The Tow She Didn't Know She Needed

Authors note: This story is the first that I have posted on this site. Please be kind. With that being said if you found something you didn't like, let me know. How would you change it in the part you didn't like? If this was something you enjoyed, please by all means share the love and let me know.

Allison's day couldn't have gotten any worse, or so she thought. It was a Murphy's Law kind of day. After getting dagger looks from her boss for being 20 minutes late thanks to the car crash that she was almost in (God forbid her boss cared about her life), her lunch was stolen by the office sneak, and of course, the copier decided to jam the Friday before the board meeting which had to be ready on Monday morning. So that left her going to Staples for copies, as well as getting a repair person in the office as soon as possible. All of this being looked upon by her boss being Allison's fault.

Finally, it was time to go home, something she prayed would come but was thinking that it may never. Walking to her car she took a deep breath in and let it out, trying to give herself some relief, which was only short-lived. On her way to her car which she had just got washed the day before now had bird crap all over it. Could her luck be any worse? Curing at the skies wondering who she pissed off in a past life or this week to spill havoc on her. At least her car started once she was inside.

After all that had already happened today, all she wanted to do was eat something that wasn't a snack bar and pop open a bottle of wine, while snuggling in her bed until Monday morning. Those plans were put on hold as her car started to become wobbly. Pulling over to the side of the road she got out to assess the problem. The back driver-side tire was going flat. Right then and there all she could do was replay in her mind her mother nagging her to get triple A because you never know when you're going to need it.

Shaking her head of brunette hair in rage and frustration she got back into her car. Tears began to fill her eyes. 'This was not in the plans! None of today was.' Allison thought. Her body was trying to stay as still as it could to keep everything still. She couldn't fall apart now. Not with being halfway home. She vowed she would wait until she was home and then have a nice long cry. Gathering herself so she wouldn't scream at an unexpecting employee of the random tow place she would have to call for a tire change, or even the one that showed up for her services.

Taking out her phone, which to her surprise was actually at a decent charge, one checkmark in the pro list today she supposed. Looking for towing companies with the best ratings she happened to find one that was close to her home.

This place had always been known for ripping people off. The reviews though of the recent told a much different story. They praised the towing and repair business. As she scrolled further, it showed that the business had changed hands, which lead to better reviews. Not holding her breath, she called thinking that she didn't have much more to lose at this point. Pushing the call button on her phone she heard it ring a few times before someone picked up.

"High-Performance Towing Kyle speaking," he said in a surprisingly upbeat voice.

"Hi, umm I'm having car trouble. I have a flat tire. I don't have any tools to fix it, also I don't have a tire to change it out with. I'm sorry I must sound so stupid right now." Why had she not paid more attention to automobile repairs?

"No ma'am you're fine. We actually get a lot of calls like this all the time. Not all by woman." He said in a reassuring voice.

"Well, that's a relief, I suppose." She added. "How long will it take to get someone out here?"

"We're a bit backed up, I'd say about an hour. Let me get where you're at so I can get the closest dispatched truck to your location."

She provided him with information about where she had pulled over on the road. Thanking her stars, she had gone to the bathroom before she left work. The last thing she wanted to do was get out and find a spot to squat. On top of that, it would most likely be when the tow truck would show up, or some killer on the run that had a thing for women. Yup, that would be my luck today if I had to pee on the side of the road today. Sighing, she pulled out a power bar from her glove compartment. "Hello, dinner. At least I like this flavor." As she unwrapped the mint chocolate chip bar and took a bit out of it. This would be her third power bar of the day. One for breakfast, one for lunch, and now one for dinner. When would this day end? An hour and a half later the tow truck finally showed up. About time Allison thought. Not paying much attention to the guy as he walked to the vehicle. She rolled down the window.

He moved the clipboard he was holding away from his face, and she could now see him. "Allison?" He asked as if he knew her not as if he was checking to make sure this was the right car.

She turned to really look at him, and even though it was now dark outside she recognized him immediately. "Jimmy?"

