"Hey woman you 'kay?" The gruff southern voice finally reached Carol's ears. She looked up at the stranger in confusion. When did he get here? She thought as she stood up and finally noticed a pickup truck parked behind her car.
"Yes, I'm fine, but my car not so much." Carol replied finally. "How's about I take a look at it than" the stranger replied.
"Sure" Carol replied.
The stranger walked over to the hood of the car waving his hands to fan the steam and smoke. He poked his head into the hood to get a closer look at something.
"Found it, there's a hold in your radiator, there must have been a buildup of pressure, punctured a hole right through it." He replied as he looked over his shoulder at the women behind him.
"Just great" "Carol muttered grinding her teeth. Another problem,
"So can you patch it and I can drive home?" Carol replied hopeful.
"nah it ain't gonna drive " the man replied. "Your gonna need a tow" he replied. Crushing any and all of Carol's hope for a quick fix. Carol's thoughts started running ramped now how she was gonna get home, and back to… Ed! She recalled frightened.
"I can't… If he saw a charge for the tow…. he would … he would "she started to say before trailing off.
The stranger narrowed his eyes waiting for the woman to finish her sentence. He would what? He thought to himself. Just then Carol turned her cheek to the side muttering to herself incoherently, unaware she had just given the stranger an unhindered view. He didn't need to wonder anymore. He saw a fresh purple bruise on the side of this lady's face and a sudden uncontrollable uneasiness came over him. This wasn't his problem, he shouldn't get involved, he thought to himself. However, when he chanced a glance at the woman in front of him, any reservations he had suddenly melted away. For some unknown reason he found himself wanting to help this lady.
"I could tow you." I have chains in my truck, he said. Carol stopped muttering to herself long enough to look at the stranger. "I got a shop 'bout 10 miles from here, I could tow u, if you want" he said. Carol weighted her options in her mind. If Ed saw a tow charge on their credit card, she knew he would beat her till she was blue. If she came home late with his beer, maybe, just maybe, she would just get yelled at. It would be far less damming to herself to just get the car towed by this stranger.
"I would like that, thank you." Carol replied finally with her mind made up.
"Okay, let me hook up the car." the stranger replied. Carol waited on the side as the friendly stranger drove his truck on front of her car and began to hook up her car to his with some chains.
"Okay get in "the stranger replied. Carol obeyed and climbed into the passenger side of the truck. She closed the door and fasten her seat belt. The man began to drive on the road, and towards the shop.
After about 3 minutes of silence the man finally spoke up. "So where were you going before your car broke down?" Carol, looked at him and smiled coyly before responding.
"I don't talk to strangers." she replied. The man couldn't help whipping his head in her direction. Is she serious he thought, but then he noticed her cute smile, and realized she was joking, before chuckling a little himself, but only a little bit before returning back to his normal face.
"Okay, let's fix that then, I'm Daryl, what's your name woman?" Carol smiled, before extending her hands to Daryl.
"My name is Carol" she smiled. The man took one hand from the wheel and reached out to shake her hand. The minute there fingers touched he felt a jolt run up his arm. He quickly yanked his arm away as if it was on fire and turned his head to face front.
"Are you okay?" Carol asked confused.
"I'm okay" Daryl replied curtly before turning his face away from her, hiding a soft blush that was forming on his face. What the hell was that he though? As he continued to drive towards his shop.