Love Thy Neighbor

by Kimberly Smith

  I found out later that my friends, the guys I thought were my friends were the biggest bigots I had ever met. So I know a thing or two about this.” Keven told them.

  Eventually the conversation about Kayla ended, but Daniel couldn't help but think about what was said. Keven was right. He had never dated anyone other than white women. He was as Kayla said “White Bread” He had never stepped outside the box his entire life. He was the traditional all American man.

  When he was in high school he played sports, went out with cheerleaders and was voted prom king. He went to a good college and received a first rate education. When he graduated college he got a good job and bought a condo in an up and coming neighborhood. He visited his parents weekly until they passed. Even then he did the right thing and sold his condo and moved back home because that's what they wanted.

  He dated women who were like him. They were intelligent, but wanted to get married and have kids. They were all beautiful, mostly blond, with blue eyes. He always took them out to dinner at nice restaurants, the theater and dancing. Kayla was intelligent and beautiful, but she was outspoken and funny and he liked her a lot, but would he be the kind of guy to defend her against the stupid elitist people they would encounter? Would he even recognize it for what it was? He was getting ahead of himself. They had hung out once and while she flirted with him, he had no idea if she was really into him.

  *****

  Kayla

  On Monday when she arrived at the garage, Kayla turned on all the lights and then started the music system. It was preloaded with songs that she and her crew like to work to. Some were songs about cars; most were just great music from all genres. The music played in the show room and garage through speakers system.

  She was looking over the stock of new parts and tools, tapping her feet to the music. Kayla turned the music up when Prince's Little Red Corvette began to filter through the speakers. It didn't take long before she had stopped what she was working on and started singing, playing the air guitar and dancing around the garage. She felt a little melancholy. She missed her brother Darren. This was how they started their day at their father's garage in San Antonio.

  It started when they were kids. Their father took them to work with him after their brothers had gone off to live their own lives. He'd turn on his boom box as he called it and Darren would start dancing and she'd join in while he watched them.

  She was trying to bring herself out of her depressing mood by dancing to Shut Up and Drive by Rihanna, when Lee entered the garage. She stopped dancing and turned the music down. “Morning.”

  The day went well. Her client was delighted with the car and her film crew taped it all and she had tons of car enthusiast fans stopping by the shop to congratulate her and meet her in person. It was an exciting day. She was able to stay focused and not think about Danny most of the day.

  Just before six in the evening they locked up the show room and had a little party in the garage to celebrate the success of their opening. Lee had ordered pizza and they someone had brought beer, wine and champagne. When everyone's glasses were filled. They started chanted speech, speech, speech.

  “Okay, okay.” Kayla said waving her hand to get them to quiet down. “Today was absolutely perfect. Most of you guys have been with me from the start. Working out of my father's garage, helping me restore my first car. You all graciously and willingly moved from San Antonio to Dallas to keep our family together. I could not have gotten this far with out you. Here's to our success and happiness. Here's to our cable deal that will make us all a lot of money. Which by the way should start running promo's this week. I love you guys!”

  They ate, drank and celebrated for a while and as usual they ended up in the office fleshing out ideas for their next few projects. Hank had found a 1965 GTO body at a salvage yard on one of his last trips out looking for parts. The body and frame were in pretty good condition, but it would be a challenge. Something Kayla and her team excelled at. Kayla already had a buyer for it.

  *****

  Stanley

  “Stanley, I will be back in a few hours. Keep an eye on Mr. Wiggles.” Petunia said standing over him as he sat in his armchair reading the paper. “Are you listening to me?” She asked when he didn't respond.

  “Yes, dear.” He replied without looking up.

  “Vanna and I are having lunch and then I'm going to the salon,” she said walking out the door when Vanna honked in front of the house.

  Stanley didn't move from his chair for a few minutes. Then when he was sure she was gone he grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. Petunia was the love of his life, but after he had retired, she drove him insane. If he wanted to watch TV, it had to be something they could watch together and he wasn't allowed to flip through the channels. So he only watched TV in peace when she was out of the house.

  He flipped through a few movies looking for something interesting to watch. Nothing grabbed his attention. He continued to some of the other channels in the line up and as he flipped he saw someone that looked like his new neighbor. He had passed the channel and went back as quickly as he could but he must have been flipping through the tail end of whatever it was. Or maybe in his old age he was seeing things. He settled on a channel that catered to men's tastes, Spike or something like that. He continued to read the paper only looking up when something interested him.

