Chapter 5

 

Toward the end of the day, the grind really starts to wear on me. I love the job, don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing like working up a sweat to feel like you made something productive out of your day. Glancing at the beautiful, shiny red Harley Davidson bike that I brought back to life, it somehow reflectively breathes new life into me, too.  But even when working your dream job, you sometimes need a break.

“Hey boss,” Chris walks back into the garage where I’m standing, and I turn around to greet him. He’s been on break for the past half hour and looks befuddled, if not slightly annoyed.

“What’s up?” I ask, wanting him to cut to the chase. I’m not one to mince words or beat around the bush. Small talk isn’t my thing, and Chris is well aware of that fact and we share a mutual respect because of it.

Chris heaves a sigh as he walks back over to his work station. “Travis didn’t order any waters again.” He shakes his head regretfully.

“Are we out?” I ask, already feeling the rise of irritation building up in my mind.

“Yep, empty as beach in a snowstorm.”

I roll my eyes and huff. “Great,” I drone with sarcasm. “Just what I need.”

I’ve had a shit quality kind of day as it is, and I don’t need to add any further aggravating factors to the burners to the metaphorical stove of my mind.

“I can go get some if you want me to, boss?” Chris chimes in, always willing and ready to take the extra step and initiative to make my life easier.

“No,” I shake my head and start to walk out of the garage. “It’s okay, I’ll take care of it.”

What I don’t want to admit to Chris, is the reason why I want to implore this tedious task onto myself. Somebody is going to hear an ear full, and the lucky contestant winner for that is the old boss’s son, my “manager”, Travis. He’s a terrible manager and lazy doesn’t even begin to describe the circumference of his zero initiative mental policy.

He never orders enough water, or anything important we need on stock for that matter. He does the bare minimum, but I made a promise to his father, Mac, that I’d keep him on board at least until Travis found another option for employment. As much as I want to kick him off the payroll, I honor my promises.

Staying true to my word, I begrudgingly take it all in stride, knowing that there is an end to the bullshit just off the cusp of the horizon. However, once I approach his office door and peer inside, I’m annoyed to discover that his chair is vacant. Travis is nowhere in sight.

Knowing that the sweet vindication of a chew out will have to be placed on hold, I decide to trot over to my cousin Alexa’s bakery across the street. She’s one of the happiest people on earth, so she always puts me in a good mood. Not to mention, she always gives me a cupcake on the house whenever I drop by so at least I have that to look forward to.

I exit the shop from the lobby, where customers shopping for parts don’t even look up at me. Most of them don’t even know I own the damn store. If they did they would probably be a hell of a lot nicer.

They probably think that Travis took over for his dear ol’ dad, when really he’s just a a slacker who doesn’t even deserve the title of manager but in the meantime, I have to keep him around.

When I walk outside, the sounds of Main Street hit me with a familiarity that reminds me why I love this small town, even if some of the people in it irritate me. There’s a sprinkling of cars slowly creeping by, busy for a Friday afternoon as everyone clears out of their work offices for the day, heading to Main Street to find a place to relax.

I jog across the street when I get a break in the traffic and stroll into Alexa’s bakery. I inhale a whiff of buttercream and sugar…the signature smell that leaves my mouth watering even though normally I’m not a sweets type of guy. I prefer a grilled steak to most sweets, but Alexa’s are the only exception.

I walk into the back where Alexa is hard at work, (as usual) icing a cake that is taking on the shape of a princess dress. She has her back turned to me, and I don’t want to scare her, so I clear my throat announce myself.

She spins around, covered in icing and flour and grins as wide as the ocean. “Hey Mason!” She said and leans in to give me a hug but then quickly recoils sheepishly as she realizes she’s practically wearing every cake ingredient.

“I’d hug you but…well, you know.” She giggles and gestures to her torso.

“It’s not a problem,” I laugh and give her a friendly smile. “It’s good to see you, cuz.”

She wipes her forehead, thus spreading more of the buttercream onto her head.

“Uh…” I chuckle and reach up to wipe it away. “You just have a little…”

“Oh, right.” She shakes her head as if she’s a complete scatterbrain and does the job for me. “What can I say, this girl is one tired lady.” I admire her ability to poke fun at herself.

“So,” she says and gets back to the task at hand, using a thin and fancy looking spatula type utensil to spread a smooth coating of the icing on the cake. “What brings you over to my side of the tracks?”

