Free A Tale of Two Trucks by Thea Nishimori

right spots to press. I heard him groan in relief.
    “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Mike,” he mumbled.
    Now I had butterflies in my stomach.
    “Probably implode under all the pressure,” I barely managed to say.
     
     
    S OON after that, however, I was the one feeling like I would implode under the pressure. I got a couple of remodeling projects where the clients were difficult—one was extremely picky, and the other was constantly changing her mind—and I also had three businesses that wanted their fleets painted. Joe was so busy getting his divorce figured out and finalized that he stayed at his own house more often than not, and I missed his company. Even though a part of me was glad he was moving on, another part of me worried what and where he was moving on to .
    On one of our rare evenings together, when I’d cooked up his favorite southern-style fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy, he informed me he’d called his parents to tell them about his impending change in marital status.
    “They took it pretty hard,” he said with a sigh. “I mean, they knew it had to happen, since Cindy left so long ago and never showed any signs of even wanting to come back, but still… they’d been hoping it would all work out, somehow.”
    “Of course they were,” I remarked, putting myself in their shoes for a moment. “They want you to be happy, and they wanted your marriage to work. Reality, in this case, just really, really sucks .”
    He managed a wan smile at that. “Yeah. But you can only play the cards you’re dealt.”
    He crashed that night in my guest bedroom, and I couldn’t resist sitting out in the hallway for a few minutes, just listening to his snoring, before going to sleep in my own bed with a satisfied sigh.
     
     
    H E came home a few nights after that with the news that his aunt and uncle, who lived in town, had called him while he was at work. They had invited him to their house for dinner the next Friday.
    “Apparently, my mom called Aunt Peg, and she’s worried that I might be a bit down with this whole divorce thing,” he told me. “They helped me get settled in here when I came for work, and I haven’t gone over to see them in a while, so I’ve been feeling a little guilty about it too….”
    I wondered why he was telling me this in such an apologetic tone.
    “Well, that’s very sweet of them to have you over! Do they drink wine? I can pick up a bottle for you to take over. Or would a box of chocolates be better?”
    “I, uh… I don’t know…. But Mike, you don’t have to do that—even though I’m glad you reminded me! No, I’ll pick something up myself on my way there. I’m just sorry that I’m bailing out on you when we were gonna go bowling….”
    “ Oh ! Oh good grief, Joe, don’t worry about it! Family always comes first; I understand,” I assured him, finally realizing why he had seemed so remorseful.
    “Well, I just…. I’ll make it up to you, I promise!”
    “Of course you will,” I shot back with a smirk. “I’ll make sure of it!”
    He grinned, knowing I would make good on my threat.
    “Okay” was all he said, and for the moment I felt like everything was.
     
     
    I T wasn’t until late Saturday morning, when Joe came over again, that I found out what his aunt and uncle were up to: the dinner had actually been a setup . They’d invited another couple and their daughter—their single, blonde, pretty, thirty-something executive assistant daughter! Joe told me how shocked and embarrassed he was when he realized what was going on, especially since it was so obvious, but apparently everybody else had known about it beforehand. No doubt they’d been concerned that Joe might not show up if he knew about the young lady, so they had deliberately kept him in the dark.
    I swear Cupid must have it in for me too!

Chapter 12
     
     
    T HE upshot of his meddling aunt’s conniving plan was that Joe had been ganged up on until he had to take