"Hey, how you've been? Well minus the last few hours." He added a smile.

"Good. Works crazy. Trying to do the responsible thing most days." She smiled back. "Nothing wild and crazy like the old days." This was a complete shock. Allison hadn't thought about Jimmy in years let alone seen him. 'Please let this be a good omen.' She thought to herself, then she wondered why she even thought that.

Jimmy, now there was a name she hadn't uttered in five, no seven years. Well, he was just as good-looking as he was back then. Even clad in jeans from head to toe, with his jean buttoned down, to the nice fitting jeans he had on his legs over his work boots. But now he had more of a power to him. Like he had grown up. Saddened a little bit that he had cut the long strung-out mocha curls he used to sport. Now they were cut close to his roots. Probably for the best if he now was working on all sorts of vehicles full-time. The beard was also new. That she liked, honestly any man with a beard got points with her, no matter how long it grew, Luckly his was cleaned up. His body had changed as well. Before he was leaner, but now he had built muscle over that leanness, something she wouldn't mind sinking into or being pushed against a wall with. Shaking her head to bring herself back to reality.

"No nothing wrong with that. I understand. I feel like that is my life too." Pausing for a moment. "Why don't we get you out of here so you can start your weekend."

The ride was easy to the shop. They talked about when they used to hang out, what some people in the group were up to now, and who married whom. Simple chit-chat things. As they pulled into the shop Jimmy talked about her car. "I won't be able to get your tire on until tomorrow. Do you have a ride to get home?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I'm just going to order a ride. Shouldn't take that long for the car to get here." She responded not wanting to be an inconvenience to him.

"Don't be silly. I just have a few things to lock up here and then I can take you home. You don't need to spend your money on that." Shaking his head.

This surprised her a bit. The Jimmy she remembered might not have offered. His tone came out as if the offering was no big deal as if she should have just asked him in the first place. "All right, thank you. Do you mind if I get out and stretch my legs? Maybe use the restroom?"

Jimmy watched as Allison got out of the tow truck. She had always been beautiful to him, even now when you could see the tiredness in her eyes from whatever job she was at. Life didn't give her the best hand. That smile though could light up the city. Allison's body had always been curvy. Something men took notice of if she decided to show it off. Even though the brown peasant skirt didn't do her justice, the white lace top that covered the top half of her gave him a bit of imagination that things were still just as sexy.

"Sure thing. It's on the left when you go inside." Jimmy pointed to the door, then held the outside door to let her in.

As they walked in a guy was sitting behind the front desk that customers came to check in or pay for what was done to their vehicles. "Hey, Boss!" Came from the guy's mouth. The voice sounded oddly familiar being the guy she spoke to in the beginning.

"Boss you sound important here?" Allison said half joking half wondering the truth of that.

"Yeah, I own the place." He responded, mostly fact, but there was a little pride to the statement. Could you blame him?

"Wow! If someone had told me that YOU would own a functioning business, what about seven years ago, I would have never believed them. That's awesome!" Allison was truly amazed, proud of him that she had a friend that owned what looked like a well-run business. She now was thinking about what she didn't really have to show about her life at her dead-end job.

"Thanks." Now turning back to the guy behind the desk. "Kyle go home. I'll lock up. This was our last call of the night. As for you Allison the restroom is down the hall on the left, first door."

Following Jimmy's directions, she found herself in a one-stall bathroom looking at herself in the mirror. She had to hand it to him, for a bathroom at an auto repair shop it was kept nice. Clean floors, a nice cabinet for cleaning and paper supplies, and even fake flowers in a vase on top of the cabinet. But of course, the fluorescent lighting made her see how her make-up was washing away from her face. Pulling out her make-up bag she did her best not to look too overdone. I mean he was just giving her a ride home. Why was she suddenly caring so much? Wasn't she just going to wash it all off when she got home? They would be in the car for twenty minutes tops. After having a quick meeting with herself she decided there was nothing wrong with a little touch-up.