“Well,” I take a deep breath and sigh. “I kind of need to ask a little favor of you.”

She glances at me. “Sure, of course…you name it and it’s yours.”

I laugh and lean against the metal counter surface in the baking kitchen, folding my arms. “Be careful what you wish for.”

She tosses me a smirk as if to advise me that she considers me absolutely harmless. “So, what’s this enormous favor you need?”

“Can I get one of your crates of water?” I ask, cutting to the chase. I wish I could tell her the reason why I need to have one is because my idiot of a manager is so damn clueless he can’t even order the proper supply stock.

“Of course you can,” she says, deep in concentration as she spreads the layer of icing around the cake. Her tongue is out, her careful precision meter.

“I’ll pay you back for it,” I promise her.

She gives me a funny look. “Mase, there’s no need for all that.”

“You’re the best,” I confess and give her a happy grin. “Thanks so much Alexa.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she tells me with a wink. “Help yourself to a cupcake on the shelf if you want when you leave,” she nods in the direction of the shop counter.

Just as I suspected, she’s willing to share her goodies with me for free.

“Thanks,” I tell her gratefully. “They look delicious.”

“That’s because they are!” she sing-songs as I walk away.

When I walk out from the kitchen, it’s no surprise to me that Alexa’s barista Keesha is standing at the register counter blabbing about another customer they had. From what I can hear, it was some old lady that was a regular in the shop and passed away recently.

Keesha is your typical teenager, always running her mouth and discussing ridiculously limited topics like clothes and boys. She has a crush on me, which I find cute in a non-sexual type of way. First of all, she’s way too young to me. I don’t know her exact age, but I know she’s still in high school, which is not fair game for a twenty-four-year-old man like me.

Secondly, although she’s friendly and kind to everyone, always chatty, her topics of conversations usually entail trivial material things that just don’t interest me. I’d rather sit on my dock with a cold beer and listen to nature than one of her boring stories about the mall.

I tell her hi, but can’t wave due to the water crate I’m holding. Keesha beams and waves with animation. She’s sassy and amusing, definitely someone you could watch just for sheer entertainment purposes. Luckily for me, she’s engaging with a bakery patron and can’t slide over to me for endless conversations to where I’d never get out before sunset.

Right before I get to the door to exit, Alexa calls out to me. “Hey Mason, could you hold up a second?”

I turn around. “Sure Alexa, what’s up?”

She breezily comes up to stand next to me. “Well, I have a favor to ask you too actually…” she trails off as if she’s uncomfortable.

“Okay,” I say. “Sure, what is it?”

“Would it be alright with you if I hosted book club at your place this week? You see, it’s my turn and I don’t have a proper area at home to do it.”

She looks pitifully at the ground. I can’t say no to her. She’s my cousin, and she’s been good to me. How could I possibly deny her anything when I’m standing here holding water shipments she’s paid for out of her own pocket?

Even still, I become slightly annoyed. Maybe it’s because today hasn’t been the best for me, and I’m irritated that nobody ever cares to ask me how I’m doing or how my day went. Everybody wants a hand out, but nobody ever seems to care about me.

I keep these grudges to myself as I smile at her. “It’s fine if you want to bring people over.”

Alexa’s shoulders sigh with immediate relief. “Thank you so much Mason. I promise, we won’t be loud or obnoxious. We won’t make a mess and if we do, I’ll be right there to clean up after everyone leaves.”

“No problem,” I tell her, then look back across the street. “I need to be heading out now,” I say.

“Of course,” she nods. “Sorry, I don’t mean to hold you up or anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I respond and head out the door, back in the direction that I came toward my bike shop.

On the walk over, I’m still feeling a little exasperated. The last thing I need is to come home after a hard day’s work where I just want to relax and indulge myself in whatever quiet, peaceful activity I want to participate in and find it full of clucking 20-something women.

I find it ludicrous when they swoon all over a romance novel that’s made of unfair and unrealistic fairy tale type garbage. To me, it just gets women’s hopes up that they’ll find the perfect soul mate and will live happily ever after. Sure, it works out for some of them but in my opinion, most of the time a relationship winds up in flames long before it ever started.

Doesn’t matter though. I feel the compelling need to constantly appease Alexa because her mom, my aunt, died of cancer and somehow, I feel like the responsibility to take care of her falls on my shoulders. I’ll happily be annoyed if it makes her day better.

At least there’s one positive end to my day…I got to enjoy a delicious cupcake.