AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Katlin Kroger, who sang, “Don’t Let Me Get Me.”
Did I hear him right? My ears are still buzzing. The girls at our table are clapping and screaming. Kate has put her head down on her hands on the table. I glance at Blaze. He’s applauding and looking at me. I turn to Kate.
“You won!” I say, hoping I’m right and not so lost in my confusion that I misunderstood what Dell said.
She lifts her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her lips are pursed as she stands and makes her way to the stage. Dell positions her behind the check with him while his hostess takes pictures with her phone. We run up and take pictures, too.Several others do the same. Kate shakes Dell’s hand. “So what are you going to do with the money, Kate?” Dell asks.
“I don’t know.” She stammers.
“What?” I blurt without thinking. She certainly does know, she’s just in shock, I assure myself. “Well, it’s all yours to do whatever you want.” Dell turns to the audience. “Thank you everyone for coming out, drive safe going home.” He hands the mic back to Mister DJ and returns to his office, waving at the people like a celebrity who just made an unexpected cameo appearance.
I blow out a long lungful of air and shake my head. Michelle laughs.
“I wasn’t sure what was happening for a minute there.” Cindy says to us.
We each react with an affirmative, except Kate. Her grin hangs from each earlobe. She holds the huge check awkwardly. “I just can’t believe it. And to think, I almost didn’t come.”
“Yeah, thank goodness you changed your mind,” I say.
“You changed it for me.” She blows her nose on a napkin. “Thank you for nursing me back to health.” Tears tumble from her eyes again. She grabs me quickly and hugs me. I pat her back and say, “it’s alright. What are friends for?”
Kate tosses her Bronco keys in the air and catches them with ease. “How about a ride home, my treat.”
I laugh. “Okay. Let’s go.”
I turn to say goodbye to Blaze, but he and his party are gone. The table is empty except for the glasses left behind from their soft drinks. Disappointment floods my chest. I sigh and look at Kate, who is glowing with joy. We walk out and I crawl into the back seat of her Bronco. I would have sat up front like a regular friend, but it is cluttered with her stuff. She drives me to my house.
As we draw nearer to my driveway, although it is barely illuminated by the moonlight, I notice a vehicle in my driveway. And a silhouette standing beside it.
Had Uncle Donald arrived in Deadwood already?
“Kate, who’s that in my driveway?” I ask, prepared to tell her to drive past my house and pretend we are going somewhere else.
“I’m not sure.” She squints as if that will help her to better identify the dark figure.
It’s too short and round to be Donald, unless he had changed drastically. Kate pulls in to my drive, her headlights illuminating the vehicle and the figure.
Kiley! It’s Chris and he has brought my Kiley back. I jump out of Kate’s Bronco and rush to him. “What’s this?” I laugh.
Chris pats the hood of my car, which looks different somehow. With Kate’s headlights flooding my driveway and car with light, I walk to the front and look at a very different hood. “What have you done?” I ask.
“She’s good to go and won’t give you any more trouble for a while.” Chris says, rocking up on his tiptoes, nearly sticking his thumbs under his armpits with pride.
“But…” I gesture to the enlarged augmentations on the hood.
“Oh, I put a hemi in her.” He grins. “She’ll drive like a Charger now.”
“You did what?” My mouth hangs open.
Kate laughs behind me. “That’s great.”
“Is it?” I turn toward her. She looks so happy, I can’t be mad. I turn back to my car. “Momma always wanted a Charger.”
I focus on my mechanic. “Thank you.”
“No problem. My pleasure.” Chris turns to Kate. “Kate, can I get a ride back to Lead?”
“Sure.” She darts to her driver door. “Hop in. Will that be a Uber ride or a Taxi?”
Chris smiles. “Let’s call it a taxi.”
Kate crawls into her seat, shuffles with things in her passenger seat, and sticks the Taxi placard in her windshield.
“What’s that in the back of your Bronco?” Chris asks as he climbs into the back seat.
I hear Kate say, “I won a karaoke contest.”
I can see Chris asking more, but I cannot hear them anymore as they pull away. I wave and turn to sit in my car. I turn the engine over and laugh at the throaty sound her engine makes. I push the garage opener and drive her inside. She and I need a good night’s rest. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.?
THE END
