Second Chance Addison

Charlie stared at the heavy metal door outside of her quarantine garage bay and sighed.

The Camaro had just sat, untouched, since Bub and Eddy had rolled it in there a few days ago. Her hands were itching to get a hold of it and she was reaching the limit of her patience.

"One week. Just one more week." She murmured over and over like a chant, trying to convince herself that she could wait.

Normally, she would have already torn it down, inspected every part, and put it back together so it was better than new. But, she was trying to use it as bait to catch a certain young mechanic. So she was waiting, painstakingly, on said mechanic to come over.

Charlie tapped her foot impatiently as she thought of ways to get Nevada to her garage faster.

She had tried calling her everyday, just in case she changed her mind, but Nevada gave the same answer each time.

Nevada was going to finish out her last week of classes first and then she'd come by the garage.

"Arghhh!" Charlie pulled on her hair and ruffled it in frustration.

As she was venting her dissatisfaction, Eddy came by. He had been looking for her all morning to let her know that Murphy wanted to see her.

In his head, he cursed the fact that cell phones didn't work in most of the massive building. They really needed a more efficient way to track each other down.

Eddy shifted his feet nervously, worried that he may have seen something he probably shouldn't have.

Even though he had been searching for her, he hesitated before stepping closer and calling out to her.

"Miss Mason?"

Charlie was much less bothered than Eddy.

She didn't even spare him a glance and continued to stare at the garage door. Why would she care if he saw her little tantrum?

It was her garage, her business, and her employee. Charlie had always done as she pleased and that would never change, regardless of who may be around.

Her nose scrunched up in annoyance as she continued to think about Nevada. Why wouldn't that stubborn girl just come over already?!

Eddy thought Charlie's disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e was directed at himself and silently prayed that she wouldn't fire him. Despite his urge to run and hide, Eddy called out to her again anyway.

"... Miss Mason?"

"What is it Eddy?" She momentarily shot a side glance his way as a hint that she was in the middle of something.

"Murphy is looking for you. He's got some information you wanted or something."

"Well, which is it?"

"I'm not sure what you mean." He awkwardly twisted a lock of his long hair.

"Does Murphy have information or does he have something?"

"Um, he has information."

"Tell him I'll meet him in the break room sometime around lunch."

"Yes, Miss Mason." Eddy turned on his heel to leave when she stopped him with another question.

"Hey Eddy, how much do you know about women?" Charlie turned her focused gaze to Eddy and started to carefully study him.

"I beg your pardon?" He subconsciously took a step back. In the six months that he'd worked for Charlie, he'd only seen her a handful of times. They'd had even fewer conversations. Why would she be asking him about women?

"How do you win one over? I figure she's probably about your age. Any ideas?"

Eddy could only stare back at her wide eyed and bewildered. If he was confused before, he was completely lost now. Before he let his imagination run free, his common sense finally kicked in.

"Miss Mason, can you provide a little more context?"

"Did you see the redheaded girl that I was with at the auction?"

He thought for a moment but didn't come up with anything. He had been busy with helping Bub load up the Camaro. "I don't think I saw her."

"Well, I want her. As soon as possible. But she keeps putting me off."

'Keep it together, Eddy. She probably means something else.' As hard as he was trying not to imagine his boss wooing a younger woman, Charlie wasn't helping with her vague answers.

The only thing keeping him sane was the rumor floating around the garage that she already had a lover. Since she had just met this young lady, it couldn't be what it sounded like.

"What does she say when you ask her to come over?"

"She says she has to finish school first. I keep telling her she doesn't need it! I'll take care of everything." Charlie responded in exasperation.

Sadly, Charlie had no idea what was going through Eddy's mind at the moment. And when she added "I've never had so much trouble with this before!" it didn't help at all.

Eddy held his forehead and offered the only suggestion he had, "Maybe you could be patient with her and consider her feelings? It is possible that finishing school is worth more to her than you think. She might appreciate you more if you are more supportive of her goals?"

"Didn't expect you to side with her. Of course I didn't really expect such wise sounding advice from you either. You sound like an old woman."

"Uh, sorry and thank you?"

"Alright, you can go." Charlie waved him off and headed for the break room.

Though he was still very much confused, Eddy was relieved that he was finally able to escape the strange conversation and went to find Murphy. On the way, he decided to just forget that it ever happened.