Eldora

Chapter Seven (B)

The soft pitter-patter smacked the concrete path in front of his opened garage as Ethan glanced around the street, most people were driving around in cars or walking with their umbrellas shielding them from the rain. It reminded him of an opening scene to a mystery movie with the rain heavily falling and the sky roaring above to show a gloomy atmosphere. He buried his hands in his pocket and leaned against the threshold of the garage, staring out while taking a deep breath to calm himself. His gust of air came out as a white cloud while he shifted his coat farther onto his shoulders and rolled his neck to release the tension in the muscles of his collar bone before gulping and looking up the street once more. 

His mind was in many different places, he couldn't help but think of his problems as he waited for an arrival. His life had never been so complicated before as he asked many questions and answered them himself, does he progress on with Diamond? Of course, you're the reason she's here. Does he give Lyrica an explanation to make her understand his faults with the hope they come out as friends for the sake of their child? Why not? Does he live his life where it's at and allow it to unfold one step at a time? The more he thought about things, the more confused he became about his life goals that he thought he'd easily accomplish. 

Ethan pulled himself to his full height professionally and licked his suddenly dry lips while a silver 2009 Pontiac G6 GT pulled up to a stop with it's windshield wipers in full force to keep the heavy pitter-pattering rain at bay and out of their sight. The passenger side of the Pontiac opened and out stepped a burly man with a hat to keep the rain out of his face, the man stood a good five-nine with broad shoulders and lanky arms and legs, he was someone that appeared monstrous until they stepped onto you. 

The man wore a baseball cap that was a little worn on the bill with a very snug windbreaker jacket and khaki pants that loosely fit his thighs and legs. Ethan kindly held his hand out for shaking as the man looked up and took his hand in a polite way.

"Mr. Michaels, your car is ready." Ethan said, leading the way to the dark orange 2013 Tacoma TRD Pro taking up the space of his one-car mechanic garage.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Biltmore." Daniel Michaels said, looking at his car with a since of pride. "A hundred and ninety, right?"

Ethan glanced to the truck as he felt like his day went pretty well, the work wasn't real labor and he wasn't to keen on taking unnecessary money. Mr. Michaels reached into his jacket and pulled out his brown leather wallet before opening it and pausing as he waited for Ethan to name an amount.

"Hundred is fine." Ethan said, glancing around his garage to see what all he had to clean before he shut for the day.

"Wait... one hundred dollars?" Mr. Michaels asked, looking at Ethan with disbelief. "I thought the original price for anything is one-hundred and ninety dollars."

"If you want it to be." Ethan said, raising an eyebrow as Mr. Michaels gave a silent chuckle.

"Thank you again, Mr. Biltmore." Mr. Michaels said, handing him a crispy hundred dollar bill. "At first I thought the rumors were true, ya know, but I know deep down you're a good man and you're one of the great citizens."

Ethan paused as he went to place the hundred dollars away into his pocket, he cocked his head in confusion as he looked at Mr. Michaels with a frown of confusion. He turned to see the old man climb into his truck and touch the steering wheel for the first time in months, he moved toward the passenger side as Mr. Michaels started the truck and they both listened to it roar to life. The window was then rolled down so that Ethan could say a couple of more choices of words.

"Rumors?" Ethan asked, completing his action by shoving the crispy hundred in his blue jeans pocket and crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"Yeah." Mr. Michaels said, gripping the steering wheel while checking all of his gauges. "Everyone was saying you got a new wife, and that's fine, we all settle one day. However, we all know impure couples are out of regulation, you're too good of a man to turn your back to rules. It's the reason we're here, because we're good people."