"Setting Up Shop"

Now that they had gotten settled in their new house, it was time Colin got his business up and running. Earlier in the week, he’d had all of his new tools and equipment delivered and had worked long hours getting the garage ready for the grand opening. Until they could afford to hire someone, Kate had agreed to keep the books for him, as well as help out with answering phones.

"Colin, don’t worry, I’m sure business will be great," Kate tried to reassure him, as he nervously went through the garage – checking and double checking that everything was just so. "Seeing how your Garage is the only one here in The Glen, there’s bound to be quite a bit of people who will eventually need work done on their cars."

Colin attempted to smile and nodded his head. Of course she was right. Kate was always right about things like this. But still, he just couldn’t get passed the fact that his last business had in fact gone bankrupt.

"Well, it’s time, I guess," he said, nervously, as he opened the bay doors and turned around the open sign in the front window of the office. "Now all we gotta do is wait."

He had no sooner said that when a car pulled up into the drive, stopping just outside the bay doors.

"Great," sighed Colin, as he watched Sheriff Beibe get out of his prowler and walk up to him. "Not the exactly first customer I had hoped for."

"Morning, Mr. O’Brien...Ms. Morrison," said the sheriff, brightly, as he extended his hand.

"Sheriff," replied Colin, as he hesitantly took Beibe’s hand and shook it.

"Good to see you again, Sheriff," said Kate, smiling brightly at the big man.

"So, I see you’ve got the shop open now. Good. Good. The town could definitely benefit from a good mechanic here."

Colin nodded, tried to appear friendly, though he was still quite a bit apprehensive as to why the sheriff had decided to pay him a visit. He watched as Sheriff Beibe casually poked his head into the bay doors and began looking around.

"Um...is there something I can do for you, Sheriff?" he asked, nervously.

Beibe turned, a wide friendly grin spread across his face. "Uh...no, no. Just having a bit of a poke around," he said, then paused a moment, looked at Colin, and continued, "Actually, though, I guess I should cut to the chase."

"Oh boy, here it comes," thought Colin, bracing himself for the worst.

"I’ve been checking into your...um...background," he said, now staring Colin directly in the eyes.

"And?" Colin asked, a bit defensively, and clenched his teeth.

"Let’s just say that certain facts have come to my attention and that I wanted to let you know that I am aware of them and that I’ll be keeping my eye on you."

Colin stared into his eye, not backing down, and then nodded. "So I guess this means I’ll be seeing you around here, then, Sheriff."

Beibe smiled. "Yes, I guess it does at that." Then the big man turned to leave.

"Bye, Sheriff," Kate called back to him, as he got back into his prowler and began to back out of the drive. He waved to her, then drove off down the road.

Colin watched as he left, then stormed into the office, slamming the door behind him. Kate was quick on his heels, hoping to calm him down before a real customer did in fact show up. Inside, she found him standing behind the desk – which he had apparently just cleared off in a fit of rage. She went up to him, wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her head to his chest. They stood like that for several moments, in silence, just holding each other.

Finally, when he had calmed a bit, he began to speak, "No matter what I do, I just can’t seem to get a break, ya know?"

"I know," Kate said softly, giving him a little squeeze. "I know, baby. But you’ll see...this time will be different. Trust me, it will all work out."

Just then, a car pulled up into the drive and honked its horn.

"See?" said Kate, brightly. "What I’d tell you?"

Colin grinned, kissed her forehead, and then walked out to greet his first customer.

TBC....