The Love of Jury Duty

Distracted

"Hey Nick."

"Hey. I got out early. Are we painting the Chevy?"

"Yeah it's already in the booth."

"Great let me get set up."

I put on the white protective gear and paint mask and headed into the booth to custom paint this old Chevy. It was relaxing to be in here doing this and I loved to work on cars. I had a passion for restoration and it showed in my work.

I started spraying the blue color on the body of the car. My mind wandered a bit and I started thinking about the girl from earlier today. I paused briefly and shook my head. What the hell? I had no reason to be thinking about her. I had a wife and baby at home.

I started painting again and finished, pulling off the paint mask and standing back looking at my work. It didn't look as great as I normally do. Now I had to wait for it to dry, sand it and start again.

"What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. Distracted I guess."

"Did you want to take a break and get some food and come back to it?"

"Yeah. I guess maybe I should."

We took a break and headed up the road to a small brew house for a microbrew and food. I scrolled through my phone and smiled at pictures of my daughter. Anything to keep my mind away from the girl at jury duty. My co-worker, Mike, sat watching me as we waited for our beer. I knew he had questions. I didn't normally act like this nor did any problem reflect in my work this much. The waitress brought our beers and I sighed taking a large drink and swallowing slowly.

"Alright. What's going on?"

"I don't know. I'm just distracted for some reason."

"Distracted by what or who? Not to sound like a dick, but your work never looks like that. It's always precise. This shows you are off your game. If we don't get this painted and clear coated tonight we're not going to be on schedule."

"I know. You don't have to tell me. I'm aware. I'll get it right. You know this pisses me off."

I muttered taking another drink. The waitress brought our food and I munched on a fry before sighing deeply

"Have you ever met someone that impacts you in a way that you get distracted by thoughts of them?"

"Uh yeah...what is this about?"

"There was this girl today at jury duty. Her battery died and I helped her out. I don't know. Literally didn't spend more than 30-45 minutes with her and she's distracting me."

"Nick, are you cheating on your wife?"

"No! God no. There was just something about this girl. Ah...whatever."

"What about her?"

"I don't know. She was kind of funny and she was shy and blushed a lot. It was kind of cute."

"Do you know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think you need to forget about her. You have a lovely wife and baby at home. You met this other girl one time for 30 minutes in jury duty. Chances are you'll never see her again."

We finished our food and headed back to the shop. I pulled the frame out of the paint booth and sanded down the areas I messed up on. I marked the areas, put the protective coverings and mask on and repainted the areas. Much better! I thought inspecting the body.

Mike gave me the thumbs up and I smiled heading over to the other area to mix clear coat. We went back and sprayed on the clear coat. I smiled and sighed taking off the paint mask and standing back looking at it.

"That's much better!" I smiled

"Yes. Want to call it a day and head home? I'll lock up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. We only have 30 more minutes. Everyone else has gone home. You might as well."

I nod and grabbed my stuff. It was going to be a long drive home and I was hoping I didn't hit any traffic on the way.

I groaned sitting in typical rush hour traffic on the interstate. The worst part was without traffic it took an hour to get home. I didn't want this extra time in the car alone. It gave me too much time to think.  My truck slowly pulled into the driveway and at this point I was going to be lucky if I saw my daughter for a hour before she had to go to bed.

We lived in a smaller, older style home from the 50s. I liked it. It felt cozy and just big enough for the three of us and the dog.

I smiled walking in and scooping up my daughter. She was the light of my life and I loved her so much.

"Long drive?"

My wife walked over smiling and pecked my lips.

"Yes. And a lot of traffic. Did I miss dinner again?"

"Nope. Just finished. I made lasagna."

"Perfect." I smiled

I tickled my daughters stomach and kissed her cheek. She had adorable chubby cheeks and I loved her laugh. My wife set down a small plate of cooled lasagna in front of her in her high chair and she went to town. She handed me a plate and I smiled and sighed. It was so good to be home. She sat down and I took a bite. It was amazing and just what I needed right now.

"How was jury duty?"

I wish she hadn't asked me that. It just made me think about the girl I met.

"It was alright I guess. I told you when I was there that I got out of it for now. They packed us in there like sardines. It sucked."

"Busy at work too?"

"Yeah. Painted that old Chevy. I was having an off day and had to sand some parts and redo it, but otherwise I'm pretty proud of it."

"Oh. YOU had to redo something? That's rare."

"I know" I chuckled "just had an off day. How was your day?"

She started talking, but I wasn't paying too close of attention. My mind wandered off thinking about the girl from this morning. I wanted to hear her voice again and hear her laugh. This has never happened to me before. Normally I couldn't care less about someone else. Every once in a while I'd smile or nod to seem interested in her day, but I really wasn't.

"Nick?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you Ok? You seem distant and distracted."

"I'm sorry. It's just been a long day. What were you saying?"

"Dinner. With your parents. Were you interested next weekend?"

"Yeah. Yeah that sounds great."

"I'm gonna go get her cleaned up and then into bed. Let you relax a little."

I looked up at her as she picked up the baby and walked away. I felt like an ass. I wanted to spend some time with the baby before bed, but I guess my inattentiveness ruined that. I cleaned up the table and did the dishes. It was the least I could do for being a jerk.

The dishwasher rushed on and I sat on the couch surfing Facebook. There wasn't anything too interesting going on. What if I just look her up? What could it hurt? I searched around the house and then entered her name in search. There's probably thousands of Lillian Copeland's in the world. I found her page right away.

I stared at her profile picture for a minute and then scrolled through her about me. Divorced...ok so she's single. Looks like she has a son...he's cute. I scrolled through her photos and half smiled. She seemed funny and sweet. And she was pretty. Brown hair and brown eyes.

I closed out my phone and sighed. I wish I could get her out of my head. I was married. I didn't need to be looking somewhere else.