Greer was feeling frustrated with all these meetings. Sato kept having to come and smooth things out. She didn’t know what she was really doing with any of this or why she was in charge. Well she knew why she was in charge for now. Sato had spelled it out today.
“If we let them pick someone else, they are going to just let this project quietly die. It’ll become where they put ineffective managers they can’t fire for one reason or another.”
Right now, though? Greer was trying very hard to keep her cool. It helped when she had something to work on, but today she somehow got sucked into meeting after meeting rather than her real job. Her manager wasn’t upset, but she was. It was about then she heard Blakes car pull up. Making that same damn sound. Again. Ok , nope, she was in a mood and she was not going to listen to this again. As soon as Blake got out of the car, she was right there. “Hey, gimme your keys.”
Blake was a bit shocked as he handed them over. Greer popped in and turned on the engine, listening. “…. I’m getting my tools.” She turned off her engine and headed inside, keys still in hand. Blake quickly followed.
“Um… what?”
“Some of your stuff is off, I won’t go into details but if I am right I can fix it and get your fluids changed in a couple hours. No problem.” Greer was focused.
Blake kept following. “Greer, I can take it to a mechanic.”
“I am a mechanic! And you shouldn’t be throwing away your money. I’m pretty sure your guy rips you off anyway.” She paused before heading to the door that had been set up to go to her mother’s home, she let Blake follow.
“I thought you were getting your tools?” he asked, looking around as they got to her parents’ home.
“Yeah but my full set is here. I mean it was a few thousand worth of tools, my babies. I’m not gonna leave them just anywhere… DAD!.”
Greer started going from room to room quickly. Blake wondered what was going to happen when her mother saw him again. Instead he heard a deep voice from outside. “Who is runnin’ around my house!”
“There you… Dad are you still tweaking that thing?? Where’s my tools?”
Blake carefully walked through the house. The walls were a pale yellow with orange accents. There were pictures all over the place of Greer and her family. There were little knick knacks from various tourist trap type places. Pictures of her arm wrestling with people that looked like cousins. There was even one picture where they were at some sort of car show, Greer had to be maybe 14 at the time wearing a “Future World’s Best Mechanic” shirt, her father wearing one that said “Current World’s Best Mechanic” shirt, and her mother standing between them with a matching shirt reading “Best at putting up with Mechanics” shirt.
He made his way into the kitchen where he saw her father pouring a cup of coffee, piping hot in the middle of the afternoon no less. He looked to Blake, then to Greer. “This the boy your mother wants to meet, or one of the gay ones?”
Greer sighed. “Gay, Dad… Happily dating a boy.”
He nodded and looked to Blake. “Whatever my wife said about Greer having your children, ignore it. I forbid it anyway.”
Greer just groaned. “Daaad... tools. Where are they?”
“It has been months now. Why do you care all of a sudden? You get hired at a car shop?”
“No, but his car doesn’t sound right. I’m going to fix it. And I’m getting a project car soon from a vendor I know. I need my tools back.” It was interesting watching Greer talk. She tended to use her hands a bit, but at her home it was more exaggerated. Blake had to smile a bit at that.
“Alright Spark Plug, I’ll get them out while you go clean up my tools. You’re too riled to work right now.” He downed his coffee and watched her leave before turning to Blake. “Coffee?”
Blake shook his head. “Uh, no thanks…” Her father shrugged and walked over to a closet, quickly pulling out a large tool cart, aside from some dust it looked clean and ready to go. “Why did you-“
He looked to Blake, “Tell her to go clean my tools? Because she needs to calm down. Tell her you need time to take care of things, make her go do something with her hands. You boys make bread? She can beat sourdough easily.”
Blake nodded a bit as the father continued. “Speaking of which, what’s got her so upset? Her new boss giving her trouble over the powers? Is training harder that she thought? Don’t think I didn’t notice the black eye.”
He didn’t make eye contact with Blake while he double checked the tools. “Ah no… I mean it’s hard… but she and Sato wanted to try something… it got out of hand.”
Her father nodded. “Sounds like my spark plug. Her mother said something about medicine as well. I bet she’s not taking it? Is it needed?”
Blake shook his head. “Not normally… but we are encouraging her to take it on stressful days. She doesn’t like it, says she feels weird after.”
“Eh…. She might be right. Never took well to medications. She tended to get the side effects a bit harder than most. She almost never got sick though.” He sighed. “So what is bringing her such stress?”
Blake explained the program and her ideas, and how the directors weren’t taking it as seriously as she felt they should. He nodded. “It’s fate she met you boys. I have no doubt. Anyone else would have kicked her butt onto the street for her stubbornness… You are good boys. I can tell from you. She’s not the easiest to get along with, but she will get better slowly. If she’s making jokes and playing pranks already- then you are halfway there. Maybe more if she’s fixing your car. Did you notice the sound or her?”
“She did…”
Blake watched as her father smiled. “Then let her… she wants to help you, repay you like we taught her. She’ll help almost anyone as it is. She wants to do something special for all of you.”
Greer came out. “Great! Tools. Thanks Dad.”
Mr. Smith put his hand on her shoulder. “It would be nice if you visited for something other than tools.”
Greer grumbled. “You’re the ones that told me to go…”
With him next to her like this, it was obvious Greer’s looks, aside from her hair, came from him. He was also better than her at pretending not to hear things.“Come on, I want to make sure you didn’t get rusty. Your mother is out of town anyway. You can make sure I eat a real meal tonight.”
Greer sighed. “You better not take over, or I’m gonna punch your arm.”
He pretended to look pained. “You’d punch your own father? A feeble old man?” He grinned as they walked back through. “I’ll tie you up first.”
Blake followed them, looking around again. He would need to come back with the others to get some of her things. Maybe some of these pictures. He paused and saw one of Greer in a two piece, it looked only a few years old. He snapped a quick picture of it with his phone and headed back.
Dewi had been wanting to help Greer pick out some new clothes.
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