Isabelle Darden scoffed as she threw her cell phone onto the passenger seat as she drove. If she got one more phone call from her mother wondering if she had met any "handsome men" lately she was going to scream. She thought relocating to a quaint little area in Wisconsin, which she had picked blindly from a map, and putting some distance between the two of them would decrease the nagging, but it seemed to intensify it. That was just her luck.
Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Isabelle grew up exuding independence. She had lost her father at a young age, but inherited his love and appreciation of historical buildings and architecture. She had no siblings, which had increased her loneliness, but when she got herself into a project her mind was focused and the world, and the anxiety it brought, fell away. She had gone to school in Boston and had built her career as an interior designer there, but the city had become stifling. She needed to breathe. Which is what brought her to Emerald Grove, Wisconsin.
After a hectic day of finding water damage and termites in the Victorian house she was flipping, her mother had been icing on the cake. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the wheel tighter. Her frustration was mounting. She blew her brown bangs out of her hazel eyes and tried to focus on the road ahead.
"Just breathe. Boston is miles upon miles away." She told herself. "Next time she calls, or anyone else for that matter, just don't pick up."
She shook her head and tried to remain vigilant, but the nagging topic of conversation wouldn't vacate her mind.
"Why wait for Mr. Right anyway?" she reminded herself. "He probably doesn't even exist."
It had been her motto for a while now. She had always been content being by herself. The endless questioning of "when are you going to find someone?" or "do you want to get married?," was growing tiresome. She didn't need a guy. All she needed was her. She had even told people that if they wanted to see her get married so badly she would have a ceremony and just marry herself. Then, they could all stop. She was tempted to do it, too.
Just then the clouds opened up and a violent downpour fell from the dark gray sky. Isabelle put the windshield wipers on as high as they would go and squinted to see through the teeming water. She slowed her speed and tried to keep an eye on what was in front of her. Of course, she had to be in a desolate area. She spotted something crossing the road, or at least she thought she did. It didn't matter though because as a reflex she turned the wheel sharply to miss whatever it was and ended up putting her SUV right into a small ditch.
Isabelle slammed her head on the top of the steering wheel.
"Why is my life doing this to me?" she groaned.
Composing herself, she shifted the gear into reverse. The ditch wasn't that deep so she assumed she would easily be able to pull out of it. Isabelle put her booted foot on the gas and could feel the car trying to move backward and failing miserably. She pushed her foot down harder and heard the wheels turning desperately against the mud.
As she opened the car door she surveyed her environment. The rain was now a light mist but it had already done its damage. The saturated ground had claimed her red SUV as its own. Putting her left leg out tentatively, the heel of her boot sank deep. She began to try and lift it back up, but was met with difficulty. It felt very heavy as mud encompassed her limb, though, thinking she could somehow get to a new location, she did the same with her right foot. She balanced herself against the car and tried her best to walk toward the road. As she got closer and met the shoulder, it was then she remembered that her cell phone was on the passenger's seat. She shut her eyes, fisted her hands at her sides, and grunted loudly into the brisk air.
Today was just not her day.
The sound of something down the road caused her eyes to snap open. She shifted to her left and craned her neck to see if she could spot anything coming. To her amazement it was a truck. Not just a truck, but a tow truck. Could it be that her luck was turning?
As the truck came closer she willed for it to see her, waving her hands in the air to try and gain the driver's attention. Just as a smile started to form on her face the wheel of the truck hit a massive puddle in the road, causing its contents to splash all over her. She spit away the excess mud water streaming down her face and patted down her clothes.
Luck? What luck?
The driver quickly pulled over and jumped out of the vehicle. Charlie, or so the patch on his steel blue shirt said, jogged toward her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Peachy." She replied, grimly.
"I'm really sorry." He apologized.
He had a kind face and seemed to be around her age, late twenties/early thirties. Isabelle felt at ease because of that. The light rain was beginning to dampen his dark mop of hair. It started to cling to his forehead where it contrasted with his blue eyes, making them stand out as the second thing Isabelle noticed about him.
His intense blue eyes reminded her of a sea after a storm and were filled with concern as his hand ran through his hair, combing it back with his fingers. Water spots were appearing on his blue uniform as they stood and stared at each other.
