“Waiting is part of ownership.”
“Please don’t.”
Diane laughed.
A few minutes later, Diane returned to work. Frank and Emily sat alone again, watching the dealership operate around them.
The morning rush had settled. Customers moved in and out. Phones rang. Printers produced long contracts. Coffee machines hissed. Somewhere in the service lane, an impact wrench rattled briefly and stopped.
Frank found himself thinking about how quickly status had changed the temperature of the building.
Before Diane said his name, he had been an older man in an ordinary jacket.
Afterward, every movement around him carried awareness.
That awareness had followed him for years in boardrooms and donor events. He had grown skilled at stepping around it, but he had never stopped disliking the distortion.
Helen used to tease him for trying to disappear at his own foundation galas.
“You funded half the room,” she would say.
“That is an argument for leaving early.”
“It is an argument for saying thank you to people.”
“I can send notes.”
“You cannot mail yourself out of human interaction, Frank.”
She had usually won.
Emily interrupted the memory.
“Do you miss her every day?”
Frank looked at her.
“Your grandmother?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“Even now?”
“Especially now.”
“Why especially?”
Frank looked toward the detailing bay.
“Because she would have enjoyed today.”
Emily laughed. “She would have yelled at Trent.”
“No.”
“She absolutely would.”
Frank considered it. “She would have spoken to him in a tone that made yelling unnecessary.”
“That’s worse.”
“Much worse.”
They both smiled.
“She would have loved the car,” Emily said.
“She would have said blue shows dirt.”
Emily looked offended. “No.”
“She would.”
“You’re lying.”
“I was married to her forty-six years.”
“She liked blue.”
“She liked blue. She also liked clean cars.”
Emily laughed, and for a moment Helen was with them in the easiest way possible, not as a source of sadness but as a third voice in an old family argument.
Marcus returned carrying the temporary registration packet.
“Insurance came through,” he said. “We’ve got confirmation.”
Emily sat up straight.
“So I can drive it?”
“Once we finish delivery paperwork.”
“How much paperwork is left?”
“Not much.”
“You said that an hour ago.”