About ten minutes later they were sitting in Jimmy's huge new truck. The inside looked like it had the same amount of room as a normal car. You could almost get lost in that thought until you realize that you're above all the cars on the road.

"You must be hungry. It's almost 8:30. Do want to get something?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, I could go for some food. I've been living off of protein bars all day. Real food sounds pretty good to me right now." She felt her stomach make a small cheer in agreement.

"Yeah, I know how that can feel. So, the big question is fast food or dine-in somewhere?"

"Fast food. I could go for some fries right now." She smiled at him.

After they had picked up the order, Allison picked at the fries, "Do you mind if I take you somewhere? Jimmy asked confidently, but then had the realization that they hadn't seen each other in a long time, as bad as Ally was saying her day was going, he didn't want the night to end. "You know we don't have to; I can just take you home, then see you tomorrow when you pick up your car."

She looked at him with a genuine smile, one that used to make his heart flip when it landed on her lips. "You know what, yeah, I'm game. I haven't done anything just because in a long time."

As they drove to wherever it was that Jimmy was taking them. She hollered at him to stop at the plaza where they were going by. The general liquor store had caught her eye. When she came back to the truck, she was holding a black bag. "Thought some whiskey would be good to go with our cokes. Besides I was planning on drinking anyway with the week I had. This is just a little stronger than what I was going to dig into at home."

"Yeah, what were you planning?" He asked.

"Ordering in, wine, and some me ti- I mean then bed after a good movie." Allison was a bit red but recovered quickly. "But I think I'm having a much better time catching up with an old friend."

When they got to the spot, they were going Allison recognized it immediately. It was where the group had hung out so many times before. This spot was just off the beaten path that led out to this wonderful view of the lake. The old picnic table was still there along with the bonfire stones. "We can always go somewhere else. I just thought it would be cool to come back here. I haven't been in years."

"Yeah, neither have I, not since Kristine got married to Mark. I was 21 then soooo 28 now, seven years give or take. After that happened the group seemed to split off in different ways. No, I'm glad we're here. You couldn't have picked a better spot. Come on, grab the food. It's nice outside, let's eat at the table. Both seating on the same side of the picnic table so they got a great view of the lake and the stars of the night that were just starting to come out. Dividing the food up between the two and Allison spiced up each of their drinks, before taking a nice long slip of her own.

"So how did the Jimmy I knew back then become the owner of a tow truck company?" Allison inquired.

"To put it simply my dad had passed, and I needed to find a way to take care of my mom like I had promised him. That's probably why he left me a little bit of money. Even though I was in my adult age, you and I both know I was not mature. Not going to lie for the first few months while we were sorting out all his bills and finances it still hadn't hit me. Until one day I was driving past this place. It was like my dad was saying this is your future. Buy the place, take what I taught you about cars, and make this your own. It's all I could think about."

"How did you even know this place was for sale?"

"Well, I'm not going to lie I may have driven past it a few hundred times. Back then the place did not look as happening as it looks now. It looked like a dump. It took a few dinners and even more conversations with the owner, but I convinced him to sell. He wasn't making much money and the sale was more than fair." It took about two long years, but I finally turned a profit. Now I've got ten guys working for me, enough money for myself, to take care of my mom, and when I do decide to have fun, I can have it. It's taken five years but I'm finally in an okay space."

"I'm guessing that's where the truck comes into play?" Her head waved over to the shiny navy blue 2023 Ram 3500 Limited Longhorn before biting into her burger.

"Yeah, I bought that beauty a few months ago. My mom kept nagging me to get something nice for myself. How could I own a car I had to work on every few weeks, yet I owned a towing company that repaired cars as well." He paused for a moment to take a slip of his drink. "Yeah, it's over the top, but I've enjoyed it every day I've driven it. Besides my next car will be a classic I rebuild. That's the dream anyway." Giving her a half smile.

"Well, she was right. You should treat yourself every once in a while. Although I think I treat myself too much. Spending way too much money on instant gratification. It's way too easy to buy things nowadays. Which I know is the biggest excuse on this planet." Sighing.

