Lovely Shades of Me

Tailgating

Andrew Moore Jr.

I gripped the steering wheel tight.

"I'm sorry Ryan-Alexander for the confusion, but I won't be needing your assistance getting to the airport." I formally and confidently stated to myself.

I was practicing how to gently let down this incredible woman who kindly offered to drive me to the airport.

But what if she comes up with another excuse... I thought to myself.

No!

"No is a complete sentence." I remembered how my mother would tell my father this often.

Usually as he was walking out to go to another meeting or leaving to go on another business trip. He would always claim that there was no way for him to get out of work, and my mother would always tell him the exact same thing. 

It didn't matter if it was Christmas Eve... my graduation from Harvard...my mother's funeral.. if work called, he had to answer. He was one of the most powerful men I had ever met, but he didn't know how to say "No." At least not to anyone but his family.

My mother did very little to hide her disappointment. In fact she didn't try to hide it at all, she much preferred to drown it in scotch. I wondered if my mother always knew about the secrets my father was hiding. Secrets that led me here to this uncivilized hell-hole.

I needed to get out of here NOW.  The owner of this car told me to leave the keys in the church mailbox and to message him when I was done. To me, that seemed like a perfect way for this beautiful car to get stolen. But who was I to judge?

I started to remove my personal belongings from the vehicle. I had already sent the majority of my things with this week's intern, Meredith....or was it Miranda? It was so hard for me to remember from one week to the next. They were usually gone before I had a chance to learn their names anyways.

Today's meeting was not supposed to take long and it was the last item on the agenda for Georgia. The only possessions I had on me were my briefcase and my phone charger. I would have sent along my briefcase with the intern, but I wanted to have my laptop easily accessible. I stuffed the phone charger in my briefcase and exited the vehicle.

As I walked to the mailbox of the church, I noticed I didn't see Ryan-Alexander's truck anywhere in sight. Maybe she had changed her mind?
Hmmm.
If could get an Uber here quick enough, I could leave without an explanation at all. I could send her an email once I was on the plane- Yeah, that sounded perfect.

Quickly, I pulled Uber up on my phone. I was astonished to find that the closest driver was thirty-five miles away?!? This couldn't be right. I tried to refresh the app. No change.

Well maybe I could call a cab, or a driver - at this point I would even settle for a hot air balloon.

As I was looking up the number for a cab company, I heard the thunder of Ryan-Alexander's truck.

She hopped out of the truck with a notepad in one hand and the basket of food in the other hand. Her teeth were tightly gripping a pencil and she was struggling to hold the phone up to her ear using her shoulder.

Oh perfect. She seemed busy. Maybe I won't have to let her down gently. She might already regret the offer and rescind it. I watched as she seamlessly shifted the items to free up a hand. She let down her tailgate and hopped onto it in one graceful leap.

She started to scribble on the notepad while saying into the phone,
"Yes, I understand."

There was a small pause before she continued on.
"I know. I know." Another pause, as she started digging into the basket.
"I promise I WILL handle this." She wrote something else down on the pad.
"Yes ma'am. I am writin' this all down."