Center Courtship (11 page)

“And you swatted him away. No one touches Mae.”

I shook my head. Her eyes got big. “It actually felt kind of…nice.”

Her eyebrows rose up.

“He saw Brandon, which made his day, by the way. The room was packed so I excused myself to leave and get this, Colette. He followed me! I started to take the stairs and he came behind me. Oh, get this! He heard a typical conversation between me and my mom. She insulted Elsu, not knowing he was standing right there. Then she tried to defend Bart but Elsu took the phone out of my hand and hung up on her. Then he walked me to my truck!”

Colette's jaw hit her chest and she sat up. “Mae! What the hell?”

“It gets worse!”

“Worse? None of this is bad, this is all good. This is stuff fantasies are made of!”

“Fantasies? I do not fantasize about Elsu,” I said, wrinkling my nose.

“You cannot tell me for one second that you don't find that man even slightly good looking,” she said. “Every person with a uterus fantasizes about that man.”

I shrugged. “Eh.”

“Eh?” Colette rolled her eyes. “The only time you should be saying ‘eh' is when you're about to finish it with the rest of his name. Ehh-lsu.” The sexual overtones obvious in her voice.

“SHUT UP! Let me finish!” I said as I smacked her knee. “I went to get in the truck today and there was a picture tucked under the wiper, it was me and him and a note telling me he had just dropped it off because Millard had taken it and he wanted me to have it and that he was going to see me on Saturday.”

“Why is he going to see you on Saturday?”

“Because he thinks I'm going to the game.”

“Why would he think that? You don't have tickets. That's about the last place you'd be seen.”

“I have tickets now,” I said as I pulled the envelope from my purse and handed it to Colette. “I can't go, it's not like he'll be able to tell if I'm there or not. I'm going to go get a beer with a friend from my Stark State days.”

Colette opened the still-sealed envelope. “Mae, you can't NOT use these tickets. These aren't your average every day tickets, Mae. These are Owner's Seats!”

“What does that mean? I'll be up in a room high above everyone and not be able to see anything?”

“No, that means you're sitting on the floor straight across the court from the players' bench. You're front and center, Mae-Mae!” she showed me the face of the two tickets. Row one, seats one and two. OWNER/VIP was printed across both tickets.

“Holy Cow!” I stared at the tickets disbelieving what I was seeing. “How did he get those?”

“Mae, he's the big star of the team, he can probably get whatever he wants.”

I took the tickets back and stared at them. “Gina said the PR guy was giving Brandon seats in the handicap section for the game. He handed me these tickets and said they were originally for Brandon but he wanted me to have them.”

“You don't think…” I could read Colette's mind. “I think someone's got a crush on you Miss Mae.”

“No, I think someone had extra tickets and threw them at the nearest person he could find.” I stood up and removed my coat. “I guess I have to go to the game. Do you want to come with me?”

“I'm already going with my brother and his family,” she said.

“That's right. I'll call Aaron in the morning and see if he wants to go with me,” I said as her eyes widened.

“Mae, you are really playing the field!”

“Oh, something tells me Aaron does not play on our field!” I laughed as I gave her a quick kiss on her cheek. “Hey, do you want to go to the opening special events thingy? I can probably get you a ticket to that, too.”

“I can't, my brother had a ticket for me but I have to work in the morning, some of us can't just close up shop because our sexy basketball player boyfriend is going to be playing ball that day,” she teased. She owned a successful hair salon in the next town over.

“You're lucky you're my best friend, otherwise I'd swat you one!” I walked out of her apartment and towards mine. I could hear the telltale sound of Arnold channel surfing in his apartment, so I didn't feel the need to check on him.

The next morning, I woke a bit early. I took time to blow dry my hair and then brushed it out and pulled the sides back, leaving the back fall to my shoulders in a brunette veil. I was past due for a haircut, but this length wasn't too bad. I donned a green work shirt and decided to wear a pair of jeans instead of my usual black sweats that I wore under my coveralls. I decided to carry the coveralls in to work, hoping I wouldn't need them.

