The rest of us follow.
The older man rifles around in the glove compartment for a minute, his expression thunderous.
And then, in a snap, his jaw slackens and his taut eyebrows climb to the top of his head. He brings out a folded paper.
His wife squeezes her eyes shut and makes herself so small that I can practicallyhearher praying to disappear.
Mr. Derwin reads the waiver, looks through the scanner trouble codes that we printed and then glances at the ground. His shoulders slump like all the air seeping out of a balloon.
“Since you’re a returning customer, we’ll gladly take a look at your vehicle and replace the ABS speed sensor wiring like we recommended to your wife last time.”
Mr. Derwin pounds his chest with a fist and croaks. “T-that won’t be necessary.”
“Honey,” his wife whispers.
“We’re leaving!” Mr. Derwin snaps.
Blade, Carlos, Jimmy and I watch as the couple sprints across the lawn.
“Why didn’t you tell me about that blasted waiver?” Mr. Derwin scolds his wife.
“You were so upset. I-I didn’t know how to tell you…”
Their voices get fainter until they turn the corner and disappear from view.
The moment they’re gone, I fold forward and grab my knees, letting out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“That wascrazy,” Carlos mumbles.
“You were awesome, Boss.” Jimmy gives me a thumbs up.
“I’m just glad it’s over.”
“Imagine if we didn’t have those logbooks?” Carlos shakes his head and whistles low.
“Or if we didn’t have that waiver?” Blade adds.
Jimmy shudders. “If we did things the old way, we wouldn’t have any evidence and this would have been a big stink.”
Carlos whirls around. “Where’s my logbook? I feel like I should be writing all this down.”
“Me too.” Blade scrambles after him.
I watch them pick up their logbooks with new appreciation—the very same logbooks that they rejected when I first arrived. And it strikes me in that moment.
I will always love fixing planes but… I really,reallyenjoy managing an auto shop.
Chapter Thirty-Four
NATHAN
I really want to take Riley on a proper date, so I give her a call.
“Hey, Nat,” she says when the call connects. Behind her, I hear something drilling into metal.
“Boss, the wave forms are telling me that the throttle position sensor is putting out the correct voltage.”
Riley yells, “Check if it’s getting the right power and ground!”
