Chapter 4

Daryl woke up early Monday morning still slightly hung over from the weekend. He had such a good day on Saturday that he carried it over through drinking all weekend with Merle and a couple of Merle's buddies. They even had to make two additional runs for beer when they ran out.

The clock next to the bed said it was almost six thirty. Even though the garage didn't open until eight, Daryl wanted to get there early. He groaned as he sat on the edge of the bed with his head pounding. It had been a while since he had gotten that drunk. Paying the price the next day always made him wonder why he did it.

He stood under the shower for a good fifteen minutes just letting the hot water run over his body. He had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders this week and he could not screw up the first day. Once he towel dried and combed his hair, he got dressed and was ready to head out the door a few minutes before seven.

Daryl locked the trailer door behind him and headed towards his truck. He automatically looked over to see if Emma's car was there and it was with Emma standing beside it looking at a flat tire.

"Need help?" he automatically offered.

"Oh thank God. Yes I do," Emma said relieved. "I have to be at work in a few minutes and I think my spare is flat too. I was trying to figure out what to do."

This was perfect for Daryl. This was a great way to get to know her better and fixing this was what he did. "Let me check it and we'll figure sumthin' out." The front tire was definitely flat, so he went around the back of the car and look at her spare. Just by looking at it he knew it was soft without even touching it. The perfect plan popped into his head.

"The spare's flat too," he told her. Emma's face fell. "Got an idea. I can drop you off at your job so you won't be late. I'll come back and take the front tire off. I'll bring that along with the spare back to the garage to fix them. I work at Mack's Garage over on Elm. I can't leave the shop until it closes at five, but it you need a ride home I can drop by and pick you up. Whadda you think?" Daryl did a quick inventory on what junk he had on the front seat of the truck. Nothing like trying to impress a girl with a crapped out vehicle.

Emma realized that Daryl was going to be her savior. "I think it's perfect. I get out between two and three, but I can hang out and wait. You are a lifesaver. Daryl," she said flashing him a big smile.

"Then let's get you to work," he told her. He walked over to the passenger side door and opened it. Luckily there wasn't much on the seat just a ball cap and some papers. He dropped them behind the seat and held the door for Emma to get in. She tucked her legs inside and murmured a thanks as Daryl closed the door for her.

As he walked around the truck to get in he didn't ever remember doing that for another girl before. He silently patted himself on the back. The truck started up easily and as Daryl backed out he asked Emma where they were going.

"I work at the Parkview Diner. Do you know how to get there?"

Daryl had only been in town for about a month, but he thought he knew where it was. "Isn't it over by the auto parts store and the Dixie Market?"

"That's it. You don't know how much I appreciate this Daryl. I owe you big time," she told him.

"Naw, don't worry 'bout it. We're neighbors. No way I could leave you stranded like that, 'specially when this is what I do." Daryl glanced over and gave her a small smile. Emma was sitting very primly with her hands folded in her lap wearing her pink waitress uniform. This was such a different look than she had the first night he met he.

They drove in silence for a little while before Emma asked him if he was from the area. "Merle and me are from north Georgia. We've been moving around a bit and when I got the job at Mack's it seemed as good as any place to live." Daryl didn't want her to know that actually they were asked to leave or were evicted from their last three places that they lived. "Merle's gonna do the maintenance work around the park and I'll give him a hand with it."

"That'll be nice," Emma said. "There's the diner over there. Can you pull around the back to drop me off?"

"Yep." Daryl steered his old truck around the back and past a delivery truck. He turned to look at Emma and felt his heart start to speed up. She looked so pretty just sitting there in his pickup. He wondered how old she was. Suddenly he realized that Emma was talking to him and he wasn't paying attention. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

"You'll be back around 5 o'clock you said?"

"Yeah. I close the shop at five. My boss went fishin' this week so I should be here by quarter past. Pick you up back here?"

