9781618857569GettingitAllStorm Read Free

, Buddy?’ she says.”
    His plaintive
impersonation of one of Matt’s oldest customers and nosiest friends, forced
Matt’s jaws to tighten against an outright guffaw. Buddy’s croak was dead on.
    “That’s her
professional diagnosis. ‘Tell Matt it’s kinda wheezy , Buddy.’ Ha! If I was as old as that
car, I’d be wheezy, too.”
    Matt tried not to smile
too broadly. “We’ve kept that car running for her since her old man bought it,
Buddy, and we’ll…keep—”
    The young man pulled up
a straight back chair as Matt’s smile slowly faded. “Old man Mendle’s been gone ten years, Matt, and Miz Mendle’s still at it, getting around, having as good
a time as she can have. Moving on.”
    “Yes, and she’s doing
it without another husband too.” Matt’s lax jaw clinched.
    “We’re not talking
about you getting another husband,” Buddy chuckled. “We’re just suggesting you
might be a little more sociable. Like Miz Mendle’s got her friends. She still chauffeurs
them around.” Buddy shook his head. “They’ve got more guts than I have to get
in that boat with her still driving around in high heels. You…” He chewed on
his lip, knowing he was pressing his boss. “Don’t get around much anymore, as
somebody made a fortune putting music to. It’s been—”
    “I’ll get around when
I’m ready to get around, Buddy.” Matt’s voice started out as hard as it usually
was when his young friend tried to mess with his life, to drag him back into
action, but the tone quickly softened. “You’re a good friend and I’ve yelled at
you long enough about sticking your nose…no, I mean, about trying to get me to
get my ass back in gear.” He sighed. “You’re right. Alice would’ve wanted me
to. Eventually. I know that. We all know that. But…you
were never…” He didn’t want to twist the knife, but had the kid ever really known
true devotion? Undying…caring…that once ripped from you…left
an empty space that just plain…hurt.
    For a long, long time.
    The young mechanic’s
pained look as he studied his filthy fingernails caught at Matt.
    “Damn, Buddy, I’m
sorry. I forgot. You guys were like brothers.”
    A muscular forearm
scrubbed across the young mechanic’s instantly damp eyes. “And they didn’t have
to go, like Alice did,” he muttered grimly. “The cancer didn’t take them. They
just felt like it was the right thing to do for ‘their country.’” He swallowed
his loss and his anger. “Sometimes I wonder if the country’s good enough for
what an awful lot of guys and good-looking, tough-minded gals are doing for
it.”
    Clearing his throat,
the young man hoisted his full frame from the chair. “Well, I guess I better
get back to that carburetor, or whatever it is that’s wheezing. Do carburetors
wheeze? We don’t even have carburetors any more! I forget what they told us in
Keeping Dead Cars Alive 101.”
    He was back to his
jokey self, the moist eyes dry, the grin wide as he
headed for the door.
    “An’ you’re right about
me keeping outta your business.” He suddenly turned back. “Though I wouldn’t
have minded sitting in on that sex classes proposal
thing you went through. Outright living-color porn, I heard. Whoo . Mercy. Who woulda thought our
mild-mannered chairman of the board of education in this dead burg woulda got people so hot and heavy. I hear you really put
it to ‘em.”
    Matt settled back in
the ancient wooden desk chair, rubbing his tense neck. “Boy, that one really
hit me right between the eyes. Here I’m supposed to be the objective one. To keep my cool. I thought high school kids already knew
about that stuff. It never dawned on me…I thought the guys were just being
asses, getting those girls pregnant. Seems like us so-called grown-ups were
being pretty uneducated too about how to raise our kids.”
    “Ha.” Buddy chuckled,
starting out of the office again. “I get treated like that all the time. Uneducated.” He turned in the