Chapter 30
Trading Places
“You told me to call you when Celia was heading to your place. We’re on our way. I’m waiting for them to bring her down from her room.” Mike glanced over his shoulder. He didn’t want Celia to overhear this conversation.
“Sure thing. I’m getting ready to head over to your place. I’ve been packing for a few days getting ready for this. I’m leaving the old truck and taking the new one. Don’t let Celia burn it while I’m gone.”
Mike laughed. “I won’t. She’s going to be wheelchair bound for a few days. If she doesn’t burn it on the way in, I don’t think she’ll be able to walk down the steps into the garage for a while.”
“That’s not good. I hope you’re ready for a lot of ‘get me this and get me that’. Celia doesn’t deal well with pain. Let me know and I’ll get a home nurse to come in a few hours a day, if needed.”
“I appreciate the offer but her mother will be there. I’m going to stay, I think… I still haven’t completely made up my mind about that, yet.”
“Hey, I don’t care, if you don’t.”
“I just don’t know if I should. I’m not sure her mother will approve.”
“Trust me, she won’t care a bit especially if she finds out how much money you have.”
“I’m trying to keep that hidden. If something happens, I don’t want it to be because of the size of my billfold. I’ve been down that road way too many times. Been there. Done that,” Mike responded emphatically.
“They won’t hear it from me. I know I’ve said a lot of things about Celia, some of it because I was angry, some of it because I wasn’t sure she was the right one for me. She is definitely a ‘high maintenance’ woman but I don’t think she would marry just for money…. But then again, I could be wrong.”
“Gotta run,” Mike said, as he pushed his phone into his pocket. He went to hold the hospital door open for the nurse’s assistant. He had known this wouldn’t be easy so he had gotten a four-door sedan from the dealership. He and the nurse managed to get Celia into the back seat. When she was settled, he turned around to assist the nurse back into the hospital.
“Take the wheelchair with you. Just tell Mr. Taylor he can bring it back when Ms. Carson no longer needs it.”
Mike smiled. “I’ll do just that.” He folded the chair, and once it was in the trunk, he got into the car and turned to look at Celia. “Did we just about kill you getting you in there?”
“Not too bad. I’ll live. I’m just worried about what will happen when all that nice stuff they were pumping into my body wears off. I don’t think the Tylenol with codeine is going to do as well.”
“If it doesn’t, you can call your doctor tomorrow morning."
“What doctor? I don’t have a doctor. I hardly ever get sick. I never had the need for one.”
Mike laughed, turned, put on his seatbelt and pulled out. “If we need to we can call my mother. Her doctor makes house calls. At least he does for her. He might help you by prescribing something for pain.”
“We’ll see. I’ve never broken anything before. So far it’s not been too bad. Whatever they were giving me made me sleep more than I care to.”
“Well, the codeine is going to knock you out, too, so take it as directed.”
“Great. I may try to tough it out. I’m tired of sleeping so much. I want to read. I’m really excited about learning more about selling cars. I want to find out which vehicles you can make the most commission on and learn everything I can about them.”
“Smart girl. I can help you with that. I’ll talk to some of the best salesmen and make some notes then you can do the homework. The more you know about a vehicle, the more selling points, the more you’ll move.”
“Have you ever sold cars? I think you’d be good at it.”
Mike smiled. “I’ve sold a few, but I prefer working on them to selling them. You’ll need to know your stuff because sometimes car salesmen seem to get a bad rap.”
“Yes, I know. It’s because they lie, or at least people think they do.”
“Some of them do. Some will tell you anything to sell you a vehicle. I’ll tell you right now, if you get into this for the long haul, you will make more money on people who come back looking for you a second or third time.”
“I see. Well, I want them to come back looking for me for the right reasons, not because they hate me for selling them a ‘lemon’.”
“As with any job, there is a learning curve and the more you know, the better you’ll be. Just know that if someone walks away, it’s not the end of the world. Never lie to make a deal. It will come back to bite you.”
“I won’t do that. Regardless of what Martin might have told you, I don’t lie and I don’t cheat. That’s his department, it seems, not mine.”
Mike thought for a second before speaking, “I wasn’t meaning to insinuate anything, I was just stating facts. If you lie, it will come back to bite you.”
When she didn’t say anything he glanced in the rear view mirror to see that she had fallen asleep. He thought for a few seconds about what he had just said about lying. The realization suddenly hit him hard that it might come back to bite him when Celia found out that he owned the dealership instead of just working there.
A part of him wanted to just open up and tell her that he could get her a job, and that he would help her out, but he just wasn’t sure. Martin could be right. It could just be her mother who would be trying to push them together, but he wasn’t sure.
He’d been burned before. Kacy. Sweet, innocent Kacy had seemed so sincere. And Rachel. Pretty, young Rachel had been all but dragging him down the aisle. Thankfully, he had figured out, before it was too late, that they were in love with his money but not in love with him!
Once you had been through something like that, it was hard to trust again. It worried Mike that maybe Martin was in awe of Randi because she treated him like a ‘normal’ person. He had to wonder if he was really in love with her or in love with the fact that he felt he could trust her.