Once at the shop, Bonnie looked at me strangely when she walked in. “I've worked here for what seems like forever and I don't think I've ever seen your hair down. It looks nice.”

I blushed and said thank you as I went straight to my office. I sat down and turned on the monitors while looking at the picture from Elsu hanging on my bulletin board. I shook my head in disbelief.

I spotted the list of cars still on my desk and decided to bite the bullet and give the man a call. I picked up the shop phone and dialed the number.

“Hello?” I heard the older man's voice.

“Hi, this is Mae Rogers from Grandpa's Chop Shop. You were in on Saturday with a list of cars you were interested in selling?”

“Mae, yes, are you interested in taking a look at them?” he asked.

“Yeah, I'd like to see them first hand,” I said. “When is a good time to come by?”

“I'm here all day, ma'am.”

“Great, how about noon? I'll try and see if one of my mechanics can come with me.”

“I'll be here.” I returned the phone to the cradle and exhaled deeply.

Before I had a chance to begin a second thought, I heard a light rapping at the doorframe of my office. “So Mae, did you hear about the tickets?” asked Steve.

“Yep, he said there was no problem with the requested number. I don't know when we'll get them.”

“Awesome, my grandson will be thrilled.”

I nodded then looked at my desk and eyed the list of cars. “Since you're here, do you want to take a drive with me?” I showed him the list and quickly explained. “I just got off the phone with the guy and he's there all day. I'll take you to lunch.”

“That would be great, but can I pay my own way and we bring Greg? We already made plans for lunch.”

“Not a problem, and I'll pay for you both, it's called a deduction, Steve. Don't clock out for lunch, you two can just leave early to make up for the working through lunch thing.”

“You're too nice, Mae. I highly doubt either one of us will feel like we're working if we're going to be looking at these.” He stared at the list. “Seriously? A ‘69 Chevelle?”

“I don't know anything about them, Steve. Don't get your hopes up. They could be junk.” I took the list back and placed it on my desk.

I realized Steve was standing a little closer to the desk and leaning in. I looked up and noticed he was eyeing the new picture on my bulletin board.

“That was taken at his house by one of the guys who came around with us. Millard.”

“Is that a basketball court?”

“Yeah, can you believe he transformed a garage into a court?”

“An indoor court? Niiice.”

I nodded. “He has a nice set-up up there.” I pulled out my phone and handed it to Steve with the picture app open. “You can see some more of them here.”

Steve scrolled through and stopped at one and showed it to me. “You never said
they
were there!” Referring to Saul, Casper, Brent, and Peter.

“I didn't even know who they were until I showed those to my neighbor.”

Steve shook his head in disbelief. “Of all the people to get to do this, fate sends the one person who is completely clueless.”

I picked up a paperclip and threw it at him. “Be nice, or I'll make you work on Saturday!” I chuckled.

He handed back my phone with a smile and left the room.

We were steady until noon when Greg and Steve were standing at the counter talking to Bonnie waiting for me to finish a phone call.

“Mae, let's take the shop truck,” said Steve. “Little José is a little snug for the three of us.” The shop truck was a 4-door extended cab pick-up with our logo on the side. We used it for hauling scrap and other times we needed a vehicle to represent the business. Plus, being parked near the road, it doubled as an advertising sign.

“That's fine, you can drive,” I said as I put on my coat and tossed him the keys. “Bonnie, we'll be a little later than usual, going to check out those cars.”

“Take pictures!” she said, excitedly. “I want to see!”

I held up my phone, “Already on it.”

If you looked Massillon up on a map you would think we were in nearby Navarre. However, the property where our journey ended was still considered part of Massillon. The surrounding properties had all been bought from owners or been taken by eminent domain. Construction had just finished on a large shopping complex intended to draw people away from
Canton in hopes that they would have no reason to leave before or after their visit to Brothers Arena.

We pulled up to an old two story house. It was painted white and years of bitter winters had peeled a lot of that paint away. A porch stretched across the front of the house, the posts that held up the roof were rotted and standing on that porch was probably an act of bravery left to people with stronger guts than mine.

