Chapter 2

Carl’s turn:

What I got when I pulled up at the entrance of the hotel at five-thirty was essentially the same thing I left there – Sunny in jeans and a chambray work shirt, the two shades of blue doing something interesting to her oriental features. I like the way her face gets framed by that hair.

She got in, started buckling up. “I didn’t think to ask. I hope you know someplace informal. I desire seafood.”

“Cajun fried, or white tablecloth?”

“Look at me, Carl. Jeans and a workshirt. I’m looking at you and you’re no better. One ‘a those Cajun places. I’ve heard a few recommendations...”

“Which ones?”

She looked at her cellphone and started naming. They were all good ones. It’s a matter of how far to drive. I named one. “Half an hour drive...”

“Sally forth, O Captain...”

“See, that’s the problem. You’re all educated. I’m used to knuckle-draggin’ guys...”

She snickered. “You’re not the first to say that. I can scratch myself and there have been occasions where I’ve used some foul language.”

“Jason says you’re okay. I have to believe Jason.”

We’d just sat down at a table when she saw Haley waving at us. The Simons have arrived, and there’s no reason in the world that I wouldn’t want to have them join us for dinner. I actually enjoy all three of them. Bill’s a good boss, a leader, an example. The girls, one wife, one daughter, both in college despite them both being way too young, are cute, active, funny, and when we interact in the shop or in the lab, they ask good questions and make me validate what I KNOW about my business.

That’s what I explained to Sunny on the way back to drop her at her hotel.

“No sense in getting on the road too early,” I said. “0800?”

“How about 0730 and breakfast someplace? The free breakfasts in these places lack something.”

“Okay, but I’m pulling my trailer, so be ready to walk...”

“Huh?”

“Won’t get any close-in parking spots,” I said.

“Oh, right. Let’s go.”

The next morning at 0730 she was waiting by front entrance of the hotel.

We loaded up and the pickup growled its way through town to the little diner. It’s a good place, set up for working folks, so there’s a slightly remote parking area where I can pull my rig in, leaving it set up to just nose right back out after breakfast.

Coffee’s pretty good at this place, not as good as the cup I had before I left my apartment, but still good, as is the breakfast of biscuits and gravy and scrambled eggs.

I eyed my co-worker tucking into an identical version. “I hope this is good for you,” I said. “I dunno...”

“Three generations removed from Korea. I really am American, Carl, so stop worrying...”

“I don’t wanna be offensive.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind, but this isn’t the first job I’ve had, and I know the traps. I’m less concerned about you messing with my diet than I am about bathroom arrangements.”

“Porta-potties,” I said. “That’s about as good as we get...”

“I know about porta-potties. Summertime, though...”

“Yeah. Fortunately, I can make it through the day except to tinkle...” I was trying to be - delicate.

She giggled. “You TINKLE?!?”

“I’m tryin’ to be delicate here, Sunny.”

“You’re talking about bodily functions in a portable toilet on a construction site, Carl. I don’t think there’s a delicate way to do that.”

“Okay. Short version. I can make it through the day without having to SIT in one...”

Still giggling. “And I learned that I don’t put my delicate heinie on that seat. I climb on it and squat.”

I snorted. “Now THAT’S a delicate image.”

She smirked. “You started it.”

We finished the meal. I grabbed the ticket before she could get to it. “Go make a pit stop. I’ll pay this.”

“Then I get the next one,” she said.

“Fair enough.”

I left a good tip, made a parallel pit stop myself, then we mounted up again.

“Okay, we’re on the way. If we need to stop for some reason, just say so...”

“I figure four or five hours,” she said.

“Probably five. And that’s too long to sit, so half way, walk around, grab a snack, then someplace for lunch and then we’ll be there.”

“I got hotel reservations lined up.”

“I’m gonna park this thing. After I do, you can have the truck...”

“YOUR truck?”

“Theoretically it’s a company truck. You get to use it, too. I’m gonna be in my trailer. Got all my needs met there. You’re in a hotel, you need something, you’re gonna need wheels...”

“Okay ... but if you need it. I feel kind of uncomfortable...”

“What’d you do on other out of town jobs?”

“Drove my car. Followed the convoy to the jobsite. Had MY car...” she sighed. “That’s what I should’ve done, but Cindy, sometimes she’s just so, I dunno, UP that you listen and next thing you know ... we couldn’t get Bubba...”

“Luggage,” I corrected.

