The day was hot, but in Drewberry, Georgia it always was. The summers were hotter than hell, the winters were harsher than the devil, falls brought bad winds, while spring brings heavy rainfall. Every season has their tough weather. Today it was already a hundred degrees out and it isn't even ten o'clock yet. By the time noon comes, Eli knows it'll be around hundred and ten and Eli is not looking forward to it.

Eli Dixon got lucky, while his cousin is back in the death trap that is their workplace, roasting inside the stuffy garage, Eli got to go to the diner to pick up breakfast for them all. He can already hear his cousin bitching about the heat. The garage has windows and they always keep the shutters open on hot days like today, but the garage heated up quickly and the wind never seems to get inside the garage no matter how many windows they had open. Eli was not looking forward to being in there at noon.

He's driving slow to prevent going back their any time soon. Driving down the hot paved road he sees a car sitting on the side of the road, a woman looking at it as if staring at it would make it work. Eli bites his lip, unable to drive by. He was raised to never raise a hand to a woman or child and to always be a gentleman to women. She looks like she could use help and it wasn't in Eli's nature to just drive by.

He pulls the truck over and kills the engine. He hops out and heads for the woman. "Problem?" He asks, causing the woman to turn to look at him. The woman was gorgeous. Big blue eyes that resembled the sky, dark auburn curls that ran wild, soft pale skin. She was simple and the simpleness of her made her gorgeous. She wasn't overly thin like some girls in Drewberry or overly heavy, she was average weight. She didn't have huge boobs or dressed to make it look like she did, but they weren't tiny either. She has the most average body, but it's the way she carries herself that makes her beautiful. She looked like the type that seen shit and refuses to let it bother her. She looked to be around Eli's dad's age.

"Oh, uh..." The woman looks over at the car with a look of pure frustration. "It just broke down. I don't know what's wrong with it or..."

"How about I take a look?"

"Oh, I don't want to bother you." Eli laughs and shakes his head.

"Trust me, you ain't-a bother. In fact, the longer I take here the longer it'll take before I have to get back to work."

"Hold old are you?" Eli looks over and raises an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"You look too young to not be in school." Eli grins at her.

"Graduated last year. I'm nineteen."

"Oh." Eli pops her hood and smoke billows out. Eli coughs, swatting the smoke away. "That doesn't seem good."

"No, it doesn't." Eli agrees before stepping back. "When was the last time you got this car checked over?" The woman frowns and looks at the car in anger as if the car was a person to be scolded.

"My ex-husband was supposed to have it done... Guess it's yet another thing he didn't do for me." Eli glances over at her and bites his thumb.

"Why don't I call my cousin, he'll get this towed and I can take a look at it back at the shop."

"You're a mechanic?"

"Mhm. My dad owns a shop with his brother. Worked there since I was thirteen."

"Wow, that's young." Eli shrugs.

"Uncle Merle says if I'm old enough to jerk off I'm old enough to fix a car." Her face burns red as Eli looks under the hood, missing her shocked glance. "I'm Eli by the way."

"Carol."

"You new here or something?" He turns and looks at her. "Small town, everybody knows everybody and I ain't ever seen you before."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm new." She nods. "Moved here only last week."

"Drewberry's a good town. Like any other small country town. Filled with good and bad folks, all of them loving gossip more than life. Half the kids that graduate try to escape the others stay and live their entire lives here just like their parents."

"Which are you?" Eli turns and looks at her.

"The ones who stayed. I got better shit to do then go off wandering a world where people won't give you shit. At least here I got my family to look out for me until I can get my own place and my own life." Eli turns back to the car. "You're car's shot to shit. Gotta check it over at the shop and see what I can do to fix it, but just from first glance there's a lot of broken shit here."

"Wonderful. Nothing ever can go right." Eli snorts as he turns to her.

"Sounds like my dad." Eli smiles. "Always bitching." She gave him a look, but he ignored it. "I'll fix this up in no time. You got the best mechanics working on it now. There ain't nothing a Dixon can't fix."

"Have you lived in Drewberry all your life?"

"Yup. Generation of generation of Dixons lived here."

"They never wanted to leave?"

"Sure some did, but if they did then it's always to the military. The Dixon men have always been military folk. My uncle served ten years in the military before coming back here to raise my dad."

"What about your dad?"

"Before he could sign up the woman who birthed me got pregnant. Had to stay to raise me."

"You don't call her your mom?" Eli frowns and shakes his head.

"The way I see it, she only was the carrier. Once I was born she was out of the picture and my dad raised me on his own."

"Must have been hard."

"Dixons have always had a hard time. We just suck it up and deal with the cards dealt to us."

"You sure you're nineteen? You sound a hell of a lot smarter." Eli grins and closes the hood of her car.

"Got it from my dad. Grew up fast. All us Dixons have. So, tell me, where are you from?"

"Skyvalley."

"That's on the other side of the state. Why move so far?" Eli asks.

"Fresh start." Eli hums in response.

"Let me call my dad and have him send Dean over to tow your car. Bet he'd be glad to get out of the toast oven of a garage." The woman smiles.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem, Carol."