He finally introduced himself breaking through the silence. "I'm Charlie. Charlie Baker."
"Isabelle Darden."
"I see your car is stuck in the mud." He said with a slight smile, trying to create more of an ice breaker.
"What tipped you off?" She asked, her mood, like herself, muddied.
She started to venture back to her car, a few steps back into what felt like quicksand. Her jeans and blouse were getting wet and dirty, her bang matted to her face, and once bouncing ponytail deflated behind her. The quicker they could get this over with, the better.
She folded her arms against her chest and stood firm. She mostly stood firm because she wasn't sure she'd be able to stand as straight as she once again was ankle deep in mud.
"I can hook up your car to the truck and drag it out if you'd like."
"Thanks."
He nodded, "No problem."
She tried to move out of her position, but quickly felt her legs waver. Her arms spanned out like wings and she was able to regain her balance and turned slowly around. She wanted to retrieve her bag and phone from the car, and she knew she should wait, but she also just wanted her stuff. One slow step then another seemed to do the trick until she felt the earth become uneven.
The little ditch was connected to a small hill. Her left leg slid forward and she felt herself go backwards. Soon her back was on the ground and she started to glide down the small embankment. A scream came out of her mouth. Suddenly, she felt large hands on her as she was hoisted up and placed against something rock hard. She looked up and saw Charlie looking down at her.
"What are you doing?" he questioned.
"I wanted to go back to my car." She answered.
"You couldn't wait until I got it out of the mud?"
"I wanted my stuff!" She said sternly.
She pushed herself from his arms and tried to trek back up to the road only to lose her stability yet again. She caught herself as she fell forward, her hands now covered with mud. She heard a chuckle behind her. She turned over her shoulder to see Charlie smirking.
"Don't laugh." She said.
He pursed his lips and cleared his throat. "Wouldn't dream of it." He then smiled at her and said, "You want some help now?"
Defeated she sighed, "Yes, please."
He walked over to her, he was even swaying in the mud, and his hands were on her once more. He tried to lift her but she stopped him.
"Don't try to be all Superman with me." She said.
"I'm trying to help." He countered.
She nodded her head and tried to mask the blush that was creeping on her face as his hands returned. She looked down at the ground as he got her straightened up.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing."
"You must really like mud since you're staring at it so intently."
"Well, I am wearing it, aren't I?" Referring to her mud covered clothes, front and back.
She lifted her head and her hazel eyes met his blue ones... and his perfectly clean face. Something came over her as she then took her hand and slid a finger down his cheek, creating a line of dirt.
"Looks good on you." She smirked.
His eyes widened at her action. "Did you just put mud on my face?"
"Yup." She said and she closed her mouth tightly to suppress a smile.
She watched his hand glide against her clothes then moved to her face, mimicking what she had just done to his.
"You missed a spot."
Her mouth opened wide and she bent down and scooped up a handful of mud and threw it at his shirt, marking it. She started to laugh as his eyes widened again. He then bent down himself and gathered up some of the wet ground. Soon they were whipping clods of mud at each other. They were both howling in laughter as they did so. How had it even come to this? One minute she was waiting for a savior to travel down the road and the next she's slinging mud pies at the guy driving the tow truck she desperately needed.
They both stopped to regain their breath and smiled at one another through dirt stained faces.
"Something tells me you've done this before." She said, a little impressed.
"I have brothers and sisters that aren't afraid to get dirty." He replied, a wistful emotion coming over his face.
She tried to walk toward him and ended up falling into his arms.
"We have to stop meeting like this." She said softly as she bit her lip.
His face had splatters of dirt all over it but he was still so attractive. It seemed like their faces were gravitating toward each other, but she pulled away before anything could happen. This wasn't how she worked, not when she just met a guy. Nope, Isabelle Darden was fine on her own.
Right?
"Help a girl to her car?"
He came out of his daze and nodded, "Sure."
They made it over the little hill and back to the solid road. She waited while he pulled the chains off the truck and attached them to the front of her car. He then got back into his vehicle and pulled her once red, but now brown, car out of its dirt tomb and back onto the road. She ran to the unlocked door and quickly got inside. She breathed relief and just wanted to get home.
A knock on her window jolted her back to reality. Charlie's face stared at her through the soiled glass. She turned to get her purse and pulled out her wallet. She rolled down the window and said, "I'm sorry, how much do I owe you?"