"We'll blame that on technology. I know it makes my life easier in ways and brings more business, but do you really need your phone to also be your tv remote? Why can't you just get up and look for it or buy some new batteries? Or these virtual 'life' games that people will spend actual money on so they can get things that don't exist." Shaking his head at how easy things have gotten since they grew up.

"Yeah, I get all that. I can't say that I haven't come to pry to the virtual life. Needing more coins or whatever to level up. I think I need to have a non-internet weekend or something. Where I can only get calls and text messages. Actually, no I don't even want that." Thinking it would be nice this weekend to have one of those.

"I think people need to take more weekends like that. Memories happen when you're not trying to post about everything on social media or make it look like you live a perfect life, even taking your noise from the screen. I mean look at tonight, fun has happened without any use of a phone." Jimmy pointed out.

"Yeah, it is beautiful out here. The stars are so much easier to see which makes them more of a wonder." She leaned her head onto his shoulder looking up to the sky. It surprised her a little how nice it felt.

"Why did we never get along this well before?" Jimmy asked.

She giggled but did not move from her spot. "Because I thought you were an idiot. A hot idiot granted, but your being an idiot outweighed the hotness factor, so I never went there. Never wanted to be part of all that drama." She answered him.

"So you thought I was good-looking." He replied in a sexy sarcastic voice.

"Don't get your ego up now," she said, facing him now with her head still on his shoulder. Her hand now touching his chest. It stayed there for a moment before traveling up to his neck gently. "I like the beard." Playing with the short hair from his face that felt strong but soft on her fingers. They sat there for a moment just staring at one another as Ally traced her fingers through his beard and around his neck.

"Does it make me seem like less of an idiot?" as it came out of his mouth Jimmy felt like an idiot for saying it. But to his pleasant surprise, a laugh came out.

"Well, I never said you looked like one, just that you acted like one. But from what I've heard tonight about your life you've grown up and I'm the one that needs to have the reality check." Her eyes went a bit sad, lost in thought for a moment.

"Don't say that. When you were younger you were the mom of the group. Heck, you were the mom at home. With yours working three jobs to support you and your two sisters. Then you working at night and gettting in a college course when you could. It's no wonder I was out of your league back then."

"Well..." she took a breath to steady herself. "You're not out of my league now."

"You don't know that, I could have warrants out for my arrest in three states." He joked.

"Do you?" she asked, really hoping he was kidding.

"No, there are no warrants. I'm a law-abiding citizen nowadays. In fact, I sponsor one of the local baseball teams." Saying it proudly

"Couldn't go pro so you did the next best thing. That's something a guy in my league would absolutely do." Smiling at him, then she moved her sight to the stars. "They always make me feel so small whenever I get a good look at the stars. It reminds me that it is okay that I'm not Taylor Swift."

Jimmy let out a laugh she could feel through his body. "I remember that night the group did karaoke, if what you were singing up there was considered phenomenal then I would want everyone's ears checked."

Allison playfully slapped him on the chest. "No, I mean being a badass woman boss in her career. Breaking records repeatedly in the music industry. Being an inspiration to women all around the world. No one in the United States doesn't know who she is. Well maybe the Amish but some live with no tv, and I'm not sure about their internet or radio habits. But bottom line I don't know if I'll ever get to be a boss. Or be a mentor to young women. Or break some record I'm proud of. But the stars when I see them like this, they make that worry a little less."

"Well, you have already been a mentor to your two younger sisters so add that to your accomplishments. As for being a boss you already have been one. When we all hung out you made the plans and delegated who needed to do what or bring, what route we were going. Everyone always went to you for help no matter what the issue was. Bosses get the big problems. You were the cool boss. Breaking records yeah, I think you could do that if you sang loud enough. Got high pitched, a few could break in half." Both let out a laugh. Jimmy brought his arm around Allison. "I'm just saying don't think your past wasn't worth anything just because you're not sure what the future holds."