Dad's Blue Pick-Up
Chapter Three
And that’s what led to me sitting at my favorite window seat in the Mountain Brook Cafe, the best coffee shop in our town. It was family owned by my best friend, Amelia, and her father, which meant a lot of free coffee to increase my caffeine addiction.
He was late. I looked at my watch again and then nervously wrapped my hands around my usual iced vanilla white mocha.
I looked up when Amelia chuckled, a circular serving tray propped up against her hip. “You need to calm down. You’ve met with four potential buyers already! I don’t know why you’re so nervous about this one.”
“Exactly because this is the fifth buyer. I didn’t think it was going to take this long to sell the stupid truck.” Sighing, I looked back at the door when the bell dinged, my shoulders dropping when two girls walked in giggling. “The ad has been up for three weeks.”
“Bryn, I know you are only offering it at fifteen-hundred dollars, but you need to stop being so picky about selling the truck. It’s old. Your dad’s the only one who liked-”
The bell on the door sounded again and I held up a hand. “Do you think that’s him?”
His was a face I had never seen before, which was strange in the small town that we lived in. Everyone knew each other, which was more of a curse than it was a blessing. A brown leather jacket covered a faded black ‘Decedents’ t-shirt, signifying his difference in the sea of designer jeans and cowboy boots. His eyes glanced around the coffee shop, most likely looking for someone alone and expectant, before looking right at me.
Amelia whistled. “Damn, I hope so. Give him my number.”
I motioned her away with my hands. “Oh, shoo. I’ll be sure to tell Tyler you’re offering up your number to random men.”
She giggled and winked, turning away as the man hesitantly started walking towards my table.
“I’m sorry to bother you. Are you Brynlee James? Selling the Ford F-100?”
I stood up, pulling my dress down with one hand and offering the other. “Hi, you must be Adam.”
He shook my hand and took the seat opposite of me. Rubbing his hands on the thighs of his pants, he smiled. “I am. Sorry that I’m a little late. I still haven’t really learned my way around.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem. It’s a little confusing when you first get here. It gets easier to navigate after you get lost a couple of times.”
He laughed. “Ah, the whole trial and error concept.”
“Hey! It’s the best way to discover something you were never really looking for.” I leaned down to grab the paperwork for the truck out of my purse. “So, about the truck. I brought the conditions in which I can sell it, as well as some pictures and the maintenance log of everything that has ever been done to it.”
“I’m sorry, conditions in which you can sell it?”
I sighed, mentally going through the conversation that has happened four times previously. “Yes. You see, this was my father’s truck. It was his very first car and he saved up for years in order to buy it himself. He bought it brand new when he was twenty and my mom was pregnant with my older brother.”
“I get it, the truck has meaning. But why are you telling me this?”
I handed him a stack of my favorite pictures. One taken on the day he bought the truck, a big cheesy smile on his face as he held up the keys with my mom at his side, holding her belly and rolling her eyes at him. One of me sitting at the wheel pretending to be a race car driver with my cheeks puffed out. Easton and Asher, bare feet and shirtless with fishing poles clutched in their hands as they sat in the back of the cab, ginning at the camera. Scarlett with her hands in her hair looking at the truck in a panic because she drove it into the fence, my dad with his arms crossed over his chest behind her.
He looked through them, his face not showing any emotion.
“Look.” I grabbed one of the pictures with my dad and pointed at him. “This may seem like just a truck. I get that. But my dad worked on this thing every day since he bought it. I know it’s not in the best shape, times does that. He’s replaced the transmission and the air conditioner more times than I could count, and there’s been an oil leak since 2000. The fact that it still runs is a mystery to the whole family, but it runs. It always has. And if you just promise to take care of it the way my dad did, the way he wanted me too, then it’s yours.”
Adam grabbed the picture out of my hand and studied it. “The thing that I don’t understand is – why are you selling it? We’ve been here for about twenty minutes and all you’ve done is show me how important this truck is to you and your family. Why don’t you just keep it?”
“It’s complicated. But though we can’t keep it, we don’t want it to go to a random craigslist responder.”
He suddenly chuckled. “So I’m being vetted?”
“I guess you can look at it that way.”
Adam scanned the pictures again and then sighed. “Here’s the thing. I just moved here from the city about a week ago. I used to vacation here as a kid with my parents, so when things went wrong in my life, I figured I would go somewhere that I knew.” He looked back up at me. “I don’t know anything about cars, let alone how to maintain them. But, if you let me buy your dads truck, I will promise to do my best.”
“And how are you going to do that, if you don’t know anything about trucks?”