"You don't really think you're just going to drive out of here, do you?"
"I was planning on it." She replied.
"Your car just got stuck in a ditch full of mud. I recommend that we take it back to my garage to have it looked at."
"Or I can just drive it home." She challenged him.
"Or you could just take the chance of it breaking down about a mile down that way," he pointed beyond the road, "and having me come and get you anyway."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "How long would this once over take?"
He drummed his fingers on the door. "It depends on the damage."
"But I need to get home soon." She stressed.
"Well, it beats living out of your car because that's what will happen since not much traffic comes this way." He said.
"You came this way." She pointed out.
He rolled his eyes.
"Fine!" She said as she swiftly opened the door. Charlie jumped back and she stomped to the passenger side of his truck.
"Great." He sarcastically replied as he closed her driver's side door.
She hopped into the cab and spotted his cap on the floor, throwing it on his seat. Her attention then went back to him, watching his image in the mirror.
"Yeah, it drives for you, doesn't it?" she said as she watched him maneuver her car.
She tapped her fingers on the dashboard as her car was loaded onto the truck. She began to wonder why she was getting so agitated, but every time she got a peek of his face she was reminded.
Once he got into the driver's seat, he put his cap on and she stared straight. Silence filled the truck as they drove along the quiet road and into the next town. It seemed really nice with a cute typical small town center. Soon they pulled into 'Baker Auto Repair and Towing'.
"So, we're here." She said.
"And she finally speaks." He commented as positioned the truck so it was close to the garage.
"Look, I've had a really terrible day. So, don't take it personally, okay?"
He simply nodded and hopped out of the truck. She watched in the mirror again as a male worker in the same uniform began to point and laugh at Charlie as he began to move her car off the bed.
"Dude, what happened to you?" Isabelle heard him question.
"Don't ask." Charlie replied.
The worker was still roaring with laughter then glanced her way then back to Charlie.
"Oh, I see. Mud wrestling, huh?"
"Cut it out, Jim." He barked.
"Okay, okay," he surrendered as his hands went up. "Why so testy all of a sudden?"
"Can you just help me with the car?"
Their conversation ended there as they got the chains off her vehicle and pulled it into the garage. She saw that as a green light and made her way from the truck to the customer lobby. When she walked in she couldn't help but look around. That was when she spotted all the pictures behind the counter. She smiled at the various poses and smiles of the individuals. She assumed they were all family. It looked lovely. It was something she didn't have. He had a nice big family and they seemed close. It made her think about her mom and their relationship. Maybe she couldn't be that mad at her mother. All they had was each other for so long and she wanted Isabelle to let in someone new.
Her gaze moved along more photos and the way Charlie looked in them. Whatever she was feeling it was definitely rivaling her mantra. She tried not to think of that and focused on a picture.
"He wasn't kidding when he said he had brothers and sisters." She mumbled to herself.
"Eleven."
She turned around embarrassed that she had been caught staring at his things and saw that he had cleaned himself up. No more was the dirt streaked face or the filthy shirt. He was now donned in a new crisp blue shirt. Wow, did he look good in blue.
"I have eleven brothers and sisters." He explained.
"Your mom must be one hell of a woman."
He smiled and said, "She is." He cleared his throat and continued, "I have Jim looking at your car. If you want to clean up I'll show you where you can do that."
"Thanks."
She followed him into the back and he pointed towards the bathroom.
"There are some towels in there, whatever use they might be for you."
He turned to walk away and she called out his name. Against everything she had told herself, she walked over to him and stood on her tippy toes as she crashed her lips onto his. Ultimately, it was a soft kiss. Just the right pressure and speed.
This wasn't even like her to do this, but there was something about him. The uncharacteristic kiss proved it to her even more. They parted gradually, both a bit in awe of what had just happened.
She seemed to be the first to recover and said, "Thanks for helping a girl on the side of the road."
He nodded fervently then backed up into the worktable, sending some parts and tools crashing to the floor. She cupped her mouth with her hands to not laugh at his clumsiness. He quickly picked up the items and smiled back at her as he then mumbled something about going to check on her car.
She watched him go and was surprised by the thought that crossed her mind.
'My god, I hope he marries me.'