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“What do you mean you still don’t get it?”
The four of us were walking the grounds, the guys kicking rocks and debris out of the way. They’d all been here before, of course. But none of them could comprehend what they were doing here now.
“This place was a lot of fun,” Luke shrugged. He put his hands on his hips, sighing as he looked up at the drive-in’s gargantuan movie screen. “I’ve got lots of happy memories here.”
Warren and I exchanged a not-so-furtive, knowing glance. He cleared his throat and threw a smile my way.
“So do we.”
Adrian was off to the side, wandering past the old playground where a hundred gleeful kids used to play simultaneously while waiting for the movie to begin. When the previews started they’d scatter back to their parents’ cars, until the big steel slides and monkey bars were all deserted again.
I knew because I’d been one of those kids.
“Are you suggesting we fix this place up?” Adrian asked skeptically. He kicked at one of the jagged steel poles jutting out of the ground — pretty much all that was left of the playground before someone cut it away with metal saws and dragged it to the scrapyard. “Because if you are, it’s pretty far gone.”
“No,” I replied, a little disappointed. “I can’t believe I’m the only one who—”
“Come on Kayla,” Luke prodded me. “Spit it out.”
They encircled me from three sides, folding their arms. The morning sun was too cold to warm us yet, making them regret leaving the heat of Luke’s idling truck.
“Look, we need a new place but we don’t have a lot of money. And for the space we need, renting anywhere in town is going to be expensive.”
“That’s for sure,” Warren agreed.
“So I was thinking we need a place a little bitoutof town maybe, so the land would be cheaper. Somewhere that’s far enough from Payne Collision that direct competition won’t be a factor, but still close enough to draw business.”
Warren perked up. He started looking around.
“Oh shit…”
I smiled. “Somewhere that’s also close enough to twoothertowns, that it can siphon off some business from them too.”
“Greyridge and Stone Falls,” Adrian grunted. He unfolded his tattooed arms. “Yeah. That’s actually kinda perfect.”
“Somewhere with more room than you’ll ever need, too,” I continued, gesturing around. “And it’s already paved. No more dragging rusted-out cars through the mud. As you acquire new inventory you can line them up in the old stalls, right where the movie-goers used to park.” I pointed downward. “The paint lines are mostly faded, but they’re still there.”
All three men turned at once, in the direction of the hulking projector building. Its two-story red brick structure was silhouetted against the sun.
“There’s your garage right there,” I said, nodding toward it. “The office area was already upstairs. The lower part that used to be the snack bar could be the front-end office, and the back half of the building is a two-bay garage where they kept the maintenance vehicles and projector equipment.”
None of them noticed my growing smile, and that’s because they were already on the move. I followed them to the building, where Luke ran up the staircase while Warren and Adrian wandered the garage. The massive roll-up doors were gone; undoubtedly scrapped along with the playground. But they could be replaced easily enough. The tracks the doors ran on were still intact.
“It’s bare-bones for sure,” Warren said, taking everything in. “But it’s definitely doable.”
Adrian nodded. “The power’s already run out here. It’s just a matter of turning it on.”
“We’d have to move the lifts over,” Warren confirmed. “It’d be a pain in the ass, but they’re ours anyway. But there’s plenty of room here for tools, equipment, work spaces… much more than we have right now.”
“The office area is perfect!” Luke coughed excited from above. “It’s in need of aseriouscleaning, but other than that—”
He slid down the staircase by resting his arms on the banisters. Flying into the garage area, he dusted himself off.
“We could probably get this place cheap,” Warren said.
“Dirt cheap,” Luke added. “That realty sign is basically falling off the marquee. It’s been listed forever.”
I smiled, folding my hands in front me. And that’s because I’d called the number on that marquee, first thing this morning.