"Yes, that'll be fine. Thanks again Daryl." Emma leaned over and gave him a kiss on his cheek before she opened the door to head inside to the diner. She waved goodbye from the doorway and was gone before he even started the truck moving. She had surprised him with the kiss and when he reached up to touch his cheek, he realized how scruffy his face was. It was time to shave.

Daryl pulled around the building and headed back to the trailer park. He barely knew Emma, but she had him thinking about her like he had never thought about another woman before. Dating? What was dating? He met woman in bars when they were usually both too drunk to know better. One night stands was all he knew, and Emma was not one night stand material.

Daryl didn't do relationships. Moving around as much as they did made it tough, not to mention he never found anyone he wanted to be with that way. The women he met were good for a quick fuck, nothing more. Emma was definitely not a quick fuck, even though her outfit from the other night was on the sexy side, it just didn't suit her.

Before he knew it he was back at their trailers and was working in her car. He had the tire off in no time and threw that along with the spare in the bed of his truck. Daryl then quickly headed to the shop without his brother interfering at all.

Emma was only ten minutes late for her shift. She quickly stored her purse and was tying on her apron on when her boss saw her.

"New boyfriend, Emma?" Joe asked. He didn't miss that she was dropped off by a guy in an old pickup. Joe felt like the people that worked for him were family, so he kept close on eye on them. Emma had been working there for almost three years and he had a special place for her. She was like a daughter to him

"No Joe. Daryl just gave me a ride to work. My car has as flat tire and he moved in next door to me, so he gave me a lift. Sorry I'm late." Emma was never late so she hoped he wouldn't be mad at her.

Joe laughed. "If everyone was as on time as you are I would still have a full head of hair. It's not a problem, just get out on the floor as soon as you can."

"Thanks Joe!" Emma smiled and grabbed a pad from the counter and went out to find her section. The rest of her day was spent serving food, talking with the regulars and cleaning tables.

It was a busy day at the diner so time flew until three o'clock came. There was always a lull in business at that time of day. Emma slide into a quiet booth with a coke and stared out the window while she waited for Daryl to pick her up. He was a really nice guy. He was going so out of his way to help her. She didn't think any of the guys she had dated in the past would even have done that.

Coming out this morning and seeing the flat tire, deflated her as much as the tire was. Changing that was the last thing she wanted to do that morning, plus she wasn't sure that she even knew how. Luck was on her side when Daryl came out and took over. He actually was really hot, especially now that she got to see him up close. He was completely her type and she had done her best not to act stupid around him that morning. The voice in her head kept telling her no, she was finished with his type. She needed to find a nice boring guy.

Daryl was also so much nicer than his brother. Emma didn't tell Daryl, but she met Merle on Saturday while Daryl's truck was gone. She had done some food shopping and was unloading the car when a motorcycle pulled in. Emma recognized it as the one that had been there on and off so she figured it belonged to Daryl or his brother.

She was pulling the last of the bags out of the trunk when a dark shadow blocked the bright sun. She looked up and saw this tall man standing next to her leaning the car. Smile on his face instantly made her cringe.

"Hello, Sugar," he drawled. "What a nice surprise finding someone as pretty as you living right next door."

Emma grabbed the two bags put of trunk and closed it. "You must be Daryl's brother," she said trying to be neighborly. "I'm Emma."

"So, my little brother's already been sniffing over here. Well good for him, but he ain't got nuthin' on his big brother Merle here. Let me take those bags for ya." Merle figured she was easy pickings and he always overestimated his appeal to woman. He thought they all wanted him when in fact, most did not want him within a hundred feet of them.

Before Emma could politely refuse his unwanted help, a silver car pulled in behind the motorcycle. Two equally scary guys got out and greeted Merle. Emma quickly said she was fine and escaped into her trailer locking the door behind her. Merle was beyond creepy. She hoped Daryl wasn't like that, but she had only met him for a minute. If he was, living next to them was going to be a nightmare.

