Center Courtship (17 page)

I worked until six to make up for my extra-long lunch. When I exited the office after locking up, I saw an unfamiliar car sitting next to my truck. The darkened parking lot didn't help me see who was sitting in it, but I could definitely see the outline of a person.

I walked cautiously to Little José but kept an eye on the stranger. When I got up on the BMW, I realized I knew who it belonged to. Carl opened the door of the car and stepped out. “Mae…Mae…Mae…” he said slowly as he rounded the front of his car.

“Carl?” I said as I tried to gauge his demeanor.

“I heard a story today, Mae-Belle. That's your name, right? Mae-Belle? Wait…let me get it right. Mae-Belle Annalise Rogers?”

He had done a little research to get my middle name from somewhere. “Carl, I don't know what it is you have against me, but I'd like for you to leave now.” I unlocked my truck and went to open the door when it was quickly slammed shut.

“Elsu was SO excited to tell me all about the grand tour he got of Massillon, today.”

“I'm glad he liked it,” I said. “Can I leave now?”

“No, not yet.” He stepped closer to me. He smelled like onions. “I'm pretty sure we talked yesterday, right?”

“He came to me, Carl. I did not search him out,” I said as I took a step back to avoid his stench.

“And yet you could have told him you were too busy to do the tour. A young entrepreneur like yourself surely doesn't have time in her busy schedule to take a
taken
basketball player on a trip around the city. I'm sure you could have faked an excuse if you really wanted to.”

“I'm not a liar, Carl. Unlike you.”

“Liar? Me? Do tell.”

“I know Elsu is the one who set up the hospital visit. Why did you feel the need to take the credit?”

“Petty details, Mae. It really doesn't matter to anyone if he set it up. But it matters a lot to my boss if I set it up. This way they know I'm doing my job. No one cares about Elsu's philanthropic ventures.”

“I do,” I said.

“I was afraid of that. I'm also afraid you're going to have to stop seeing him.”

“For your bosses?”

“Elsu is worth a lot of money, Mae. If he gets hurt, this whole franchise could become the laughing stock of the league. Do you really want that?”

“I don't think me taking him on a tour of Massillon, which you told the team to do, is going to cause him to get hurt. It was completely innocent.”

He stepped closer to me. “Leave him alone, or we're going to have to talk again. That wouldn't be a good thing, Mae.”

“Are you threatening me?”

He stepped around to the driver's side of his car and started to get in. “Just stay away.”

With that, he was pulling out of the parking lot and I was left standing alone wondering what to do next.

The next morning the vehicle hauler arrived with my seven purchases. The guys had made plenty of space in the showroom, they even swept the floors and washed the windows in preparation. They were the best! We all stood in awe as each car was unveiled then removed from the hauler and driven into the building. We spent the next hour in the showroom oohing and ahhing over the new cars.

My phone in my pocket began to buzz and I looked to see Elsu's face. I rolled my eyes and opened the text. I was hoping to keep my distance to avoid any more confrontations with Carl. “
Did you get your cars? Can I bring the guys by to look at them after practice?”

“Yep, they're here, and I guess you can bring the guys by
,” I replied. What could it hurt if the whole team came at once?

Aaron pulled in as I was walking back to the shop from the showroom. Following behind his Prius was a pickup truck with a large form covered in a tarp on the back. I stopped before I entered the building and waited for the truck to get backed up to the spot he had prepared the day before. Once they were parked, Aaron and the driver of the pickup both got out of their vehicles.

“I'm so excited, Aaron!! I want to see!” I said as I walked to the truck.

“Nope, not until it's all in. This is my friend, Kevin. He's gonna help me get the thing off the truck.”

“It's nice to meet you,” I smiled at Kevin and shook his hand.

“It shouldn't take but 45 minutes. Then I'll come get you.”

