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“Thanks,” I tell him as we pull out of the parking lot. It doesn’t take long until we’re on the highway and rolling down the open road.
“How’re things going?” he asks, making small talk.
“Can’t complain, mostly just work and hanging out with family during the off time. My sister, Miranda, had a baby a few weeks ago, so I’ve been going over to see them a lot. How about you?” I ask.
“My wife, Amy, is due in just a couple of weeks with our first baby, a boy.” He beams.
“Congratulations, man. Have you guys picked out a name for him yet?”
“We’ve got a shortlist, but she wants to meet him first before we settle on one.”
“That’s cool, make sure his name fits him.”
“Something like that. I’m still not sure how we’re going to know that in just a few minutes or hours, but she’s the boss.”
“What’s the saying; a happy wife is a happy life?” I ask.
“Sure is,” he agrees. “You thought of settling down anytime soon?”
“Yeah, just need the right woman to crash her way into my life, but it’s definitely something I’m ready for. With my sister settling down and getting married and having kids, I see how happy she is, and I’d really like our kids to be somewhat the same age, so I’m feeling the pressure now that she’s got a two-year-old and a newborn.”
“It will happen when you least expect it to,” Paul says.
“I’m sure it will. And I’ll be here waiting and ready,” I tell him as the miles pass by.
We pass the time making small talk and catching up with the small-town gossip. Paul and I went to school together, from kindergarten to our senior year.
We pull up to the bakery, and thankfully, I find the alley behind the shop empty of delivery trucks. I’m able to back up to a door that’s labeled as Nothing Bundt Dessert.
“I can run around to the front to let them know we’re here, if you’d like?” Paul offers.
“That’d be great. While you do, I’ll start getting all the straps off.”
He takes off around the building and I hop out to do just as I said. A few minutes later, the back door opens, and Paul steps out with a woman who just about takes my breath away. She’s got her hair pulled back in a ponytail that is being held by a hairnet, a T-shirt with the bakery logo, and a pair of jeans. Nothing special, but she’d be beautiful in a paper bag.
“Lacey, this is Garrett, he’s our install technician. He’ll be in charge today; I’ve just come along to help with the heavy lifting.”
“Nice to meet you, Garrett,” she greets, offering me her hand to shake and a small smile.
“Pleasure is mine, ma’am,” I reply as I take her offered hand. The spark of electricity that races up my hand and into my arm is alarming, and she must feel it, too, as she quickly pulls her hand back.
“I’ll show you inside and give you the quick tour so you know where everything is that you might need access to,” she states. “We only turned on one oven this morning so the one you’re removing wouldn’t be hot and not able to be touched for hours.”
“I appreciate that.” I chuckle as I follow her inside.
“We’d like to start with this oven, here.” She points to an old model. “The electrical panel is back this way for you to cut the power to the unit.” She leads me to another small room and points to the box on the wall. “We’ve tried to pull everything we’ll need from the back out already, so we’ll do our best to stay out of your way, but please don’t hesitate to get our attention if you need something. Help yourself to the sink for water, or the fridge has some cold drinks, or we have coffee out front.”
“I think we’re set,” I tell her before I head back out to the truck to grab my tool kit. The first thing we have to do is get the old unit out.
“Do you have a second wrench?” Paul asks as I get everything pulled out.
“Sure do, here you go.” I hand him the tool and we each tackle a side of the unit. It has to be unbolted from the cabinet it sits in, which goes by fairly fast with a helper. We have the oven unhooked and outside in an hour. By myself, this would have easily taken two hours.
With the unit out of the way, I pull out the wiring kit for the new one and start installing that because it goes behind the unit.
“How’s it going in here?” Lacey asks as she comes up behind me. A sweet scent follows her and makes my mouth water. It must be all the sugar and vanilla in the air from the sweets they make here.
“No issues, yet, just getting this part installed and then we can get the new unit in here. We should be up and running in just a few more hours.”
