For the first time since we’d met, we were away from danger. The drive was pleasant. We went up through Georgia and talked the entire time. Now that we were away from the day-to-day danger and anxiety, we were able to fully open up to each other.We had some of the most regular discussions I could remember us having. Our favorite James Bond actor? Mine was Sean Connery, hers was Daniel Craig, to which I explained her grievous error. Favorite books? Hers wasA Tale of Two Citiesby Dickens, mine wasBlood Meridianby McCarthy. Her favorite movie was, surprisingly,Fight Club.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who really liked that movie,” I said as we passed through Atlanta.
She shrugged. “There’s a lot of nuance to it. People think it’s just toxically masculine men punching each other, but that’s just the surface. It’s like the movie is wearing a mask, and once it’s off, the real movie comes through. What’s yours?”
“Gladiator.”
Maddy raised an eyebrow and gave me a disappointed look. “Seriously?”
“What?”
“What’s the phrase? ‘Basic bro?’ Is that what you are?”
“Hey! You just said your favorite movie is freakingFight Club.”
“Right, but I’m a woman, which makes my choice interesting and unexpected. For a guy to say his favorite movie isGladiator? Like, were you choosing that betweenGone in 60 SecondsandTerminator 2?”
I burst out laughing, mostly because Ididlike both of those movies. “Okay, fine, whatever, I still like that movie. And it won best picture.”
A few hours later, we started climbing into the mountains. Maddy rolled the windows down and watched the scenery. I hadn’t been up here since I came with my parents to pick out which cabins they wanted to purchase. I’d been nineteen or twenty at that point. I’d forgotten how nice it was. In Florida, it still felt like summer, but it was October and there was no place as beautiful as eastern Tennessee in the fall—at least, none that I’d seen.
The cabin was located outside a touristy area. The town was called Gatlinburg, and it was more or less a family-friendly Las Vegas tucked up in the mountains. Thankfully, the cabins were far enough away from the chaos that it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. As we pulled up in the driveway, Maddy let out a deep, relaxed sigh.
“I feel like we’re a million miles from home. It’s so beautiful,” she said as she got out of the car.
I stepped around and took her hand. “This is one of best units. I wanted us to really disconnect, so I talked the lady who runs the rental company into stocking the fridge and pantry with food and stuff. We don’t have to leave at all. There’s a hiking trail system that’s only about a hundred yards up the hill; a creek runs through the property, too. Oh, and there’s a hot tub on the back porch.”
Maddy raised her eyebrows. “Oh, a hot tub?”
I chuckled and led her toward the door. “Let’s start relaxing.”
That first night, we talked even more about ourselves. Learning and finding out things we didn’t know previously. Maddy let me know about her time in college and majoring in business. She then asked me how I got into fixing cars, and it occurred to me that I’d never really told her the extent of my own business.
“We actually do more than just fix up cars,” I said. The weather outside was much cooler than in Florida, and we’d put on hooded sweatshirts while I cooked steaks on the grill on the back porch.
“I’m confused. Didn’t you just get that big contract with the post office?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but that was more like a favor. It was a pretty big contract, but the last company that took care of their fleet was going out of business, so the guy asked me to take it over. Not a big deal. Our real money is in custom stuff. Building and repairing custom and one-of-a kind cars. We had a gorgeous Porsche a few weeks ago. That was some basic repair stuff.. We do everything you could imagine, and people pay a ton of money for what we do.”
Maddy sipped at her glass of wine. “So, when you say you build cars…”
“From the ground up. We have machines that create custom tire rims; we can build motors and transmissions all the way from a plain block of metal into a roaring beast of an engine. I’ve even got a portion of the shop set up for custom paint jobs and stuff like that.”
“So, are you making those import-tuner cars? Like back in the oldFast and the Furiousmovies?”
I groaned. “I mean…we’ve done those, yeah. There’s an actor in Hollywood who loves that shit, even though it’s at least a decade out of style. About once a year, he puts in an order for a Mitsubishi Eclipse or an Acura Integra, or something. He always wants it with eight hundred horsepower and some ridiculous fiberglass spoiler. I swear if I have to put one more giant robot decal on the side of one of his cars again, I may throw up.”
Maddy laughed. “A famous actor? Like a movie star? Seriously?”
“Yeah. But the stuff I really like doing is more interesting stuff. Modifying things in ways people have never thought about. Had a guy who bought his wife an ’89 Lamborghini. Thing was mint condition. Only had like four thousand miles on it. But his wife didn’t know how to drive a manual. Me and the guys spent six weeks designing and installing a custom automatic transmission. Stuff like that. Or people will just ask for other modifications. It’s a really cool job.”
“Sounds like you love it,” Maddy said, setting her empty glass aside.
I took the steaks off the grill and put them on a plate. I nodded. “I do. I’m good at it. So, that’s nice.”
The next day, we went for a hike. We headed out early in the crisp air. It never got that way in Florida except maybe in the dead of winter, and even then, it still had a humid quality that never let you think it was actually cold. It was invigorating, and as we hiked, I told myself we should try to come up here at leastonce a year. I was kicking myself for waiting this long to visit in the first place.
When we cleared the top of a ridge that looked out over the Smoky Mountains, the entire mountain range looked like it was on fire. Clouds hung so low on the ridges and valleys, they looked like massive patches of smoke. That explained how the mountains got the name.