“Ok, looking forward to it!” I returned to the shop and went to my office. Already I'd spent a whole lot of time doing absolutely nothing productive. I had some bills to pay and I always liked to take a walk around the warehouse and garage to make sure everything was running smoothly and to check on any
supplies that may need to be ordered. I noticed with pleasure that our front customer area was full and Bonnie had it all under control. Customers were always good.

My cell phone rang in my pocket and I looked to see it was Gina. “Hey, Gina, how's Brandon?”

“Mae, what is up with you and Elsu?”

“I really hate when people answer questions with questions, Gina.”

“Brandon is fine. Even better now! And what is up with you and Elsu?”

“Better now, how?” I asked, so confused.
Just answer my question.

“You don't know?” she asked.

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” I said.

“Elsu dropped off the bag of stuff for Brandon yesterday! It would have been nice to have a heads up so I could have cleaned the house up a bit.” Gina's house was immaculate even at its dirtiest.

I got up and went out to Little José to see that the bag was gone. “He must have taken it when he got out of the truck after our field trip. Honest, Gina, I didn't notice until now that the bag was gone. It was in my truck yesterday and I said something to him about forgetting to take it to Brandon. He must have just taken it. He's sneaky sometimes.”

“Mae, you need to be careful. He's got a girlfriend and something tells me she's not one to share with others very well.”

“Gina, we're just friends. That's all. Don't go all mother hen on me.”

“Someone has to go mother hen on you, we both know your mom won't.”

“I promise to be careful. Was Brandon excited to see Elsu?”

“He was, Mae. He even sat down and played video games with him.”

“Aww, that was sweet.”

“He kept asking me about you and if you had a boyfriend. Why does he know about Bart? He was trying to get details but I wasn't spilling.”

“He's just curious. Apparently Bart works for the garage where Elsu and the guys got security upgrades done on their
Escalades. I guess Bart thought he was being cool by gifting them the services. Then when he showed up to bring me gas for Little José, Elsu found out what kind of person he really is. Elsu kicked him out.”

“Well, I guess that was nice of him. But promise me you won't do anything crazy, Mae.”

“I promise.”

I took the next hour to make my rounds and then went to the showroom to look at the new purchases. I put my hand in my hair and shook my head.
What had I done?
I felt like I suddenly wasn't making bright decisions. The Mae from a week ago probably wouldn't have done this. This money was earmarked for something else and I just said screw it to all of our hard work by making a rash decision. Not that the amount I spent on these cars was a huge amount compared to what we needed for the compressor, it was just more time we needed to work on getting it.

There was a knock on the door and Aaron and Kevin appeared. “Hey sweetie, we've got the piece in,” said Aaron, as he stepped into the showroom. He stood beside me and looked at the vehicles. “Wow. I don't know cars, but these are nice.”

“Thanks, want to buy one? Or 7?” I smiled.

“I don't think my uncle would appreciate me taking up his garage to store a car I'd never drive.”

“Ok, do you want me to get all the guys to come out or just me?” I asked.

“Just you, I want to see your face,” he smiled.

“Let's do it,” I followed him out.

At the sign, I could see that the piece had been installed, but was still covered by the blue tarp. I was getting excited, this would really help to spruce up the place.

Kevin and Aaron went to stand on either side of the tall piece. “OK, Mae. Are you ready?”

I nodded with anticipation. A few customer cars pulled in behind me and honked. I didn't pay much attention, and just waved, keeping my eyes on the sculpture. “I'm ready! Stop being a tease!”

Kevin laughed. “Yeah, you are definitely a tease.”

I had to smile at their interaction. Something told me they were more than just friends.

Aaron and Kevin removed the tarp and I was stunned at the vision before me. A truck, made out of vehicle parts, was up on its back wheels like a horse rearing up. The front driver's side wheel held a metal flag with the words ‘Grandpa's Chop Shop' carved into it. It was magnificent! I covered my mouth and stepped closer to it. For being made of hard metal, the shape gave an appearance of movement. I walked all around it, looking at every detail. I ran my hand over the different textures. I was dumbstruck. I got to the back of the truck and was stopped in my tracks. Across the tailgate “Little José” was etched into the steel. “You named him Little José?” I smiled.