  He was folding the page over when he glanced up to see Kayla on his TV screen. He dropped the paper, grabbing the remote to turn up the volume. She was talking directly to the camera, like they do in reality TV shows. “...was very excited to do this restoration. This '57 Chevy convertible was an awesome car in its day and she will be again.” She said and the view changed to the car and mechanics taking the car apart, the view changed again to a young man with a full beard speaking to the camera. “Clients are always surprised that KKB is not just the pretty face, but that she in charge and is a real restoration specialist. She's been working on cars since she was a kid. She knows what she's doing.”

  There were a few more quick scenes and then the announcer indicated what day and time the premier of the show would be playing. Stanley sat there for a minute stunned. He wondered if Daniel knew about this this. If he knew, he surely would have told the guys about it. He turned off the TV and looked down at Mr. Wiggles who was licking himself indecently without a care.

  Stanley went to his office and sat for a minute trying to determine where to start his search. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and entered Kayla Barns and found a few Facebook listings, and few other Kayla Barns, but none was who he was looking for. He tried several other terms, but nothing was yielding any good results. Then he remembered that they guy in the interview had called her Kay Kay Bee. So he tried that and nothing came up. He entered it again but as KKB. Like magic, a whole screen of video's came up and a website. He selected one of the videos and sat watching. It was Kayla, younger but definitely Kayla and her hair wasn't red.

  He sat enthralled at her knowledge as she described the steps she was taking to put an engine block into a car that she and her team were restoring. She had more than 3 million subscribers and the video he was watching had a few hundred thousand views. The video dated a few years ago. He watched a few more episodes and checked out her website before he heard Petunia calling to him from the living room. He shut down his computer and smiled as he sat back in the chair.

  “There you are.” Petunia said when she reached his office doorway. “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing much, did you have fun?” He asked her. She started talking and he had already faded away in his head. He heard the words and followed her back to the living room, but it didn't register what she was actually talking about. He was too busy contemplating an idea that had just formed in his mind.

  *****

  Kayla

  She was almost home when her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and smiled. “Hi dad, She answered.”

  “Hey Kay Kay Why haven't you called?” />
  “Sorry dad, just busy, how are you?” She asked.

  “Great, but missing you.” He sounded a little sad.

  “I miss you too. Well, we had a great opening today and Mr. Sanders loved the Porsche.” she bragged.

  “Of course he did. Sorry I couldn't be there, but without you here I actually have to do some work now.” He said laughing.

  Kayla laughed too. “It's okay. I know you would have been here if you could.”

  They talked a few minutes more Kayla was reluctant to let her dad go. She missed him and Darren. So much so, that she invited them to come visit soon. The last week or two she had been very busy before she actually drove up to Dallas. She had been in constant meetings with producers and such for the show that she hadn't had much time to spend with her father and brother.

  She and Darren had a special bond. She loved her older brothers, Mark, Micah and Leo, but she and Darren were like best friends. They were only a few years apart while the others were older than her by six, eight and ten years. She and Darren had always been a thorn in their sides. The older boys had to keep an eye on the two of them while their dad worked to support them as a mechanic.

  After the older boys graduated and went off to school and the military, she and Darren had hung out in the garage more and eventually they started to help their dad with car repairs. All of her brothers had a love of cars, but it was different for her and Darren. It was a passion for them, a labor of love. Darren often helped Kayla with her restorations and she always thought he would be a part of her dream, but their father was getting older and instead of following his big sister to Dallas to live her dream, he opted to stay with their father to help him run the business that someday would become his. Another reason Darren wanted to stay in San Antonio was a pretty lady named Brandi. He wasn't even aware of it, but Kayla could see that he was a caught up in his feelings for her.

  Kayla was exhausted by the time she got into her house. Trying to manage the business as well as doing what she loved was tiring. She could do the mechanical work with her eyes closed, but trying to keep the books straight and ordering parts and managing payroll and million other things were not her forte'. At her father's garage, he managed all of that and Darren had learned all of that as well, she had been the grease monkey and that's what she loved.

  She dropped her backpack and keys on the dining table as she passed it on her way to the bedroom. She stripped out of her clothes took a quick shower and slid between the sheets of her very comfortable bed and was asleep in no time.

  *****

  A few days later Kayla lay on a creeper underneath the GTO when a pair of soft brown leather loafers appeared near the front end of the car. “Is KKB here?”

  Kayla recognized the voice. It was Stanley. She put her tool down and slid the creeper from under the car. “Stanley.” she said standing and grabbing a rag to wipe her dirty hands on.

  Stanley turned to face her. “So it is you.” He said grinning from ear to ear. “I saw you on TV and I couldn't believe my eyes.”

  Kayla smiled at him. “What can I do you for Stan, my man?” She asked him.

  “Is there somewhere we can talk?” He asked looking around at her crew working nearby.

  “Sure. Follow me.” She led him to her office upstairs. She closed the door, shutting out the noise of machines and banging sounds. “Have a seat.”

