One Week in Maine (2 page)

He
came back a moment later and returned my license to me.

“You’re clear. I suggest you take an
ything of value out of your car and then lock it up. Bobby’ll be around soon with the tow truck, but I wouldn’t leave behind anything that you care about.”

I
grabbed my main overnight bag out of the SUV but left behind the bag with my wedding outfit in it. It was doubtful that anyone would be interested in stealing my formal clothes since they probably all wore overalls for their big events, being local yokels and all.

“I’ll take it,” he offered. I
passed the bag to him and managed to utter a ‘thank you’. To my great surprise, he had better manners than many of the guys I had dated in the past from civilized places. I wondered if he had grown up elsewhere and then moved up here, but who would choose to live in the middle of nowhere on purpose?

“Hop on in
.” He held the door open for me and I slid into the passenger seat without another word. I caught his scent as I moved past him–masculine and earthy. It was so light that I couldn’t tell if it was cologne or his natural scent, but either way I found it attractive. Like he wasn’t attractive enough without that heavenly, manly scent.

He hopped into the driver’s side and started the engine.

“We’ll be into town soon. Can I drop you at the café while you wait for your car to get towed to the garage? It’s right across the street.”

“That
would be perfect, thanks.” I could finally grab that cup of coffee while I waited. I didn’t even bother asking if there was a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts around.

I
tried passed the time on the ride into town by studying the scenery outside my window. It was nothing but woods, woods and more woods broken by the occasional meadow or pond. I didn’t understand how anyone could live in the midst of all this nothing. It was beautiful, but it had to be boring to live out here. As far as I could tell, there was nothing to do and no local hot spots to enjoy for a night out on the town. No wonder the locals were such hicks.

The game warden made no move to make any small talk
on our trip into town but that was all right with me. I just wanted to have my car fixed, get to Sarah’s wedding, then go home to Hartford and leave the whole miserable incident behind me.

We
arrived at the center of town very quickly. We passed a few houses set back off the road, and suddenly we were in the midst of a little traditional New England town center. I managed not to roll my eyes when I discovered that it consisted of only five buildings on each side of the street, each a towering, historic colonial or small, solid brick store.

The warden pulled in front of a little brick building with a hand painted sign that read ‘
Ginger’s’.

“Here you go. The garage is right there
, across the street.” My eyes followed his pointing finger to another squat brick building. “Bobby will take good care of you. I hope you can get that straightened out quickly.” He tipped his hat to me and the gesture made me almost laugh out loud. This warden was as antiquated as the rest of the place, from the looks of it, but at least he was well bred.

“Thanks. I really appreciate the help.”
I offered him a tight-lipped smile as I moved to open the door, but the warden sprang into action.

“Sorry, where are my manners?” He
got out of the car and quickly opened my door for me, and then removed my bag and passed it to me.

“Well, good luck with it all.”

“Thanks again for everything.” I stood on the sidewalk with my bag in hand as I watched him pull away. I was a little disappointed to see him go as a knot of apprehension formed in my throat. He was a nice enough guy, and now I was on my own in this little stick town hours from my destination, with little money and no ride.

I’d get that coffee I’d been waiting for, I decided. My plan was to
grab a coffee and watch out the window for my SUV to arrive on the tow truck, and then I’d go over the garage and push to get it done as soon as possible. If it would be much of a wait, I’d call a cab from there to take me to the nearest car rental place. There was no way I’d spend one minute more than I had to in this backwater sorry excuse for a town.

A bell chimed overhead as I
opened the door to the café and all conversation stopped as every eye in the place turned towards me. I ignored the stares and headed straight for the old-fashioned counter to speak to the waitress.

Judging by her halo of frizzy bright red hair, she was probably the owner, or at least the place’s namesake. She wore an o
utdated waitress’s uniform with the drab colored dress and crisp white apron with pockets full of pads and pens for taking orders. She was so busy rewriting the handwritten chalkboard menu displaying the daily specials that she didn’t hear me at the counter until I cleared my throat to get her attention.

“Hold your horses, I’m just–” Her eyes widened in surprise as she turned and saw
me. She obviously wasn’t expecting an unfamiliar face in her little café.

“Hi. Can I get a coffee please?”

“Sure thing.” The waitress moved to grab a clean mug and she filled it with hot, fresh coffee. The smell of it alone made my mouth water. The last few hours I’d been dreaming about a cup of fresh coffee. I needed it.

“That’ll be a buck.”

“Sure, here you go.” I fished a crisp dollar bill out of my wallet and passed it across the counter.

“You want anything else,
hon? Pie, sandwich, something? You wanna sit at the counter?”

“No, just the coffee, thanks.
I think I’ll go…” The words died on my lips as I looked over my shoulder to find a seat by the front window, but all the seats were taken. Dozens of wary eyes stared coldly back at me. Most of the other patrons were middle aged or older men dressed in jeans and flannels, and their looks spoke of hard work and hard lives. There wasn’t a hint of a smile on any of their faces at they studied me. Not the friendliest crowd I’ve ever seen.

“I think I will sit here, thanks.” The waitress smiled kindly at
me and I was glad for the kind gesture. Even though I was only passing through town and wasn’t looking to make any friends, the silent, hard stares from the other patrons made me uncomfortable. I didn’t care for being the center of attention.

The waitress noticed. “Don’t you mind them, now,” she told
me softly as she leaned across the counter. “We just don’t get many visitors here, is all. Whatsa matter?” she called to the room at large, “You boys never seen a pretty girl before? Now put your tongues back in your heads before I tell your wives, the lot of you!”

