, and crossed the lot to J.W.'s silver pickup. I unlocked the vehicle and pulled myself up into the cab, doubting my ability to navigate the F-250 for a moment. I started up the truck and adjusted the seat so I could reach the gas and the brake comfortably; I took a look at J.W.'s map before pulling out of the lot and embarking on my hour ride to the warehouse store.
I grew up outside of Charleston, South Carolina in a 5 bedroom home my parents had built when my mother was pregnant with me. My dad was a high-profile lawyer who was now vying for a senate seat and my mom was a pharmacist until she had me, then she stayed home.
My parents always had high expectations for me, through high school I was on the honor roll and in my first year of college I made the Dean's list. I had the life that a lot of people dream about, my college tuition was paid in full, my car was paid for, I had a credit card I never saw a bill for, and I had Andrew. He was 6'4", he had dark brown eyes and chiseled features that put Greek gods to shame; He was also kind, caring, and one of the sweetest people I'd ever met.
Despite all that I had, I was unhappy and incredibly uncertain about my future and what exactly it was I wanted. After my first year at college, I decided I needed some time to find myself, I needed time to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. After realizing that I needed a major change in my life, I told Andrew I needed some space and I couldn't keep letting him invest himself in me when I couldn't do the same for him. It didn't mean I didn't love him, I did, but I had to let him go. When I told my parents about my revelation, that I wouldn't be going back to school in the fall, they both stared blankly at me, the weight of their silence was crushing until my dad finally spoke, telling me I needed to find a new place to live.
I called my Aunt April – my mother's sister – asking her if I could stay with her. She didn't hesitate in saying yes and she asked how soon I could be packed and ready. It took two days for me to pack everything in my room and in those two days my parents hardly spoke to me. My mom didn't say a word as Aunt April helped me take my boxes out to the car and she didn't say goodbye.
I'd cried for a majority of the ride back to King's County, Georgia, somewhere around halfway Aunt April pulled over on the side of the freeway and turned to speak to me.
"Honey," She began, placing a manicured hand on my back, "I know you're hurting right now, but I want you to know that you didn't do anything wrong. Your parents have been putting pressure on you to meet their expectations as long as I can remember and you wanting to take some time for you to figure out whatever it is you need to figure out, isn't the end of the world. In a year, or three years, school will be there. Hell, if you don't want to go back, if that's what's best for you, that's what you need to do. You're young, sweetheart, figure out what it is you need to be happy. You know you can stay with J.W. and I as long as you need to and he's already said you can come work for him at the garage. We'll help you the best we can."
"Thank you," Was all I could choke out. She pulled me into a hug across the center console of her car and we continued our way.
Once I picked up the items I'd been sent out for, I headed back to the shop where I could see two tow trucks now parked in front of the shop. When I pulled up, Mertin was outside and when he saw me struggling with the Kurig box he came over to offer some help.
"Thank you," I said as he lifted the coffee maker out of the backseat of the cab.
"You're welcome," He responded before turning his head and spitting a stream of brown spit onto the dirt. I saw the huge wad of tobacco he had between his lower lip and gum line and held back my disgust as I focused on carrying the huge box of coffee and not sinking my heels in the dirt, "You want this in the break room, ma'am?"
"Please," I said as J.W. came out of his office.
"Here," He said, taking the box of coffee from me, "How was it?"
"It was good, I made it in one piece, only rear-ended one car," I smirked.
"Haha," He said with a joking sarcasm, as Mertin emerged from the break room and we went in, "You can set this thing up, right?"
"Of course," I smiled, "Are you gonna need a crash course on how to use it?"
"No, no, I can use it. I just don't know how to set the time."
"Are the guys going to know how to use it?" I asked, glancing out into the garage and seeing two new faces among the older men.
"Maybe you could type up some directions for it. That might help 'em," He suggested as I started unboxing the Kurig.
"Sure," I nodded, starting to pull the machine out only to have J.W. take over and set it on the counter for me, "Thanks."
"Come see me when you're finished, alright?"
"Will do," I answered. Setting up the Kurig only took me a few minutes, I put away the k-cups in a drawer, making sure to display the various flavors I'd picked up and stowing the extra boxes of k-cups in a cabinet. I crossed the garage and popped my head in J.W.'s office so he could show me where I would be working. My office was about the size of the walk in closet I'd had at my parent's house and right next door to the break room; an old, beat up desk was in the middle of the room with an even worse off chair. On the desk, however, was a brand new MacBook.
"This is for you," J.W. smiled, gesturing towards the notebook, "It's for work, but we thought it might be a nice way for you to keep in touch with your friends back home or if you wanted to take some classes at the community college, we want you to be able to if that's what you decide."
"Thank you," I smiled, wrapping my arms around him.
"You're welcome, Charlie," He pulled away from me, "I've got a new desk and chair coming for you this week."
"Okay," I nodded with a grin, starting to feel optimistic about my new – and first – job, "So, what do you want me to start on?"
"Well," He said, glancing at his watch, "If you wanted to call it early today, I need to wrap a few things up-"
"Hey, J.W. Dixon just pulled in," Jasper called from the garage.
"I'll be right out," J.W. called back, he looked to me and lowered his voice, "Gotta talk to him about his hours. He's been workin' 50 hour weeks," He shook his head, "Man's the best worker I got, but I can't afford all that over time."
"I'll let you get to that then," I said, looking forward to getting home, "I'll see you at home."
"See ya there, Charlie," He said before he turned and headed into the garage, leaving me to scoop up my MacBook and shut the door to my office.
Later that night, before I went to bed, I was on Facebook checking in on the lives of the friends I'd left behind. I was lurking around when a message window
popped up, it was from Andrew.
"Charlotte," He began, "I know you want space and time to get yourself together, but it's been a month and I can't just pretend like I don't love you anymore. I do and I need to talk to you, but I don't think you want any part of that. So, I'll just tell you what I have to say. I love you, Charlotte, and I promise I won't put any pressure on you to be one way or another, I won't demand you figure your life out, I just want you. Please call me.
Love and Miss You,
Andrew."
I sighed, his words tugged at my heart and I hastily closed my laptop stopping myself from replying to his earnest message. I set the computer on the nightstand beside my bed and turned the light off and closed my eyes only to have my thoughts go into overdrive. I did my best to clear my mind and finally, after what felt like – and very well might have been – hours of debating whether or not to reply to Andrew, I drifted off to sleep.
hi! thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of Every Little Bit. i hope you enjoyed it and will leave me a bit of feedback, i'd love to hear from you! in the next chapter, we'll meet daryl. ;)