"Well, you go help them," I told the kid, knowing that was what he really wanted to do. "I'll head down and give Emily a ride."
"Thanks," he said before turning and running off.
So I found shoes and my wallet, sent a text to Emily, and then headed for my car. Cy wanted to know where I was going, so I gave him the update, knowing he'd tell all the rest, and then I drove down to where Emily kept her own car near the front gate. Having this many people around was starting to put parking at a premium, and the more employees we had, the more spaces we were going to need.
I was thinking about that when Emily came out of her house. She saw me waiting there, and headed to the passenger side, waiting for me to roll down the window before she leaned in.
"I was going to text, but since Zeke was heading up, it gave me the chance to get cleaned up," she admitted. "Um, Helen lives over by where Brody had his house, so it's not far. You sure you don't mind?"
"I needed the break," I assured her. "Just lead on, and I'll follow."
"Thanks, Violet."
The pair of us headed out one after the other. It really was a short drive - for Cats Peak. We made it through the crossroads, then turned left and found ourselves in a little ranchette subdivision. I had no idea where Meredith and Brody had lived, but this sounded a lot like what Cy had described. I had a feeling there couldn't be too many subdivisions like this out here. Thankfully, the house Emily pulled up in front of was pale blue, not yellow.
She barely made it out of her car before a plump woman hurried out of the house. The two of them hugged in the front yard, and then the woman - who had to be Helen - gestured to the sad-looking vehicle in her driveway. The front windshield was cracked. It looked like a rock had hit it and she just had never replaced it. Then there were the bald tires. They were even worse than Emily's! The sedan was old, the paint was peeling, and I wasn't all that shocked to hear that it was having trouble.
As they talked, Emily gestured to me, made a few big gestures that made me think she was talking about the move, her new job, or something else she was excited about, and then she handed over the keys to her car. The women hugged again, and then Emily headed to my car.
"Thanks so much for this," she said as she climbed in the passenger side. "Helen really needs this job, and her car is always hit or miss. Some days it starts, some it doesn't, and she's gotten written up a couple of times for being late."
"Is that her only car?" I asked as I pulled away from the house.
"It is," Emily said. "Her husband left her last year. I mean, the man just packed his things one night and was gone. House is in her name, but with one income and two kids, there's just not enough to go around. Of course, he took the truck. The new truck."
But there was a little idea brewing in the back of my mind. It was fueled partly by what the girl at the feed store had said, a bit by the asshole who'd spit on Luke's window, and pointed right at this woman named Helen. I hadn't really thought it all the way through yet, but I had a feeling I knew who'd be able to figure it out.
"Hey, do you mind if we stop by the garage in town?" I asked.
"Mike's?" Emily asked, turning to look at me with confusion on her face. "No, that's fine, but why?"
"Because I want to do something nice," I explained. "Billy says that if we want the people of Cats Peak to vote for Southwind, then we need to show them that we're worth having around, right?"
"Uh huh..." Emily didn't sound convinced, though.
"Well, if we're going to bribe people, then I like the idea of bribing the ones who deserve it." I made my way back to the main road, a little impressed that I knew my way around these back roads. "The problem is that Paul Simmons is the one who always helps out, but he only helps those who can make his life easier later on. What if we just help out because this town should be a community?"
"So you want to throw your money around?" Emily asked. "Violet, that's more likely to make people resent you. I mean, jealousy is a real thing."
"Only if we claim that we did it," I pointed out.
"What are you going to do?"
"I honestly don't know yet," I admitted.
And I didn't until the pair of us were standing in the office area of Mike's garage. The man walked in from the shop area, wiping his hands clean on a red rag. When he saw me, his face lit up in a smile.
"The woman of my best friend's dreams!" he greeted me. "And Emily. Hey, haven't seen you in ages. How you been?"
"Good," Emily told him. "I'm working up at Southwind now."
"Sounds like that's where all the comfy jobs are at," Mike said. "What can I do ya for, Violet?"
"I have a problem that needs a mechanic to fix it. I just don't know how to fix it," I told him. "Mike, a friend of mine has a car that's not working. From the looks of it, I'm not sure if it's worth trying to repair or if it should be scrapped. Pretty sure the thing is from the 1990s. If it can't be saved, I was thinking about finding a used car that's safe and reliable. The problem is that I want to do this anonymously, if at all possible."
He was nodding. "Yeah, that makes things harder. Do I get at least a little hint here?"
Emily was staring at me with her mouth hanging open. "You want to just fix her car?"