“I had to, it just seemed right,” he smiled as he gave me a hug. “I'll admit, I already had the truck made. But when you suggested putting a piece in here, I knew this was the one. I just had to make a few tweaks.”

“That is awesome!” I heard from behind me. I swung around to see Elsu leading what appeared to be most of the team behind him. They all stepped up and walked around the sculpture looking at the detail and pointing out parts they recognized.

Aaron stepped to my side, now
his
face was in shock. “Do they just appear out of nowhere all the time?”

I laughed. “No, he brought them to see the new cars.” I looked at Aaron, “put that tongue back in your mouth.”

Aaron looked at me and smiled. “So, what do you think?”

“I love it Aaron, it's perfect, it's more than perfect. I can't think of any possible way it could be better.”

“I have a plaque to put in, you said I could put my name on it. I need to finish that up, but I wanted to get this in. I was too excited to wait,” he said as he made eye contact with one of the basketball players and smiled.

“Stop it!” I said as I elbowed him.

“I don't know how you can stay so calm!” he said. “This is the team that will go down in history as the ‘originals'. No matter how they do this season, they will be the ones who start it all.”

A player that was standing close to us turned and looked at Aaron. “Thanks, dude. We hope to serve the community well.” His smile was sincere and I'm pretty sure Aaron was turning into a puddle in his work boots.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Bonnie in the shop to have everyone come out to see the artwork and the players. There weren't any customer cars in the parking lot, so Bonnie could afford to sneak away too. About five minutes later, she was leading them out of the building with Steve. The men behind them started to flip out at the sight of the team.

The basketball players had formed a human wall in front of the piece. There was a calm in the sound of voices around me. Elsu stepped out from the group and looked at me and eyed Aaron and me strangely. I hadn't even realized that Aaron had his arm around my shoulders. That was weird on more than one level.

“Everyone!” he got the attention of the crowd of people. A few cars had slowed to a stop on the road when their drivers realized who was standing near the street. I hated talking to a crowd, but bit my lip and stood tall.

“Whoopsters, these are the most wonderful employees in the world, my shop team.” I turned to my employees. “And guys, and Bonnie, these are the Whoopsters.” I looked at the crowd around the sculpture. “Could you guys move so that they can see the new piece?”

The players split apart, revealing the sculpture. My men reacted favorably to the reveal. They were impressed with everything as I had hoped.

A car pulled into the parking lot, a regular customer. I looked at Bonnie who hadn't noticed because she was talking to Saul about her niece's obsession with the team. I smiled and walked back to the shop to help the customer. I was also glad to get away from the crowd.

Once inside, the customer leaned on the counter. “Whatcha need, Stew?” I asked.

He quickly gave me a list and I wrote down the locations for each. “Are those the players?” he finally asked.

“Yep,” I smiled.

“I saw your picture online. Are you and Elsu dating?”

“No, Stew, we are not dating. Just friends.” I forced a smile. I didn't want to answer that question anymore. “The warehouse guys are outside. If you need any help, come and get me.”

I sent Stew on his way toward the warehouse and decided to avoid the crowd outside and went to my office. I decided to close the door this time. Being outside in a crowd wasn't nearly as bad as being inside, but I still didn't like it and I was still uncomfortable. I really wished I hadn't chosen glass walls. I had never wanted to hide at work, but I really wished I could right then.

My cell phone buzzed and I saw a text from Bonnie. “C
AN
I
SHOW THE TEAM TO THE CARS
?”

“P
LEASE DO
, I
CAME IN TO HELP
S
TEW AND AM DOING SOME PAPERWORK
.”

A little bit later, Stew came to the counter with a cart and I checked him out. “Did you find everything on the list?” I asked.

“Yup.” He quickly paid and left the building.

The front door opened and Elsu walked in holding a piece of paper. “Here's our offer. Let me know what you think,” he said without so much as a hello.