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Ginger shifted her car in reverse, checked her rear view mirror and then lifted her foot from the brake pedal. Her thoughts were filled with the numerous tasks she needed to complete over the next few days if she was going to get her repairs underway. For that reason, she backed out of the parking spot much faster than usual.
Suddenly, she was jarred from her thoughts by the sounds of metal crunching and her body being jerked forward. She quickly slammed on her brakes and shifted into park. She silently cursed herself for not paying attention but it was too late now. Her SUV was kissing the bumper of a shiny red pickup truck.
She stopped eying the damage long enough to do a quick survey of the man walking towards her with narrowed eyes and a tight lip.
“Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you.”
“How could you not see a big ass red truck? What the hell were you thinking, girl?” He took his baseball cap off and swung it down to his side.
She knew that she was at fault and he was understandably inconvenienced, but she didn’t see the point of using profanity and making an unfortunate situation worse. She took a deep breath and decided to choose her words wisely. After all, she was a woman and he was a stranger, who obvious had a temper. She looked him up and down and judging by his appearance she knew that he could easily pose a physical threat.
“I checked my mirror, but it seems like you came out of nowhere.”
“Maybe you should have checked them twice.” The deep timbre of his voice caused her to instinctively take a step back. She watched him shake his head in frustration as he looked back and forth at the damage to his headlights. When he looked back at Ginger he saw fear creeping on her face so he softened his tone. After all, he knew she wasn’t totally at fault. Had he not been distracted by his sudden need to change the dial on the radio station he would’ve seen her backing out of her spot in time to stop and avoid the fender bender. Every time the song played on the radio, it made him remember the past and what he had lost.
“Look, are you okay?” He noticed that she had pushed back her dark bangs and began massaging her forehead.
“Yeah.” She suddenly became aware of what she was doing. “I just feel a migraine coming on with the thought of my insurance rates skyrocketing.” She also didn't want an official record of the accident with law enforcement.
“Things aren't all that bad.”
“How do you figure?” she asked gesturing at their cars.
“My kid brother owns Molina's Auto Repair. They do a good job at a fair price.”
“An honest mechanic?” she scoffed. This guy sounded like a walking commercial.
“We can go the insurance route. Fine by me.” His scowl returned and he put his baseball cap firmly back on his head.
“No , no. I'm sorry. I'm sure your brother is a very fine mechanic and I'd rather if we could just handle this between us. No insurance, no police.” She rummaged through her purse and pulled out a card and handed it to him.
“Unique Alterations by Ginger Ross.” He read the card aloud and then added, “Maybe we can work something out.”
“Maybe.” she said reluctantly. She could literally see the wheels turning in his head. She had no idea what he had in mind, but she was at least willing to hear him out.