He smiled crookedly at me. “Well, it seems to me that you know everything there is to know about this one. I would greatly appreciate it if you would teach me. I could also use a tour guide. I don’t know anyone here, and a lot has changed since I was fourteen.”
He was late. I looked at my watch again and then nervously wrapped my hands around my usual iced vanilla white mocha.
I looked up when Amelia chuckled, a circular serving tray propped up against her hip. “You need to calm down. You’ve met with four potential buyers already! I don’t know why you’re so nervous about this one.”
“Exactly because this is the fifth buyer. I didn’t think it was going to take this long to sell the stupid truck.” Sighing, I looked back at the door when the bell dinged, my shoulders dropping when two girls walked in giggling. “The ad has been up for three weeks.”
“Bryn, I know you are only offering it at fifteen-hundred dollars, but you need to stop being so picky about selling the truck. It’s old. Your dad’s the only one who liked-”
The bell on the door sounded again and I held up a hand. “Do you think that’s him?”
His was a face I had never seen before, which was strange in the small town that we lived in. Everyone knew each other, which was more of a curse than it was a blessing. A brown leather jacket covered a faded black ‘Decedents’ t-shirt, signifying his difference in the sea of designer jeans and cowboy boots. His eyes glanced around the coffee shop, most likely looking for someone alone and expectant, before looking right at me.
Amelia whistled. “Damn, I hope so. Give him my number.”
I motioned her away with my hands. “Oh, shoo. I’ll be sure to tell Tyler you’re offering up your number to random men.”
She giggled and winked, turning away as the man hesitantly started walking towards my table.
“I’m sorry to bother you. Are you Brynlee James? Selling the Ford F-100?”
I stood up, pulling my dress down with one hand and offering the other. “Hi, you must be Adam.”
He shook my hand and took the seat opposite of me. Rubbing his hands on the thighs of his pants, he smiled. “I am. Sorry that I’m a little late. I still haven’t really learned my way around.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem. It’s a little confusing when you first get here. It gets easier to navigate after you get lost a couple of times.”
He laughed. “Ah, the whole trial and error concept.”
“Hey! It’s the best way to discover something you were never really looking for.” I leaned down to grab the paperwork for the truck out of my purse. “So, about the truck. I brought the conditions in which I can sell it, as well as some pictures and the maintenance log of everything that has ever been done to it.”
“I’m sorry, conditions in which you can sell it?”
I sighed, mentally going through the conversation that has happened four times previously. “Yes. You see, this was my father’s truck. It was his very first car and he saved up for years in order to buy it himself. He bought it brand new when he was twenty and my mom was pregnant with my older brother.”
“I get it, the truck has meaning. But why are you telling me this?”
I handed him a stack of my favorite pictures. One taken on the day he bought the truck, a big cheesy smile on his face as he held up the keys with my mom at his side, holding her belly and rolling her eyes at him. One of me sitting at the wheel pretending to be a race car driver with my cheeks puffed out. Easton and Asher, bare feet and shirtless with fishing poles clutched in their hands as they sat in the back of the cab, ginning at the camera. Scarlett with her hands in her hair looking at the truck in a panic because she drove it into the fence, my dad with his arms crossed over his chest behind her.
He looked through them, his face not showing any emotion.
“Look.” I grabbed one of the pictures with my dad and pointed at him. “This may seem like just a truck. I get that. But my dad worked on this thing every day since he bought it. I know it’s not in the best shape, times does that. He’s replaced the transmission and the air conditioner more times than I could count, and there’s been an oil leak since 2000. The fact that it still runs is a mystery to the whole family, but it runs. It always has. And if you just promise to take care of it the way my dad did, the way he wanted me too, then it’s yours.”
Adam grabbed the picture out of my hand and studied it. “The thing that I don’t understand is – why are you selling it? We’ve been here for about twenty minutes and all you’ve done is show me how important this truck is to you and your family. Why don’t you just keep it?”
“It’s complicated. But though we can’t keep it, we don’t want it to go to a random craigslist responder.”
He suddenly chuckled. “So I’m being vetted?”
“I guess you can look at it that way.”
Adam scanned the pictures again and then sighed. “Here’s the thing. I just moved here from the city about a week ago. I used to vacation here as a kid with my parents, so when things went wrong in my life, I figured I would go somewhere that I knew.” He looked back up at me. “I don’t know anything about cars, let alone how to maintain them. But, if you let me buy your dads truck, I will promise to do my best.”
“And how are you going to do that, if you don’t know anything about trucks?”
He smiled crookedly at me. “Well, it seems to me that you know everything there is to know about this one. I would greatly appreciate it if you would teach me. I could also use a tour guide. I don’t know anyone here, and a lot has changed since I was fourteen.”