She laughed. I like hearing that. “Yeah ... Terri’s all about Pratchett. Luggage. The luggage wouldn’t fit in my car, so they figured that they’d do this round robin flight, drop me and Luggage off.”

“This is good,” I said. “I don’t mind...”

“If you wanna go out ... I mean, every night of the week – stuck in that trailer...”

“I can hotspot for my computer ‘n stuff, streaming video, I’m good...”

“No going out?”

“Oh, maybe ... Dinner. You’re in a stinkin’ hotel room. Me, I’m in my little cozy home where I can cook something. You have...”

“Wait. I’m there in the middle of the woods and I’m ALONE?”

“Y’know, I didn’t give that much thought. You, bein ‘ female...”

“Nice of you to notice.” Smirk.

“Makes me nervous. Where do you fall out on the scale from ‘delicate, helpless princess’ to ‘I am WOMAN, hear me roar’?”

“Oh, you’re, like, always the same, every day? You don’t have moods? Bad days?”

“Look, Sunny, I don’t even know how to have THIS conversation...”

“You were married...”

“Maybe one of the reasons I’m NOT married any more is my great grasp of interpersonal communications skills.”

“That’s a lot to admit, Carl. I didn’t mean to get into your personal life. But at the top level, I’m a human being. I sort of classify myself as level-headed and a bit headstrong, but I can be talked with.”

“Well here’s the problem,” I said. “With another guy, I really don’t care what he does after hours. You...”

“Because I’m female?”

“Uh, is it wrong to say that?”

“Some women would think so.” She paused, letting me break a sweat, then, “I’m not one of them. Actually kinda flattering, really.”

“Well, I mean, if you’re out running the roads – unfamiliar roads – by yourself ... Uh, here I go ... Somebody might think...”

“And you’d be there to protect my virtue...”

“When you put it like that, I sound stupid...”

“You sound anachronistic...”

“I know what that means, Sunny. I’m just sayin’...”

“But suppose I WANTED to go out looking for, well, ‘adventure’ is one word...”

“You’re on your own. Just so YOU know what you’re getting off into...”

“It’d be easier with my own car.”

“Dunno how we’d do that. How far is it back to Alabama?”

“I looked. We’re outside of Nashville. Six hundred miles, give or take. Ten hour drive under the best conditions...”

“That’d make a long day, like Saturday there and Sunday back...”

“I’m gonna call Cindy and see if they have anyone flying in the vicinity. I could catch a seat back there and drive back.”

“That’s a thought. But really, the truck’s there for you to use...”

“How’d you do it on other jobs?” I queried.

“Bigger crew. Sort of just ganged up together ... I knew them.”

“And you don’t know me...”

“Just that everybody says you’re a good tech. And Jason doesn’t hire psychopaths.”

“Maybe I’m a very good psychopath that doesn’t leave tracks.”

“Two-way street, Carl.”

We drove a bit, both apparently mulling over the conversation so far, then, “So, divorced?”

“Yeah. How’d you find out?”

“Haley and Deena. I asked what your deal was. That’s part of the answer.”

“I am.”

“Just ‘I am’. No explanation?”

“Oh, you want an explanation?”

“Not if you don’t want ... I thought that since we got four more hours of this...”

“Fair question. But if I ask Sunny to explain HER existence...”

“Turnabout’s fair play. So...”

“I married before I got out of trade school...”

“Trade school?” she asked.

“Well, now it’s ‘junior college’ but it offers a bunch of career-oriented courses. I got my associate degree in industrial engineering technology, but I really liked electrical stuff. A couple of high voltage service companies recruit there before graduation, so one, I had a job lined up, and two, Melissa Henderson announced that she would marry me.”

“Sounds good. Being recruited, I mean...”

“It was. Good job. First thing they did was hitch me up with an old goat on a big project and told me, what he says, you do. And listen and learn. The guy was a great teacher. I paid attention, learned, found out what he knew that I WANTED to learn, made him teach me, found things to read, started getting out on projects that helped me grow...”

“Okay, so work’s good. About Melissa...”

“Here you and I are, driving out of town. I did that too much for Melissa. I offered for her to come along ... Nope. She got a job in marketing for a casino ... I’m history.”

“Just like that. Doesn’t sound like, you know, you’re broke up...”

“I was, for a while. I do NOT like to fail.”

“That’s very manly,” she said, “but sometimes you have to realize when the battle is lost and retire from the field with as much of your side intact as you can.”

“You sound like you’ve give this some thought.”