She parked near the awning and stood for a moment looking at the building. The repaired roof no longer sagged above the storage room, and both functioning lifts were occupied by vehicles undergoing scheduled work. Luis was helping Jamie inspect a service van, explaining something while the younger technician nodded and made a note. The sound of their conversation carried across the lot above the steady ticking of a cooling engine.
Inside, Lily was sitting at her yellow desk with a math workbook open and a pencil tucked behind one ear. She looked up when Victoria entered, recognized her immediately, and smiled with all the confidence she had lacked during their first meeting. "You're the rain lady," she announced. Victoria laughed. "I've been called worse. How's the bridge engineering?"
"We moved on to electricity," Lily said. "It's harder because you can't see it." She held up a small drawing of a circuit. "Dad says that doesn't mean it isn't doing anything." Victoria nodded gravely. "Your dad is very good at useful explanations."
Ethan emerged from the office carrying an invoice folder and stopped when he saw her. The surprise lasted only a moment before his familiar practical concern appeared. "Please tell me the sedan's still running," he said. "Perfectly," Victoria replied. "I followed your advice and had the cooling system inspected. I'm here because I was nearby, and because I wanted to see how things were going."
"You picked a good afternoon," Ethan said. "We just finished reorganizing the service schedule, and for once there isn't a customer waiting for a part I forgot to order." He introduced Luis and Jamie, making sure to describe their skills rather than their job titles. Luis shook Victoria's hand without ceremony, and Jamie tried so hard to look professional that Ethan had to turn away to hide a smile.
Victoria toured the shop at Ethan's invitation. She admired the repaired lift, asked about the fleet software, and listened while Ethan explained how they had separated urgent jobs from scheduled maintenance to protect turnaround times. He did not exaggerate the improvements. He described the bottlenecks that remained, including a shortage of room for commercial vehicles and the difficulty of training new staff without rushing them.
"You seem happier," Victoria said when they returned to the office. Ethan looked toward the service bay before answering. "I'm less frightened," he said. "I didn't know until it changed how much time I spent expecting the next bill to finish us. It's hard to be cheerful when you wake up every morning doing that math."
Victoria nodded. "I know what it means to wake up worrying about a company," she said. "But I always had options you didn't."
Ethan considered the difference. "Maybe. Worry doesn't ask how much money you have before it finds you. It just charges different rates."