Chapter 42
A Glimmer of Hope
Even though it had only been a few days since the accident, Mike could see Celia was getting better. They were seated at the dinner table eating a delicious meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and homemade yeast rolls which Celia’s mother, Vicki, had prepared.
It was good to see Celia laugh. She joked with her brother and made it a point to ring the little brass bell at least twice during the meal. It was all good. They talked about the past and some about her future. Her mother seemed to be excited about Celia getting a job, but warned that she needed to heal completely first.
“I’m not sure, Mom. I think I could work from a wheelchair, and who knows, maybe someone would feel sorry for me and buy a car.”
“That’s the spirit, Sis,” Roger said. “You got to use whatever you can to get by in this world. If you can flutter your eyelashes and pull on their heart strings, do it.”
“For now, it’s the only thing I have as an option, and that’s thanks to Mike. He’s pretty sure he can get me on, but I’ll have to start selling cars quickly because I’m pretty sure it would be a trial basis. Right?”
“It can be. The downside to selling cars is that you don’t get paid until you sell one. That’s why you’ll have to learn to read people so you can recognize a customer who is a ‘looker’ from a person who is a serious buyer. You don’t want to spend too much time with someone who is just looking, but be friendly. They may possibly be the one who comes back next week to buy.”
“That makes sense.”
“You’ll be great at this, Sis. You’re pretty to look at, and you’re smart. Tell them what they want to hear and you’ll do great.”
Mike leaned on the table and shrugged. “That can be true. You also need to keep in mind that there are repeat customers. Some people buy a new car every year, and others, you’ll never see again. If this is something you think you may want to do long-term, you’ll need to consider that when you tell a customer that a car gets good mileage, and it doesn’t, they might come back next year and remember what you said.”
“Good point. So don’t tell them something that’s not true because it might come back to bite you.”
“Exactly. But Roger is right; a pretty face will go a long way. And, you will probably get more of the women customers. Buying a new vehicle can be a little scary and most women would rather talk to another woman. They would think you would be more understanding if they don’t know everything there is to know about the vehicle.”
The chatter about cars went on throughout the meal and Mike could tell that Celia was really interested in learning more. Once the dishes were in the sink and Mike had helped as much as Celia’s mom would allow him to, he went out on the patio. Roger had wheeled Celia out, but as Mike guessed, he was walking around talking on his phone.
“He’s not much of a babysitter,” he said, as he came out and sat down.
“I don’t really need one. He’s talking to some girl he used to date. I heard him bragging about staying here in Martin’s home.”
“Does that bother you?”
“No. I understand what he’s about. I just wish he would grow up and get serious about life. I wish I had done the same years ago.”
“We all look back and wish we’d done some things differently.”
Celia turned and looked at Mike. “Okay, Mr. Perfect. What did you do wrong in your past that you would like to live over?”
“Mr. Perfect? Where did that come from?”
“You forget that Martin used to talk about you. He never had anything bad to say about you. Not once did he ever talk about some problem you’d had or a mistake you’d made.”
“Well, trust me. It wasn’t because they weren’t there. I’ve made plenty of mistakes.”
“Name me a few and make me feel like I’m not the only one who would like to relive part of their life over.”
Mike thought about it for a moment and decided that he would humor her. He pulled a table over and stretched out, putting his legs up. “Let me see. When I was six years old, I had this tricycle that I really didn’t like.”
“Okay. Okay. Let’s not go back that far.” Celia turned from watching Roger and gave him a look of playful annoyance.
He grinned at her and shrugged. “Okay. How about when I was in high school and I wish I had asked Patricia Owens to the prom.”
“That sounds interesting. What happened?”
“Nothing. I went alone and stood in the corner wishing I’d taken dance lessons.”
“What I meant was, why didn’t you ask her out? Were you not as handsome back then, or were you just shy.”
“Shyness, I guess, was part of it. I’m not so sure I’m handsome now so who knows what Patricia thought? I never did get up the nerve to ask her out. I did try to talk to her a few times and it got me nowhere.”
Celia laughed. “Men. You are all alike, always looking for a compliment. You’re worse than women.”
“Does that mean you think I’m handsome?”
“See I told you. Always looking for someone to stroke your ego.”
Rather than ask again, he went on. “The next thing I would live over would be in my twenties. I should never have asked Sally Justice out. That was a wasted eight months of my life that I would like to have back.”
Celia sighed. “I know what you mean there. I’d like to have about four of those ‘not dating wishes’ to wash clean some of my past.”
For a few moments they were quiet, but he just had to know, so he spoke. “Would one of them be Martin? Or, is that topic off limits?”
He thought she might snap at him, but instead she just nodded, then she shook her head. “I’m torn on that one. I’m not sure. Sometimes things happen for a reason. You’re being taught something that you needed to learn. I’m not sure if things had happened any other way that I would be where I’m at today.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“I think so. Sometimes we look back on our life and wonder, ‘how in the world did I get here?’ Then we have that other moment that says, ‘I’m ready to start over with a clean slate’. Then, all at once, you get a glimmer of hope that makes you think, ‘tomorrow might not be so bad after all’.”