I
flushed crimson as I sipped my coffee.

“Sorry about them, hon.
If you saw some of their wives, you’d know why they’re staring so hard.”

“The
y didn’t look too friendly,” I muttered quietly so the rest of the room wouldn’t hear me.

“
Naw, they’re not so bad, just forgetting their manners around a pretty new face is all. Like I said, not too many new faces stopping in here. Are you the one Will Holbrook went to pick up? The one that hit the deer?”

Her question
s didn’t do much to counter my opinion that small town folks were gossip mongers, but I didn’t see the harm in answering her honestly. “Uh-huh. I hit a deer and he gave me a lift into town to wait for my car to be towed to the garage.”

“He’s a sweetheart, that Will. You call me if you need anything, okay?  I
gotta make my rounds with the coffee pot.” I nodded and the waitress grabbed the coffee pot again and went into the dining area to refill the cups that needed it. As she made her way from table to table, murmurs of conversation permeated the heavy silence that had overcome the little café when I walked in.

“That must be hers,” I
overheard someone say, so I turned around to look out the window. To my relief no one was looking at me this time as everyone was watching my battered SUV ride by the café with a little help from a tow truck.

I swallowed the remainder of my
coffee as quickly as I could, grabbed my bag and hustled out the door with a last minute wave to the kind waitress. A sigh of relief escaped me as I crossed the main road towards the garage. My vehicle had arrived, and I had escaped the prying eyes of the locals in the café.

The air insi
de the garage was cool, and I waited with all the patience I could muster for someone to come to the front counter to help me. After a minute or two, my impatience got the best of me and I could wait no longer.

“Hello?” I
called loudly. My voice sounded startlingly loud in the small space. I heard a door close somewhere in the back area and footsteps coming towards me.

“So how bad is it?” I
asked the tubby, balding man as he approached the counter. His blue work overalls had the name ‘Bobby’ stenciled on the front.

He shook his head solemnly at
me and my heart sank. “Not good, I’m afraid. I just got it back, so I haven’t had time to really get in there and see what’s what, but I can tell you this–it’s an unholy mess in there. That deer really did a number on your engine. Do you know who took the meat? I couldn’t find the carcass, so I think someone grabbed it before I had a chance to.”

My
stomach lurched in horror. “Someone took the dead deer? For what?”

“It’d be stupid to let all that venison go to waste,” he
huffed defensively. “Even if some of it’s ruined, there’s still probably a lot of good meat on it, if you get to it quickly enough.”

The
idea that someone had found my piece of road kill appealing enough to take home to fill the freezer disgusted me, but I wasn’t interested in the gross activities of the locals.

“So what about my car?”

“I need a few hours to go through it, and if I get a list of the parts I need in time, I’ll order them today. They probably won’t go out until Monday, so I’ll have them Tuesday or Wednesday, then I’ll need a few days to put Humpty back together again. I’d say it’ll be done by Friday, the earliest, maybe the middle of the following week, depending on what needs doing.”

“Friday?”
I echoed in disbelief. “That’s a whole week from now!”

“Yup, sure is.
” Bobby waited patiently for me to say something but all I could muster was a shocked stare. “Listen, lady, I didn’t hit that deer, you did. You hit it and now your car’s ruined and it’s gonna take time to get the parts and fix it. You want me to do it or what? If not, I can tow it wherever you like, but it’s gonna cost you a pretty penny. The next nearest garage is over 40 miles away, and they’re just gonna tell you the same thing.”

A headache began creeping into the back of
my brain, and it promised to be a big one. The stress of the day was finally catching up to me.

“All right, so it
takes as long as it takes,” I sighed. “Is there a cab company in town I could get a ride from, to get where I need to go in the meantime? I’m due at a wedding tomorrow.”

“No company, per se, but Royce Miller’s been known to run people to and fro for a fee.”

“Fantastic. You wouldn’t have his number, would you?” Maybe this could all work out after all.

“Well, I sure do, but I don’t think it’ll do you much good.”

“Why ever not?” My patience was wearing thin once again. Bobby seemed content to go the long way around the conversation, and I just wanted answers and results, not a riddle.

“Well,
seein’ as how his Caddy’s sittin’ out back with a blown transmission, I think he’s not runnin’ his cab service at the moment.”

“
Are you kidding me? So what the hell am I supposed to do now?” This was getting worse by the minute.

“If I was you, I’d take a room in town, clear my calendar for the next week, and sit tight ‘til I can get your car up and
runnin’ again.” Bobby spoke calmly and slowly as if placating a small child. My distress over it all apparently perplexed him, as if he couldn’t imagine why I was getting agitated.

“No
way! There’s no way I’m hanging around this God forsaken place until it’s fixed!”

“Suit yourself,” he shrugged, “but you can’t drive it out of here as it sits right now.”

“Guess I’d better see if anyone can pick me up then.”

I
whipped out my cell phone and checked, but still no signal. Without another word to Bobby I hurried out onto the sidewalk out front and checked once more. Two blessed bars appeared, and I scarcely dared breathe as I called my friend Heather.

“You will not
believe
what happened to me today,” I snapped as soon as Heather picked up. I explained the whole story to her as quickly as I could. “So I need someone to run down and pick me up.”

“I don’t know,” Heather sounded doubtful. “Sarah’s reall
y wound up about tomorrow. She’s a total Bridezilla right now and I’m not sure that she’ll want anyone to leave to come get you. You’re not exactly close, are you? Aren’t you two or three hours away, round trip? I mean, I just drove all the way up here yesterday and I’m not exactly eager to spend another few hours in the car.”