A U-Haul truck was backed up to the porch and the two men I met on Saturday were working together to remove a couch from the house. Once the couch was in the truck, they came out and greeted Steve, Greg and me with handshakes. “Welcome,” said the older man.

“I'm so sorry, but I never caught your names,” I said.

“No you didn't, did you? I'm Quentin, and this here is Junior,” he patted his son on the shoulder. “Come on out back, the cars are in the steel building.”

We followed the two men around the house and saw a large metal building that we couldn't have seen from the road when we pulled in. This was promising. Quentin typed a code into a keypad and we walked into a whole new world of vehicular amazement. The simplicity of the outside of the building betrayed the wonders we saw within. The three of us stood with our mouths agape. The building was bright, a huge workbench that looked like it had at one time held a lot of tools stood empty on my right. The walls were decorated with classic car memorabilia and I could see where fading betrayed the fact that pieces from the collection had been removed.

The things we were there to see, however, outshone even the lights that illuminated them. Seven beautiful cars all in their high gloss glory stood before us. At first I was afraid to move but took a step towards a stunning purple ‘77 Chevelle. I couldn't help but take a walk around it. I saw Steve and Greg getting pulled into the room by the gas powered beacons before them. Each car as glorious as the last. Some girls liked diamonds, I'd take any one of these over a stupid old rock any day of the week. A red ‘69 convertible Corvette was pulling Steve to it like a sailor to a Siren. Greg was fascinated by the blue ‘69 Z28.

“I think she likes them, Pa,” said Junior with a chuckle. He eyed me with furrowed brows that made me slightly nervous.

“No, ‘like' is not even in the dictionary when it comes to what I'm thinking right now.” I spun around in the middle of the room taking them all in. I knew my next question was going to be the end of my obsession, but I needed to know before I became too attached. “What are you wanting?” I asked, bracing myself for the number.

“Well, what I'd like you to do, is take a good look at them,” said Quentin as he went to the Chevelle and opened the hood. The engine looked to be in working order, only a turn of a key would be able to prove if they ran or not. He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. “I want you to give me a number, tell me how close I am.” He waved the paper between us.

“When were they run last?” asked Greg.

“Early spring. Dad was diagnosed with cancer in June, passed away late September. He went downhill fast. He had them all out for a spin with my granddaughter at Easter.”

“Doesn't anyone in the family want them?” I asked.

“Nope, we've tried. Either they don't want them, or they don't have a place to put them.”

“I need to think on this. I have to decide what I can afford versus how badly I want them. They'd be sold as is, definitely not strippers. We have a steel building as well, that's where we keep our classics. I'd have to get them at a price I could profit from their resale later.” I bit my lip and looked at the cars in turn. I walked to the Corvette and popped the hood. The quality there mirrored that of the Chevelle. I sighed.

“They all look like that,” said Junior. “You can open them all.” He walked to a peg board and pulled down a set of keys and handed them to me. “These are for the Corvette, start her up if you want.”

Like a kid being handed the leash of a puppy, I grabbed it and ran. Once inside, I sat in awe at the pristine interior. New or like-new. Either way, it was like sitting in a mother's womb. I felt at peace. I put the key in the ignition and it started right up. The rev, the purr and the vibration gave me chills. I didn't know what sex was like but I couldn't imagine it being better than that.

I stepped out of the car begrudgingly, knowing there'd be no way the shop could afford them all. “Are they a package deal?” I was hoping I could try and haggle on one or two.

“If it weren't for the city breathing down our necks, I'd say no. But you see the construction going on behind us. They're antsy. They're going to be bulldozing Saturday whether these are here or not. I don't have time to haggle individually,” said Quentin.

That could be my in. If he was that desperate to sell them, I'd have a better chance at getting my asking price. “It's Tuesday, I'll have a number to you by the end of tomorrow.” I looked at Steve and Greg who looked like they were just denied the toy they wanted from the toy store.