  “I know you're busy, so I'll make it short and sweet.” He said whipping off his ball cap. “My anniversary is coming up very soon and I have an old car that I gave to my wife some years ago and it needs some TLC.”

  “So you want to restore it for Petunia?” She asked. He nodded. “So tell me about the car.”

  Kayla listened while Stanley told her about the 1970 Corvette that has been sitting in his garage for a while. She could tell from listening to him that Petunia had loved the car and while it was in pretty good shape, he thought it needed new seats and a few other cosmetic changes in addition to what ever work it needed under the hood. He wanted it to be a surprise gift for her. He and Kayla worked out a plan to get the car to the garage with out her knowing about it.

  When they had finished talking about the corvette, he asked questions about how she had gotten into this business and Kayla found it very heartening that he was genuinely interested. She explained she gotten into it because of her father and that she loved what she did.

  Stanley stood and reached out to shake her hand. “Please don't mention this to anyone. I really want to surprise her for our anniversary and surprising Petunia is not easy.”

  Kayla smiled brightly. “I promise. I won't say a word to anyone about this and I'll do most of the work myself.”

  She introduced him to her crew and showed him around the garage and showroom. “This is incredible.” He said after they finished the tour.

  “Yes and a bit overwhelming at times.” She sighed.

  “Any business venture can be daunting. You need a good team as well as a great business manager to run things,” he said patting her arm.

  Kayla confided in him. “That's what I'm afraid of. I'm great at the physical work and for the most part I can handle everything, but this TV show is going to take us to a whole other level and I'm so afraid that I'm going to screw it up. I don't want to stop doing what I love most to sit in an office all day. I've worked out of my dad's garage forever. I'm a gear head not a manager.”

  Stanley smiled at her as an idea came to him. “You know I've been retired for about five years and I absolutely hate it. I was a business manager for many years. Maybe I can help you run the business end. That way you can focus on what you love doing.”

  Kayla shook her head at him. “Don't tease me. If I thought you were serious, I'd have to take you up on that offer.”

  “I am quite serious.” Stanley said. He was “going nuts” sitting around the house with Petunia. He needed something to do. “It doesn't have to be a full time job. I could work part time.” He could see that she was actually considering it. “Just think about it. I'll leave a copy of my resume in your mail box and you can let me know after you give it some thought.” He said waving as he walked out the front door.

  Chapter 4

  Daniel

  By Friday Daniel had to admit that he wanted to see her again. He hadn't seen Kayla since Sunday morning when he left her house and he wanted to. She apparently had been leaving early and coming in very late, if she was coming home at all. He hadn't seen any lights in her house and he hadn't caught her swimming in the pool late at night. They hadn't exchanged numbers so he couldn't even call or text her and he didn't know where she worked.

  He sat at his desk very much distracted by thoughts of Kayla, when Robert popped in. “Hey, some of us are going to happy hour after work, you wanna come?”

  Daniel thought about it for a minute, “Sure, I'll meet you in the lobby downstairs at five.” he said deciding this was better than going home and peeking out the window every five minutes hoping to see her.

  “What?” Robert asked looking confused. “I ask you every week and you always say no.”

  “Well, today I'm saying yes.” He said smiling at him.

  “Okay, don't be late.” Robert said ducking back out the door.

  Daniel forced himself to focus on the accounting records in front of him and got back to work.

  *****

  Daniel had been sitting at the table with Robert, Kelly, Nick and few others he barely knew laughing at how horrible everyone's week had been. Daniel slipped away to the bar to get another beer. “So what's up with you?” Robert asked tapping him on the shoulder.

  “Nothing.” Daniel said turning to face him. Robert gave him this look that clearly showed his disbelief. “Alright, I haven't seen her in like five days.” He said drinking from his new beer.

  “The neighbor?” Robert asked. “Why not?” He said waving at the bartender and pointing to his beer bottle.

  “Guess she's been busy.” Daniel said sighing.

&nb
sp; “She lives next door, right?” he asked and Daniel nodded. “ Just go over and knock on the door, dude.”

  It sounded so simple, but he didn't want her to feel like he was crowding her. He had been on the receiving end of that with Vanna practically since he moved into his parents' house and they had made a deal. “You're probably right.” He said thinking I'll just knock on her door and say what? He didn't know, but he knew he wanted to see her again and soon.

  Daniel was half listening to a story about the new mailroom manager when he heard Kayla's voice. He turned searching for her. The bar was crowded, but he saw her at a table off to the side. “Excuse me.” He said to his coworkers. He made his way to her table slowing as got closer and realized that she was surrounded by men. They seemed very friendly, laughing and the young Asian was holding her hand.