Disclaimer: I don't own anything here and am just doing this for fun and to pass the long months until Season 4.
Tim returned from the Alamo Freeze to find Al wiping her greasy hands on a rag while rushing to answer the phone. Her hair was starting to slip out of the ponytail and the humid weather made it even more curly than usual.
"Riggins Rigs, Al speaking. How may I help you?"
Tim smiled at Al's phone voice. It was flirty and smiley, yet also competent and courteous. Billy preferred she answer the phone whenever possible, which was fine by Tim.
"Oh, Buddy. Right, how's it going?" Al looked at Tim. He raised the bags and pointed to the break room. She nodded, so he headed that way.
"You need to cancel Lyla's appointment for the week of Thankgiving?"
His steps slowed when he heard Lyla's name. He hadn't realized she'd had an appointment to come into the garage. He had deleted her voicemail message without listening to it. About a week after The Incident, as he'd come to think of it, she'd sent him a single email, which he'd deleted without opening. That was the sum total of her communication attempts in the last two months.
"Well, Buddy, you know they do have mechanics in Nashville....No, I'm sure they won't rip you off."
Tim shook his head and hurried into the break room. He didn't know how long Buddy would yammer at Al, but he didn't want to get caught eavesdropping. He grabbed a couple of plates and put them on the table. (Al liked to "eat like civilized people, not savages," which meant no eating out of cardboard boxes or paper wrappings.) He plated their lunches and was pouring glasses of water when Al arrived.
"Jesus, Buddy could talk for Texas, now couldn't he?" She washed her hands and sat down at the table, smiling. He gave her a thin-lipped, half-hearted smile in return.
"Thanks for getting lunch. Mrs. Wilson stopped in and her car needs a right-quick oil change before four today, think you can squeeze that in?"
Tim nodded. "Yeah, I only have to finish replacing the carburetor in Diego's truck, which should only take maybe another hour."
"You're a pal." She grinned at him then took a bite of her burger.
"So, what was Buddy saying about Lyla?" Tim tried for casual but thought he'd missed the mark by several hundred miles.
Al sighed and took a sip of water. "Timmy, don't make yourself miserable over her."
"I'm not. I was just wondering what was going on with the business." The words sounded even lamer out loud than they had in his head.
"I'll tell you what's going on with the business – it's going great and I've got ideas to make it even greater."
"Is that so?" Her enthusiasm was hard to ignore. So was the speed at which she ate. Her burger was nearly gone and she was well into her fries while he'd barely made a start on his lunch.
"Yeah. Now, what's a problem that we have?"
"I don't know. What's a problem that we have?" He grinned at her.
"Well, our customers have to leave their cars with us and sometimes it takes a few days before we can fix them, right?"
He nodded.
"So they're without a car. And if they live too far away from here, then it isn't feasible for them to be without a car, so we lose their business to a more conveniently located, and probably far inferior, mechanic. Right?"
"Yeah, I guess." He had no idea where she was going with this.
"What if we were able to offer our customers loaner cars, free of charge."
He thought about that for a second. "Sounds like a good idea, but would we have to buy cars or something? That sounds expensive."
"Ah, see, that's linear, negative thinking. I got a fantastic out-of-the-box idea." Her eyes were sparkling and her smile was impish. This was Al at her best – excited and ready to take on the world. Tim decided to enjoy it, and not think about how he was going to sit on the back deck with her later that evening and watch her try to drown her sorrows in a bottle of Scotch..
"OK, then, so wow me with your idea." He leaned back and folded his arms behind his head.
"We go to Buddy with a business proposition. We'll fix up his used cars for only the cost of parts, in exchange for us getting to loan those cars out for a period of two to three weeks per car."
"Buddy Garrity?" Tim frowned.
"Is there another?"
"Not around here, no... I hate to tell you this, but the holes in your brilliant idea are big enough for Bruno to run through."
"Such as?" She wasn't annoyed, but Tim could see her digging in for a fight. She clearly believed in this crazy plan.
"Such as Buddy Garrity's got his own mechanics. Why's he need to send any cars to us?"
"Two things on that. First, Buddy's mechanics are working on cars that Buddy's sold, usually new cars, sometimes under warranty, sometimes not. Point is, they're busy and he doesn't wanna be spending labor money on cars that ain't even sold yet."
Tim considered this for a second. It made a certain amount of sense. "You said two things. What's the second?"
"Buddy is quite insistent that we work on Lyla's car. He doesn't want her going to a mechanic in Nashville. He doesn't want his own guys working on it. He wants us to do it. What's that tell you?"
Tim shrugged. "I don't know. Buddy hates me so I can't understand why he'd want us to work on Lyla's car."
"Because, in the last few months, Riggins Rigs has obtained a stellar reputation for quality, reliable repairs at reasonable prices. Have you seen our ratings on RateMyMechanic-dot-com?"
Tim had a hazy recollection of Billy proudly showing him all their five star ratings. "Yeah, but I seem to remember that more than half of them said how you were the hottest female mechanic in West Texas."
Al flushed and looked down. "Yeah, well, that's sorta like being the smartest kid on the short bus or the prettiest Denny's waitress."
Tim threw some fries at her. "Don't put yourself down."
"I'm being self-deprecating. There is a difference." She threw the fries back at him.
"And you really think Buddy will do business with us?"
"I know he will. Because there's something in it for him, too. These loaners, they're like free advertising and extended test drives for people whose cars are maybe unreliable, people who are possibly in the market for a new or used car. I can see some of them even falling in love with the loaners, especially if we really have 'em purring."
Tim nodded slowly. "You're an evil genius, you know that right?"
She swatted at him playfully. "No, I'm just a regular genius."
"Al, seriously, the more I think about this, the more brilliant it seems. Did you go to college for business?"
She shook her head. "Biochemistry and genetics, actually."
"For real?"
"Yep. Gotta BA in Biochemistry with a minor in organic chem and a Masters in Genetics."
"Uh, what are you doing fixing cars?"
She shrugged, stood up, and started clearing the table. "Grew up with seven older brothers and did everything they did. Even played high school football."
"You did not."
"I did. I was just the kicker and really only because it was a small school and we could barely field a team, but I could nail a field goal from 40 yards. Once, I even tackled a punt returner."
Tim gave a low whistle of appreciation. "Not too shabby."
Al turned to take the dishes to the sink, but Tim grabbed her arm. "Al, you really think this idea will work?"
"I know it will. We've been getting calls from as far away as Midland. It's just if we can't do fast turnaround, we lose the customers who are farther out."
He let her arm go and looked up at her. "Good. Because Billy said we'd have to talk about my future when things slowed down and y'all didn't need me anymore. I'm not ready to think about that."
Al brushed Tim's hair back from his face. "Tim, you know we're going to need you here, always. It's just that Billy, well, it was hard for him to see you walk away from what he thought was best for you. But he's coming around and he loves having you here. We both do."
Before Tim could say anything, the ringing phone interrupted them. He watched Al drop the dishes in the sink and rush into the office. He smiled to himself, until he realized that she'd completely avoided his question. If he had two science degrees, he doubted he'd be fixing cars in the middle of nowhere in Texas.