Now almost forty-eight hours after that unfortunate encounter, Emma could see that Daryl was nothing like his brother. "Thank God," she thought as she sipped her soda. If he was, she may have to consider moving which she didn't want to do as she liked her little trailer. Even though she rented it, it felt like it was her own home. Time went by slowly as she waited for Daryl to pick her up. Eventually she got up to refill all of the sugar, salt and pepper and condiments they left on the table for customers. It would be less work for evening girls to do and she was bored.

Daryl looked at his watch and it was almost five o'clock. "Finally," he thought. He had taken care of the two tires right when he got in. The spare only needed air, but the other tire did have a nail in it. It was easy to fix with a plug. It basically cost him nothing to fix it.

The rest of his day he only had two cars to work on. He replaced spark plugs in one and tuned up another. That still left a lot of hours for him to do nothing, but think about Emma. He tried tinkering with his own pickup, but he couldn't concentrate so he gave up on that, but he did give it a thorough cleaning. His truck was ancient as it was a '73 Ford, but the engine ran beautifully thanks to his hard work on it. The outside was another story. It was an old outdated blue truck that had white panels on the sides. They used to be white, now they were more of a gray, but he never had the money to get it repainted. It ran well that was all he cared.

At five o'clock on the dot, he locked the doors and headed off to pick up Emma. Her tires were in the bed of the pickup all ready to go back on her car or in the trunk.

Daryl felt himself getting a little bit nervous as he approached the diner. He was never confident around women and Emma had his head spinning anyway, so he needed to get himself together before he picked her up.

Emma had been keeping a look out the big diner windows for Daryl's truck for the past ten minutes. It wasn't even quarter after five yet, but she didn't want to miss him.

"Hear you're waiting on a guy," said a voice from next to her. Emma looked over and saw her friend Cassie who worked the evening shift smiling at her.

"Joe had a big mouth."

"I know and I love it or how else would I know about this mystery guy," Cassie laughed.

Emma rolled her eyes. "He's not a mystery, he's my next door neighbor. My car had a flat this morning so he's fixing it for me and took me to work today. I'm just waiting for him to pick me up. It's nothing." She was trying to make it sound that simple, but as much as Emma was fighting it, she was really looking forward to seeing him again.

"So let me get this straight, you have a guy that you've never talked about before giving you rides and fixing your tire. I can't even get my husband to put his dishes in the dishwasher and you have a guy fixing your tire?" Cassie stood there looking at Emma. She knew there was more behind it and she would pry it out of Emma eventually. She always could.

"Cass, you're making this into a bigger thing than it is. He works at a garage and he gave me a hand. That's it," she tried to explain.

"Is he cute? What's his name and how old is he?" Cassie fired off.

"His name is Daryl and I don't know how old he is. Maybe mid-thirties," Emma told her. She purposefully didn't answer that last question.

"And?"

"And what?" she asked playing dumb. It was almost five fifteen, where was Daryl? Cassie was asking questions that she didn't want to answer.

"Is he cute?" Cassie asked again. She knew a stall when she saw one.

Right then Daryl's pickup pulled into the parking lot. Emma's face lit up. Cassie turned to see Daryl driving the truck around the back, but she was able to get a good look at him. "That's him, isn't it? Oh, he's got that good-looking bad boy thing going for him. You don't stand a chance Emma," Cassie told her. She knew the type of guy that always attracted her friend and Emma got hurt every single time. "Be careful, hun."

"Cassie, he's just my neighbor, nothing else, okay?" Emma gave her a quick hug. "Thanks for worrying. Gotta go!"

Emma grabbed her purse, ran through the kitchen and out the back door. Daryl was there waiting for her. Cassie watched her friend wave goodbye and drive off. She knew whether Emma was going to admit it or not, this Daryl was heading to be more than her next door neighbor.

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Thanks for the reviews WalkingAddiction and the guest. Glad you are enjoying the story so far.

Walker Witch